For the first time, an intimate view of what happens at a John McLaughlin recording session. Filmed over a period of five days, during the making of John's new record Floating Point, you can see how great musicians work together with spontaneity and vitality. For this meeting of the minds John invited some of the most outstanding instrumentalists including Indian vocalist Shankar Mahadevan. Through the interviews of all musicians, you will get to know how they approach John's compositions. In addition, there is an extra audio track with John commenting on the entire recording. This movie lifts the curtain on the making of music today.
2009 marks the return of New York based guitarist Wayne Krantz. Few musicians are capable of handling, or willing to face, the degree of risk Krantz throws himself into so intently. His dangerous, boldly imperfect music is almost entirely of the moment, and has won him an increasing amount of underground buzz as something of an anti-guitar hero. Now, with "Krantz Carlock Lefebvre", his first album for artist friendly, eclectic label Abstract Logix, he is returning to a recording studio for the first time in over fifteen years. Featuring drummer Keith Carlock and bassist Tim Lefebvre.
Known globally for his uncompromising musical vision, staggering virtuosity and deep reserves of soul, Wayne Krantz is one of very few modern guitarists to venture beyond the instrument's limitations and create an identifiably original style and sound. Good Piranha/Bad Piranha is his full-throttle double-take on four contemporary pop and hip-hop songs, from which he plunders the textural, rhythmic and harmonic intrigue that has come to define each of his unique projects. Krantz has scaled back the setting and material for his tenth outing as a leader. Good Piranha/Bad Piranha finds his trio in the studio revisiting a selection of cover tunes they performed during legendary recent appearances at the 55 Bar in Greenwich Village.Joining Krantz on Good Piranha/Bad Piranha are his longtime trio mates Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Sting) on drums and Tim Lefebvre (Tedeschi Trucks Band) on bass. Recent cohort Nate Wood (Kneebody) reprises his chameleonic role in Krantz' touring band, appearing here on bass for the first versions of the four tunes and then on drums for the second. The material is delicately enhanced by occasional vocal interjections courtesy Gabriela Anders.
New York based plectorist extraordinaire Oz Noy makes his Abstract Logix debut with "Twisted Blues", his most eclectic album to date that displays his signature guitar sounds as well as for the first time showcases his profound love of blues, featuring Chris Layton and Reese Wynans of the legendary Steve Ray Vaughn Band. Oz is a chopsmeister of the highest order with a wealth of weapons in his trick bag. A master manipulator of tones and effects, he can deftly switch from lacerating single note work to Leslie-imbued organ stylings (a la Charlie Hunter) to jaw-dropping wah-wah-inflected lines. Sometimes within the same song (as he does so nonchalantly on the scintillating title track). And while he emigrated to New York City in 1996 from his native Israel, you'd swear he had a lengthy stopover in New Orleans by the sound of his authentic second line groover "Oh Really" featuring Allen Toussaint and his interpretation of the Meters' funk anthem, "Cissy Strut. " Twisted Blues was recorded partly in Austin which featured the legendary Eric Johnson on guitar, Chris Layton on drums, Roscoe Beck on bass, Reese Wynans on the organ. The New York Sessions featured the amazing Vinnie Colaiuta and Anton Fig on drums, Will Lee on Bass, John Medeski and Jerry Z on organ, Allen Toussaint on the piano and Ralph McDonald on percussion.
Wayne Krantz uncharacteristically digs deep into the archive to release what was to be his first record, 1985's "Music Room." The 28-minute, 6-song CD testifies to the fact that even 35 years ago, before getting any professional experience as a sideman or leader, Krantz was already running with a distinct stylistic take on the art of the groove, on the synthesis of pop and jazz, on the song-over-solo sensibility that has driven many of his subsequent 11 official releases. "Music Room 1985" is a heretofore unknown blast from the past, resplendent with accounts of the present and rumors of the future. It's a time capsule filled with vitality, humor, romantic notions and - dare I say it - hope.
With his newest album, Liberation Time, McLaughlin draws from one of humanity's most fraught, uncertain epochs to produce music that gracefully reflects the uncertainty, vulnerability, and slowly awakening joy of our times. A direct response to the mandated restrictions imposed by the spread of Covid-19, the album is - unusually for McLaughlin's recent projects - not the work of one fixed ensemble. With physical proximity no longer a prerequisite, McLaughlin drew upon decades of experience as a bandleader to select musicians best suited to each composition. "As the Spirit Sings" introduces the album by contrasting churning rhythmic tension (stoked by drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Sam Burgess) with McLaughlin's soaring guitar figures - all underpinned by Gary Husband's subtle, supportive piano. The knotty post-bop figures of "Right Here, Right Now, Right On" mark one of the most jazz-inflected performances McLaughlin has laid down in some time, featuring Nicolas Viccaro (drums), Jerome Regard (bass), Julian Siegel (tenor saxophone), and Oz Ezzeldin (piano). The sense of brotherhood that bonds McLaughlin's current 4th Dimension ensemble (McLaughlin, Husband, bassist Etienne Mbappe, and drummer Ranjit Barot) is on full display during "Lockdown Blues," a playful refraction examination of blues tropes first released last summer to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America. With vaccination campaigns now in full effect and a more promising tomorrow coming into view, Liberation Time's title track can be felt as visceral anticipation - a rousing glimpse into an unbound future rich with possibilities. And while much of Liberation Blues revels in the sort of spontaneous interplay that has been denied by Covid restrictions, some of the album's most touching moments feature McLaughlin alone at the piano - an instrument he has not recorded on since his 1973 collaboration with Carlos Santana, Love Devotion Surrender. Liberation Time is a product of it's times, and yet it looks both forwards and backwards - at once drawing upon memories of better days yet reaching for a new dawn. Looking back at the album's transcontinental sessions, McLaughlin concludes, "The wonderful thing about music is that you put the headphones on and you are all in the same room."
Brand new live record from guitar master Oz Noy with the amazing Dennis Chambers (Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin) on drums and Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) on bass. Recorded live at The Stages Music Arts in Maryland on December 29, 30, 2022.
New York guitar phenom Oz Noy is that rare artist - one who has cultivated his own distinct voice within the context of classic structures. His latest album, Booga Looga Loo reawakens timeless Boogaloo meets Jazz meets R&B grooves with Noy's extended, unpredictable harmonic sensibility, stinging phrasing, and deft musical economy. Helping to realize Noy's concept of the boogaloo record is a cast of musicians equally versed in the backbeat and the beyond, including drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl and Steve Ferrone; bassists Will Lee, John Patitucci, and James Genus; and keyboardists Jerry Z and Brian Charette. Other contributors include Kevin Hays, Seamus Blake, and Anne Drummond.
On his farewell "Meeting of the Spirits" tour of America (2017), boundary-shattering English guitarist John McLaughlin teamed with one of his favorite musicians, American guitarist Jimmy Herring. Jimmy's band the Invisible Whip and John's band 4th Dimension join forces to resurrect the sound, spirit and classic tracks of the Mahavishnu Orchestra as you hear this concert at the Warfield Theatre. The groups wield telepathic interplay on "Meeting of the Spirits," "Birds of Fire," "The Dance of Maya," "Trilogy," "Be Happy," "Earth Ship," "Eternity's Breath" and more! Abstract Logix.
