Guitarist/composer Davy Mooney knows just how special these experiences are and wanted to capture the essence of their magic on his new recording, Live at National Sawdust. On the recording, Mooney brings together his incredible Hope of Home band, featuring saxophonist John Ellis, pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Brian Blade, to play old and new material for a receptive group of listeners at Brooklyn's National Sawdust and to conjure a fabulously warm and heartfelt performance that can be revisited over and over. // Mooney and the Hope of Home Band assembled at National Sawdust on January 27, 2020 with engineer Sascha von Oertzen. Of course, live recordings have their challenges. The performers have to consider the audience and can not just start over again. But that is precisely why live recordings can be amazing. The emphasis on being in the moment supercedes the idea of perfection, typically producing compelling performances. // The pieces that Mooney brought to record were a mixture of staple pieces from his repertoire going back for nearly 15 years and new pieces that were written with the promise of this recording. Some of the older pieces are rarities that the guitarist brought out from his first recordings from 2009, Astoriano and Last Train Home, a duo album with John Pizzarelli.

Born to an American mother and a German father, Roemer grew up in a bi-lingual household in Frankfurt, Germany. She began piano lessons at six and then began singing in church and with a traveling choir; her first efforts at songwriting took place by the age of nine. Roemer was taking classical voice lessons as a teenager when she met a professional pianist who invited her to sing popular tunes and standards with him at a local lounge, and soon they were performing together regularly. // Choosing to continue her music education, Roemer received a scholarship to attend Concordia College in Minnesota for a year before she returned to Germany. Roemer enrolled for her bachelor of science at Frankfurt University but soon impulse led her to move to Paris, where she spent three years performing regularly at cabarets and clubs and hosting a jam session, along with studying vocal jazz at the Paris Conservatory. On a summer trip to New York, she fell in love with the City. Roemer moved to New York soon thereafter and dove directly into the jazz scene there, performing regularly at Rockwood Music Hall, Jazz at Kitano Hotel and Cornelia St. Caf�, and completing her Master of Music in jazz studies at Queens College. Roemer was anxious to record as soon as she arrived. One of the many musicians she met was bassist Alex Claffy, whose enthusiasm for collaboration motivated Roemer to push through the production of House of Mirrors. Roemer set up recording dates and they brought on pianist Addison Frei and drummer Adam Arruda.

Regarding the trio on this recording: every beat Buster Williams plays is imbued with tremendous individuality and power. Billy Hart's shimmering ride cymbal is a constant revelation. Billy turned 80 the week of this recording, and Buster is close in age to Jarrett. // This album is dedicated to Keith Jarrett and his incredible body of work.

Pianist Noah Haidu has etched out an uncompromising identity as a pianist and composer by balancing cutting edge songwriting with stirring improvisations. On his new Sunnyside release Doctone, Haidu reaches a new level of self-expression while exploring the work of one of his major influences, the late Kenny Kirkland. As Noah writes in the liner notes: "Doctone is the first recording dedicated entirely to Kirkland's original music. I view Kenny as the most unique composer and pianist of his generation. Because he died young and avoided the spotlight, his brilliant compositions have been overlooked for too long."

The title of saxophonist/composer Adam Kolker's new recording, Lost, comes from a composition by the legendary Wayne Shorter, an obvious master of thoughtful intention and extemporaneous expression. Kolker has sought to find a similar esthetic in his own work and has achieved that on his new recording that finds him in the company of an ensemble of friends, making fantastic, explorative music without ego. // Kolker's initial concept for this recording was for it to be a collection of Shorter's pieces. But as time went by, Kolker realized that everything that he writes or plays utilizes Shorter's influence as inspiration; Shorter was one of the main innovators of the modal harmonic revolution, which brought on moods and tensions being generated by the use of certain modes. This realization freed the recording of conceptual restrictions and allowed for a broader array of expression from the exceptional ensemble that Kolker put together. // The quartet that was assembled includes longtime collaborators and friends, all equal in making this remarkably communicative music. Pianist Bruce Barth has been a sounding board both on and off the concert stage, his ease and wit fitting easily alongside Kolker. Bassist Ugonna Okegwo remains one of the steadiest timekeepers and most powerful accompanists. Drummer Billy Hart is remarkable on every level, bringing energy and an air of professionalism to everything he does.

