2023 release. Short Stories, bassist Vicente Archer's debut album, is a family affair. Vicente brings together long-time friends and collaborators Gerald Clayton on piano and Bill Stewart on drums to dive into stories and songs from his 25 year career making music with luminaries like Robert Glasper, John Scofield, Nicholas Payton and Norah Jones. More than a musical memory box, however, Short Stories is a look at life, and little moments, in sketches of sound.

EASY SAILING

ACTIVE SLEEP

DOWN IN THE BOTTOM

BLOW UP

Jeb Patton - Preludes - Springing forth from the competing impulses that were the isolation of the 2020 COVID lockdowns and the creative burst that many individuals experienced, Patton, a pianist whose personal humility, deftness of touch, and deep understanding of the jazz tradition has earned him frequent company in the bands of Jimmy Heath and Charles McPherson, presents here a fine recording of former miniatures that may have begun life as pianistic exercises aimed at technical self-improvement, but quickly transformed into fulsome and satisfying artistic ensemble creations. - Classical and jazz, the so-called modern and the antiquated, & the progressive and traditional coexist beautifully in the hands of pianist Jeb Patton.

Dayna Stephens - Closer Than We Think / 2019 Down Beat Rising Star of the Tenor Saxophone - Dayna Stephens is also globally recognized as a composer, arranger and educator. His new album 'Closer Than We Think' ruminates on how similar we really are. Stephens has chosen a set of songs that speak to our core as conscious beings regardless of origins. It features a new quartet with Emmanuel Michael, Kanoa Mendenhall and Jongkuk Kim.

Jim Rotondi - Finesse - Trumpeter Jim Rotondi has been a major figure in the world of jazz for over 30 years, both in New York and on the international scene. His sound, soul, and sense of swing have been in demand as leader and sideman all over the world. For his new album for Cellar Music, Rotondi has joined forces with arranger Jakob Helling and the Notes & Tones Orchestra to record some incredible versions of his own compositions with big band and strings.

Steve Ash - You And The Night / For NYC based pianist Steve Ash, the trio is the ultimate format for creative expression. On his new album for Cellar Music, Ash partners with bassist Harvie S and drummer Alvester Garnett, two valued musical associates who bring a wealth of experience and vibrancy to the recording. Recorded in Ash's living room, with Harvie S expertly engineering the session, 'You And The Night' eschews studio standards. Yet the music offers a crispness and clarity to rival those productions.

The 5th album in the Smalls Living Masters series finds tenor titan George Coleman in the company of pianist Spike Wilner, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Joe Farnsworth in the intimate confines of Smalls Jazz Club. In the words of George Coleman "this record is a tribute to our great city and all of our great fans." Coleman is on fire and sound better than ever!

THINK TANK

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Love is the organic thread that ties the repertoire together. You could say this is a love letter to my wife Margaret and my daughter Mary (pictured on the cover) to whom the title track Wonderful is dedicated. It is also meant to shine a particularly bright light on my daughter Mary, who is multiply disabled and truly Wonderful. I chose the titles for their significance to my life's journey after my daughter Mary made her entrance 19 years ago - a journey that has proven to me, without a doubt, that love is the most powerful force in the universe. I can't even begin to list all the incredible things I've learned from her, but it was my love for her that led me to start the Disability Pride Parade in New York City. The idea was to bring large numbers of the disability community out for a joyous day of celebrating who and what they really are: just another diverse and beautiful aspect of humanity. I hoped that once non-disabled people saw this big party coming down the street, they would want to join it, and that is exactly what happened. Once the hang was on, barriers and divisions fell away, and the word disability began to be redefined. When I started out, I had no idea how to create a parade or a non-profit organization, but through Mary I found strengths in myself that I didn't know I had. When people thank me for my work creating the parade, I always tell them it wasn't me - it was Mary. Mike LeDonne

ZAP

BAILE BONITA

FIRE WALTZ