This was a dream band to write for and play with," alto saxophonist Michael Thomas says of Manuel Valera, Matt Brewer and Obed Calvaire, his A-list rhythm section on Illusion of Choice, his Criss Cross debut, and fourth leader album. "These musicians can play any style and sound like it's the only thing they play. I wanted to explore these different areas and cohere them into an album, not sound like tunes stuck together for a CD. Everything was on the table. I wasn't afraid to develop whatever ideas I came up with, and see where they went.

One marker of bassist Michael Formanek's creativity and versatility is the range of distinguished musicians of several generations he's worked with. While still a teenager in the 1970s he toured with drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson. Starting in the '80s he played long stints with Stan Getz, Fred Hersch and Freddie Hubbard. Formanek is also a composer and leader of various bands. His principal recording and international touring vehicle is his acclaimed quartet with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver. His occasional groups include the 18-piece all-star Ensemble Kolossus, roping in many New York improvisers he works with. In putting together the Elusion Quartet, interpreting his music with these specific musicians, Michael Formanek says he sought "a more direct connection to emotions: mine, theirs and the listener's. " Hank Shteamer writes in the liner notes: "As one zeroes in on the details of Time Like This, it's clear that this sort of emotional immediacy permeates the album. You hear it in Kris Davis' flowing, balletic solo on "A Fine Mess"; in Tony Malaby's ululating tenor cries on "The Soul Goodbye"; in Ches Smith's raucous grooves on "That Was Then"; or the leader's poised, sinewy lines on "Culture of None. " Elusive? Certainly. But as this album proves, under the right conditions, with the right personnel, it's still out there. "

Vilde Frang, partnered by pianist Michael Lifits, has assembled a programme that juxtaposes music by two violinist-composers of the early 19th century, Franz Schubert and Niccolo Paganini. While they lived vastly different lives and inhabited diverse aesthetic worlds, there are links to be found between them. Through the juxtaposition, Frang wants to highlight Schubert's capacity for virtuosity and Paganini's musicality and sensitivity. "It's the contrasts that appeal to me," she says. For her, the key connection between Schubert and Paganini is the inspiration they both found in the human voice. The album includes variations that Paganini wrote on themes from operas by Rossini (Tancredi) and Paisiello (La molinara), and the 'grand caprice' that the violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst - considered Paganini's greatest successor - based on one of Schubert's most thrilling songs, Erlkonig. It sets a poem by Goethe that tells of a frantic night-time horse-ride by a father and his young son, who is tempted by a wicked spirit, the Erlking. When they reach their destination, the child is dead. "This Erlkonig is a gift to the violinist. There is such precision and accuracy in Ernst's transcription - it works so well that it sounds like it was written for the violin. And then there is the challenge of characterising the galloping horse, the father, the son and the Erlkonig himself."

One of the hottest guitar slingers in Chicago, Coleman hits with his debut American release; in 1979, at the age of 23, he joined James Cotton's band & stayed with him for seven years - since then he's worked with Eddy Clearwater & Syl Johnson, and has had several European albums; the songs on this CD reflect his varied influences, from Junior Wells to Isaac Hayes to Jimi Hendrix.

Chicago music buffs eagerly anticipate the second weekend of June for the annual Chicago Blues Festival and if that weren't enough of an incentive to bring out-of-towners into our city, it's also when the Bob Koester's Jazz Record Mart hosts it's annual Blues Brunch. This CD was recorded at the 2005 Blues Brunch with Michael Coleman's group acting as the core band. Also features Willie Kent, Bonnie Lee, Little Arthur Duncan (all three now passed away making this disc all the more crucial), Lurrie Bell, Steve Freund, Zora Young, Shirley Johnson, Tail Dragger and Aaron Moore. An entertaining hour-long smorgasbord of no-nonsense straight ahead Chicago blues.

REVIEW

The Michael Bisio Quartet is a new kindred-spirit assembly featuring the veteran bassist alongside Mat Maneri (viola), Karl Berger (vibraphone) and Whit Dickey (drums). Their melodiously alluring debut album, MBefore, features the four virtuoso improvisers communing on a set of original compositions by Bisio & Berger, plus a free-minded take on the standard "I Fall in Love Too Easily". Michael Bisio has earned just praise for his textured solo performances as well as collaborations with the likes of veteran multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee. But it's perhaps his 13-year membership in the Matthew Shipp Trio that has earned him widest renown, having toured on both sides of the Atlantic along with recording numerous albums with the pianist. Cadence magazine marveled over the way Bisio's playing "seems to be produced by sorcery." From the liner by Matthew Shipp: "Michael Bisio is one of the greatest bassists on the planet - but this album isn't about his bass playing. It's about his humanity. Bisio is a thoughtful group leader who has a knack for bringing the right people together and setting them up in such a way that they feel at one with the group dynamic." MBefore is about the ensemble and it's collective consciousness - it's about the group aesthetic, with the resulting sound having a transparent quality. With vibes and viola, there's a sonic clarity, even a kind of sweetness. That clarity and transparency allows the contrapuntal quality of the music to be fully revealed - you can hear everyone's lines at once, and the subtle harmonies created by the crossing of those individual lines.