This is Cullman's first fully cooperative album with longtime friend and collaborator Jimi Zhivago (Glen Hansard, Ollabelle). Many of the songs were assembled during writing sessions where the two of them played ideas off one another, working through melodies and rhythms until the pieces were fully in sync. Zhivago was crucial in helping to shape eclectic sounds to Cullman's lyrics & melodies // Since recording his last album, The Opposite of Time, Cullman has been back and forth to Lisbon, recording and performing as part of Rua Das Pretas, a loose and ever-shifting group of Brazilian, Portuguese and international musicians dragging fado & bossa into the future, as well as into the nearest tavern. Cullman also composed music for the upcoming film The Bay of Silence, starring Brian Cox & Claes Bang, and continues to write regularly for The Paris Review. And all of these elements, the travel and the homecoming, the poetry of the streets and the thunder in the distance found their way into the songs and the sound.

Summer walks in Brooklyn's Prospect Park led Glenn Zaleski and his wife to the sanctuary of The Vale of Cashmere, a small, secluded pond densely populated with flowering trees. This became a favorite spot for Zaleski to meditate. It also became the spot where he began to compose and catalog music for an upcoming August performance, where he intended to revisit his favorite ensemble format, the quintet.// Zaleski's choice of instrumentalists was easy and inspired. He knew that he wanted to feature the incredible sound of tenor saxophone and trumpet as leading voices. Saxophonist Lucas Pino is one of the pianist's oldest friends and collaborators, so there was no question about his involvement. Trumpeter Adam O'Farrill is a more recent acquaintance but one that Zaleski wanted to revisit after first playing with O'Farrill seven years ago.// The rhythm section includes two musicians that Zaleski has long admired and performed with. Bassist Desmond White has been a regular collaborator with the pianist since college and drummer Allan Mednard has been a favorite time-keeper on many stages.

I planned Benny's Crib to be a continuation of the ensemble cast I'd presented on Then and Now, which is my working trio augmented by three guest performers, flautist Anne Drummond, vocalist Veronica Swift and percussionist Josh Jones for a few of the selections, as a further extensions of my basic instrumental palette of piano, bass and drums. With Anne's flutes and Veronica's voice, I like to "stack" or "layer" a virtual "few" of them to make chords and counterpoint, sometimes doubling the clusters I play on the piano with my right hand. // Bassist David Wong has now worked in my band longer than anyone, seven years, and again lends his impeccable service to Benny's Crib. The lone variation in personnel from the previous album is our new drummer, Aaron Kimmel, who we love. // It somehow just came about in the recording sessions and production of this album, that I found myself gravitating to the Rhodes quite consistently. Along the way, it occurred organically rather than by pre-conceived design that this is an all-electric piano album. That said: I don't believe that I was seeking to make any more of a statement by featuring the Rhodes on this album than simply going with my heart in what I was hearing at the time.-Benny Green

The United States has been in the midst of a foreign military engagement nearly every year since composer Joel Harrison's birth in 1957. This endless state of war has had lasting impacts on the country's wellbeing, and far reaching repercussions on generations of soldiers and their families. Guitarist and composer Joel Harrison's new large ensemble recording, The more that he wrote, the more effective the music became. Harrison then received grants from the Aaron Copland Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts, which led to a revamping of the charts and a recording in January 2019. There were a number of goals: to create music with pathos and intensity, to utilize unusual orchestration such as timpani, The ensemble includes 18 musicians game to the task of presenting this demanding and emotionally charged music. Matt Holman was called in as conductor, and expert instrumentalists like trumpeters Ingrid Jensen, Dave Smith and Seneca Black, trombonists Curtis Hasselbring and Alan Ferber, and a "murderer's row" of woodwinds, Ben Kono, Jon Irabagon, Stacy Dillard and Ken Thomson, make the music incredibly rich and emotive.

