Looking for some Monday motivation? We’ve got you covered. From a preview of an acclaimed composer/bandleader’s big band debut album to the return of a trumpet great, here are five new songs that you can listen to right now to start your week the right way.
Andrew Munsey, "Seedling"
JAZZIZ presents the premiere of "Seedling," a track from percussionist/recording engineer Andrew Munsey's debut as a leader, High Tide, out August 30 via Birdwatcher. Here, Munsey and his quintet - including Steph Richards, Ochion Jewell, Amino Belyamani and Sam Minaie - continue to reveal their individual characters through forceful interplay. "The piece was developed with a simple architecture that's embedded throughout the layers," Munsey tells us. "There's a continuously present this-against-that motif: in the mirror-image bass line, the melodic shapes, the metric shapes, and even throughout the improvisational form. It reminded me of the above-the-surface, below-the-surface duality in something like a tree, where there’s a whole world hidden from view—the other half really—that gives form to the thing we actually get to see and experience."
Outside in Music Live at Pinch Recording, "Existing Conditions" feat. Lucas Pino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0UOKrSw2sA&feature=youtu.be
Outside In Music have launched the first video single from Outside In Music Live at Pinch Recording. This is the third iteration of a label showcase featuring seven original compositions from seven bandleaders/composers on the label's rosters, as well as an ambitious plan featuring the label's musicians collaborating with one another and sharing their compositions both new and reimagined for a one-day-only session. This video is Owen Broder's new composition "Existing Conditions," featuring tenor saxophonist extraordinaire Lucas Pino. Other musicians featured on the session include Michael Thomas, Nick Finzer, Dan Pugach, Dave Baron and many more.
Ezra Weiss, "Obergefell"
https://soundcloud.com/bk-music-pr/obergefell-ezra-weiss-big-band
"Obergefell" is a track from composer/bandleader Ezra Weiss' big band album debut, We Limit Not the Truth of God. The LP features a 17-piece band of first-call musicians and is an impassioned suite addressed to Weiss' young children that attempts to make sense of a divided world. "Obergefell" is one of its most celebratory parts. Drawing inspiration from the 2015 Civil Rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples, the piece brims with triumphant joy, vividly depicted by Weiss' choral arrangement. We Limit Not the Truth of God is due out August 16 via Origin Records.
Herb Alpert, "Over the Rainbow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqXB5KXX_bI
Trumpet great Herb Alpert has left an indelible mark on music history, and he is set to release a brand new album titled Over the Rainbow on September 20. Ahead of its release, Alpert has shared the one brand new, original track featured on it: the quirky and fun "Skinny Dip," which also opens the program. The other eleven tracks that follow it on Over the Rainbow are interpretations of classic tunes, such as the beloved Judy Garland signature title-track, a tribute to Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt on "All Love," and Louis Armstrong's much-loved "What a Wonderful World," among others.
Chrissie Hynde, "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNqs4c-GK0
Chrissie Hynde, one of the greatest rock and roll bandleaders of all time, has shared a new single from her upcoming first full-length jazz album, Valve Bone Woe. Here, she takes on Charles Trenet's 1942 original song "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?" (that translates as "What Remains of Our Love?"). This is the closing track of the album, and Hynde sings it entirely in French. Her soft, heart-rending performance is backed by a melancholic and lightly-swinging string arrangement. The Pretenders frontwoman recorded Valve Bone Woe with The Valve Bone Woe ensemble in London and it is due out September 6 via BMG.
Featured photo by Clara Pereira.
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