Landmarks, the fourth recording by Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band, marks their return to Blue Note Records, released in cooperation with the Shreveport, Louisiana based label, Mid-City Records. Brian chose to record seven of the ten compositions in his hometown of Shreveport at Blade Studios which was opened in 2011 by Brian’s older brother, the drummer and producer Brady Blade, Jr. Shreveport is an inland port city situated 40 miles south of Arkansas, 20 miles east of Texas, and 100 miles north of the Gulf Coast and its location makes it a sonic catchment basin for various Afro-diasporic… Continue reading →

The new CD contains six tracks recorded between 2001 and 2012 in Saitama, Japan; Toulouse, Marseille, and Marciac, France; and St. Louis. “Patanjali,” a striking new Rollins composition, is given its debut recording.

Over the span of his storied and still-unfolding 65-year career, Sonny Rollins has established himself as one of the giants of jazz — a towering influence, a trailblazer, a powerfully creative force in the music. From his earliest masterpieces, such as Saxophone Colossus and Freedom Suite, to his Road Shows archival series of live performances for his Doxy label in the 2000s, Rollins has presented his peerless… Continue reading →

MILES AT THE FILLMORE – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 by Paula Edelstein

August 1969 to August 1970 was the most productive year of Miles Davis’s career: in that short span of time, the trumpeter recorded enough material for his studio double-album Bitches Brew, a studio single album Jack Johnson, three sides of another studio double-album Big Fun, four tracks from the double-album Live-Evil…

… AND, across five nights at Bill Graham’s famed Fillmore rock palaces in April and June of 1970, coast-to-coast at both the Fillmore East & West the complete, legendary concerts that will now… Continue reading →

Fans that have followed Russ Freeman and The Rippingtons know they have long had a penchant for naming songs and albums after exotic places (Aruba, Kenya, Morocco, Weekend in Monaco etc). On this new release The Rippingtons have again gone roaming, following the spice routes down the rivers of gold, past the waterfalls of Bequia to the emerald city that lay on the north shore by the garden of the gods to find the fountain of youth.

Many Rippingtons albums have been inspired by Freeman’s travels, and collectively, they have formed the life soundtrack for hundreds of… Continue reading →

Well into his third decade crafting signature songs of our time churning out chart topping mega-hits with ease, Paul Hardcastle adds another branch to his musical tree, one that is again bearing delicious fruit.VII, while it carries all of the hallmarks that have come to define his unique style and sound, takes a decidedly different approach, with the focus on serving up compelling sonicinstrumental soundscapes and less about vocals. This is Hardcastle’s wheelhouse and nobody does it better. For those who use music as an escape from the day to day, these sides are the perfect transporting device, rich soulful… Continue reading →

Celebrate a milestone in the musical career of Steve Oliver. With eight albums over the last 15 years, Steve’s ‘Best Of so far’ gathers multiple #1 Billboard hits and fan favorites including 2 brand new songs. From 1999′s First View, Oliver recaptures the magic of that first album by re-recording ‘West End’ and ‘I Know’ for this compilation.

Concert and radio favorites like ‘High Noon’, ‘Chips and Salsa’ and ‘Fun in the Sun’ will keep listeners on their feet. ‘Calling You’ and ‘Hello Mornin’ are wonderful new songs that feel right at home among this collection of hits. The title… Continue reading →

“Transitions,” the new record from Darryl Alexander spotlights 11 original songs and features performances by Kenny Blake, Ken Karsh, Brett Williams, Pete Tokar, Wilber Krebs, Fred Ervin, Joe Graziosi, John Madgett, and Brandon Howard.

“What I enjoy working with this group is there is a lightheartedness in their soul, and it comes out in their performances,” says Darryl. I remember Kenny Blake saying one day in the studio that EMS personnel see some pretty horrific things every day. As artists we have an opportunity to make someone’s day just a little bit lighter, little bit easier, even if just for… Continue reading →

The new Ledisi release The Truth combines her trademark soaring ballads with a generous collection of up-tempo, beat-driven celebrations of love and lust. The first single off the new album “I Blame You,” written and produced by Claude Kelly, Chuck Harmony and Ledisi Young (the team who brought you “Pieces of Me”), is a joyful reflection on that new-found love. USA Today calls it “A breezy-smooth rush of pop-soul nostalgia.”

“With every album I grow, and with The Truth I’ve gone to a new level. It’s an extension of who I am and where I am in my life. Everything… Continue reading →

South African singer-songwriter-guitarist Jonathan Butler is tending to his herb garden at his suburban Los Angeles home. His new pastime that he says gives him “a new sense of heaven,” is part of a mindset he has cultivated that he has dubbed “the season of me.” The musical counterpart to this harvest season in the two-time Grammy® nominee’s life is Living My Dream, a bountiful feast of original contemporary jazz instrumentals and soul-mined R&B vocal cuts that he produced and tracked live in the House of Blues studio in L.A. “Each album is a… Continue reading →

With a reputation for deconstructing popular songs and the avant-garde, it seems natural for the bad boys of jazz, The Bad Plus, to record their version of Stravinsky’s controversial masterpiece The Rite of Spring. This new recording captures The Bad Plus’ unique version of the piece that they debuted on tour in 2011 in a multi-media program entitled “On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.” The show received critical acclaim at every stop with the New York Times calling their interpretation “electrifying,” and the Boston Globe describing it as “exhilarating…dramatic, dynamic.”