Veteran Seattle bassist Chuck Deardorf brings together longtime musical friends and compatriots for this album, filled with spontaneous interaction, gritty grooves and melodic beauty. With the quartet of pianist Dawn Clement, drummer Matt Wilson and saxophonist Hans Teuber, Deardorf explores deep and seldom-heard compositions by Kenny Barron, Keith Jarrett and Monk, while a second trio with Marc Seales & Gary Hobbs performs music by Jack DeJohnette and even the "Blind Faith" rock classic, "Can't Find My Way Home." "Perception" displays an inspired group aesthetic, as it provides a look into the creative vision that has made Deardorf a favorite musical partner to the countless jazz legends he's accompanied over the years."... a strong and smart bandleader... His own voice is the primary unifying factor. He is a quick, clear rhythm-section player and an articulate, interesting soloist... " - Jazztimes

Matthew Shipp Trio + Nicole Mitchell - "All things Are" - Matthew Shipp (piano), Nicole Mitchell (flute, alto flute), Michael Bisio (double bass), Newman Taylor Baker (drums)

Collection of 14 songs performed in Cantonese, "Song Book" by award-winning vocalist Roger Chung featuring Jezrael Lucero on keys is a selection of jazzed up cantopop standards from the period 1981-2002. This Hong Kong Song Book concept is inspired by the Great American Song Book, which is an unofficial collection of songs from Broadway musicals, Hollywood movies and classic tunes popular on the radio, such as Somewhere Over the Rainbow (from The Wizard of Oz). First of it's kind in Hong Kong, and one of the very few in the world, "Song Book" is a vocal-piano jazz duo concept album which has been descried by Hong Kong's own grandmaster of audiophile production Clarence Chang as "instantly creating history." These cantopop standards are performed in a style that is reminiscent of the classic Tony Bennett/Bill Evans vocal-piano duo album released in 1975, the 40s-60s supper club lounge shows and speakeasy jazz bars.

Chicago-based alto saxophonist and composer Greg Ward (Tortoise, Lupe Fiasco, McKaya McCraven) presents a new group, Rogue Parade, featuring a quintet of heavyweight creative Chicago musicians: Matt Gold and Dave Miller (guitar & effects), Matt Ulery (bass), and Quin Kirchner (drums). Following his critically acclaimed Greenleaf debut Touch My Beloved's Thought (2016), which was a re-imagining of the music of Charles Mingus, Stomping Off From Greenwood highlights Ward's skills as a writer and arranger with a set of eight new compositions that explore this unique two-guitar instrumentation, which blends the acoustic and electronic sonic worlds. The group honed their ensemble sound during a month-long residency in Chicago, followed by extensive touring in the Midwest, before heading into the studio to capture the band's energy on record. In addition to the original material, the band presents Ward's moody arrangement of the jazz standard " 1) Metropolis 2) Excerpt 1 3) The Contender 4) The Fourth Reverie 5) Let Him Live 6) Black Woods 7) Pitch Black Promenade 8) Stadust 9) Sundown

The Hierophant is a spectacular new suite of Zorn compositions drawing inspiration from the mystic world of the Tarot. Scored for classic jazz piano trio, the music is powerful and varied, hitting upon a wide range of styles, emotions and moods. Passionately performed by three members of Zorns inner circleBrian Marsella (piano) Trevor Dunn (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums) these magical and moving pieces are not like any piano trio you have ever heard. Thrilling and beautiful mod- ern chamber music featuring three new music virtuosos at the very height of their powers!

Moen began his career as a keyboard player in a Norwegian metal band at the age of 13. His interest in jazz became serious when studying at Musicians Institute, Los Angeles and was further developed at Berklee College of Music, Boston."I wanted a band rather than a "Bernt Moen Trio" project, hence the formation of Dualistic.