There is a rooted and natural expressiveness in the music of guitarist Steve Cardenas. He has developed a spacious yet personal style that reflects his influences but has also broadened them into a palette of many hues. Cardenas's new recording, Blue Has a Range, presents a new view of his breadth as a player, composer and collaborator, remaining attached to the essence of jazz, while alluding to blues in all it's tones. // Cardenas's ability has provided him opportunities to play in situations of many varieties. Beginning in his hometown of Kansas City and settling in New York City, Cardenas's path has been full of remarkable associations. Notably as a longstanding member of groups led by legendary jazz artists such as bassists Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow and John Patitucci, as well as drummers Paul Motian, Joey Baron and Adam Nussbaum. // It was only natural that Cardenas would pick friend and longtime collaborator, Ben Allison, to play bass, co-produce and mix the recording. When Cardenas was confirming Cowherd's availability in July 2019 to record, Cowherd informed Cardenas that he would just be concluding a run at the Blue Note with drummer Brian Blade's Life Cycles band. Blade was free after the Blue Note run, and so the band was set. Soon after, with these musicians in mind, new compositions began to flow from Cardenas.

Pianist, composer and arranger Carolina Calvache on her new album: "Vida Profunda is an ode to poetry and to life. The chosen poems and my original lyrics are the best vehicles for me to open my heart to the world because they relate to events that happened in my life or to people close to me. The title song comes from the poem Canci�n de la Vida Profunda (Song of the Profound Life) by Colombian writer Porfirio Barba Jacob. The second title "El P�jaro Yo" (The Me Bird) has the same name as the original poem by Chilean writer Pablo Neruda. The text of the song "Hope" is extracted from the poem "Lift every voice and sing" by African-American poet James Weldon Johnson. The song "Childhood Retreat" is based on the poem with the same name written by American poet Robert Duncan. "El Rastro" is extracted from the short story "El Rastro de tu sangre en la nieve" (The trail of your blood in the snow) by Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia M�rquez. The song "Let Me Come With You" is extracted by the poem "Moonlight Sonata" by Greek poet Yiannis Ritsos. The original songs "No te vi crecer", "Te conoc� de nuevo", "Stella", "Sin un Despido", are some of my stories and my first attempt to write lyrics." // The album features the voices of Ruben Blades, Claudia Acu�a, Sara Serpa, Marta Gomez, Aubrey Johnson, Haydee Milanes, Sara Serpa, Lara Bello, Luba Mason, Sofia Ribeiro.

Miles Davis's Birth of The Cool sessions, were recorded in 1949 and 1950 and released in 1957. More than fifty years later, when young trumpeter Bobby Spellman purchased a CD of these recordings, he became enchanted with the music. Spellman's fascination with these performances led him to chase that same spirit for his own collection of nonet recordings, Revenge of the Cool // Spellman found after studying the scores that much of the attraction came from the unique colors and textures that were generated by the unique mid-sized ensemble along with the unique compositional style that lent itself to both jazz and classical styles, prefacing the Third Stream movement that would come soon after. // To build his nonet, Spellman looked toward many of his NEC peers, including baritone saxophonist Tyler Burchfield, alto saxophonist David Leon, bassist Andrew Schiller, trombonist Tim Shneier, drummer Evan Hyde, pianists Ben Schwendener and Eli Wallace. Spellman's wife, alto saxophonist Emily Pecoraro (who is featured on the first track), introduced Spellman to French horn player Kyra Sims, whom she met in New York and who shares the duty with her friend Justin Mullens. Tubist Ben Stapp is another New York addition to the group. // The music began to take shape when Spellman was able to find a bi-weekly residency/rehearsal for the nonet in a Brooklyn restaurant. He then began to find other performance opportunities in Brooklyn, including The Owl Music Parlour, Scholes Street Studio and Shapeshifter Lab, allowing the ensemble to add material and flesh out their pieces during rehearsal.

