Tag: jazz

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Makaya McCraven Shares Gorgeous “The Fours”

Makaya McCraven is an acclaimed Paris-born Chicago-based jazz percussionist, beatmaker and producer, who has released a remarkable run of critically applauded, genre-defying and re-defining albums that includes 2015’s The Moment, 2017’s Highly Rare, 2018’s Universal Beings, 2020’s We’re New Again and Universal Beings E&F Sides, and last year’s Deciphering the Message. 

McCraven’s newest album, In These Times is slated for a September 23, 2022 release through International Anthem/Nonesuch/XL Recordings. The album is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as it is by McCraven’s personal experience as the product of a multinational, working class musician community. In These Times‘ material was seven years in the making, and was consistently in process in the background while McCraven was in the middle of his critically applauded run of albums. 

Featuring contributions from a talented cast of collaborators including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart, Zara Zaharieva, Marta Sofia Honer, Greg Ward, Irvin Pierce, Matt Gold, Greg Spero, De’Sean Jones, and Rob Clearfield, the new album was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Sonically, the album sees McCraven and his collaborators weaving orchestral, large ensemble arrangements with the “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature sound. The end result is an album that’s reportedly a bold and decided evolution for McCraven as a composer and as a producer. 

So far I’ve written about two tracks off In These Times:

  • “Seventh String,” a dazzling and dizzying composition featuring rolling bursts of polyrhythmic drumming and beats, glistening, finger plucked guitar, gorgeous orchestral strings, twinkling bursts of harp and soulful flute lines. While the composition smudges then blurs the lines between J. Dilla-like beatmaking and jazz, it sees the musicians carefully walking a tightrope between chaos and order, free-flowing improvisation and structured composition in a way that’s thoughtful, mischievous, and forceful yet breathtaking. 

  • “Dream Another” features Brandee Younger (harp), Junius Paul (bass), Matt Gold (guitar, sitar) and De’Sean Jones (flute) on a gorgeous and expansive composition that simultaneously nods at 70s soul jazz and jazz fusion and psychedelia in a way that reminds me a bit of synthesis of Return to Forever, Mahavisnu Orchestra and J. Dilla. 

In These Times‘ third and latest single “The Fours” is centered around a gorgeous yet mind-bending arrangement featuring Younger’s twinkling and explosive bursts of harp, shuffling layers of polyrhythmic beats, looping horn lines. Sonically, “The Fours” is a synthesis of bop-era jazz and DJ Premier-like boom bap.

Directed by Ryosuke Tanzawa, the gorgeously cinematic accompanying video features a dreamy mixture of the natural and the man-made here in New York City.

Next Monday, McCraven will perform music from In These Times at Public Records with an All-Star cast that will include Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, De’Sean Jones and the string quartet from the album — Marta Sofia Honer, Macie Stewart, Zara Zaharieva and Lia Kohl.

Throwback by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms shares John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Seattle’s High Pulp Shares Surreal and Symbolic Visual for “You’ve Got to Pull It Up From The Ground” feat. Theo Croker

Seattle-based jazz outfit High Pulp features:

  • Antoine Martel (keys, synths), a self-professed mad scientist with a wall of modular synthesizers and a passion for film scores and abstract soundscapes
  • Rob Homan (keys), whose innate ability to process, deconstruct and reassemble material on the fly bordered on the impressive and scary
  • Scott Rixon (bass), who comes from a punk and hardcore background and possesses pop sensibilities
  • Victor Nguyen (tenor sax), a Pharaoh Sanders acolyte with an ear for urgent, entrancing solos
  • Andrew Morrill (alto sax), whose bold tones and fearless harmonic sensibilities earned him a reputation for pushing the old school into the 21st Century
  • Bobby Granfelt (drums), whose hip-hop and bebop-inspired drumming laid the rhythmic foundation for the entire project

High Pulp can trace their origins to a loose, weekly jam session at Seattle’s historic Royal Room. “When you put us all together, our sound isn’t so much a fusion as it is a synthesis,” the band’s Bobby Granfelt says in press notes. ““There’s a lot of different personalities coming from a lot of different places, and we use it all as fuel to create something that’s totally our own.”