Yellow River marks the 4th album in 36 months by Jim Stephens on Ropeadope. This offering follows 2016's Soul debut On our Way To Forever; 2017's Delta Blues duo album Box Car Blues featuring BoyWonder; and 2018's Genre-defying 20-song double album Philasippiola Soul. Yellow River brings some of Stephens' All-Star New Orleans and Philly collectives together for a 10 song tour-de-force which is deep-rooted in Jazz, Soul, Blues, and Funk. The album was primarily recorded over 2 days at the legendary Esplanade Studios in New Orleans. Stephens wrote 6 of the songs, while personalizing and re-working cover songs and traditional gospel. Once again he delivered on the production and arrangements while playing lap steel, guitar, and harmonica. Shaun Martin joins the band as pianist for 5 of the 10 songs, with Deej Roisin accompanying Martin on organ, and taking lead on the other piano tracks. Will Winborne Jr., an integral member of Stephens' band, as well as performing regularly with BoyWonder, The Village People, and rising hip-hop stars XPresidents, lends his organ and rhodes work to the title track and accompanying Martin on organ on Stephens' Norah Jones'- inspired take on The Band's "Bessie Smith." The horn section features a pair of living legends in Big Sam Williams and Jeffrey T. Watkins (James Brown's horn director for the last 12 years of Brown's career, now with the New Orleans Suspects, who on top of his tenor work, stepped in for the intricacies and finalizing the horn direction on the album). They are joined by the elite talents of Lori LaPatka on alto sax, and Ian Smith on trumpet. The rhythm sections are broke into 3 groups featuring: Jerry JBLAKK Henderson and Milk Williams of Big Sam's Funky Nation; Sam Price from Honey Island Swamp Band; and Sam Shahin and Noah Young from Naughty Professor and Big Freedia's band. Stephens' band featuress 3 amazing vocal talents in Ja-Tun Thomas, Andre "BoyWonder" Coles (who also plays guitar on the album), and Ariel Skye, all of whom shine on duets and solo appearances - most noticeably on Stephen

For his first album on Origin, veteran New York vibraphonist Dan McCarthy gathers with some of the most creative and interesting improvisers in jazz - violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Steve Swallow and guitarist Ben Monder. Crafting an elegant program of impressionistic originals, McCarthy uses them to highlight the unique color and texture of the instrumentation, along with these master performer's eloquent use of mood, subtlety, timbre and patience. Sharing sonic territory with classic albums by Eberhard Weber, or several of John Abercrombie's ECM recordings, McCarthy's new offering engages with disarming beauty. "An extraordinary musical ability and a boundless imagination" - Gary Burton."A vibraphonist with a charismatic and pointedly contemporary style" - Nate Chinen, NYT

June Christy was one of an elite coterie of singers during the post-war decade who readily spanned the big band, cool jazz, and sophisticated pop genres. This great-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises a significant proportion of the studio and 'live' recordings she made with Kenton's orchestra.

Pianist Brittany Anjou has explored everything from Ahmad Jamal to Bikini Kill between her roiling original compositions inspired by Bartok, Stravinsky, Red Garland and McCoy Tyner. It makes great artistic sense that the title of her first major piano trio album and the five-part suite contained within is in Esperanto, the "constructed" international language. Just as Anjou's English-language title "Reciprocal Love" becomes Enamigoh Reciprokataj (En-"h-mee-joh Reh-sih-pro-k"h-tye), so too does the mainstream language of the piano jazz she loves get translated into something strikingly different and psychically original.

Larry Carlton and special guest Robben Ford sharing the same stage, unplugged. This DVD is a guitar lovers dream. This unique pairing of great guitar legends delivers and unforgettable evening of dueling guitar solos and an uncompromising evening of the Blues the way it was meant to be.

Alternate takes on a Monk solo LP are a revelation, and this reissue of his 1965 Columbia solo LP is packed with seven of 'em plus an additional bonus track!

Bright Dog Red (BDR), an improvising collective from Albany, New York, fuses free improvisation, electronica, jazz, hip hop, psychedelia, and noise music. BDR will release How's by You? September 13, 2019, the ensemble's second album for Ropeadope Records, the influential Philadelphia area imprint. How's by You? follows BDR's Ropeadope debut, 2018's Means to the Ends, celebrated for it's "exploratory sounds" (The Bolg) and "spirited and inspired jazz that skillfully weaves in... electronica and hip-hop" (Blue in Green Radio, UK). Ropeadope, long at the nexus of jazz, hip hop, and electronica, has proven an apt partner for BDR's "innovative and psychedelic mesh" of those genres (The Alt Weekly). Since partnering with the label, the group has enjoyed a widening audience, including increased recognition in North America, the UK, and Europe. Hailed as "Sonic Groundbreakers" (Nu Jazz Sounds, UK) and a "band on the rise" (The Bolg), BDR stands poised for increased notoriety with the release of How's by You?. BDR's regular performances at New York destination venues like ShapeShifter Lab, Nublu, and Spectrum, have garnered the ensemble comparisons to "Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Digable Planets" (Paul Schulman), "electronic Ahmad Jamal, " (Don Lucoff), and to other psychedelic, jazz fusion, and hip hop luminaries. The band has also earned esteem among contemporary musicians representing a wide swath of genres. Live looping artist Adam Ahuja of Infinity Gritty has implored his followers to immerse themselves in BDR's "self-reflective swing hop." Internationally renowned DJ M A N I K, has heralded BDR's "dope fusion improv" on his syndicated podcast Welcome to My Crate. Bass virtuoso and neuroscientist Tyreek Jackson, who often plays with the group, credited BDR with expanding his horizons, "Playing in this band, where you know that things can change at any time, has opened up my ear... I become a better listener after every BDR gig."

