Clayton Brothers Team Up With Wycliffe Gordon and Stefon Harris on New ArtistShare Release, The Gathering, Available November 6

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Acoustic Bass, African American, Alto Saxophone, ArtistShare, Clayton Brothers, Flute, Gerald Clayton, Jeff Clayton, John Clayton, Obed Calvaire, Stefon Harris, Terrell Stafford, Wycliffe Gordon

“John Clayton is one of the most technically imposing bassists in jazz… Jeff maintains a sweet, preaching delivery; the Adderley influence runs deep in him.” – The New York Times

Clayton Brothers, THE GATHERING

“John and Jeff Clayton are two of the most soulful, swinging siblings on the planet.” – NPR “JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater”

Stream Tracks From The Gathering

A new Clayton Brothers release is always a family affair – not only due to the actual blood ties of siblings John and Jeff Clayton and son/nephew Gerald, but in the sense that quintet-mates Terell Stafford and Obed Calvaire have become part of the Claytons’ extended musical family through years of touring and recording.

NEW VIDEO: Linda Oh – Initial Here, Out May 22 on Greenleaf Music

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Acoustic Bass, Dayna Stephens, Fabian Almazan, Jen Shyu, Linda Oh, Rudy Royston

Featuring DAYNA STEPHENS (saxophone), FABIAN ALMAZAN (piano), RUDY ROYSTON (drums) and special guest: JEN SHYU (voice)

Album Release | Tuesday June 19 | Jazz Standard New York, NY

With her debut CD, Entry, bassist/composer Linda Oh asserted herself as a unique new voice on the modern jazz scene. On her follow-up, Initial Here, Oh draws deeply upon her rich cultural heritage and broad range of inspirations to further define her musical autobiography.

Phronesis -][- WALKING DARK – [Edition Records, 2012] –

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Acoustic Bass, Anton Eger, British, European Jazz, Ivo Neame, Jasper Høiby, Phronesis, Scandinavian

Phronesis, Walking Dark

Phronesis-][- WALKING DARK –MP3– [Edition Records, 2012] –

Jasper Høiby (Denmark) – (double bass),
Ivo Neame (UK) – piano, Anton Eger (Sweden) – drums.

Scandinavian/British jazz trio Phronesis have the ability to excite, inspire and move people in a way that few bands are able to do. Led by Danish double-bassist Jasper Høiby, their charismatic live performances have prompted Jon Newey (Editor of Jazzwise Magazine) to describe them as ‘the most exciting and imaginative piano trio since EST’.

Bassist/Composer OMER AVITAL Offers an Album of Celebratory & Expressionistic Music on SUITE OF THE EAST

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Acoustic Bass, Composer, Omer Avital

Bassist/Composer OMER AVITAL Offers an Album of Celebratory & Expressionistic Music on SUITE OF THE EAST

Anzic Records to Release Suite of The East on April 24, 2012, featuring Omer Avital, Omer Klein, Avishai Cohen, Joel Frahm & Daniel Freedman

“knocking fresh slang out of the bass . . . some of the most original music being heard in New York” – The New York Times

” . . . Avital is one of the most exciting musicians to come onto the jazz scene in the last 20 years. His live shows are pure joy…hard-driving jazz with a new soul for a new era.” – DownBeat Magazine

Omer Avital, Suite of The East

Bassist/composer Omer Avital defines the words creative and prolific, with more than a half dozen new recordings of original music released over the past several years. Suite of The East, Avital’s latest creation, to be released by Anzic Records on April 24, 2012, is the end result of a month-long residency at Smalls (in Greenwich Village, NYC), and a guerrilla recording session, that took place during the spring of 2006.

At this time Avital had a collection of original compositions that were written towards the end of his three-year stay in Israel, and completed in New York City. The compositions naturally belonged together, linked by a common thread that runs through all of the tunes. Avital explains, “During that time in Israel I was studying classical European composition as well as Middle Eastern and North African music – Maqam Theory, and also playing the oud. The compositions on Suite of The East all deal with Middle Eastern and North African themes.”

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records Announces The Release of Poetry Of Earth from Anne Mette Iversen

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Acoustic Bass, Anne Mette Iversen, Christine Skou, Dan Tepfer, Female Vocals, John Ellis, Maria Neckam, Piano, Wind Instruments

Poetry by Grøn, Keats, Housman, Hardy & others

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Anne Mette Iversen, Poetry of Earth

Poetry of Earth features:

Anne Mette Iversen (acoustic bass, compositions), Maria Neckam, Christine Skou (vocals), Dan Tepfer (piano), John Ellis (ten. saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet & flute)

CD Release Concerts for Poetry of Earth:
March 15, 8:30 PM: The Cornelia Street Café, NYC, www.corneliastreetcafe.com

March 17, 4:00 PM: Special concert & discussion with Ms. Iversen @ The Danish Seamen’s Church, Brooklyn, NY, http://www.dskny.com

March 18, 5:00 & 7:00 PM: An Die Musik, Baltimore, MD, www.andiemusiklive.com

Keith Jarrett -][- Jasmine [ECM Records]

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Acoustic Bass, Charlie Haden, Jazz, Keith Jarrett, Piano

Keith Jarrett - Jasmine (ECM, 2010)

Keith Jarrett -][- Jasmine – [ECM Records, 2010]

Jasmine marks Keith Jarrett’s first recorded collaboration in decades other than with his standards trio, and reunites him with the great bassist Charlie Haden, a close partner until the mid-seventies. Intimate, spontaneous and warm, this album of love songs recorded at Jarrett’s home, has affinities, in its unaffected directness, with his solo collection The Melody At Night With You. These deeply felt performances should inspire any listener “to call your wife or husband or lover in late at night,” as Jarrett says in his liner notes, “These are great love songs played by players who are trying, mostly, to keep the message intact.” The program on Jasmine includes such classic songs as “Body and Soul”, “For All We Know” , “Where Can I Go Without You”, “Don’t Ever Leave Me” as well as a rare Jarrett cover of a contemporary pop song, “One Day I’ll Fly Away”. Jarrett and Haden play the music and nothing but the music – as only they can.