The Seattle sextet’s latest album Pursuit of Ends is slated for a Friday release through Anti- Records. The band’s unique brand of experimental jazz is simultaneously vintage and futuristic, often hinting at Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine and a wide range of others. The album’s material sees the band carefully balancing meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity and centered around virtuosic performances.

While High Pulp is primarily centered around their core six, Pursuit of Ends sees the band making judicious use of a board network of collaborators with guest spots from Jaleel Shaw (sax), who has played with Roy Haynes and Mingus Big Band; Brandee Younger (harp), who has played with Ravi Coltrane, The Roots, and Makaya McCraven; Grammy-nominated Theo Croker (trumpet); Jacob Mann (keys), who has played with Rufus Wainright and Louis Cole to help push their sonic boundaries even further.

Pursuit of Ends‘ latest single “You’ve Got To Pull It Up From The Ground” is a mind-bending and incredibly slick synthesis of bop, jazz fusion, funk and hip hop. The composition begins with an extensive bop jazz-inspired, drum solo. The song then quickly moves to a section featuring rapid fire percussion paired with sinuous bass lines, twinkling keys and a mournful, modal horn line led by Theo Croker’s expressive Miles Davis-like playing. Throughout the rest of the song, the melody floats and dances through the instrumentation. While the material is rooted in precise performance of the written composition, there’s ample room for soulful, free-flowing improvisation among a collection of sensitive and thoughtful artists.

“During COVID we spent a lot of time listen to Miles Davis’ Second Quintet, and specifically the drum solo at the start was inspired by ‘Agitation’ off of E.S.P.,” Granfelt explains “There’s something about that quintet that is so awe-inspiring. I think it’s the way they have such a deep shared concept which allows them to improvise in a meaningful way.”

“Pull It Up” is really a concept that is at the core of the band,” Granfelt explains. “It’s sort of about magic, sort of about will, sort of about self-love. It’s a concept based in the idea that things are already where they need to be, and it’s about unearthing what is already there as opposed to creating something ‘new’.”

Directed by Isaac Calvin and Seth Calvin, the accompanying video draws on the song’s overarching theme of digging deep, being persistent and staying humble. The video features Granfelt doing useful but mundane tasks: pulling nails out of a board, washing dishes, tying knots and so on. Towards the end f the video, Granfelt builds a shrine, but the offerings aren’t high quality of expensive; rather, they’re scuffed up, well-worn items including roadside flowers, cigarette butts, trinkets, tchotchkes and knick-knacks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Steve Terry Project is a Denver-based jazz/jazz-fusion/funk outfit. The band’s latest single “Hot Mess Express” is a a loose and laid back track seemingly drawing from 70s funk and jazz fusion centered around a bluesy and soulful horn line, twinkling organ, sinuous bass lines, bursts of retro-futuristic synths, rolling percussion placed within an expansive and improv-driven composition featuring a explosive peaks and meditative valleys. The composition also manages to be spacious enough for each musician to take the metaphorical wheel, catch the song’s funky groove and jam out.

Written during a caffeinated drive across Georgia and South Carolina, Terry found himself humming the bass line, connecting its repetitious nature to the seemingly endless sameness of trees, road, highway sign, trees, road, highway sign, sky. The composition’s horn line is meant to represent the stop and start nature of breaks in the trees — or a new landmark approaching. The track is also heavily influenced by the Grant Green standard “Jan Jan,” as Terry recalls having just performed it at an open jam prior to recording “Hot Mess Express.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Makaya McCraven Shares Gorgeous and Dream-Like “Dream Another”

Makaya McCraven is an acclaimed Paris-born Chicago-based jazz percussionist, beatmaker and producer, who has released a remarkable run of critically applauded, genre-defying and re-defining albums that includes 2015’s The Moment, 2017’s Highly Rare, 2018’s Universal Beings, 2020’s We’re New Again and Universal Beings E&F Sides, and last year’s Deciphering the Message. 

McCraven’s newest album, In These Times is slated for a September 23, 2022 release through International Anthem/Nonesuch/XL Recordings. The album is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as it is by McCraven’s personal experience as the producer of a multinational, working class musician community. In These Times‘ material was seven years in the making, and was consistently in process in the background while McCraven was in the middle of his critically applauded run of albums. 

