Olivier Le Goas: Recording a new album for piano–bass–drums trio felt like an important step in my career, since it is at the piano that I compose most of my music. Kristjan Randalu's rhythmic precision, the depth of his sound and the sensitivity of his touch confirmed without a doubt that he was the pianist who wasperfectly suited to my music.

AMNESIA is an intimate yet universal odyssey: While exploring themes of alienation from nature, self and home, it's songs represent a search for deeper connections, a pursuit of the beautiful and the cathartic on the way of finding one's place in the world.

The BuJazzO premiere took place in January 1988. The first record release was in the same year. 35 years... "35 Years": this new album in an impressive series acts like a cornucopia of ideas and stylistic ingredients. But it can hardly be more than a kind of opulent teaser for all that BuJazzO currently is.

His compositions are ambitious, idiosyncratic and imaginative. Nevertheless, the purely physical component of making music is an essential factor for Jonathan Salvi. "When I play the vibraphone, I dance!" This is also conveyed when you experience him live, as people tell him time and again. The impression of dancing is reinforced by the fact that the Swiss musician always plays with four mallets. His excellent technique goes hand in hand with improvisational brilliance

"Our new album In Between is a homage to those intermediate states, those moments of laughter and crying in which music stands against the rational order of our daily life and makes room for our souls.” Singer Juliana Blumenschein and guitarist Florin Küppers are musical storytellers. On In Between they tell stories situated between North and South America, more precisely from the Great American Songbook to the sambas and bossa novas of Brazil.

The Leipzig pianist and composer Jonas Timm and his seven-piece band not only captivate the listener with all his senses, but also take him along in the variety of his emotions. What seems to begin like an acoustic film noir, becomes more cheerful as the album progresses, and continues to go through more and more emotional states without ever becoming predictable. Much is reminiscent of Latin American dances, French chansons, soundtracks from old films and sometimes jazz.

You now hold an album in your hands with nine songs about longing for distance; the desire for closeness; about change; transience and a new start; as well as the question: where do I belong?

Gottwald and his quartet Prisma – with the decisive addition of guitarist Christina Zurhausen – play seven compositions by the trombonist. Gottwald's formative influences ranged from Kid Ory to Albert Mangelsdorff, and the universal aspiration he places on his instrument is best embodied by a musician like Ray Anderson.

Oscar Pettiford. The Clash Art Blakey. A Tribe Called Quest. Charles Mingus (with Eric Dolphy). Only People Do The Killing. Cannonball Adderley. Primus. The Ornette Coleman Quartet. When Moritz Koser, bassist and composer from Frankfurt/Main, talks about points of reference and important influences, it goes all the way through music history. Gnar Gnar Rad, the quartet from Frankfurt, is his band. "Gnar Gnar Rad" is the album debut: a strong statement with which he effortlessly bridges the gap between jazz history and current trends.

Magic … is one of the most overused terms for describing music. You seldom hear something that is really magical. On the other hand, the American bandleader Ray Anderson is a magician if there ever was one. His magic wand is the trombone. He masterly breaks down the boundaries between magic and reality, spirit and the physical, tradition and utopia.

Seen as one of the promising pianists of his generation, Arthur Possing has a very natural approach to music. The Luxembourgian started with classical percussion and added soon classical piano, before discovering the world of jazz.

The alto saxophonist Markus Harm from Nuremberg releases with "Foresight" the third album. The sound of saxophonist Markus Harm is mellow and sensual, and it combines optimally with the excellent guitar work of Christoph Neuhaus.

Drummer Mathieu Clement is only 21 years old, and he was only 20.at the time of recording “Coming Home”. Jazz is in the best hands with this young group, all of whom are younger than thirty. Mathieu Clement's sextet celebrates the balance between tradition and modernity with great enthusiasm and shows that the label "Jazz thing Next Generation" is a never-ending source.

Elegance and passion are the outstanding qualities of Hungarian jazz pianist Mátyás Bartha, and he recorded his second album “From This Moment On” in trio format once again: "As a pianist, you really want to play in a trio," he believes, "because you can't hide behind a wind player."

A trombone solo album is not exactly an everyday commodity, because the instrument is considered somewhat bulky, unwieldy and grumpy. In the hand of a master like Ray Anderson, however, one wonders how these prejudices could have come about, because he simply makes music with the trombone. "I've had this idea in my head since I started playing solo concerts in 1982," Ray Anderson recalled. "Anthony Braxton recorded the solo record ‘For Alto’ in 1969, where the challenge of playing an instrument alone without accompaniment is particularly interesting. So why not on the trombone too? Albert Mangelsdorff has recorded beautiful solo albums, and that by George Lewis is also very inspiring.”

CONTENTS:

• Roswell Rudd: Keep Your Heart Right
• Ray Anderson: Marching on, Blues for John Lewis
• Ellington: Just Squeeze Me
• Ray Anderson: Early Morning in the Andersonorious Jungle
• Coltrane: Equinox
• Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain, Pierre Norman: You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
• Ray Anderson: Choppers
• Ray Anderson: The Sisyphus Effect
• Mancini, H: Moon River

REVIEW:

Trombonist Ray Anderson draws on New Orleans parade traditions, Chicago street smarts, New York assertiveness and a lifetime of often challenging experiences to provide this enriching album.