Hailed as "a blazing hot mess of awesome" by The New York City Jazz Record, the Michael Leonhart Orchestra (MLO) traverses a huge swath of musical terrain, guided by the highly developed ears, ceaselessly omnivorous tastes and playful yet meticulous artistry of it's leader, Michael Leonhart. Following their 2018 debut album The Painted Lady Suite, MLO will release their second full length, Suite Extracts Vol. I on August 30, via Sunnyside Records. // The surprising collection documents an aspect of the MLO 's mission: playing covers, but in the Leonhart way - with widely disparate material ranging from Fela Kuti to Spinal Tap to Howlin' Wolf to Ornette Coleman curated into song sequences, forming anarchic yet internally coherent thoughts on some of Leonhart's chief musical passions. The album features notable guests Chris Potter, Nels Cline, Donny McCaslin, John Ellis, Erik Friedlander and many others in the context of a vibrant and unclassifiable 20-piece ensemble. // The MLO has developed and refined the suites through the course of it's monthly residencies at Jazz Standard, one of New York's most prestigious jazz rooms. Leonhart continues to pursue his vision there, with unconventional instrumentation and a shapeshifting community of sought-after players from a variety of cutting-edge scenes and disciplines.

Michael Weiss - Homage Michael Weiss' new album affords us one of the most intimate and sustained views of his artistry to date. 'Homage' is a collection of compositions and arrangements that his trio have been developing and refining organically on the bandstand over many years. Featuring Weiss on piano, Paul Sikivie on bass and Pete Van Nostrand on drums and showcasing their subtle chemistry and rhythmic precision.

Michael Spyres is a singer who challenges and reshapes perceptions - as his albums BariTenor and Contra-Tenor have shown. Now, preparing for his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in Summer 2024, he searches In the Shadows to reveal more about Wagner and the origins of his music dramas. "Wagner evokes a varying spectrum of emotions - awe, ecstasy, even trepidation," explains Spyres. "This album endeavours to illuminate the composers who languish in the shadows, who formed the foundation of Wagner's compositions and sculpted the framework of vocal writing for the Wagnerian tenor." In the Shadows culminates with three arias by Wagner - from Lohengrin and the lesser-known Die Feen and Rienzi. Preceding them are early 19 th century arias by composers of the French, German and Italian schools: Mehul, Beethoven, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Weber, Auber, Spontini, Bellini and Marschner. Spyres' distinguished companions in his exploration are the players of Les Talens Lyriques and their conductor Christophe Rousset. Michael Spyres's new album seeks to illuminate the composers who "languish in the shadows": those who formed the foundation for Wagner's compositions and sculpted the vocal writing framework of the Wagnerian tenor. In performing and exploring works by pre-Wagnerian composers such as Auber, Bellini, Berlioz, Mehul, Meyerbeer, Rossini, and Spontini, he shines a light on the influences that shaped Wagner into the legendary composer he became. For Michael Spyres, Mehul and Spontini laid the groundwork for Wagner's orchestral and dramatic palette; Meyerbeer, Halevy, and Rossini shaped his understanding of compositional form, overtures, and the structural nuances of storytelling. On the his most recent album, Contra-Tenor, Gramophone wrote: "... it's an enthralling disc as one might expect, and the best of it is sensational indeed."

2022 release. Michael Feinstein reimagines the timeless Gershwin songbook through the contemporary lens of country music. Co-produced by Kyle Lehning, Gershwin Country pairs Feinstein with the biggest names in country, including Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley and Rosanne Cash. Booklet includes new liner notes. A portion of all album proceeds will benefit MusiCares, the charitable wing of The Recording Academy, which provides critical health and welfare services to members of the music community.

