BFM Jazz Presents John Daversa’s “Artful Joy”

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Bob Mintzer, Brandon Coleman, Gene Coye, Gretchen Parlato, Jerry Watts, John Daversa, Robby Marshall, Tommy King, Zane Carney

Trumpeter John Daversa Returns with Crackling Small Group Outing
“Artful Joy“(BFM Jazz) a Potent Follow up to
Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album
With special guests Bob Mintzer and Gretchen Parlato

John Daversa, ARTFUL JOY

On the heels of 2011’s high-energy, take-no-prisoners, boundary-stretching Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album, acclaimed L.A.-based trumpeter-composer-arranger John Daversa scales things back for his upbeat follow up, Artful Joy. “It was difficult trying to find the right album name for this one,” says Daversa, who has been leading a big band and small group concurrently for the past six years. “I didn’t realize how much in the spirit of deep happiness and joy that it was until it was done. It’s been a very fertile, wonderful year and I think this album is a reflection of that.”

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Bob Mintzer Big Band’s “For the Moment”: New MCG Jazz CD Due June 19

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Alex Acuna, Bob Mintzer, Chico Pinheiro, MCG Jazz, Peter Erskine, Russell Ferrante, Saxophonist

Big bands and the music of Brazil: For Bob Mintzer, these two limitless creative reservoirs have fed his musical imagination since he was emerging as a prodigiously gifted teenage saxophonist. His latest MCG Jazz album, “For the Moment,” combines these formative forces with an ingenious program of Brazilian jazz for the Grammy Award-winning Bob Mintzer Big Band.

Bob Mintzer Big Band, FOR THE MOMENT

Richmond, CA (PRWE May 29, 2012)- The Grammy Award–winning Bob Mintzer Big Band has explored diverse styles of music in its illustrious 25-year recording history—from New York and Afro-Cuban to Count Basie and John Coltrane. On the band’s new MCG Jazz CD, “For the Moment,” which is scheduled for release June 19, saxophonist/composer/arranger/bandleader Mintzer puts the spotlight on Brazilian music.

Arturo Sandoval -][- Dear Diz (Every Day I Think Of You) – [Concord Jazz, 2012] –

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Arturo Sandoval, Bob Mintzer, Ed Calle, Eddie Daniels, Gary Burton, Gregg Field, Joey DeFrancesco, Trumpet

Arturo Sandoval, Dear Diz (Every I Think of You)

Arturo Sandoval -][- Dear Diz (Every Day I Think Of You) –MP3– [Concord Jazz, 2012] –

Arturo Sandoval releases his second album on Concord Jazz, Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You). The album is Sandoval’s tribute to Dizzy Gillespie, the mentor and friend who literally rescued him and his family from an oppressive existence and gave them a chance at an entirely new and better life. The album is a collection of classics from Gillespie’s massive body of work, each framed in big-band arrangements that throw the spotlight squarely on the elements of bebop that underscore so much of the iconic trumpeter’s work and set the tone for the music of his era.

Electric Bass Virtuoso LORENZO FELICIATI Gathers Friends From The Road For New Project ‘FREQUENT FLYER’ – Available March 27 on RARENOISERECORDS

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Bass, Bob Mintzer, Cuong Vi, DJ Skizo, Jazz, LORENZO FELICIATI

ALBUM FEATURES TRUMPETER CUONG VU, YELLOWJACKETS SAXOPHONIST BOB MINTZER AND TURNTABLIST DJ SKIZO, AMONG OTHERS

Lorenzo Feliciati, Frequent Flyer

Italy’s Lorenzo Feliciati has been one of the best kept secrets on the European modern jazz scene for the past decade. On Frequent Flyer (RareNoiseRecords), his third solo outing, the Jaco Pastorius-inspired electric bassist fronts an all-star lineup that includes his Naked Truth bandmates — Seattle trumpeter Cuong Vu (who has worked with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny), British jazz keyboardist Roy Powell and longtime King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto – along with Yellowjackets saxophonist-composer Bob Mintzer and a host of players on the Italian prog-rock-jazz scene including fellow electric bassist Patrick Djivas (of the group Premiata Forneria Marconi), keyboardist Aidan Zammit, Hammond organist José Fiorilli, violinist Andrea Di Cesare, guitarist Daniele Gottardo, drummers Lucrezio De Seta, Roberto Gualdi, Maxx Furian, Pier Paolo Ferroni, Stefano Bagnoli and Daniele Pomo, Peruvian percussionist Paolo La Rosa, and turntablist DJ Skizo.

LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE STREAMING TRACKS FROM FREQUENT FLYER

AVAILABLE TODAY: YELLOWJACKETS CELEBRATE 30 YEARS TOGETHER WITH THE RELEASE OF TIMELINE

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Bob Mintzer, Jazz, Jimmy Haslip, Mack Avenue Records, New Releases, Russell Ferrante, Will Kennedy, Yellowjackets

AVAILABLE TODAY ON MACK AVENUE RECORDS

Yellowjackets - TIMELINE

In music, time flies, styles unstoppably evolve, and bands come and go. But there are also rare stable, forward-moving forces on the scene, one prime example in jazz being the Yellowjackets. As of 2011, this beloved eclectic, electro-acoustic jazz band that keyboardist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip built celebrates the ripe young, deep age of 30, a milestone commemorated with another powerful and heartfelt album, fittingly named Timeline.

In fact, Timeline is a special occasion on more than just the 30th anniversary front, also being the first step in a new relationship with the respected jazz label Mack Avenue Records, and the first new album with an important alumnus back in the ranks, the dynamic and flexible drummer Will Kennedy. Kennedy, who worked with the group for ten years and appeared on half its discography to date, returns to the ranks after a dozen years away. He fits seamlessly into the band, alongside Ferrante, Haslip and the multi-talented saxophonist-composer Bob Mintzer, whose critical role in helping define the group’s current sound goes back to 1991.

Peter Erskine featuring Bob Mintzer, Darek Oles and Alan Pasqua -][- STANDARDS 2 (Movie Music) – [Fuzzy Music]

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Alan Pasqua, Bass, Bob Mintzer, Darek Oles, Drums, Jazz, Peter Erskine, Piano, Saxophone

Peter Erskine - Standards 2 (Movie Music)

Peter Erskine featuring Bob Mintzer, Darek Oles and Alan Pasqua -][- STANDARDS 2 (Movie Music) – [Fuzzy Music, 2010]

Music is often spoken of as forming the soundtrack of our lives. Movie score music compounds the effect, marrying melody with image, the exponential power of 24 frames per second combined with soaring tunes and magical counterpoint to provide all of us who love the movies a powerful emotional and cultural reference point, time and again. And who doesn’t love a good movie or song?

These songs are standards in both the jazz and cinematic sense.

Compiling any sort of list, however, risks sinning by omission. Nowhere does this seem more evident than in a collection of music from movies. Please forgive these sins. Each musician was invited to bring in a tune or two for the project. We played the music in concert the evening before the recording, and were encouraged by the audience’s delight in reliving these timeless melodies as told by the jazz quartet. We’re already looking forward to the next volume.

Yellowjackets -][- Run for Your Life [GRP Records]

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Bob Mintzer, Jazz, Jimmy Haslip, Russell Ferrante, William Kennedy, Yellowjackets

Yellowjackets - Run for Your Life

Yellowjackets -][- Run for Your Life – [GRP Records, 1994] –Review–

At any given moment, it seems more often then not I’m ushered into what or not to listen too. After all, time is precious. Recently my ears have been itching to hear the upcoming debut by the Yellowjackets on Mack Avenue Records. In the meantime, it was inevitable that I had to dive into something that would temporarily sustain my hunger so why not spin “Run for Your Life” their 1994 recording on GRP Records.

As the distinctive flavors of “Jacket Town, The Red Sea, Muhammed, Ancestors, City of Lights and Wisdom” wait in que I’m suddenly moved to press play. Within seconds the music begins to slowly bleed through the speaker system to unleash one by one an unbridled soundscape of melodies clothed in a expansive fabric of acoustic and electric textures exudes with a twist of unstrained emotions. The intricacies of these melodies summoned me into a deeper chromosphere to explore the unyielding details of African influences swelling from within the body that’s firmly anchored to the rhythmic and complex voicing’s underneath explodes into an infallible stream of infectious grooves. Meanwhile as time passes, I’m reminded as a self-proclaimed jazz enthusiasts I simply can’t ignore the fact that this project (among many by them) by this seasoned ensemble is worth recommending to virtually anyone I meet along the way that claims to love jazz.

New Releases [Jazz] … for the week of 8/16/2010

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Bob Mintzer, Esperanza Spalding, Jazz, Kenny Werner, Milton Nascimento, New Releases, Phronesis

Greeting’s jazz enthusiasts, I’m honored to be back this week with the enthralling new project “Chamber Music Society” by vocalist, songwriter and bassist Esperanza Spalding as the featured “Album of the Week” and Review.

As always, there’s another 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

Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society

Esperanza Spalding -][- Chamber Music Society – [Heads Up, 2010] – Review –

There are artists who seem to appear out of nowhere, their talented, exuberant and gifted beyond measure. In this case, we have the incomparable Esperanza Spalding– vocalist, songwriter and bassist extraordinaire is certainly one of those compelling artists. Esperanza arrives in the heat of summer with a delicious palette of creative and innovative music that could be viewed as her most satisfying recording to date “Chamber Music Society.”

At the moment, Esperanza is not limited to the backdrop of the jazz world. In fact, on her sophomore and self-titled project Spalding surprisingly caught the music world by storm with her inescapable vocals, style, and charm to lyrically exude her music effortlessly into a larger realm.