The Messengers expanded to a sextet with the addition of Curtis Fuller in 1961 and went into their most fruitful period. This Copenhagen live concert from 1962 could be arguably “the best edition of the Jazz Messengers ever” as liner-note author Neil Tesser suggests. Hubbart, Shorter and Fuller on the front line flexing their young muscles were all on their way to stardom. Recorded during their 1962’s European tour this album with all unissued recordings will be a valuable addition to Messengers’ legacy.

NYC is one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Osaka will arguably make the second place in that category. Magnarelli in the past made a couple “junction” albums but this ultimate junction connecting the NY trumpeter with dynamic Osaka-born B-3 player Tsuruga with the ace baritone player Smulyan sharing front line will make probably the very first trumpet-baritone-organ band. “Joe is known for his engaging, melodically-rich lines, and his powerhouse rhythm.” (Zan Stewart)

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.

On SEVEN WHITES the three musicians (Peter Ehwald - saxophone, Stefan Schultze - piano and Tom Rainey - drums) sketch out a complex musical structure, whose brilliance and depth lies precisely in the way they elaborate upon shades. Crucial are the shades and intricacies with which the musicians immerse themselves in a rhythm that is sometimes an energetic shared quest, and sometimes a contrapuntal pulsing, which dissolves into a frame of each other. The music on this album has a magnetism far beyond that of a black and white painting.

SteepleChase audiophile LP Series starts the New Year 2023 with George Cables’ highly acclaimed 1997 trio recording Bluesology, his 7th album on the label. Then at age 53 he was already one of jazz’ luminaries performing and recording with Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson to mention a few. “…compelling and rewarding disc.” (Miles Jordan – JazzTimes) “…Bluesology is a distinguished Cables affair while also being just one damn good piano trio record…” (Chris Hovan – AAJ) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

NY scene’s stalwart composer and trumpeter Dave Scott has been leading three separate groups for more than a decade. On this his 7th SteepleChase album Dave chose his quintet as an ideal vehicle for his new compositions intended to provide free improvisation for each performer to spread his wings to the fullest. Frédéic Goaty of Jazz Magazine (France) commented on Dave’s extraordinary compositional skills as: “… variées, saurprenantes, aventureuses, riches et sophistiquées les unes que les autres.”

Falkoner Centret shortly after a modernist architectural make-over hosted a burgeoning young quintet headed by Cannonball Adderley in the spring of 1961. Though it was before they made their big splash on the soul-jazz front with hit tunes like Unit 7, Jive Samba, Cannonball’s successful 18-month tenure with Miles Davis put extra allure to the band. Previously unissued recording features English-born pianist Victor Feldman whose compositions make up the majority of repertory on this disc.

At long last! In the image of all the great jazz stars with any self-respect, the band Louis Prima Forever has taken up some of the immaculate standards and popular songs (by Mariah Carey, George Michael)associated with the magic of Christmas. You can catch the scent of fir trees already, so watch out... because Louis Prima Forever doesn't totally belong to the "Xmas album" tradition that reeks of squeaky-clean tinsel. These guys are as hot as chestnuts and swing so hard that Santa Claus would slip a disc. In fact this record would shake any party to life and make your Christmas feel like New Year's Day!

We are memory and repetition. We repeat familiar sounds and communicate in this way, we call them language or music. We vary the repetition and create something new out of the old, shifting behavior and perception. Without a counterpart, our ego would be without borders - but our spirit also perforates the borders. Change occurs. Art, or in another word, communication. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Bruno Angeloni has worked with many fine musicians, including Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille and Michael Zerang. Although primarily regarded as a Free Jazz musician, his playing actually comprises virtually all types of music. The inner and outer struggle to find his way in the '80s music business, as a then young improvising saxophonist, without having to work in a commercial and adapted manner, eventually made him abdicate the market entirely and to earn a living on construction sites. Through perseverance he eventually travelled to Iran, South Africa and Russia, where he could rediscover his own sound, sharpen and strengthen it in such a way as to let music once again govern his life. After a short orientation phase in Rome at the beginning of the noughties, invitations to the Monterrey Jazz Festival took him two years in a row to Mexico, further broadening his musical pallet. Since 2016, back in Leipzig, he has had several rather coincidental meetings at public sessions with the 24 years younger drummer Steffen Roth. Henceforth, together they formed the duo 'Spirale' and have recorded this fascinating album.