For the second installment of an ambitious five-CD project, undertaken to observe his fiftieth birthday, master bassist Rodney Whitaker convenes a world-class sextet to pay homage to the oeuvre of Duke Ellington. It's a subject that Whitaker came to know intimately during his 9-year tenure with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, regarding it as his Ph.D in Ellingtonia through performance, deep study, and spirited conversation with Wynton Marsalis and bandmates through those years. With a front line of modern jazz masters - Brian Lynch, Michael Dease and Diego Rivera, the fiery, modern aesthetic of drummer Karriem Riggins, along with pianist Richard Roe and vocals by Rockelle Fortin, Whitaker celebrates the timelessness of Ellington's works by allowing them to live and breathe through the freewheeling, "cutting session" atmosphere he created for the session.

If music is still an industry Jared Pauley has dabbled in just about all of it as a performer, educator, composer, concert producer, talent agent, archivist, author, and researcher. He was born and raised in Charleston, WV. He started playing guitar at the age of ten, but didn't take it all too seriously. As a teenager, he was heavily influenced by hip hop music, taking up emceeing at an early age. As his curiosity about samples and beats expanded, he started to explore instruments again. At the age of 17, he started to play keyboards and developed a strong interest in improvised music. He studied jazz piano under pianist Bob Thompson and the late pianist and composer Jay Flippin (Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett) at Marshall University. During this time he performed with Cuban trumpeter/pianist Arturo Sandoval and also made an appearance at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival. In 2006, he moved to New York City to continue his academic pursuits. During this time he immersed himself in the burgeoning jazz scene, which included frequent hangs at jam sessions (Smoke, Fat Cat, EZ's Woodshed) throughout the city. Along the way he worked a number of different gigs. He was a writer for jazz. Com for a couple of years, did some work for Oxford University Press, worked as an archivist for writer Will Friedwald, and helped produce and promote shows that featured luminaries like Patti LaBelle and rising stars such as Esperanza Spalding. While working behind the scenes, he continued to write, record, and perform as a sideman. Over the years, he has performed at a number of NYC venues including the Blue Note, The Bitter End, Drom, Nublu, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2016, he began crafting songs for his debut recording Systematic. Included on these sessions were legendary drummer Mike Clark, trumpeter Duane Eubanks, vibraphonist Eldad Tarmu, and bassist Leon Lee Dorsey. In 2017, he performed and recorded with Ropeadope artist Brad Farberman's band Middle Blue. He is featured on their 2018 release Love Songs along with Mike Clark, bassist Danny Tamberelli, and Rope

Xavier Lecouturier is a picture of intuitive concentration and joy. - All About Jazz. A young and vital member of the Seattle jazz scene, drummer Xavier Lecouturier discovered a circle of like-minded and talented colleagues after arriving in town from the Bay-Area. "Carrier" documents a collection of the original works they've been performing around the region over the last two years, as they looked for, and found, their voice. Featuring through-composed pieces drawing from numerous influences, this album encapsulates the sound, interplay, and collective compositional styles as they nudge boundaries, while staying rooted in a passionate study of the jazz tradition.

Aaron Whitby is an award-winning record producer, composer/songwriter, pianist, engineer and educator born and raised in London, England, and a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York. With Cousin From Another Planet his debut album as frontman, Whitby comes full circle to his jazz and funk roots pulling together an amazing cast of friends to realize his musical vision, as described by renowned music writer Greg Tate, of "a funk-da-fied jam session feel undergirding tight, knotty jazz-smart progressions". With tunes inspired by the animated energy and profound innocence of his young son, humorous lyrics that celebrate empathy and empowerment and musicians given the freedom to take the music wherever it feels good, according to Tate, this album is "one of this era's hardiest re-dedications and festival-tent revival of soulful and exploratory jam-gnocity." Cousin From Another Planet live onstage is a music and visual experience accompanied with video art by VJ Lady Firefly (Dave Chappelle, The Roots) to capture the colorful, cartoonish and movement-inspired worldview. Whitby is best known for his work with longtime collaborator Martha Redbone, the acclaimed Native/African-American songstress with whom he created the music genre 'Native American Soul' and subsequently took poet William Blake to Appalachia. The singles and albums they co-wrote/co-produced include notably; "Home of the Brave", "Skintalk" and "The Garden of Love - Songs of William Blake" have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. Currently the team have created and tour "Bone Hill- The Concert", a devised, multi-disciplinary theatrical concert originally commissioned by Joe's Pub and The Public Theater. Whitby and Redbone are recipients of the NEFA NTP Award and an NPN Creation Fund Award, and are currently developing a new musical commissioned by the Public Theater in NYC supported in part by MAP Fund and Creative Capital.

