Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Wallace Roney's music is a tough, taut and intransigent continuation of the arcane forms and structured freedoms of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Listeners often associate Roney with Davis, thanks to Roney's work with the jazz legend early in Roney's career. But at this point, Davis' impact on Roney can be considered mostly historic, with Roney's playing larger in scope, firmer in tone and sharper in attack than Davis'. Today, Wallace's set lists feature easy-on-the-ear themes that mask harmonic complexities, while solos are fueled by strong moods and sustained rhythmic drive informed by the spectre of Davis but far from imitating him. With the Grammy-winning composer/pianist Patrice Rushen on hand with guest reedman Gary Bartz and Wallace's sidemen of choice, Ben Solomon, tenor sax, Buster Williams, bass and Lenny White, drums, the musicians deliver a blisteringly accomplished and creative session.

Larry Coryell, along with colleague John McLaughlin, nearly single-handedly redefined the technique and sound of jazz guitar. A true eclectic, armed with a brilliant technique, Larry is comfortable in nearly every style, covering almost every base from the most decibel-heavy, distortion-laden electric work to the most delicate, soothing, intricate lines on acoustic guitar. On this best-of anthology, Coryell's crackling up-tempo bursts and rough-hewn energy give this music a vividness and infectious enthusiasm that should appeal to a wide spectrum of the guitarist's jazz and fusion fans.

Don Braden may be best known for his work with television funnyman Bill Cosby, but his musical talents go far beyond this arena. Having replaced Branford Marsalis in Wynton's combo and having appeared with Betty Carter, Roy Haynes, Dr Lonnie Smith, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams and the Mingus Big Band it is clear that his abilities on the tenor sax are formidable. Braden is smooth and has killer chops, George Colligan plays supportive piano, and Cecil Brooks III has a propulsive style on drums which nicely compliments Joris Teepe's big robust bass sound. But the hero of the date is Braden himself. Whether lingering effortlessly on ballads or burning down the town, Braden's playing is a model of tasteful energy and disciplined brilliance.

CHICAGO FIRE

Legendary jazz writer Nat Hentoff wrote in a lengthy article about Jeremy Pelt in the Wall Street Journal, "It is the beat of Jeremy Pelt's heart... that underscores the future of jazz." High praise indeed but Pelt lives up to it on every gig and with every new recording. FACE FORWARD, JEREMY is a multi-textured, thought provoking release which incorporates a sparing use of electronica along with unexpected acoustic instruments such as the cello and harp. The result is a wildly imaginative sonic landscape that exists in it's own time and space as defined by the artist and the leader himself.

Heralded for years as one of the rising stars in jazz, Jeremy Pelt has earned accolades for his staggering virtuosity, which has elicited comparisons to trumpet icons like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, as well as for his studious, cerebral approach to the music. While he's clearly the man in charge here, Soul is very much a band-focused release, with all five members of the group heard distinctively and insistently throughout.

Jeremy Pelt stands as a strikingly unique musician, his work consistently sleek and polished yet bristling with the spirit of invention flourishing in a lean, modernist language influenced by classic bebop phraseology. He delivers his lines with authority and economy, the pinpoint accuracy of his tone well-suited to the heightened elegance of his delivery. With pianist Simona Premazzi laying down the changes and Ben Allison's bass lines, Jeremy is joined by the twin drums of Billy Drummond and Victor Lewis for a session of originals, standards and music by Wayne Shorter and Clifford Jordan.

RUSSELL GUNN PLAYS MILES

PRIME: LIVE AT THE DOWNTOWN ROOM

Rare live performances from 1950-1958 featuring Bean a.k.a. Coleman Hawkins with such sidemen as Pee Wee Russell, Charlie Shavers, J.C. Higginbotham and others. Includes some of his best-known tunes, too- Body and Soul; the Man I Love, and a seven and a half minute rendition of Avalon !

MYSTIKAL

WORKIN

POWER TRIO: LIVE IN CHICAGO

WORK DONE

Young jazz lion, trumpeter, Russell Gunn reutns with this Blue on the D.L., a great blues-based, classic jazz album containing a fierceness of attack! It's refreshing to find jazz of such aggressive tension and darkenss amid today's "smooth" and "tehcno" trends.