1989: the wall falls – freedom at last! What could be more obvious than a German/ German jazz band. The musicians claim it as the first German/ German jazz band, as contact among them already existed before the wall came down. Not the form, but the musicians and their being are the quintessence - the form adapts. Every note, a statement. It's about creativity and improvisation. 1992 is the time. 30 years after the fall of the wall, much has changed in Germany. The mood is completely different. It is no longer a time of change and exploration, and now uncertainty and radicalization dominate. The music sounds different, but remains just as brilliant. Polyphonic melodies and rhythms characterize the sound. Jazz becomes even more of a home. The metamorphosis succeeds! The music fits into the new era.

At the height of her art, the composer and jazz pianist Lorraine Desmarais offers a new work that celebrates the estuary of St. Lawrence River, connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Reminiscences of landscapes surveyed and loved, of people met and appreciated feed the movements of the music suite with pictorial accents. Requisitioning the full potential of the piano, an instrument that is at once melodic, harmonic, and percussive, Lorraine Desmarais paints a fresco with an extensive palette, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract.

The trio has released a half dozen albums over the last 20 years, each with the freshness of a first encounter. There’s always a sense of discovery in their playing, as if it were their first time meeting. The trio seems somehow to exist perpetually at dawn. So the encounter in Lucerne in December, 2021, documented on this recording but it was, at any rate, the first time they played this particular concert: there’s wisdom in the conversation. None of the participants rush to dominate the discussion.

With the support of the American State Department, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, including new members Joe Morello and Eugene Wright, began a major tour of Europe early in 1958. Their first concert in the Netherlands was held on 26 February in the legendary Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam. The concert inaugurated a triumphant career in Europe. It announced, loud and clear, the communicative enthusiasm that was the lasting hallmark of these four exceptional musicians.

Storyville Records presents the legendary American saxophonist Buddy Tate in a meeting with the Danish quintet White Label on the new album Tate’s Delight – Groovin’ at the JASS Festival. The meeting took place at the Holstebro JASS Festival in September 1982. JASS stands for Jutland’s Active Musicians’ Society. For almost 20 years since the foundation in 1975, the society presented an annual jazz festival during the last week of September. The concerts took place at the Holstebro Hall and the nearby Restaurant Laksen. Tate’s Delight was recorded at Restaurant Laksen with no rehearsals. Some tunes, but not all, were agreed upon, when White Label took the stage. It became one of those spontaneous events, where the music is created on the spot, but one for which the musician has been preparing throughout his career as an improvising jazz musician. In this context, Buddy Tate was a fine acquaintanceship. He was in good form, friendly, easy to play with, and super cool in his elegant brown-and-yellow stage outfit with matching two-tone shoes. The album is separated into two parts. First, Tate is heard with the rhythm section, showcasing his beautiful, but rarely heard clarinet on magnificent renditions of the Duke Ellington tunes In A Mellow Tone and Mood Indigo. On the second part of the album, Jens Søndergaard and Poul Valdemar Pedersen join in on the last three songs, recreating the intense jam session spirit of the golden age of swing. This session is an excellent example of the musical encounters that have taken place in Denmark over the years. Buddy Tate was among the many legendary international stars, who came and played with Danish musicians, thus contributing to the special bond between Danish and American jazz.

New York-based bassist/composer Steve Millhouse’ SteepleChase debut album calls for our attention in his unique instrument: six-string Contrabass Guitar. It was pioneered by bassist Anthony Jackson in the mid-70s, who added B to EADGC of regular electric bass. Contrabass Guitar enabled Millhouse to develop his distinctive style, which perfectly encapsulates his jazz trio featuring Rich Perry on tenor. As Gary Fukushima, the author of liner-notes predicts, “This album bodes well for things to come”.