There is music that seemingly possesses mystical qualities, transcending the temporal; qualities that musicians seek in order to reach higher planes in the subconscious and to communicate between collaborating sound makers and their listeners. Exploring these paths in music typically leads musicians to other like-minded individuals in search of the sublime. // Jazz history is rife with examples of these musical seekers. Saxophonist John Coltrane and pianist McCoy Tyner come to mind immediately. Guitarist Ray Suhy and pianist Lewis Porter come together on their new recording, Transcendent, under the influence of these wayfaring heroes to create music that reaches magical heights of musical interaction. // Porter has been well known in the New York City jazz scene for some time. Porter has also played an important part in advancing the music's legacy as a scholar. He has written important books on the subject (including the impressive John Coltrane: His Life and Music) and has been a professor and director of Rutgers-Newark University's Jazz History program. // Guitarist Suhy came to jazz early in life, as he was introduced to the music of Miles Davis and Coltrane during his formative years. He attended Berklee College of Music and the New School before moving back to Maine, where he taught and became involved professionally with bands ranging from metal to jazz. Now based in New Jersey, Suhy is best known as the lead guitarist in Six Feet Under, a widely touring and influential death metal band.

Over the years I've had the opportunity to perform in a wide range of venues-from jazz festival stages for thousands of outdoor fans to jazz clubs with fewer than a hundred listeners. And while there is a special excitement in sharing music with a huge crowd, I find myself drawn more to the intimate settings, like Mezzrow. Spike Wilner and his staff have created a unique place for music in a long basement room in NYC's Greenwich Village. He keeps his Steinway Grand in perfect shape; the acoustics are miraculously superb; and people are really listening. During this trio gig with Buster Williams and Matt Wilson, it felt like we were all in it together-players and listeners deeply involved in the emerging music. // This CD marks our 18th year as a trio, and though we don't perform that often, due to the complexities of schedules and the demands of my psychiatric practice and teaching, the music has continued to evolve. Our two nights at Mezzrow were inspiring, and I hope you will enjoy this CD, our 5th album together.-Denny Zeitlin

In the early 1900s B�la Bart�k was introduced to the folk music of the Romanian people in Transylvania. His immediate infatuation with the music led him to a lifelong pursuit to record and catalog these beautiful regional pieces. Bart�k spent eight years traveling the Romanian countryside recording and transcribing these pieces, which he would spend the rest of his life collating into six catalogs containing over three thousand tunes, simply entitled Romanian Folk Music. The composer's own compositions would be influenced at every level by his folk studies. // A century later, three outstanding improvisers - Mat Maneri, Lucian Ban and John Surman - draw fresh inspiration from the music that fired Bart�k's imagination, looking again at the carols, lamentations, love songs, dowry songs and more which the composer collected, in the period between 1909-1917.

There are reasons aplenty for the music listening population's attention being swayed by Lead Belly. The songs that he sang were appealingly forthright and uncomplicated. His voice and powerful 12-string guitar were strong and enticing. Because of his magnetism, Lead Belly's music remains a touchstone in blues's evolution into rock, soul and jazz music. // Two years ago, Sunnyside released drummer Adam Nussbaum's first true recording as a leader, and fantastic tribute to one of his idols, The Lead Belly Project. Nussbaum's band of saxophonist Ohad Talmor and dual guitarists, Steve Cardenas and Nate Radley, ably channeled a program of Lead Belly tunes chosen by the leader, mainly culled from the Folkway Recordings 10-inch records Nussbaum grew up listening to. The project allowed Nussbaum to show another side of his musical character that he hadn't previously been able to showcase regularly during his remarkable forty-year career. // In July of 2019, Nussbam and the ensemble returned to Talmor's home studio, Seeds, in Brooklyn. They recorded with no separation between the musicians and entirely live. The musicians' comfort with the material and each other can be heard in the results, as the pieces have an emotional intimacy that goes beyond their prior efforts. The result of these recordings can be heard on their new album, Lead Belly Reimagined. There are reasons aplenty for the music listening population's attention being swayed by Lead Belly. The songs that he sang were appealingly forthright and uncomplicated. His voice and powerful 12-string guitar were strong and enticing. Because of his magnetism, Lead Belly's music remains a touchstone in blues's evolution into rock, soul and jazz music. // Two years ago, Sunnyside released drummer Adam Nussbaum's first true recording as a leader, and fantastic tribute to one of his idols, The Lead Belly Project. Nussbaum's band of saxophonist Ohad Talmor and dual guitarists, Steve Cardenas and Nate Radley, ably channeled a program of Lead Belly tunes chosen by the leader, mainly culled from the Folkway Recordings 10-inch records Nussbaum grew up listening to. The project allowed Nussbaum to show another side of his musical character that he hadn't previously been able to showcase regularly during his remarkable forty-year career. // In July of 2019, Nussbam and the ensemble returned to Talmor's home studio, Seeds, in Brooklyn. They recorded with no separation between the musicians and entirely live. The musicians' comfort with the material and each other can be heard in the results, as the pieces have an emotional intimacy that goes beyond their prior efforts. The result of these recordings can be heard on their new album, Lead Belly Reimagined.

