JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 56th anniversary of the birth of Roy Hargrove.
Tag: instrumental
Throwback: Happy 116th Birthday, Art Tatum!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 116th anniversary of Art Tatum’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 106th Birthday, Art Blakey!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 106th anniversary of Art Blakey’s birth.
Throwback: Happy 108th Birthday, Thelonious Monk!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 108th anniversary of the birth of Thelonious Monk.
New Audio: Charles Mingus’ Tribute to Duke Ellington at Monterey Jazz Festival 1964
Charles Mingus was a towering giant of American music, known for his powerhouse sound and authoritative technique, irascible personality and most importantly, his original compositions, which featured a blend of jazz, European classic music, bebop, avant-garde, blues, gospel and more, a sound that he famously dubbed “Mingus Music.”
The legendary bassist and composer’s Sunday afternoon set at the seventh annual Monterey Jazz Festival in 1964 was met with breathless praise from the likes of the New York Herald, where legendary critic and Monterey Jazz Festival co-founder Ralph J. Gleason wrote, “Mingus erased the memory of any bass player in jazz” while the San Francisco Chronicle opened its review, “Monterey beyond to Charles Mingus this year. All the way.” Considering that year’s festival also featured sets from Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis that wasn’t an easy feat, y’all.
Initially released on Mingus’ own short-lived mail order Jazz Workshop label and out of print for more than 40 years, Mingus at Monterey captures the legend at the height of his creativity and musical prowess. Perhaps the most consistently requested reissue by Mingus fans across the world, Mingus at Monterey proved to be a sensation upon its sold-out limited edition run for Record Store Day 2025 earlier this year, ranking as Redeye Distribution’s top-selling Record Store Day release while reaching the Top 20 on Billboard‘s Traditional Jazz Albums and Jazz Albums charts, #82 on the overall Top Catalog Albums chart and #102 on the Independent Albums Chart.
Candid Records, in conjunction with Mingus’ Jazz Workshop, Inc. will celebrate the legend’s genius with the long-overdue and highly-anticipated reissue of Mingus at Monterey, which is slated for an October 10, 2025 release on CD, 2 LP vinyl and for the first time ever on all DSPs and streaming services.
The live album has been remastered by five-time Grammy Award-winning engineer Micheal Graves with vinyl mastering by renowned engineer Jeff Powell. The two LP vinyl set includes the album’s original gatefold jacket artwork, meticulously restored and reproduced.
The forthcoming wide release of Mingus at Monterey is heralded by a hard swinging, hard-charging rendition of the Billy Strayhorn-penned, Duke Ellington-performed jazz standard “Take the A Train,” that features some incredible solos from Charles McPherson (alto sax), Jaki Byard (piano), Lonnie Hilyer (trumpet), John Handy (tenor sax) and Dannie Richmond (drums) that’s performed as a medley dedicated to the legend’s musical hero, the equally legendary Duke Ellington.
Ellington was Mingus’ lodestar, the early influence, who showed the bassist and composer how music could simultaneously hold majesty, complexity and popular appeal. Mingus’ take on the classic, standard tune is deeply loving but in no means, straightforward. It seems to swing harder than the original, evoking the A train’s length run from 207th Street in Inwood to its final stop at Mott Avenue in Rockaway Beach — from its assorted characters and neighborhoods it passes through, to the pace of the train as it races between 125th Street and 59th Street. And while retaining the familiar melody, Mingus’ tribute to his hero is roomy enough to allow each member of the band to solo in a way that highlights their talents and sensibilities.
As Mingus said of the album at the time, “It’s taken me a long time to get to where I want musically. I just wish that I could give you that picture, that moment at Monterey along with this music. This is the sound that people heard at Monterey and the life of the music is there. That’s why I bring this record to the people. I give you the Monterey music as a token of love, as a memory.”
New Audio: Swedish Instrumental Outfit Automatism Shares Languorous Cover of Kraftwerk’s “Neon Lights”
Swedish instrumental psych rock outfit Automatism — Hans Hjelm (guitar), Gustav Nygren (guitar), Mikael Tuominen (bass) and Jonas Yrlid (drums) — will be releasing their long-awaited fourth album Sörmland Friday through German-based label Tonzonen Records.
Five years have passed since the release of 2020’s Immersion. The hiatus wasn’t completely voluntary, so when the band reconvened in September 2023 to begin the creative process for their fourth album, it felt like a special occasion for the band — much like a family reunion. Recorded in a former chapel in the Swedish rural county of Sörmland, the building’s high ceilings and open atmosphere helped set the overall tone of the soon-to-be-released album. As they were recording, they could see the verdant landscape from the building’s tall windows, which inspired them to name the album after the province.
Sörmland‘s latest single “Neon Lights” is an instrumental take on Kraftwerk‘s “Neon Lights.” Clocking in a roughly the same time as the original, which appeared on 1978’s The Man-Machine, the Automatism rendition slows both the tempo and melody down, giving the song a languorous and dreamy, psilocybin-fueled buzz.
