The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz…
Florian Hoefner to Release First Trio Album on September 27: Pianist Florian Hoefner is set to release his first trio record, First Spring, on September 27 via ALMA. The album featured drummer Nick Fraser and bassist Andrew Downing, and it's a jazz piano trio take on Americana inspired by folk and roots artists such as Salm Almidon, Levon Helm and Chris Thile. "A common denominator in a lot of this music is the sound of the fiddle," Hoefner explains via a press release. "It occurred to me that with the double bass I have a string instrument in the trio that I can use for exactly this purpose. So I started arranging some of my favorite songs for piano, bass, and drums, often using the bowed bass as an additional melody instrument."
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Photo by: Tom Cochrane[/caption]
The Necks to Receive Top Honor at 2019 Art Music Awards: Australian experimental jazz trio, The Necks, will receive the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music on August 10 at the 2019 Art Music Awards at Sydney University's Great Hall. The Necks is made up of pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck, have been mainstays of the international avant-garde jazz scene since first forming in 1987. The Art Music Awards are presented each year by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Center in recognition of the achievement in composition, performance, education and presentation of Australian art music.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3RrvM0Lbyn7WdmUGu5pjlk?si=R3g2h3nHQa2fYaGrPwT8cA
Ten Long Out-of-Print ECM/JAPO Albums Available Now To Stream: Ten long out-of-print ECM and sister label JAPO albums are now available on all major streaming outlets. The following titles have made their original debut: Julian Priester and Marine Intrusion, Polarization (1977); Jack DeJohnette's Directions, New Rags (1977); Art Lande and Rubisa Patrol, Desert Marauders (1977); Tom Van Der Geld and Children at Play, Patience (1978); Steve Kuhn, Non-Fiction (1978); Gary Burton Quartet, Picture This (1982); Rena Rama, Landscapes (1977); OM, With Dom Um Romao (1978); Alfred Harth, Es herrscht Uhu im Land (1981); Globe Unity Orchestra, Intergalactic Blow (1983).
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Jazz and Art (Blue Engine)
Jazz and Art is a new collection of studio recordings of original compositions by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis inspired by the works of modern art masters, such as Romare Bearden, Stuart Davis, Sam Gilliam, Winslow Homer, Wilfredo Lam, Norman Lewis and Piet Mondrian. The LP displays impressive musicianship and a range of musical styles, from modern jazz to Gospel, American pastoral music, Afro-Cuban, spirituals, New Orleans, Indian chants, avant-garde and more. “Music and paintings share so many characteristics: colors, layers, line, form, shape,” explains saxophonist and Orchestra member Ted Nash. "No wonder they are such agreeable collaborators. When these two art forms come together, they create a new medium."
Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller, Parlour Game (Royal Potato Family)
Violinist Jenny Scheinman and drummer Allison Miller, two of the indie-jazz scene's foremost instrumentalists, have worked side-by-side on several projects for nearly two decades. However, Parlour Game marks their first album as co-writing collaborators. Here, they present eleven original compositions that celebrate American musical traditions at a time of great unrest in the country, and prevail as a respite from the daily chaos of the modern world with their hopefulness. Parlour Game also features Carmen Staaf on piano and Tony Scherr on acoustic bass, and the title of the album refers to the way each band member has equal input in how the songs manifest.
Vince Mendoza, Constant Renaissance (BCM&D)
Celebrated composer/conductor was at Temple University and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts earlier this year for a week-long residency with students at the Boyer College of Music and Dance. The residency culminated with the performance and recording of his new work, Constant Renaissance, commissioned by Temple University. This is a three-piece suite written by Mendoza in honor of Philadelphia's history with jazz, and particularly inspired by three of its most universally celebrated luminaries - Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane. Constant Renaissance was written with trumpeter Terell Stafford and alto saxophonist Dick Oatts in mind and features them as well as the Temple University Studio Orchestra.
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