Recording News

Ran Blake at 75

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2010

Maverick pianist Ran Blake celebrates his 75th Birthday today. Since his 1961 collaboration with Jeanne Lee on RCA, Ran Blake has released 35 albums on such labels as ESP, Soul Note, Arista and hatOLOGY. His 2006 album on the Tompkins Square label, All That Is Tied, received 4 stars in Downbeat and earned top honors in the 2007 Penguin Guide to Jazz. Penguin's editor Brian Morton and Wire Magazine hailed the record as a “masterpiece." On his most recent solo ...

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Guitarist/Composer Wayne Brasel Releases New CD Titled "If You Would Dance" on Brajazz Records Featuring Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, and Tom Warrington

Source: Two for the Show Media
April 20, 2010

On If You Would Dance, jazz guitarist Wayne Brasel teams up with a top west coast rhythm section and records a beautiful CD of his own lyrical compositions. Wayne's friendship with world class drummer Peter Erskine goes back to when Peter was only 19 and touring around with the Stan Kenton big band. Over the years Wayne and Peter have kept in touch playing live in various settings and recording Wayne's 1995 trio record “ The Beatnik Walk". The other ...

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10 FT. Ganja Plant Release New Album on Cannabis Appreciation Day: Happy 4/20!

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2010

10 Ft. Ganja Plant Release New Digital Album 10 Deadly Shots Vol. 1 on 4/20; 10 Track Album Released Exclusively On Band's New Web Site

4/20 is a day when millions of people around the globe gather to celebrate in peace and smoke cannabis. It's also become a day when like-minded music artists release new material. Joining the ranks of the acts releasing new material on April 20th is the enigmatic roots reggae act and aptly named 10 Ft. Ganja ...

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Wayne Brasel Quartet - If You Would Dance (Universitetet Stavanger)

Source: Master of a Small House
April 6, 2010

Self-released but hardly rough-hewn in production design or packaging appearance, guitarist Wayne Brasel's latest is a smooth listening experience from start to finish. The dancing feet that adorn the cover give a visual clue to Brasel's basic aesthetic. Lightly swinging with clean rounded corners in common with what follows, the opening “Lightgiver" revolves around his grit-free plectral approach. Pianist Alan Pasqua comps behind the shimmering single note leads while bassist Tom Warrrington jogs the middle with plush but unobtrusive pizzicato ...

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Minimalist Electronic Duo Colorlist Release 3rd Album a Square White Lie (482 Music) on 180-Gram Vinyl and MP3

Source: Fully Altered Media
April 20, 2010

Versatile musicians Charles Rumback and Charles Gorzcynski may hail from Chicago, poet Carl Sandburg's “stormy, husky, brawling, city of the Big Shoulders," but they abide creatively in a far more fluid habitat: the ocean of sound. Rumback (drums, marimba, guitars) and Gorzcynski (saxophones, harmonium, synthesizers) are friends in their late 20s who are busy inventing yet another new wave of sonic adventure in a city long-steeped in both musical innovation and bedrock traditions of blues and jazz, rhythm-and-blues and the ...

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One Track Mind: Jacky Terrasson "Beat It/Body and Soul" (2010)

Source: Something Else!
April 20, 2010

By PicoHe looks like a young Keith Jarrett, even hums along to his piano lines a little like Jarrett, but Jacky Terrasson is defying straight comparisons to anybody. This 1993 winner of the Thelonious Monk competition can conjure the big, train-like sound of McCoy Tyner, the cerebral presence of Brad Mehldau or the spiritual elegance of Abdullah Ibrahim, but not sounding quite like any of them. Sometimes he'll show all these sides in the same song. The Berlin-born ...

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Marc Wagnon Releases Earth is a Cruel Master

Source: Michael Ricci
April 20, 2010

Marc Wagnon's new release on Buckyball Records, Earth is a Cruel Master, is hitting the streets by the end of the month. We want to share with you in advance two free mp3 promo tracks.

“Earth is a Cruel Master is a first-rate release of creative, forward-thinking composing supported by spectacular musicianship." --John Barron, All About Jazz

Marc Wagnon Echo Star (mp3) From Earth is a Cruel Master

Marc Wagnon ...

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Paul Motian Trio - Lost in a Dream (ECM)

Source: Master of a Small House
April 20, 2010

Few partnerships between label and musician remain as felicitous as that shared by Paul Motian and ECM. Described in certain circles as an anti-drummer, a back-handed reduction also ascribed to Shelly Manne back in the day, Motian's language at the kit is commonly the epitome of economy and nuance. Bombast and obviousness are his adversaries. Spaciousness, an overriding melodicism and preference for implication rather than explication as communicated through his stick and brush play can frustrate audiences expecting the momentum ...

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