The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz…
New Oscar Hernández Album and Upcoming Release Shows: Pianist/composer/bandleader Oscar Hernández will release his new album with his consummate group Alma Libre, Love the Moment, on August 16. The new LP marks the Latin music titan's sophomore release with Origin Records and will feature ten new original compositions. Hernández will celebrate the release of Love the Moment at the Blue Whale on September 15 in Los Angeles, California, and at Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center on October 13, in New York City, New York.
Lew Tabackin at Birdland This Weekend: Flutist/tenor saxophonist Lew Tabackin will be performing with his trio - including bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Mark Taylor - at The Birdland Theater in New York City, New York, on July 19-20. On each date, the trio will be performing two sets, one at 7 p.m. and the second at 9:45 p.m. For more information, click HERE.
Dan Pugach and Nicole Zuraitis to Close Brooklyn’s HOT SUMMER NIGHTS! Series on July 27: Brooklyn's On Stage At Kingsbourgh's 2019 HOT SUMMER NIGHTS! Free Outdoor Concert Series will close on July 27 with a special outdoor concert by the Dan Pugach Nonet with vocalist Nicole Zuraitis. The joyful ensemble features six horns and a driving rhythm section, and will be performing jazz arrangements and original compositions by both Zuraitis and bandleader/drummer Dan Pugach. The concert is scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. at Kingsborough's Lighthouse Bandshell, on the campus of Kingsborough Community College. Admission and parking are free and open to the public. For more information, click HERE.
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Photo: Derek Prospero.[/caption]
Lafayette Gilchrist, Dark Matter (Creative Differences/Lafayette Gilchrist Music)
Dark Matter is Baltimore-based pianist Lafayette Gilchrist's second solo recording, and it finds him musing on the elusive and mysterious matter that ties the universe together. The concept, he explains via a press release, "came to mind because the tunes on the album are so different one from the other that I felt the title suggested a binding of a kind - a desire for the listener to hear it all as one sound." In fact, the new LP draws on the span of jazz history from stride to free improvisation, along with inspiration from hip-hop, funk and Washington D.C.'s unique go-go sound. Dark Matter was recorded live in front of a rapt, intimate crowd at the University of Baltimore's Wright Theater by acclaimed hip-hop producer Wendel Patrick.
Ash Walker, Aquamarine (Night Time Stories)
London-based DJ/multi-instrumentalist Ash Walker offers an antidote to today's overly fast-paced, chaotic world with his third album, Aquamarine. The LP, out via Night Time Stories, is informed by Walker's passion for jazz, blues, soul, funk, reggae and all things in-between. It was recorded at his home, where he benefited from freedom of space and time, and could build his audial spaceship out of various analog and digital sounds. "My previous albums have felt to me more like ventures on land," Walker explains via a press release. "This one feels more like a deep-sea voyage into subconsciousness."
Zach Brock, Matt Ulery, Jon Deitemyer, Wonderment (Woolgathering)
Violinist Zach Brock, bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Jon Deitemyer first played together in Chicago in 2005. Despite their almost 15-year musical relationship, they had only ever recorded one track as a trio – on Ulery’s 2014 LP In the Ivory – until now. Wonderment marks the debut full-length album of Brock, Ulery and Deitemyer as a trio. A collection of twelve original compositions covering a wide array of compositional and improvisatory ground, as well as a wide range of emotions, but always favoring sincerity, Wonderment stands as a coming together of separate journeys into one strong, long-awaited personal statement.
Featured photo by Shervin Lainez.
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