Mike Richmond’s fourth cello album focuses on Bill Evans’ music. Award winning bassist Richmond has a long exceptional career performing with Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Gil Evans a. o. Richmond has recently been drawn more to playing cello which allows him a greater freedom in refined expressions. “Cello is wonderful in jazz. It’s soulful, melodic, and is best in small combos. That’s what you have in Mike Richmond: La Vie en Rose SCCD 31878” (Cadence Magazine)

The Federal Jazz Orchestra, abbreviated and affectionately named BuJazzO by many, pays tribute to the legendary Clarke-Boland Big Band on its new CD. The legendary international ensemble existed from 1961 to 1972 in Cologne and was led by American drummer Kenny Clarke and Belgian pianist, composer and arranger Francy Boland.

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.

Vibraphonist/composer Dick Sisto appears for the first time on SteepleChase with his all-star quartet performing gems of American love songs. Sisto who hails from Chicago grew up in an encouraging musical milieu. He was spotted by none other than Cannonball Adderley as “an excellent player” during a collegial jazz festival while he was attending North Texas State University. This album originally released as a promotional sample is remixed and remastered from the multi- track master recordings.

Since 2007 bandleader/saxophonist Chris Byars has recorded for SteepleChase 12 highly acclaimed albums. All the releases highlight Byars’ trademark skills as composer/arranger for larger ensembles. Here for the first time in 15 years Byars writes for a quartet setting displaying a laid-back side of the masterfully innovative performing composer. “Byars is in the pantheon of the contemporary breed of composer-bandleaders…original and thoroughly eclectic.” (W. Friedwald – New York Sun)

Legendary American piano player/composer Andrew Hill (June 30, 1931 – April 20, 2007) lived an active and fruitful life leaving us a legacy of unique, enigmatic music. Hill, however disappeared from the scene for about a decade in the late 60s. This album and its predecessor SCCD 31026 “Invitation” released in the mid. 70’s paved his way back to the limelight he deserved. Andrew Hill received numerous awards including Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Foundation of America (1997). “... Divine Revelation certainly earns its title, for it reveals to any newcomer to his music… Hill at his most inspired, and most enigmatic ....” (Simon Adams, Jazz Journal International, March 1995) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

SoKo Steidle + Alexander von Schlippenbach was recorded on 6.5.22 and 15.5.22 at the XJazz Festival / Berlin. Oliver Steidle: For me, freedom and spontaneity as well as rival competition until harmonious interaction, is the main core of the Berlin sound of Jazz, rich as a whole wheat bread. It arises a pulsating movement, a organic body, full of energy and virtuosity.

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.

Mark Soskin who turns 70 this summer has been one of the top exponents of world jazz scene for the last 5 decades. Though his 14-year tenure with Sonny Rollins back in the 90s comes to our mind, Soskin has always been active with his own group and as a dedicated educator. This is his first duo recording with his long-time collaborator Jay Anderson (bass) for SteepleChase which he joined in 2018. “Soskin remains a treasure awaiting discovery by many jazz fans.” (Ken Dryden, NYCJR)

The CONTACT 4TETT plays experimental improvised music with elements of Jazz, Art Rock, Modern Chamber Music and Sound Art. The history of CONTACT 4TETT begins in 1970, when bassist Alois Kott, drummer Michael Jüllich and clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann formed the CONTACT TRIO. After initial small successes, the group played as a newcomer at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival and toured several times through southern Germany and Switzerland, but the band broke up after two years. Theo Jörgensmann was replaced by guitarist Evert Brettschneider, with whom the group had already worked in an extended line-up. This occupation was internationally successful.

At the beginning of 1980, Michael Jüllich left the CONTACT TRIO, which was also one of the first progressive, professional jazz groups in the Ruhr area and had released 3 LPs by then. With Peter Eisold on drums, the group played until 1984 and then disbanded. Since 2015 there has been a new edition of the band as CONTACT 4TETT, which includes the former soloists in the band Theo Jörgensmann, who now plays alto clarinet, and Evert Brettschneider. New members are Kai Kanthak, electric bass and Sascha Sauerborn, drums and electronics. The CD WUNDERTÜTE is the first by CONTACT 4TETT for the label jazzwerkstatt.