The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It’s a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let’s take it from the top. Noteworthy
VMP Anthology Celebrates Ghetto Records: Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) has announced the release of an exclusive, limited-edition vinyl box set documenting the legacy of the groundbreaking Latin music label, Joe Bataan's Ghetto Music. Produced in collaboration with Now-Again Records, VMP Anthology: The Story of Ghetto Records includes six of the label's rarest and best albums and one new compilation and is accompanied by an extensive booklet and podcast series that serves as a definitive guide to each album. Each record comes on 180g black vinyl and is housed in a high-quality commemorative box inspired by Izzy Sanabria’s original art direction for Ghetto Records. Kibrom Birhane on JAZZIZ Travel: Multi-instrumentalist/keyboard extraordinaire Kibrom Birhane, who has been called the future of Ethiopian jazz, joined us in the latest episode of our JAZZIZ Travel podcast series to talk about his third and most adventurous album to date, Here and There, available now on Flying Carpet Records. Listen to the podcast conversation via the player below. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2KJSwbsPiEjWmDbegVyVwo?si=0f79fd45d75a4ab4
Hampton Hawes Vinyl Reissue: Pianist Hampton Hawes' 1958 album, Four!, was reissued on vinyl this month as part of Craft Recordings' 70th-anniversary celebration of seminal label, Contemporary Records. The album features Hawes alongside Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne and Red Michell. The reissue contains newly-mastered audio by Bernie Grundman and follows the series' reissues of Art Pepper's +Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics and Barney Kessel's The Poll Winners. Newvelle Announces First Series in Over Two Years: Newvelle Records, the premium vinyl record label, has announced its first exclusive series in more than two years. The Renewal Collection is a four-album series displaying the resilience of improvised music through the anguish and loss of the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring music by Elan Mehler, Michael Blake, Dave Liebman and Nadje Noordhuis. The first album of the series, Mehler's There Is a Dance, will be released on September 9. https://youtu.be/KV7q0FcFoHM
New and Upcoming Albums
Pasquale Grasso, Be-Bop! (Sony Music Masterworks): Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are the two jazz legends honored by Italian-born guitar virtuoso Pasquale Grasso on his upcoming new album, Be-Bop! Released on June 17, this will be Grasso's sixth release album for Masterworks and finds him backed by his working trio of bassist Ari Roland and drummer Keith Balla, with special guest vocalist Samara Joy appearing on the jivey mid-tempo swinger, "I'm in a Mess." https://open.spotify.com/album/3Iq2Xv9Gsp18CytuKVtOWJ?si=qVc5tzG2R9W855AqR0xZvQ
Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese, and esperanza spalding, Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival (Candid): Live At The Detroit Jazz Festival, due out September 9, captures a one-night-only event performance by a multi-generational jazz supergroup with Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, esperanza spalding and Leo Genovese. Recorded in 2017, this performance was dedicated to the much-missed pianist/composer Geri Allen and was one of Shorter's final concerts before his retirement. https://youtu.be/JgcG-HBSM6c
Paul Brown, Promised Land (Shanachie): Two-time GRAMMY-winning guitarist/producer Paul Brown released Promised Land, his second recording for Shanachie, on July 15. Featuring ten all-original tracks, the jubilant recording unites him with an all-star contemporary jazz lineup including labelmates Marion Meadows and Euge Groove, plus Shane Theriot, Jeff Carruthers and others. https://open.spotify.com/album/7ctpJMlFR5SQamyhoAyeEM?si=RsNK3OStQRiq2oE9wLIvuw
Tigran Hamasyan, StandArt (Nonesuch): Pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan will release his first album of American standards, StandArt, featuring bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown. Released on April 29 via Nonesuch, the record offers a program of reimagined standards from the '20s through the '50s, plus special guests, including Ambrose Akinmusire, Joshua Redman and Mark Turner. https://open.spotify.com/album/1j9abB0wpxOjBxSmdeNIbP?si=BK70xaGQR8mtaKMr4HkbHA
Live Music and Festival News
Marco Benevento Announces West Coast Tour: Marco Benevento has announced an 11-date West Coast tour this coming October, with special guest William Tyler opening each evening. The tour supports his latest album, Benevento, recorded while the musician/composer was locked down at his home studio in Hudson Valley during 2020 and 2021, and available now on Royal Potato Family. Benevento's West Coast Tour will kick off at Pappy Harriet's in Pioneertown, California, on October 11. Check out all upcoming tour dates here. Cameron Grames Premieres Full Concert on YouTube: Cameron Graves premiered the full concert of music from his Live from the Seven Spheres album on July 15. You can watch it via the player below. Live from the Seven Spheres was released on April 8 via Artistry/Mack Avenue. It features reimagines versions of songs from his previous two studio albums, performed with his core quintet with Colin Cook, Max Gerl and Mike Mitchell. https://youtu.be/8UdD4iG_vY4
92NY Announces 2022-23 Jazz and World Music Concerts: 92NY has announced jazz and world music concerts for its renowned 2022-23 Tisch Music Season, including debuts from Branford Marsalis, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Yuriy Gurzhy, Svetlana Kundish and Mariana Sadovska - the musicians behind the haunting music theatre piece Songs for Babyn Yar. Regina Carter is also scheduled to perform her newest project, Gone in a Phase of Air, and Fred Hersch will join the Crosby Street String Quartet for a live performance of the work that is the focus of his latest recording project, Breath by Breath. More here. Featured photo: Rob Shanahan.
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