Trumpeter Dave Douglas and pianist Uri Caine continue their long-time musical association with a new album featuring master drummer Andrew Cyrille. The sequel to the 2014 Douglas / Caine album Present Joys that centered on renditions of Sacred Harp tunes and which the New York Times called, an album of duologue that manages to be at once intimate, soulful and irrepressibly buoyant, Devotion features new original compositions by Douglas in devotion to many of todays greatest composers including Carla Bley and Franco DAndrea.

Michel Edelin Quintet - John Greaves - "Echoes of Henry Cow" - Michel Edelin (flute, alto flute, bass flute), Sophia Domancich (piano, Fender Rhodes), Sylvain Kassap (clarinet, bass clarinet), St�phane Kerecki (double bass), Simon Goubert (drums), John Greaves (spoken works)

New York-based German drummer and composer Mareike Wiening releases her debut album featuring her original compositions performed by an outstanding quintet of New York improvisers. Metropolis Paradise is dedicated to Wiening's six year residence in the Big Apple. Wiening's compositions are lyrical, direct and emotional, as well as rhythmically intricate, maintaining an accessible sound that draws you in. Featuring Wiening on drums and cymbals along with Rich Perry (tenor saxophone), Dan Tepfer (piano), Alex Goodman (guitar), and Johannes Felscher (bass), the group sound is one of give and take, a musical dialogue between soloist and accompanist.

2019 release. Their performances are so riveting it is impossible to turn away, as if there is some element of humanity inside us that we have forgotten and are longing to awaken. The troupe of global artists came together when Michael Mwenso created the late night jam at Dizzy's, and they can groove, cook, and jam all the way home, with three vocals and a tap dancer up front. Michael Mwenso leads their electrifying show, described by the New York Times as "intense, prowling, and ebullient." Mwenso hails from Sierra Leone, but spent his teen years hanging out at Ronnie Scott's in London where he was exposed to the greats, with the great James Brown bringing him up to sing and dance - a moment that changed his life. The band is from well, everywhere, a truly global meeting of like minds. While fully mesmerizing to watch, the band has powerful message inside the music - an uplifting statement of individuality, courage, and community. The compositions cover a formidable timeline of jazz and blues expression through African and Afro American music.

Classical Music

... with a keen appreciation for suspense and patient development, (McCarthy) tests the boundaries and borders of shadows and shape with stunning results. - All About Jazz. Harkening back to the era of classic Gary Burton recordings such as "Dreams So Real" and "Passengers," vibist Dan McCarthy pays tribute to Burton and Carla Bley, another towering influence on his musical development, for his second Origin release. Recently returning to Toronto after 15 years in New York City, McCarthy teams with highly regarded Toronto-based improvisors, guitarist Ted Quinlan, Pat Collins on bass, and drummer Ted Warren, to present six new originals inspired by Burton and Bley, as well as compositions from Pat Metheny, "Midwestern Nights Dream," and Keith Jarrett's "Coral." "An extraordinary musical ability and a boundless imagination" - Gary Burton.

Born and raised on the westside of Los Angeles, Eric Borders is a keyboardist, producer and composer. He has shared stages with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Jose James, Jimmy Cliff, The Internet, Stanley Clarke and George Duke. His Musical 'persona' is Captain Supernova (C. SN), a fictional Astronaut who travels through space and transmitting his message back to Earth. And so the stage is set, and we are about to receive C. SN's third transmission; this time a full length album - The Voyage Never Ends. "Let it take you to Wherever it Begins" - C. SN The Voyage Never Ends is aptly titled; it feel like a journey into place unknown, sometimes drifting through space and sometimes landing in new places.

While looking through songbooks of traditional Galician music, Spanish saxophonist Xose Miguelez happened upon a recording by the ethnic musicologist Doroth' Schubart of a ballad, sung by his own Great-Aunt Amparo almost 40 years ago in Cerdedelo-Laza, a beautiful village hidden in the Galician hills. All of the compositions on "Ontology" come from a four-note motif at the beginning of that ballad.