Kevin Eubanks Signs with Mack Avenue Records

Tags

African American, Guitar, Jazz, Kevin Eubanks

Kevin Eubanks (Photo Credit: Raj Naik)

Mack Avenue Records is proud to announce the signing of guitarist Kevin Eubanks. The former leader of the Tonight Show Band is set to release Zen Food on November 23, his debut for the label and first project since his Tonight Show departure.

“It’s so refreshing to find a record label that feels ‘right’ from so many aspects,” reflects Eubanks, who completed his final and 18th season of The Tonight Show in May. “Mack Avenue Records is the company I’ve been hoping to find to release the music I’ve been wanting to play.”

“When Kevin first announced that he was departing the Tonight Show with a desire to record and tour again I knew he would be an ideal artist for us,” says Mack Avenue Records President Denny Stilwell. “He is a musician of uncompromising artistry who has chosen an opportune moment to re-establish his roots in jazz and Mack Avenue is honored to be working with him.”

Over the course of his 30-year career, Eubanks has performed with esteemed musicians such as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Roy Haynes, Slide Hampton, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Greg Osby, and Jean Luc Ponty, among others. In 1992 Eubanks moved to the West Coast to assume the guitar spot in the Tonight Show Band and become the band’s leader from 1995 – 2010.

Hailing from a musical family- with distinguished uncles, pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant, and brothers, trombonist Robin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks- the Philadelphia native and Berklee College of Music alumni has appeared on over 100 albums, with releases on Elektra, GRP and Blue Note; as well as founding his own record label, Insoul Music.

..:: Source: DL Media ::..

[Featured Album of The Week] … Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green -][- Apex

Tags

Bunky Green, Jazz, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Saxophone

Featured Album of the Week

Greetings my fellow jazz enthusiasts, I’m enthralled to return with two of the most influential and innovative voices in modern jazz … composer / saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green. With Apex, both artists combine their prolific voices to create a unique marriage that accentuates the energy, creativity and dexterity realized only through the soundscape of where global music meets jazz and how it accurately impacts those who truly love music. —Rob Young | The Urban Flux

Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green - Apex

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green -][- Apex – [Pi. Recordings, 2010]

Apex is a blazing collaboration between alto saxophonists Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green that puts on display a fifty-year continuum of state-of-the-art saxophone playing. Featuring the all-star band of Jason Moran on piano, François Moutin on bass and switching off on drums, the dynamic Damion Reid and the great Jack DeJohnette, Apex shines a much-deserved spotlight on Bunky Green, a hugely influential but under-recognized original in jazz.

Mahanthappa, a 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, is widely recognized as one of the most important jazz musicians today. At 39 years old, he has perennially been on the Down Beat Critics Poll as alto saxophonist and composer and has been named Alto Saxophonist of the Year the last two years by the Jazz Journalist Association. His prior release Kinsmen (Pi 28), which masterfully combined jazz with South Indian music, was named the runner-up album of the year in the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll in 2008 and hailed as one of the top jazz albums of the year by numerous publications. Read more …

..:: Source: FULLY ALTERED MEDIA ::..

New Releases [Jazz] … for the Week of 9/28/2010

Tags

Bunky Green, Cassandra Wilson, Gospel Music, Jazz, Lizz Wright, New Releases, Paul Brown, Rudresh Mahanthappa

Releases”]

Greetings jazz aficionados, thanks for stopping by The Urban Flux at WordPress.com as I’m here along with you to explore the intricate sounds of stimulating and innovative jazz that awaits us on this massive canvas in cyberspace. With each visit you’ll discover a montage of new jazz releases featured that encompasses a generous diet of nuances which includes a wealth of complex and distinctive styles, textures, melodies, and rhythms exalted by a host of definitive and creative voices in the world of jazz.

New Jazz Releases this week at The Urban Flux:

New Releases for 9-28-2010

-))- Fellowship by Lizz Wright – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Love You Found Me by Paul Brown – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Playing The Piano by Ryuichi Sakamoto – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Apex (Dig) by Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Silver Pony by Cassandra Wilson – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- In Stride by Oregon – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Silent Movies (Dig) by Marc Ribot – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Ipsissimus by John Zorn – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Unknown Angels by Tony Grey – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Warriors by Cookers – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Introducing Triveni by Avishai Cohen – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Tango Jazz: Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center by Paquito D’rivera – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Israeli Song by Eli Degibri – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Cosmo by Jesse Harris – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Boss Guitar by Wes Montgomery – (Audio CD – 2010) – Original recording remastered
-))- Talented Touch by Hank Jones – (Audio CD – 2010) – Import
-))- Clube Da Esquina by Milton Nascimento – (Vinyl – 2010)
-))- Porgy And Bess by Hank Jones – (Audio CD – 2010) – Import
-))- Uh Huh by Jazz Crusaders – (Audio CD – 2010) – Import
-))- Don’t Think Twice by Tamco – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- The Cusp by Robert Mitchell’s Panacea – (Audio CD – 2010)
-))- Radio Yonder by Mats Eilertsen – (Audio CD – 2010)

Visit Amazon.com, for more details about Imports, Vinyl, Soundtracks, and Re-issues.