“Another one of those occasions when the best stuff comes out when you stop trying,” the band’s Mikael Tuominen says. “We had been working on a version of ‘Neon Lights’ for a while, even played it live, that was much closer to the original in feel and tempo. We did a couple of recordings of that version and they were okay. Then, without deciding anything, we just fell into playing the theme really slowly and softly, and again, luckily enough I hit the red button. First it was almost as if we didn’t take it seriously, but soon we entered the zone, and listening to the versions back to back there was no question of which one to choose.”
Throwback: Happy Belated 100th Birthday, Oscar Peterson!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Oscar Peterson’s 100th birthday.
Live Concert Photography: Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield 8/2/25: Summer Dayes 2025 feat. Yussef Dayes Experience with FKJ, Venna and Salin
Live concert photography of Summer Dayes at SummerStage.
Throwback: Happy 80th Birthday, David Sanborn!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 80th anniversary of David Sanborn’s birth.
New Audio: rhythmspitter Shares Hypnotic “Yilan”
Things look a bit different around here. There’s a reason for that: Regular freelance work dried up for me last July. Not much has gone on with full-time work, or anything else. So,. whatever meagre earnings i had have pretty much evaporated. And now, when it came to certain subscriptions — i.e. WordPress — I can’t afford it at all. Admittedly, things are extremely frustrating and discouraging. But I’m trying to keep the show running as best as I can until things get better. Hopefully. But in this environment, who the fuck really knows?
Michael Mosley is a San Francisco-based musician, composer, producer, who may be best known for playing bass in Red Thread Theory. Mosley is also the creative mastermind behind the JOVM mainstay act rhythmspltter. And with rhythmspitter, Mosley explores instrumental indie rock and lo-fi beat-driven material that’s influenced from an eclectic array of sources, including Bill Laswell’s Material and Jah Wobble‘s Invaders of the Heart.
Each rhythmspitter composition sees Mosley weaving together a rich tapestry of instruments and rhythms from across the world. Each composition is meticulously crafted to resonate with listeners while providing a chill and captivating vibe that’s entrancing. With rhythmspitter, Mosley seeks to break down barriers and introduce audiences to a world of sonic exploration that they may not have encountered before — but he also hopes to open minds to the beauty of different styles and instruments.
Mosely’s latest rhythmspitter EP, The Antique Land is inspired by Alexander the Great and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” The EP’s latest single “Yilan,” continues a run of percussive and hypnotic material with shimmering Middle Eastern-styled instrumentation and eerily atmospheric vocal samples ethereally floating through the mix. And much like the previously released material, “Yilan” channels the hypnotic and dreamy beauty of gnawa but with a swaggering and slick, modern production.
New Audio: Cochemea Shares Soulful and Meditative “Ancestros Futuros”
Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer Cochemea Gastelum comes from a long line on musicians on both sides of his lineage. Over the past 25 years, Gasteum has built a distinct and accomplished career as a soloist and arranger/composer, collaborating with an eclectic array of artists across a wide range of genres — from his lengthy stint with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings to the likes of Kevin Morby, Run The Jewels, Jon Batiste, Amy Winehouse, The Roots, Archie Shepp, Mark Ronson, the legendary Quincy Jones and a lengthy list of others.
His previously released material has received praised from both critics and DJs. 2019’s All My Relations, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer’s critically applauded Daptone Records debut was a family reunion of sorts, uniting spirits, musicians and melodies across space and time. Leading a nonet, Gastelum and company employed drums, winds and vocals to create a deeply personal meditation on the interconnectedness of all things. Vol. 2: Baca Sewa expanded this exploration into the archives of family history, mythology and the cultural imagination.
Slated for a September 26, 2025 release through Daptone Records, Gastelum’s forthcoming effort, Vol. 3: Ancestros Futuros completes a triology while anchored in the cultural fabric that has nurtured him from the beginning. A Californian of Yaqui ancestry, Gastelum describes a central part of his work as “accessing ancestral memory that comes in different forms — sometimes when you visit a place, sometimes in dreams . . . it’s in our DNA.”
“For me it’s about seeking wholeness in these zones of fracture.” In fact, dreams play a vital role in his creative process., “A lot of melodies come to me through dreams,” he says. “I’ve kept a dream record for years, shaping the language into what I call dream scores.” One of these scores appears on the back over of Ancestros Futuros, reflecting the intuitive and layered nature of his work. This dream-guided approach carries into the album’s opening track, “Transmisíon del Soñar,” which serves as a “portal” between dimensions, echoing his connection with both the dream realm and the dynamic interplay of time and space.
His musical and spiritual synthesis is made possible through his deep reverence for the horn, and the music and traditions that precede him. Inspired by Eddie Harris, Yusef Lateef, Jim Pepper and Gary Bartz, Gastelum attempts to bride ancestral rhythmic traditions with forward-looking vision, to create a signature sound that’s both deeply rooted and expansive. With the new album, Gastelum continues to expand upon his work, effortlessly blending past, present and future into a ritual offering, in which memory, survival and imagination converge. The album’s material is also shaped by stories of survival and resistance.
The acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer gathered a core group of longtime collaborators, an octet featuring some of New York’s best percussionists and members of Daptone’s world famous rhythm section. Additionally, the album sees Gastelum collaborating with Daptone Records founder Gabriel Roth, a.k.a. Bosco Mann returning as producer and mixing engineer, recording the band live to 8-track analog tape.
Ancestros Futuros‘ first single, album title track “Ancestros Futuros” is a composition that sounds and feels simultaneously ancient and remarkably modern, meditative yet defiant. The acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer says “I was thinking about survival as a continuum connecting past and future connections,” which is a theme that echoes throughout his work. The song also draws from the story of a Yaqui midwife, who would bury the navels of newborns in the ground, so that future generations would rise and reclaim the land.
Throwback: Happy 83rd Birthday, Dr. Lonnie Smith!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 83rd anniversary of the birth of Dr. Lonnie Smith.
New Audio: rhythmspitter Shares Dreamily Hypnotic “Eastern Advance”
Arguably better known for playing bass in Red Thread Theory, Michael Mosley is a San Francisco-based musician, composer, producer and creative mastermind behind rhythmspltter. With rhythmspitter, Mosley explores instrumental indie rock and lo-fi beat-driven material that’s influenced from an eclectic array of sources, including Bill Laswell’s Material and Jah Wobble‘s Invaders of the Heart.
Each rhythmspitter composition sees Mosley weaving together a rich tapestry of instruments and rhythms from across the world. Each composition is meticulously crafted to resonate with listeners while providing a chill and captivating vibe that’s entrancing. With rhythmspitter, Mosley seeks to break down barriers and introduce audiences to a world of sonic exploration that they may not have encountered before — but he also hopes to open minds to the beauty of different styles and instruments.
Mosely’s latest rhythmspitter EP, The Antique Land is inspired by Alexander the Great and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” “Eastern Advance,” the EP’s third and latest single is a percussive and hypnotic track featuring shimmering Middle Eastern-styled instrumentation and a hauntingly eerie vocal sample. The result is a composition that recalls the hypnotic and dreamy beauty of gnawa — but while possessing a modern, almost hip-hop like swagger.
Throwback: Happy 99th Birthday, Miles Davis!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 99th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis.
New Audio: Stockholm’s Yesterday’s Princess Shares Soulful and Swaggering “Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow)”
Stockholm-based instrumental soul duo Yesterday’s Princess — Fredrick Bergsten and Marcus Larsson — can trace their origins back to 2010: Bergsten and Larsson met and struck up a friendship on making music and crate digging for records to sample for hip-hop beats. Idolizing Pete Rock, J Dilla, Madlib and Da Beatminerz the pair invested in the gear their heroes used with SP1200’s and MPC’s becoming a foundation of their early creative endeavors.
As their tastes grew, the limits of sample-based music became increasingly evident, so they began incorporating organic instrumentation into their work. But they eventually ditched sampling altogether.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pair decided to officially collaborate together as a project, rather than just making music side-by-side, which led to the formation of Yesterday’s Princess. For the Swedish-based duo, Yesterday’s Princess is a vehicle for them to explore their desire to create an all-encompassing atmosphere, led by tone, production and well-trained ears for the perfect loop.
“Growing up as hip-hop producers and both being schooled audio engineers, we value sound almost as greatly as the music itself,” the duo explain. “Tone is very important yet often forgotten – music is what you hear and tone is a huge part of that. Chops have no value if it touches no-one, and what touches you might be the tone of the instrument, rather than the note it played.”
Although most contemporary groups in instrumental soul tend to adopt a throwback approach to the production and mixing process, Bergsten and Larsson have deliberately eschewed it; instead, they opted for a cleaner sound that takes adventure of digital production techniques. “We wanted to make the mix big and full with a modern soundscape,” the duo says.
The project’s original demos were created around drum sample packs from A.J. Hall, which were also sampled by The Alchemist, Nas and Ari Lennox. Hall was then brought in to rework the breaks into full parts. “After that we re-recorded all instruments to fit the swing of the new drums and hired a bassist to replay some of our basslines [sic],” the Stockholm-based describes their creative process.
Slated for a July 25, 2025 release through Root Records, the Swedish duo’s forthcoming, four-track, debut EP, Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow) reportedly sees the pair drawing from the groundbreaking library music style pioneered by the KPM and Music de Wolfe music libraries, as well as psychedelia, modal jazz, and Swedish folk and prog music. And because of their foundations in hip-hop, the material sees the duo crafting hooky melodies and riffs to anchor the overall spaciness of their arrangements.
The EP’s second and latest single, EP title track “Not Today (Maybe Tomorrow)” is a hooky bit of modal-tinged, neo-soul jazz, featuring twinkling Rhodes, a supple and strutting bass line and jazzy boom bap drumming. The track recalls the likes of Surprise Chef, Weather Channel-styled jazz, but with a cool, sophisticated swagger.