Featuring contributions from a talented cast of collaborators including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart, Zara Zaharieva, Marta Sofia Honer, Greg Ward, Irvin Pierce, Matt Gold, Greg Spero, De’Sean Jones, and Rob Clearfield, the new album was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Sonically, the album sees McCraven and his collaborators weaving orchestral, large ensemble arrangements with the “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature sound. The end result is an album that’s reportedly a bold and decided evolution for McCraven as a composer and as a producer. 

Last month, I wrote about In These Times single “Seventh String,” a dazzling and dizzying composition featuring rolling bursts of polyrhythmic drumming and beats, glistening, finger plucked guitar, gorgeous orchestral strings, twinkling bursts of harp and soulful flute lines.

In These Times‘ first single “Seventh String” was a dazzling and dizzying composition centered around rolling bursts of polyrhythmic drumming, glistening, finger plucked guitar, gorgeous orchestral strings, twinkling bursts of harp, soulful flute lines. While the composition smudges then blurs the lines between J. Dilla-like beatmaking and jazz, it sees the musicians carefully walking a tightrope between chaos and order, free-flowing improvisation and structured composition in a way that’s thoughtful, mischievous, and forceful yet breathtakingly gorgeous. 

Written and recorded in McCraven’s Chicago-based home studio, In These Times‘ second and latest single “Dream Another” features Brandee Younger (harp), Junius Paul (bass), Matt Gold (guitar, sitar) and De’Sean Jones (flute) on a gorgeous and expansion composition that simultaneously nods at 70s soul jazz and jazz fusion and psychedelia in a way that reminds me a bit of synthesis of Return to Forever, Mahavisnu Orchestra and the aforementioned — and beloved — J. Dilla.

Directed by Nik Arthur, the accompanying visualizer features hand-drawn, digital and photographic animations composed and then laser-etched into stone in the style of a “zoopraxiscope,” a 19th century animation device that predates the motion picture, and allowed images to move on screen for the first time.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Makaya McCraven is an acclaimed Paris-born Chicago-based jazz percussionist, beatmaker and producer, who has released a remarkable run of critically applauded, genre-defying and re-defining albums that includes 2015’s The Moment, 2017’s Highly Rare, 2018’s Universal Beings, 2020’s We’re New Again and Universal Beings E&F Sides and last year’s Deciphering the Message.

McCraven’s newest album, In These Times is slated for a September 23, 2022 release through International Anthem/Nonesuch/XL Recordings. The album is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as it is by McCraven’s personal experience as the producer of a multinational, working class musician community. In These Times‘ material was seven years in the making, and was consistently in process in the background while McCraven was in the middle of his critically applauded run of albums.

Featuring contributions from a talented cast of collaborators including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart, Zara Zaharieva, Marta Sofia Honer, Greg Ward, Irvin Pierce, Matt Gold, Greg Spero, De’Sean Jones, and Rob Clearfield, the new album was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Sonically, the album sees McCraven and his collaborators weaving orchestral, large ensemble arrangements with the “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature sound. The end result is an album that’s reportedly a bold and decidedly evolution for McCraven as a composer and as a producer.

In These Times‘ first single “Seventh String” is a dazzling and dizzying composition centered around rolling bursts of polyrhythmic drumming, glistening, finger plucked guitar, gorgeous orchestral strings, twinkling bursts of harp, soulful flute lines. While the composition smudges then blurs the lines between J. Dilla-like beatmaking and jazz, it sees the musicians carefully walking a tightrope between chaos and order, free-flowing improvisation and structured composition in a way that’s thoughtful, mischievous, and forceful yet breathtakingly gorgeous.