(7-CD set) String Quartets Nos. 1-12 focus on Wadada Leo Smith as a composer for strings. Smith began work on his first string quartet in 1965 and has composed string quartets and other works for strings throughout his career. Smith has also featured strings on a number of his other major works, including Ten Freedom Summers in 2011, Occupy The World in 2012 (TUM CD 037-2) and Rosa Parks: Pure Love in 2016/17 (TUM CD 057).String Quartets Nos. 1-12 represent a magnificent addition not only to Smith's own recorded output but also to the literature for modern string quartet music in general. Compositions vary from relatively brief, one-part quartets of highly evocative and at times meditative soundscapes to the groundbreaking "String Quartet No. 11" that fills two discs with it's nine movements. String Quartets Nos. 1-12 were recorded by the RedKoral Quartet. The group was brought together by Smith during his tenure at CalArts and was featured on the recording of Ten Freedom Summers more than a decade ago and again on Rosa Parks: Pure Love as well as on numerous live performances of Smith's string quartets and other works over the past decade. In addition, featured soloists on the recording include harpist Alison Bjorkedal ("String Quartet No. 4"), pianist Anthony Davis ("String Quartet No. 6"), percussionist Lynn Vartan ("String Quartet No. 6"), guitarist Stuart Fox ("String Quartet No. 7") and voice artist Thomas Buckner ("String Quartet No. 8") as well as Wadada Leo Smith himself on trumpet ("String Quartet No. 6" and "String Quartet No. 8").

YEAR OF THE ELEPHANTS

ON MEANING

TRAVAIL TRANSFORMATION & FLOW

DEMIAN AS A POSTHUMAN

(3-CD set) Trumpet is a unique three-CD boxed set of solo trumpet music recorded over one week in the beautiful natural acoustics of St. Mary's Church, the medieval stone church in the Town of Pohja on the Southern Coast of Finland. All compositions are by Wadada Leo Smith. Trumpet represents a culmination of Smith's recorded solo trumpet work that has comprised a total of six albums before Trumpet, starting with his very first album as a leader, Creative Music - 1: Six Solo Improvisations, in 1971 and ending with his dedication to Thelonious Monk, Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk, in 2015.

Wadada Leo Smith's latest album features "Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs," another extended composition by Smith inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States. This new major work is composed for the iconic civil rights hero Rosa Parks (1913-2005) and performed by three vocalists, a double-quartet and a drummer with electronics. The album is released in February 2019 to celebrate Rosa Parks' birthday on February 4.

Ex Machina is a collaboration between saxophonist/composer Steve Lehman, whom the New York Times has called "a state-of-the-art musical thinker," and Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ) that goes far beyond anything attempted before by a jazz big band. Featuring compositions by Lehman and Frederic Maurin, ONJ's artistic director, the work incorporates elements of French spectral harmony into it's compositional framework while also integrating live, interactive electronics developed at IRCAM in which abstract electronic sounds react to soloist improvisations in real-time. The new work is inspired by Lehman's Octet, whose groundbreaking work were the first to utilize spectral harmony's complex sonorities within a jazz context. Their critically-lauded releases Mise en Abime (Pi 2014) and Travail, Transformation and Flow (Pi 2009) were voted the #1 album of the year in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll and the #1 jazz album of the year in The New York Times, respectively.

Hailed by The New York Times as "a state-of-the-art musical thinker with a reputation for sure-footed futurism," and "one of the transforming figures of 21st-century jazz" by The Guardian, saxophonist/composer Steve Lehman has built a career creating innovative new music that packs the visceral wallop of live performance. Acclaimed for his groundbreaking work of melding spectral harmonies with modern jazz, he was voted the "#1 Rising Star Jazz Musician" in the 2015 Downbeat International Critics Poll and his prior album Mise en Abime the #1 Album of the Year in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll. Lehman continues his boundary-breaking work in a different vein with Selebeyone. The powerful new album draws from modern jazz, the rapping of Senegalese artist Gaston Bandimic, the underground hip-hop of HPrizm (aka High Priest of Antipop Consortium) and live electronics to create a dynamic form of urban experimentalism. Shifting rhythms, otherworldly electro-acoustic harmonies, contemporary sound design, and vocal gymnastics abound. And rather than simply co-existing and accommodating one another, the lyrical and the musical elements of Selebeyone are entirely integrated in exciting new ways. Add to that the unique juxtaposition of English and Wolof and one senses the unveiling of an entirely new musical realm.

Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman has arrived. The New York Times described his 2009 release Travail, Transformation and Flow as a breathtaking accomplishment and it's #1 Jazz/Pop CD of 2009. That album solidified Lehman's status as a young visionary composer with powerful new ideas about the future of jazz. On Dialect Fluorescent, Lehman defies his reputation as a future-fixated modernist and combines his own state-of-the-art compositions with a program of compositions by jazz legends like John Coltrane and Jackie McLean. But this album isn't just about paying homage every piece is treated as an opportunity to demonstrate a broad continuum of possibilities within the jazz tradition.

Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra performs two masterpieces for the Fault Zone Festival April 21 2022. Distant Radio Transmission Fault Zone and Sustain and Run II features Roscoe on Alto Sax, James Fei on Synth, vocalist Thomas Buckner and a stellar thirty piece orchestra.. Also from the festival is Cards in 3D colors a duet written by Mr Mitchell for Piano and Violin and two Pieces from Space Trio

MISE EN ABIME

ONECEPT

SHAKTI

CORRIDORS & PARALLELS