-- Downbeat

Chris Potter writes: “Jim McNeely has always been one of my favorite composer/ arrangers, so I was thrilled to get the chance to work with him on [this] piece inspired by one of my favorite compositions, The Rite of Spring. He also arranged some of my music in a way that made me hear my own compositions in a fresh way. The band was a total delight to work with and played beautifully throughout, and I’m very proud of the result.”

REVIEW:

"Rituals," both the name of the album and of the work which accounts for a majority of its runtime, was originally commissioned as a tribute to Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” for a performance marking the 100-year anniversary of the Paris premiere of the “Rite.” It is fascinating to observe how McNeely pays tribute to the source while creating a work that is distinct, separate and his own.

In the course of Chris Potter’s solos and cadenzas in “Rituals”, he seems to capture the essence of the work’s fecund chaos. It sounds as though he is giving his absolute all and relishing every moment (in this position, it is hard to imagine any other soloist doing a better job). He is also composer of the final four tracks on the album, all still arranged by McNeely. 

The union of a composer such as Jim McNeely, at the height of his abilities, with the virtuosic powerhouse that is Chris Potter, supported by one of the world’s most accomplished bands, has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, this is an album that seems to successfully fulfil expectations and keep delivering new revelations.

-- London Jazz News (Charles Rees)

Anton Schwartz (tenor sax) Peter Bernstein (guitar) Taylor Eigsti (piano) John Shifflett (acoustic bass) Tim Bulkley (drums) Produced by Bud Spangler and Anton Schwartz. Recording and Mixing Engineer: Dan Feiszli. Mastering engineer: Paul Stubblebine. 'Radiant Blue' had a long run on the US jazz radio charts, peaking at number four and earning a JazzWeek cover story. 'Much like Chris Potter, Anton Schwartz is a nice and unassuming guy to talk to, yet both turn into modern day tenor titans as soon as they put the mouthpiece between their lips... There's a lot to like here with sharp arrangements and crisp straight ahead playing that seems to hit all the right notes.' - Tad Hendrickson, JazzWeek Magazine '... this is a first-class audiophile product.' - John Henry, Audiophile Audition 'Anton Schwartz and his sidemen are deadly serious about their fun... they are all adept at staying in the pocket while stretching it. As for Schwartz, he has a classic clear-throated tenor sound and kicks like a mule. His zeal to communicate is fervent yet sophisticated... Radiant Blue could make an excellent introduction to jazz for someone on the outside looking for a way in.' - Thomas Conrad, Jazz Times Magazine 'This is grade 'A' 'all-killer-no-filler'... The five musicians are virtuosos, endowed with temperance, eschewing gratuity for the greater good of the music... Schwartz' compositions are engaging and sophisticated... these are truly unique musicians of the highest order.' - Jan-Mikael Erakare, Abstract Logix 'Schwartz blows with a warm, fluid tone, and great economy... his decisions all sound right... This ensemble shines.... The music bins are full of bluesy jazz albums; this one brims with optimism and intelligence.' - Ed Kopp, JAZZIZ Magazine The liner notes from the CD: THE BLUES IS A FEELING THE BLUES IS A FORM The blues is a feeling. The blues is a form. Two statements about music. You've likely heard the first one at some point, but perhaps not the second. So I'd like to explain a bit. Music is nothing without feeling, and nowhere is this more true than in blues music. Blues greats such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and B.B. King have been masters at conveying emotion, and they passed down as their legacy an emotional vocabulary of musical riffs, stylings, phrases and techniques that form the vernacular of blues music. But no less a part of their legacy is a contribution of a different nature: the blues *form*. In poetry, a sonnet is distinguished by it's form - a particular fourteen-line structure. So, too, much of blues music conforms to a particular structure - a distinct sequence of chords twelve measures in length. That structure has come to permeate popular music far beyond the genre of blues. 'Rock Around the Clock' is, structurally, a perfect blues. So is the theme from *Batman*. And Charlie Parker's 'Now's The Time.' But none of these would be called blues music. So when jazz musicians say, 'let's play a blues,' what they are proposing is not a song with a certain feeling, but a song with a certain structure. Radiant Blue is a collection of ten blueses - which is to say, ten songs based on the blues form. To be sure, there are stylistic elements of the blues in many of the songs (check out 'Sneaking Suspicion' and 'Blues for Now'). But most of the music is not particularly bluesy. The grooves run a wide gamut, from fast straight ahead jazz to New Orleans to Afro-Samba to feel-good South African to angular funk. _Radiant Blue_ is a CD of blueses, but it is not a blues CD any more than The Who's rock opera, *Tommy*, is an opera CD. If you're familiar with music theory, you'll know that I've taken many liberties with the blues form throughout the CD. But my hope is that, regardless of your musical knowledge, with a few listenings of the CD you will be able to 'squint your ears' and make out the shape of a blues, in the same way you might recognize an old friend at a distance by just their silhouette and their walk. For jazz musicians, the blues form is such a friend. - Anton Schwartz, June, 2006, Oakland.