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

[Classic Jazz Revisited] … ‘Intensity’ by organist Charles “The Burner” Earland

Tags

African American, Charles Earland, Jazz, Organ

Flux Classic Jazz Revisited

From my perspective, jazz is arguably beyond the scope of the ordinary soundscape in return disturbs the flow, energy and principles of novice, naysayers and critics alike desire to lock this beloved music into exile. With that said, I’m motivated to pursue these eternal images of legendary artists and their unpredictable yet compelling recordings at a time when cool jazz and be-bop collided to infuse a provocative template reign supreme as the new, hip and progressive sound to this day beckons jazz enthusiasts to embrace and savor these timeless treasures. No doubt, it’s an honor to be allowed the opportunity to pay homage to these powerful, and beautiful voices who made their unmeasurable imprint in the fabric of our culture as the cornerstone of this phenomenal movement in jazz. –Rob Young | The Urban Flux

Charles Earland - Intensity

Charles Earland -][- Intensity – [OJC, 1972]

Lee Morgan’s trumpet cuts through and adds so much bite to these songs. There is a version of the tune, “Happy Cause I’m Goin Home” (by the band Chicago)that is simply brilliant music! A lively, happy, upbeat and very bright version. Throughout all of the songs included on this record the drummer fuels a unique, powerful high-energy. The Hammond B-3 playing by Charles is plentiful here: Lots of long solos where Charles stretches out … over and over again; against the heavy backdrop of a barnburner.

I kept looking at this CD in a display bin in the big music retail store downtown for months before I took the plunge. Then I ordered many CD’s by Charles that followed this one; one of the all-time great Charles Earland CD’s. A different sound here; not merely the run-of-the mill organ combos with these names. No way. Powerful, driving ensemble playing backing up burning B-3.

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::

[Flux Music Essentials] … features Hiromi, Muhammad, Mehldau & Jones

Tags

Brad Mehldau, Hiromi, Idris Muhammad, Jazz, Quincy Jones

Flux Music Essentials

Greeting’s jazz connoisseurs, I’m back with yet another intriguing palette of creative music from some of today’s most unique, adventurous and inspiring voices known and unknown artists alike in the world of jazz.

Hiromi - Brain (Telarc, 2004)

Hiromi -][- Brain – [Telarc, 2004]

She’s got prodigious piano technique, brains and beauty (as six full-page photos included with the CD make abundantly clear), incredible energy, and lots of “mo” (is there any young instrumentalist who is bigger at the present moment?). All of which may raise some suspicions among closer followers of the jazz scene, past and present.

Admittedly, I was impressed but not captivated after a first listen. The tracks with synthesizer, the all-original program of “descriptive,” “programmatic” titles, the packaging–it smacked of commercialism and new-age aesthetics. But I recall having a similar reaction to Ahmad Jamal the first time I heard him. He didn’t employ harmonies like Art Tatum, swing like Oscar, fill up the space with complex melodic lines like Bud Powell. But over time it became clear that Ahmad was the master colorist of them all, a painter of musical tone poems that could be infinitely suggestive if not mesmerizing. Hiromi, who was “discovered” and first produced by Ahmad, has the same affinities.

Listen to “Desert on the Moon.” It ‘s a bubbling piece, more suggestive of a mountain stream in its progress through a variety of moods, tempos, textures, and dynamic contrasts. Every moment is alive and purposeful, as Hiromi takes us on a journey from rippling, impressionist passages to sharply-defined pointillism (she has some musical karate chops!) to unabashed romantic lyricism (an unapologetic allusion to “My One and Only Love”), finally bringing the force of the whole to an explosive, climactic conclusion, then just as seamlessly providing a tranquil, restorative coda.

Her piano technique extends beyond mere virtuosity. She gets a bright, pure and round sound from the instrument that is absolutely consistent in all registers and at soft as well as loud volumes. Moreover, this recording is probably the best that I’ve ever heard a piano sound on CD. If you have any sort of half-way decent stereo system, Hiromi and her Yamaha Concert Grand will be bigger than life in your living room. Better make room because from the evidence on this disk, she’ll be around for a long time to come. —Samuel Chell | Amazon.com

Liam Sillery -][- Phenomenology [OA2, 2010]

Tags

Jazz, Liam Sillery, Trumpet

“…an extraordinary session of creative ensemble interplay and free-wheeling improvisations.” —All About Jazz

Liam Sillery - Phenomenology (OA2 Records)

Liam Sillery -][- Phenomenology – [OA2 Records, 2010]

With his 4th OA2 release, trumpeter Liam Sillery continues in the direction of his most recent album “Outskirts,” challenging both the musicians and the listener with intricate compositions and compelling improvisation. On “Phenomenology,” the band is reactive and supportive, while maintaining their individual personalities to constantly compliment the music.

Liam’s exploration of the sonic landscapes suggested by his compositions create a sense of melodic intrigue on the Kenny Wheeler-inspired “Koi” and the horn lines cartwheel through the backbeat of “Intentionality.” This recording no doubt helps solidify Sillery as “an important voice in 21st Century jazz” (Scott Yanow).

..:: Source: Origin/OA2 Records ::..