McCraven will be embarking on a very busy tour schedule throughout the summer and fall. The tour includes a July 31, 2022 stop at Central Park SummerStage. Check out the rest of the tour dates below. For ticket info and more, check out the following: https://www.makayamccraven.com/home#page-section-62a80fe5d655357142843718

TOUR DATES

June 30 – July 2 – Montreal Jazz Fest – Montreal, QB

July 6 – Copenhagen Jazz – Copenhagen, DK

July 7 – Warsaw Jazz Days – Warsaw, PL

July 8 – North Sea Jazz Fest – Rotterdam, NL

July 9 – Kongsberg Jazz – Kongsberg, NO

July 16 – DOUR Festival – Dour, BE

July 19 – Jazz en La Costa – Granada, ES

July 20 – Teatro Trento Jazz – Trento, IT

July 21 – Casa del Jazz – Roma, IT

July 22 – Musiques en été – Geneva, CH

July 24 – Odysseus Festival – Helsinki, FI

July 30 – Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI

July 31 – Central Park SummerStage, New York City, NY

August 2 – Salt Shed – Chicago, IL

August 5 – OFF Festival – Katowice, PL


October 15 – Chan Center for the Arts – Vancouver, BC

October 17 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO

October 19 – Fox Theater – Boulder, CO

October 21 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR

October 23 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA

October 25 – Earshot Jazz Festival – Seattle, WA

October 27 – Kuumbwa Jazz Center – Santa Cruz, CA

October 29 – Musical Instrument Museum – Phoenix, AZ

October 30 – Jazz Is Dead @ The Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA

November 4 – JazzOnze+ Festival – Lausanne, CH

November 5 – C2C Festival – Torino, IT

November 7 – CBE – Cologne, DE

November 8 – Domicil – Dortmund, DE

November 9 – J.A.W. – Berlin, DE

November 10 – Enjoy Jazz – Mannheim, DE

November 12 – Moods – Zurich, CH

November 13 – LaFabrika – Prague, CZ

November 14 – Müpa – Budapest, HU

November 16 – Trabendo – Paris, FR

November 17 – PAARD – The Hague, NL

November 18 – Islington Assembly Hall – London, UK

November 19 – SuperSonic Jazz at Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Laufey Shares Cinematic and Dream-like Visual for “Fragile”

22 year-old Laufey Lin is a rapidly rising Reykjavik-born, Los Angeles-based, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as Laufey. Born to a Chinese-born violinist mother and a Icelandic-born, jazz-loving father, Lin grew up immersed in both classical music and jazz — and unsurprisingly both genres are major influences on the rising artist and her work.

By the time Lin turned 15, she performed with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. But despite her deep and abiding love of the music that has served as her musical foundation, she yearned to express herself by creating music that seamlessly blended her classical and jazz background with much more modern and contemporary influences.

\While attending Berklee College of Music, Lin began collaborating with some of her peers and recorded her debut single “Street By Street,” a blend of jazz melodies with slow-burning R&B grooves. Making the best of the unexpected downtime as a result of the pandemic, Lin decided to release “Street By Street” through social media. The song, along with a collection of covers and originals quickly went viral. Eventually, “Street By Street” hit #1 on the Icelandic charts — and she began to amass a massive following that includes Billie Eilish, Willow Smith, dodie, and others.

Since then, the Icelandic-born, Los Angeles-based artist has been busy: Last year saw the release of her debut EP Typical of Me, which features the aforementioned “Street by Street,” “Best Friend” and “Like the Movies,” which she performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this year.

Lin’s highly-anticipated full-length debut Everything I Know About Love is slated for an August 26, 2022 release through AWAL Recordings. The 12-song album will reportedly see Laufey effortlessly blending contemporary song structures and sensibilities with the classic and jazz stylings she learned as a violinist, pianist and guitarist. The end result is an album’s worth of material that translates the intimate feelings, thoughts and observations of a young, modern woman into grand, cinematic moments, seemingly inspired by both the jazz age and Hollywood’s golden age.

Everything I Know About Love‘s latest single “Fragile” features samba-inspired arrangement featuring strummed acoustic guitar and rhythms, twinkling piano paired with Lin’s gorgeous and expressive vocals. But much like Lin’s critically applauded work to date, “Fragile” manages to be deceptively old-timey: while indebted to jazz, the song’s swooningly heartsick narrator talks of falling for someone much older, and not knowing what to do or how to act — with the tacit fear of making a complete fool of yourself.