Ray Anderson (born October 16, 1952) is a jazz trombonist. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument. He is a colleague of trombonist George Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings. He was frequently chosen in Down Beat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. After studying in California, he moved to New York in 1973 and freelanced. In 1977, he joined Anthony Braxton's Quartet (replacing George Lewis)and started working with Barry Altschul's group. In addition to leading his own groups since the late '70s (including the funk-oriented Slickaphonics), Anderson has worked with George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. In the '90s, he began taking an occasional good-humored vocal, during which he shows the ability to sing two notes at the same time (a minor third apart). Anderson has worked with David Murray, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Dr. John, Luther Allison, Bennie Wallace, Gerry Hemingway, Henry Threadgill, John Scofield, Roscoe Mitchell, Randy Sandke's Inside Out Band, Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra, Bobby Previte, George Russelland others. Anderson is a member of Jim Pugh's Super Trombone with Dave Bargeron and Dave Taylor. He received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a series of solo trombone concerts. Anderson has frequently returned to his early love of New Orleans music for inspiration. His Alligatory Band and Pocket Brass Band, featuring tuba player Bob Stewart or sousaphonist Matt Perrine and trumpeter Lew Soloff, are rooted in it's tradition. Since 2003 he has taught and conducted at Stony Brook University.

Glacial Voyage is an evocative exploration of sound and memory, brought to life by the dynamic collaboration between guitarist Christy Doran and pianist Izumi Kimura.�The album paints vivid sonic landscapes, reminiscent of the rhythmic push and pull of waves upon a shore or the quiet contemplation of a starlit coastline.

The two saxophonists Philipp Gerschlauer and Gebhard Ullmann deal in detail with the realm of microtones on "Twelve + 1 Murals". Nevertheless, this advanced duo project sounds very accessible on "Twelve + 1 Murals"; the music is of a peculiar beauty and exudes a mysterious charm. It has nothing to do with an intellectual mind game.

Beethoven and Sumo wrestling-bold bridges of a free spirit. Daring throws with Beethoven in mind. Bold and fearless: on the mat with Beethoven

Each of the pieces in this programme is like an ephemeral castle that I can take refuge in when I feel like it, says Sebastien Llinares. The French guitarist, who stands at the crossroads of classical, jazz and contemporary music and also produces the programme Guitare, guitares on France Musique, here puts his playing at the service of every kind of music. Jimi Hendrix's Castle Made Of Sand was the inspiration for this programme; Sebastien Llinares hears in it the unchanging open string that the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos so often used. His journey continues with tributes to famous songs by Bernstein, Gershwin and Rodgers & Hart, an evocation of Rufus Wainwright and Baden Powell in the forms of the Habanera and Bossa Nova - not forgetting a tribute to Django by John Lewis as well as Leonard Cohen's eternal Hallelujah, which takes on the air of an ancient canario when played on the classical guitar. Two bagatelles and an impromptu composed by Llinares himself complete the family portrait.

Amanda is now releasing her third album on the Ladybird label.

Amanda once again invites the listener to her well-turned and swinging melodic jazz in Swedish, but the listener can also sense a sour self-distance in the middle of the warm and everyday considerations.

Amanda Ginsburg sings about the simple in everyday life, the seemingly banal stories that make up a large part of all of our lives, and she does it with gusto. Today she is one of Sweden's biggest jazz artists and constantly plays to sold-out houses around Sweden. Amanda has won Jazz of the Year at the Grammy Awards in both 2019 and 2021 and has participated in Allsång at Skansen, SVT's National Day celebration, Nyhetsmorgon, Go Kväll, Doobidoo, and På Spåret. She has also received several prizes and scholarships, e.g., Sweden's composer/lyricist's Jazz Prize and the country is full of young people who are introduced to jazz music by listening to and playing Amanda's music.

The critically acclaimed singer and songwriter Hannah Svensson releases a new album - this time in the spirit of Christmas - in the company of a group of eminent jazz musicians. Klas Lindqvist, who is considered one of the country's most prominent saxophonists; Sven-Erik Lundeqvist, one of the new generation's most personal and listenable pianists; the seasoned bassist Mattias Svensson, who is considered one of the Nordics' foremost; as well as the brilliant drummer Paul Svanberg.

Isabella Lundgren - vocals
Carl Bagge - piano - music arrangements
Musica Vitae - string ensemble

On the 20th of January 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of America. In his speech, he said: “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” With those words, he echoed the lyrics from the song "Pick Yourself Up," written by Dorothy Fields in 1936. Dorothy Fields (July 15, 1904– March 28, 1974) was an American librettist and lyricist. She wrote over 400 songs, 15 Broadway musicals, and 26 films. Her strong characterizations, her precise language, and heartfelt and humorous approach have granted her a special place in the history of American music and popular culture.

This album is a love letter to this remarkable woman who was way ahead of her time. /Isabella Lundgren