Saxophonist/composer Sam Decker has focused much of his energy into purely improvised music. The Illinois-bred, Brooklyn-based Decker focused the past six years on developing music that blended his fascination with folk-inflected sounds of composers like Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok and Dmitri Shostakovich with the color and power of improvised music. The outcome is his first release that fits squarely in the jazz realm of composition meeting improvisation, namely, Shrove.

My vision for UNISON has evolved since our first performance in 2017. I've endeavored to go deeper into honoring my influences and collectively, we've been refining our musical interactions although if I say so I felt like we started off in a pretty magical place. Some of the music presented here was composed or arranged specifically for this trio and some found a new home here. Originally I imagined UNISON might perform mainly jazz standards, exploring the influences that formed my foundation and entrance into jazz (Oscar Peterson Bill Evans Keith Jarrett Ahmad Jamal.) Like the unexpected joys of an improvisational journey our collective conversation guided our path towards the intersection of our combined sensibilities - joy risk & trust. For now here is where we live.

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."

The music of drummer/composer Dan Weiss always exceeds expectations. No matter the musical situation, he tends to push the boundaries of genre, ensemble sound and expectations. The title of his new trio recording, Utica Box, is a fitting conflagration of a barbaric psychiatric treatment, the Utica crib, and Weiss's tendency to write and perform music that is outside the box.

Nonagenarian saxophonist Lee Konitz has been a featured soloist for many decades and has become a legend for his intriguing contributions to many well-known jazz dates with a wide variety of ensembles. Woodwind player, composer and arranger Ohad Talmor has been an important part of Konitz's musical sphere for the past three decades, providing the elder statesman numerous opportunities to contribute his celebrated alto sound. // Konitz and Talmor have reunited a version of the Lee Konitz Nonet to release a new recording, Old Songs New, where the unique ensemble of winds, strings and percussion comes together to anchor Konitz's flights of fancy.

The great bassist and composer Charles Mingus had his diehard supporters and detractors. His explosive intermingling of devil may care attitude, imposing character and aggressive music was sure to rub some listeners the wrong way and was just as likely to attract adventurous fans. But his genius could not be denied; it just may have taken some time to break down barriers. // A good way to examine this change in listener attitudes is to investigate the differences in critical appraisals from two performances in the port city of Bremen, Germany, a decade apart. The initial performance in 1964 introduced Mingus's firebrand ways to an unsuspecting audience while his 1975 appearance was met with the expectancy of jazz royalty. The performances appear in their first official release remastered from the original source tapes on Charles Mingus @ Bremen 1964 & 1975. // Both of Mingus's performances in Bremen are incredible marathons of brilliance from the top musicians of two decades. The performances don't show a wilting in the passion of the leader. A decade apart, the performances are every bit as cutting edge. The only thing that seems to have changed was the attitude of the critical mind, as ten years of achievement had cemented Mingus's legacy in Europe.

A chance to host The Musicians' Show on Columbia University's WKCR made Ingram decide to explore jazz's use as a protest music. The music that he leaned toward was not overtly or loudly political, it did not catch the listener by force and volume. It tended to use subtle communication through the music. Herbie Hancock's "The Prisoner" and Milton Nascimento's "Fairy Tale Song" were perfect examples of artists thoughtfully utilizing their craft to generate nuanced and affecting messages.

The saxophone quartet is a tricky ensemble that is at the same time a lot of fun but very demanding technically. The saxophone quartet celebrates the instrument offering a lot of commonality, since they are all playing the same instrument, which embodies a rich legacy and history in jazz and contemporary music. The composers have to approach the ensemble as a chamber group with each member being especially responsible rhythmically. Remember the sax quartet configuration does not include a chord or rhythm instrument but, as you hear on this recording, the harmonic texture is quite pronounced and there is nothing musically missing.

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