Complete on CD for the first time, the Deutsche Grammophon legacy of cult violinist Johanna Martzy, and of violist Michael Mann. Five original DG albums complete on two CDs. The brilliant tone and discriminating taste of the recordings made by Johanna Martzy (1924-79) mark her out among the finest violinists of her generation. Her EMI albums, supervised by Walter Legge, were once highly prized rarities. However, her recording career began with DG, who partnered her with two of their star conductors, Ferenc Fricsay and Eugen Jochum, in concertos by Dvorak (1953) and Mozart (No 4, from 1955). She had performed the Dvorak with Fricsay in concert, and their recording preserves a harmonious meeting of two fierily temperamental artists, widely rated among the best of the non-Czech recordings of the work. Plans for Martzy to record Tchaikovsky's concerto were abandoned when Legge poached her for HMV/EMI but subsequently lost interest. We are left with a small, precious legacy which opened in 1951, in the dying days of 78rpm recording, with her most constant recital partner, Jean Antonietti, at the piano. Encore pieces by Ravel, Milhaud, Falla and Szymanowski capture her Hungarian fire but do not represent her inclination away from virtuoso repertoire and towards the great sonatas and concertos. Mozart's F major Sonata followed, and then Beethoven's Op. 30 No. 3 as a coupling for the Mozart. When Martzy's encore pieces were reissued on LP, they were coupled in original fashion with two modern viola sonatas played by Michael Mann (1919-76), son of the novelist Thomas Mann. Mann's DG recordings were completed a few months later in May 1952 with the Quatre visages of Milhaud, issued on a seven-inch 45rpm disc; with this release they reach CD for the first time. In his time Mann was recognised as a fine musician in his own right and not merely his father's son. He played in the San Francisco Symphony before teaching German literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Tully Potter provides the fascinating background note.

After a miraculous triumph over a four year battle with a rare form of misdiagnosed Cancer that had him at death's door, internationally renowned pianist/composer Michael Wolff continues to celebrate his incredible recovery and life on "Memoir, " his first studio album in four years, set for release August 2, 2024 on Sunnyside Records. The highly anticipated collection will be available on Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, and Wolff's website (www. Michaelwolff. com) or wherever you purchase your music. Wolff is known for playing with a Who's Who of jazz legends from Cal Tjader, Cannonball Adderly, and Sonny Rollins, to his mentor and friend, Bill Evans, to Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, (he was also her musical director, ) Sheila E. , Christian McBride and so many more. In pop culture he's best known for his five-year run as the musical director and bandleader for Arsenio Hall on the star's award-winning, late night TV talk show. "Memoir" features Wolff in his trio with longtime collaborators bassist Ben Allison and drummer Allan Mednard, the 11-track collection is a deeply inspired compilation of new music and fresh interpretations of some of Wolff's favorite unreleased original compositions he decided to revisit. True to it's title, "Memoir" is a rhythmically dynamic, yet simultaneously soulful exploration that showcases the rich, intricate quality of Wolff's playing and the musicianship of all three artists. With over 21 solo albums to his credit, "Memoir" is one of Wolff's most personal and significant records to date. "I wanted every note and song to resonate emotionally with the listener and reflect the journey of my experiences. This album conveys a feeling that's very personal and thoughtful, but still has great energy, " stated Wolff. That 'personal feeling' is expressed in several ballads reflective of Wolff's more contemplative playing and composition, most notably on the charming and seductive "Afternoon" written spontaneously at the piano while his wife, actress/writer/director Polly Draper was busy in the kitchen on a sunny New York afternoon. A melancholy feeling is also expressed in another reflective piece, (and the album's sole cover, ) "You've Changed. " Originally popularized by Billie Holiday, Wolff's interpretation evokes an emotional and tactile feeling, motivated by his memory of finally waking up after so long and beginning the process of exploring his inner self. The record is a musical expression of Wolff's amazing life story and how his experiences have impacted his evolution as a musician whose fresh perspectives continue to move his music forward. "Memoir" follows the publication of Wolff's recent Amazon best-selling autobiography, "On That Note: A Memoir of Jazz, Tics and Survival, " which chronicles his life and musical career from his unique roots growing up in the segregated south, his lifelong struggle with Tourette's Syndrome, to his rise to fame in the jazz world and pop culture, and ultimately his amazing conquest over the grueling, life-threatening battle with the rare cancer that almost stole his life. "The pieces on 'Memoir' truly reflect who I am today as an artist and person, " he adds. "Having gone through the frightening cancer battle and facing my mortality has made me a more mature artist. Writing the book was like finding myself and this music reflects and builds on my personal story of struggle and ultimately triumph over the odds. " Wolff explains. "My intention was to create an album that would be an important testament to my life and music. I wanted to make everything as meaningful as I could, not pushing for anything specific, but simply going with the feeling. With this material I was a musical explorer, able to find the melody within the melody, always at the mercy of inspiration.. " Wolff expressed.

