New Releases [Jazz] … for the Week of 7/12/2010

Tags

Chris Washburne, Jazz, New Releases, Sean Foran, Trichotomy, Trombone

Greetings’ jazz aficionados, I’m back with an intricate canvas of what’s -cool- and maybe not so -cool- from a optimistic perspective we don’t usually find in the diet of the chromatic pop music culture. The origin of new music featured each week encompasses various branches of jazz, which exudes a wealth of complex and distinctive styles, insinuating textures, immaculate melodies, and relentless rhythms exalted by the definitive voices of creative artists serves up sounds to quench our immutable thirst for quality music.

Featured Album of the Week

Chris Washburne & The Syotos Band - Field of Moons

Chris Washburne & The Syotos Band -||- Fields of Moons – [Jazzheads Records, 2010]

Chris Washburne is one of those rare musicians whose musical activities cross many styles and cultural borders. From early in his career he refused to be pigeon-holed as just being a jazz or classical player, but instead has continually pursued a diverse path. He has received rave reviews for his jazz and classical performances as well as being called “one of the best trombonists in New York” by The New York Times. Brad Walseth of JazzChicago.net writes that Chris “is one of the most intelligent and interesting thinkers in modern music, as well as being perhaps the most important trombonist performing today” (2006).

Chris has toured extensively with various groups and concertized throughout the Europe, North, South, and Central Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He has commissioned and premiered over twenty contemporary compositions for trombone and has performed on over 150 recordings, 17 of which have won Grammy’s. His Latin jazz group, SYOTOS, is the busiest and most in demand Latin jazz group in New York, performing over 125 concerts annually, including regular performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and BAM. Their release “Paradise In Trouble” on Jazzheads Records, was nominated as the best Latin jazz record of 2004 by the Jazz Journalists Association. He is a co-leader of NYNDK, a trans-Atlantic jazz collective comprised of European and American musicians. This group was awarded the prestigious DaNY Arts Grant in 2007, a grant sponsored by the Danish Cultural Ministry for jazz composition. —Chris Washburne.com

Flux Music Essentials … [Blade, Conte, Laws, Occhipinti & Neame]

Tags

Brian Blade, Hubert Laws, Ivo Neame, Jazz, Nicola Conte, Roberto Occhipinti

Flux Music Essentials

Greeting’s fellow jazz aficionados, I’m back in the mix with another tantalizing yet satisfying blend of original jazz that’s shaken and stirred to perfection from the shelves of “Flux Music Essentials.”

Roberto Occhipinti - Yemaya

Roberto Occhipinti -||- Yemaya – [Alma Records, 2008]

Bassist Roberto Occhipinti was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada March 25, 1955. He comes from a prominent musical family that includes two guitarists; younger brother Michael and cousin David. Michael Occhipinti is a well known sideman and co-founder of NOJO – the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra.

At the University of Toronto, beginning in 1972, Roberto Occhipinti studied under Thomas Monohan, was mentored by Joel Quarrington and especially the acclaimed jazz bassist Dave Young. He was a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the mid-70s, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in the early-to-mid ’80s, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in the mid-to-late ’80s, was principal bassist with the Esprit Orchestra from 1986 to 1994, and long standing member of Arraymusic from 1979-2000. –Michael G. Nastos/Roberto Occhipinti.com

[Classic Jazz Revisited] featured artist this week … saxophonist Wayne Shorter -||- Etcetera

Tags

African American, Jazz, Saxophone, Wayne Shorter

Flux Classic Jazz Revisited

Wayne Shorter - Etcetera

Wayne Shorter -||- Etcetera – [Blue Note Records, 1965]

This gem of a session, recorded in June 1965, was never released until 1980 (according to the notes on my LP). It was recorded between Wayne’s original releases ‘Speak No Evil‘ and ‘The All Seeing Eye‘, and just after ‘The Soothsayer‘, which was not released until 1979.

Like ‘Juju‘ (1964), it’s a quartet session, where Wayne Shorter (tenor sax) is usually at his best, as he is free to paint the colors and textures of his unique style without sharing the palette with additional frontmen. Here he is joined by his close friend and fellow Miles’ sideman, Herbie Hancock (piano), along with veterans Cecil McBee (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums). This quartet works very well as a unit, and the their strong communication is apparent through most of the album. Each member is on top of his game for this session, and the result is a very enjoyable recording.

The quality of the recording is very good. —Douglas Gary/Amazon.com

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..

Fresh Sound/New Talent To Release “ALAMEDA” From ARUÁN ORTIZ

Tags

Aruán Ortiz, Jazz, Latin Music, Piano

“Ortiz and his quartet explore a broad landscape of musical styles, performance techniques, and compositional strategies on Alameda, an inspired collection of diverse pieces.” – Chip Boaz, The Latin Jazz Corner

Alameda features Aruán Ortiz (piano & Rhodes), Abraham Burton (saxophone – 1,2,4,6,7,8), Antoine Roney (saxophone – 2,4,8), Peter Slavov (bass), Eric McPherson (drums)

ARUÁN ORTIZ

Jazz pianist Aruán Ortiz, “the latest Cuban wunderkind to arrive in the United States” (John Murph, http://www.BETJazz.com ), hit the ground running when he came on the American jazz scene in 2003. A classically trained violist and pianist, this Santiago de Cuba native’s sound is as marked by the influence of the contemporary classical composers such as Schoenberg, Ravel, and Copland, as it is by traditional Afro-Cuban sounds and jazz greats such as Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Thelonious Monk. A major testament to his massive talent, since setting foot in the States Ortiz was quickly called upon to perform and record with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Greg Osby, Cindy Blackman, Esperanza Spalding, Gary Thomas, Wayne Krantz, Rashied Ali, Stefon Harris, Horacio “el negro” Hernández, Giovanni Hidalgo, Lionel Loueke, Jane Bunnett, Jerry Bergonzi and others. Ortiz is currently a member of jazz legend Wallace Roney’s Quintet, Sound of The Future, and is prominently featured on Roney’s new live recording, If Only For One Night (High Note, 2009).