KENNY GARRETT Returns to ACOUSTIC format with SEEDS FROM THE UNDERGROUND, available APRIL 10 on MACK AVENUE RECORDS

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African American, Jazz, Kenny Garrett, Saxophone

FIRST STUDIO AND ACOUSTIC ALBUM SINCE 2006

Kenny Garrett, Seeds From The Underground

Over the course of a stellar career that has spanned more than 30 years, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. From his first gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (led by Mercer Ellington) through his time spent with musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis, Garrett has always brought a vigorous yet melodic, and truly distinctive, alto saxophone sound to each musical situation. As a bandleader for the last two decades, he has also continually grown as a composer. With his latest recording (and second for Mack Avenue Records), Seeds From The Underground, Garrett has given notice that these qualities have not only become more impressive, but have provided him with the platform to expand his horizons and communicate his musical vision clearly. Seeds From The Underground is a powerful return to the straight-ahead, acoustic and propulsive quartet format that showcases Garrett’s extraordinary abilities.

LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE TRACKS FROM
SEEDS FROM THE UNDERGROUND

Brad Mehldau Trio Returns March 13 with “Ode,” Featuring 11 Original Mehldau Compositions

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Bass, Brad Mehldau, Drums, Jazz, Jeff Ballard, Larry Grenadier, Piano

Brad Mehldau Trio, Ode

Nonesuch releases an album of original songs from the Brad Mehldau Trio—Ode—on March 13, 2012. The record, which is the first from the trio since 2008’s live Village Vanguard disc and the first studio trio recording since 2005’s Day Is Done, features 11 previously unreleased songs composed by Mehldau. The trio comprises Mehldau on piano, Jeff Ballard on drums, and Larry Grenadier on bass.

“Ode is a collection of originals that I wrote specifically for my trio with Larry and Jeff,” says Mehldau. “I feel that what they bring to the music in the performance here is inseparable from the tunes themselves.” Most of the songs, he explains, “are tributes to someone else, and I began to think of them as odes, or poems that might be sung; in our case here it’s the singing only without all those pesky words.” Subjects include the late saxophonist Michael Brecker (“M.B.”), a character from the film Easy Rider (“Eulogy for George Hanson”), and the guitarist Kurt Ronsenwinkel (“Kurt Vibe”).

Roy Haynes -][- Roy-Alty [Dreyfus Music, 2011]

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African American, Drums, Jazz, Roy Haynes

If you seriously dig jazz, then this project appropriately titled “Roy-Alty” is absolutely the real-deal … it features none other the legendary Roy Haynes on skins with help from Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea and Jaleel Shaw among a cast of superb players.

Roy Haynes, Roy-Alty

Roy Haynes -][- Roy-Alty –MP3– [Dreyfus Music, 2011]

Five SWINGING Stars! Intense beautiful jazz from drum master Roy Haynes and friends. “Roy-Alty” captures the influential and innovative 86 year old Jazz Hall of Fame drummer playing with fire and drive, leading a wonderful group, and playing a set of tunes that cut a wide swath thru his 60 year career as one of jazz’ leading and most recorded drummers. Mr Haynes has played with everyone from Bird and Pres to Getz and Coltrane to Pat Metheny and Andrew Hill, as one of our true living national musical treasures who continues his relentless energetic musical journey on this recording.

Saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh Releases Plugged In, The Raw Edge of Rock Girding The Communication of Jazz April 26, 2012 via Bee Jazz

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Jazz, Jerome Sabbagh, Saxophone

Featuring JOZEF DUMOULIN – Keyboard (Belgium), PATRICE BLANCHARD – Electric Bass (Martinique/NYC) & RUDY ROYSTON – Drums (NYC)

Jerome Sabbagh, Plugged In

The simple act of “plugging in” is easy to take for granted, but it provides power, illumination, charge; the same could be said for connecting a power cord or for the meeting of creative minds. On Plugged In (Bee Jazz), his fifth album as a leader, French-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh discovers the spark of inspiration provided by both, assembling an exhilarating electric quartet and collaborating with the jaw-dropping Belgian keyboardist Jozef Dumoulin.

The result is an album that is all about electrifying connections – that between Sabbagh and Dumoulin, the intense grooves forged by Martinique-born bassist Patrice Blanchard and American drummer Rudy Royston, the conjunction of the electric and the lyrical, the raw edge of rock girding the sophisticated communication of jazz.