As Keith Jarrett says in his liner notes: “This is spontaneous music made on the spot without any preparation save our dedication throughout our lives that we won’t accept a substitute… These are great love songs played by players who are trying, mostly, to keep the message intact.”

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

Thomson Kneeland | Mazurka for a Modern Man

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Acoustic Bass, Bass, Jazz, Thomas Kneeland

Thomson Kneeland

Thomson Kneeland | Mazurka for a Modern Man – [Weltschmerz Records, 2010] Music Review

… bassist and composer Thomson Kneeland originally finalized “Mazurka for a Modern Man” back in 2007. Within two weeks after the completion of this project, Kneeland’s life was suddenly traumatized by the departure of his musical comrade, composer & percussionist Take Toriyanna who passed away.

Being revered by your peers is humbling … Kneeland was considered by some of New York’s finest musicians one of the Big Apple’s most promising bassist and composers on the local jazz scene. To stay in shape, Kneeland worked diligently by honing his skills as a sideman and proved himself as a formidable leader and performing with such as luminaries as Ted Rosenthal, Kenny Werner, Billy Drummond and a host of others to strengthen his unbending spirit to enrich his composing, playing and leadership.

Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Voyage | Copacabana

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Acoustic Bass, Jazz, Nilson Matta

Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage - Copacabana

Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Voyage .:|:. Copacabana – [Zoho Music – 2010]

How it is possible that Nilson Matta is allowed to fly so under the proverbial radar, with recognition mainly from his peers is one of those mysteries that music suffers its artists to bear even with the growth of the industry and media. Matta’s bass has been complementing the music of luminaries from Joao Gilberto, Johnny Alf, Hermeto Pascoal and Chico Buarque de Hollanda to Joe Henderson and the legendary Don Pullen with grace and majesty. His career has spanned decades and throughout he has been a musician of immense technical skill and a composer with daring, creative ideas. Copacabana, an album that brings together tenor saxophonist Harry Allen and flutist, Anne Drummond with pianist Klaus Mueller, and Matta’s radiant rhythm section of drummer Mauricio Zottarelli and percussionist Zé Mauricio, is a tour de force of composition and musicianship of the highest order.

Gerardo Bartoccini | Bye Bye Lazybird

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Acoustic Bass, Gerardo Bartoccini, Jazz

Gerardo Bartoccini - Bye Bye Lazybird

Gerardo Bartoccini .::|::. Bye Bye Lazybird – [Dodicilune, 2010]

:::: Born in Rome, February 1st, 1968. Double bass, electric bass player, composer, arranger.

He began to play electric bass in 1982, and double bass in 1989. He took part and led some rock bands during the 80’s, then he moved to jazz. With the rock band Xeno in 1986 he took part in the TV show “Cordialmente”. He works professionally since 1992.

He worked with several trios during the 90’s, such as Gorno-Bartoccini-Caggiani trio from ’92 to ’95, the GAG trio with Giacomo Anselmi and Armando Sciommeri from ’94 to ’97, with whom he participated in several festivals, like Tuscia Jazz 95, Orvieto Jazz 95, Mediterraneo Jazz Trio with Marco Di Gennaro and Gianni Filindeu since ’94 to ’98, that featured such artists as Maurizio Giammarco, Marcello Rosa, Paolo Fresu, Tino Tracanna, and participated to Izmir European Jazz Festival (Turkey) ’96.

Dave Holland Quartet | Conference of The Birds

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Acoustic Bass, DAve Holland, Jazz

Dave Holland Quartet | Conference of The Birds – [ECM, 1973]

Dave Holland Quartet - Conference of The Birds

I originally bought the LP of this in early 1974, having heard Holland, Altschul, and Braxton in Chick Corea’s band Circle, and of course knowing Holland’s work on some highly conspicuous Miles Davis recordings (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew…). I bought CotB under the impression that I knew what I was getting myself into. I’d been wrestling with atonality for awhile — late Coltrane, Schoenberg, whatever I could find that seemed reasonably “important.” I was not getting it. I had the youthful faith that there was something worthwhile happening inside all that cacophony, but I needed a Rosetta Stone to make sense of it. “Conference of the Birds” was my Rosetta Stone. From the opening bars of “Four Winds” I was completely captivated. It swings hard, the improvisations are always coherent — no matter how frenzied and dissonant they sound, and Holland’s compositions are outstanding. The title song is a beautiful folk ballad that makes a perfect breather amid the fiery uptempo rants and cryptic, avant garde soundscapes. This record was the best education my ears ever had. Even though I now have it on CD, I still have my battered vinyl copy of CotB, and hold onto it for purely sentimental reasons.