Directed by Erlendur Sveinsson, the accompanying cinematic video for “Fragile” was shot in some stunningly gorgeous and entrancingly dream-like locations including Iceland’s foggy, rocky shore and an ornate seaside home.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Drummer and composer Tim Carman is best known for his work with acclaimed Boston-based blues act GA-20, an act which also features Pat Faherty (vocals, guitar) and Matt Stubbs (guitar), who is also an acclaimed bandleader and composer in his own right.

Carman’s latest side project, Tim Carman Trio, which features Carman, Steve Fell (guitar) and Ken Clark (electric organ) can trace its origins back to 2020: While quarantining in a New Hampshire cabin, Carman spent his time revisiting records records that his first drum teach and mentor Bob Gullotti introduced him to during Carman’s formative years as an aspiring jazz drummer. 

Inspired by 60s soul jazz artists like Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff and others, The Tim Carman Trio is a no-fills, B3 organ, soul jazz outfit. The trio’s Carman and Dave Brophy co-produced full-length debut, Key Lime is slated for release this year through Color Red Music.  

So far I’ve written about two previously released singles from the band’s forthcoming debut:

  • “Blues for Bob,” the Carman written composition, written as a tribute to his mentor and drum teacher, is a cool and funky strut centered around Carman’s steady and efficient time-keeping and some self-assured and fiery soloing from Fell and Clark. 
  • A shuffling Art Blakey-like Latin take on the Bud Powell composition “Buster Rides Again,” centered around Clark’s muscular organ work, Fell’s bluesy guitar lines, Carman’s hi-hat-driven time-keeping and some additional percussion accents from Dave Brophy.

Key Lime‘s latest single is the trio’s take on “Not A Tear,” inspired by Wynton Kelly Trio’s take, which appeared on 1964’s It’s Alright. It’s a rarely covered, beautiful tune that makes a unique transition from slow-burning ballad to 6/8 bembe-like feel. The Tim Carman Trio take is a loose yet soulful take that displays the individual members’ musicianship and their unique simpatico — with a subtle reworking of the arrangement to accommodate organ and guitar.

Carman mentions the the composition is “fun as hell to play” and notes that the trio had a great time working it out in the studio.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 96th Birthday, Miles Davis!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates the 96th anniversary of Miles Davis’ birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 105th Birthday, Ella Fitzgerald!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 105th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 82nd Birthday, Herbie Hancock!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Herbie Hancock’s 82nd birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Drummer Tim Carman is best known for his work with acclaimed Boston-based blues act GA-20, an act which also features Pat Faherty (vocals, guitar) and Matt Stubbs (guitar).

Carman’s latest side project, Tim Carman Trio, which features Carman along with Steve Fell (guitar) and Ken Clark (electric organ) can trace its origins back to 2020: While quarantining in a New Hampshire cabin, Carman spent his time revisiting records records that his first drum teach and member Bob Gullotti introduced him to during Carman’s formative years as an aspiring jazz drummer.

Inspired by 60s soul jazz artists like Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff and others, The Tim Carman Trio is a no-fills, B3 organ, soul jazz outfit. The trio’s Carman and Dave Brophy co-produced full-length debut, Key Lime is slated for release this year through Color Red Music.  

Late last year, I wrote about album single and original composition “Blues for Bob.” Written as a tribute to Gulloti, the composition is a cool and funky strut centered around Carman’s steady and efficient time-keeping and some self-assured and fiery soloing from Fell and Clark.

Key Lime‘s second and latest single see the Tim Carman trio putting a shuffling Art Blakey-like Latin groove on their take on the Bud Powell tune “Buster Rides Again” that features Clark’s muscular organ playing, Fell’s bluesy guitar lines, Carman’s hi-hat driven drumming and some additional percussion accents from Dave Brophy.

“‘Buster Rides Again'” was one of the first tunes I learned when I started studying jazz in high school. After the death of my first drum teacher Bob Gullotti, I spent a lot of time reminiscing about my early years studying music,” Carman recalls. “This recording really stuck with me. I combined this tune with a latin groove inspired by Art Blakey, who I’ve spent a lot of time listening to during quarantine. I didn’t know if the combination of the tune and feel would work until we tried it in the studio. We did one take and that ended being the take we used for the album.”