When we come to live with dogs we don't think, at first, about the proto-dogs some tens of thousands of years ago who first wandered into a group of humans and was taken in. We don't think, at first, about the subsequent years of shaping and molding and breeding and refining and tailoring that has resulted in the specimen of dog who appears before us today. And we definitely don't think, at first, about how profound it will be for each of us that this creature has wandered into human life - into our life. By the time we start thinking about these things, we are well on our way to the inevitable: the end of the lives of this animal - this character - who has slipped into our lives, our minds, our hearts. To live with dogs is eminently familiar - even ordinary, at first glance. But glance more, look closely at that warm form in your room looking back at you, and you see how unordinary it is. This keen-nosed, preternaturally agile and responsive animal, whose ancestors lived in earthen dens, who coursed together to take down large prey, is in your home - and you have forged a bond with them. The bond exists beyond words, forged in touches and gestures and gaze. They've become the breath we expect in the room, the greeting we anticipate at the door, the responsiveness that we look for from the world. Then they are gone, one day. They exit your room with the same abruptness with which they entered. In their absence the room is chilly, the world is flat. The Normyn Suites is an elegy; to listen is to spend time in that space of loss, reckoning, questioning, and mourning. At the same time, though, with each note, each phrase, we are propelled back into life. To listen is to hear that heart beat again in your head; it is to fill that room with warmth and meaning. It is to remember their presence, the softness of their ears, the affection in a lick. You can feel their pools of eyes gazing at you. You know they are running across that field, just out of your view. They are just behind that door, in the other room, down the hall. You nearly hear the thump of their wagging tail on the floor. I used to think of the end of a dog's life only as absence. But it is also a presence, for they, irrevocably, change us. I am half me, half the dogs I've known. And I'd have it no other way. Normyn, a long-eared, short-legged spirit, is woven into Leonhart's music, and I now am pleased to say I know her, too." -Alexandra Horowitz (author of "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know")

The moving performances on Mike Clark and Michael Zilber's Mike Drop show that kindred spirits can be found no matter the distance. Though both Clark and Zilber came from the West Coast, they found their connection in a love of the serious soul of one of New York City's distinctive styles: a seriously swinging, free range jazz.

Modern day record producers often find themselves in the unfortunate position of hiring studio fixers and technology experts to make presentable records. This project required none of that. Simply putting 4 masters of the craft together on stage at a jazz club in Los Angeles and engaging a Grammy winning recording engineer to capture it all over 2 magical nights of live performance was all that was required. The fact that Michael Wolff, Mark Isham, Mike Clark and John B. Williams had known each other for their entire careers only enhanced the whole enterprise. The camaraderie and mutual respect is apparent in every track. From the heartfelt ballads of Wolff and Wayne Shorter to the high energy of Wolff's Lagniappe" (the 13th treat of a baker's dozen), to the groove of Clark's "Loft Funk", the listener is included in improvisational music making at it's finest. So sit back and enjoy the ride..." -Nic. tenBroek, Producer (Los Angeles, CA)

Natural Habitat is a collection of music composed over the last decade, much of it written around the time I moved from Boston to New York City. During my first few years living here, I would frequently travel back and forth to perform, and the excitement and energy I felt at that time is expressed in these songs. The title track is the oldest tune we recorded - when it was composed in 2009, the manuscript simply said "Untitled Swing". For a while, that title stuck and became somewhat of a joke when I would play it on gigs, but in 2018, I was back in Boston and found myself performing it again at the same venue (and with some of the same musicians) as when I had composed it nearly a decade before. The title Natural Habitat came to me, as it suddenly felt like I knew where that tune belonged. // The other music on this recording was written while I was settling into life in New York City - which now feels like my natural habitat, both physically and musically. I chose material for this project that represents how I feel living and working in this environment. The variety of meters, forms, and intensities heard in these songs mirrors the unpredictability of daily life here, but the excitement and energy I feel when performing in this city is unparalleled. -Michael Thomas

Acclaimed jazz pianist Michael Wolff has confirmed a February 7th, 2020 release date for his joyful new album,'Bounce'. Exuberant, beautiful and able to convey a range of emotions, 'Bounce' reflects Wolff's upbeat state of mind following his 'miraculous' recovery from aggressive cancer. He comments, "Isn't it great to be alive? I'm celebrating life every day. This album is dedicated to that celebration. Come Bounce with us!!!!!! I have the good fortune to play with these fantastic musicians: Ben Allison on bass and Allan Mednard on drums. Their playing, ideas and vibes imbue this music with creativity and soul. It's really a listenable album. I thought about what I'd like to listen to at home, and tried to make that album."

TIDDY BOOM

ELVIN JONES PROJECT

ACROBAT: MUSIC FOR & BY DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Michael Schopper, who is known predominantly as a singer, performs here as a pianist.