MOTÉMA MUSIC & HEARTCORE RECORDS LOVINGLY PRESENT:

 GERI ALLEN KURT ROSENWINKEL A LOVESOME THING

LIVE AT PHILHARMONIE DE PARIS

Das Live-Album der Jazz-Größen Geri Allen und Kurt Rosenwinkel wurde 2012 in der "Philharmonie de Paris" aufgenommen. Die beiden spielen wie aus einem Guss. Geri Allen sprach oft von ihrem Wunsch, ein Studioalbum miit dem in Berlin lebenden Kurt Rosenwinkel aufzunehmen "to document the flow and spirit while playing with Kurt", so ihre Worte seinerzeit. Leider haben wir sie verloren, bevor dieser Termin zustande kam, aber glücklicherweise wurde das Konzert aufgezeichnet. Und die Akustik im Saal ist großartig, was man der Aufnahme natürlich anhört ( CD / Vinyl)
Produziert von Kurt Rosenwinkel und Jana Herzen. Gewidmet dem Andenken an Geri Allen, die 2017 verstarb. Dieses Album ist, was der Titel vorgibt: truly a lovesome thing...

LINER NOTE STATEMENT BY KURT:
"There was a strong bond between Geri and myself: a beautiful internal smile, a deep respect. I am so grateful we had the opportunity to work together. We talked through the years about projects we wanted to do, songs we wanted to play, but alas, we only had the chance to play a few times. This concert was the first and only time we played duo together. There was no rehearsal. Geri was a powerful force: a master musician and a true Magician. I felt a connection with her – the level of interaction with the subtle planes, the inner lives of spirit and contact with the universe. We felt it in the music, something magical happening, and I believe you can hear it in this recording."

“Geri Allen and Kurt Rosenwinkle are beautifully compatible. Their sound and musicality are a perfect fit on this gem recording. So happy it is finally being shared with the world! I always felt that Geri’s chordal motion was very guitar oriented, so the simpatico between them is no surprise. This is an important album in the rich legacy of Geri Allen recordings, and I believe the fans of Kurt. Rosenwinkle will be quite delighted as well!” – Terri Lyne Carrington

Biografie:

Die in der mongolischen Hauptstadt Ulaanbaatar geborene Komponistin, Dirigentin und Pianistin Shuteen Erdenebaatar (*1998) bringt mit ihren sehnsuchtsvollen Melodien, angereichert mit tiefgründigen und ausdrucksstarken Harmonien und Rhythmen, einen einzigartigen Klang zu Gehör. Aufgewachsen als klassische Musikerin, begann sie im Alter von 16 Jahren bereits ihr Bachelor-Studium in klassischer Komposition. Unmittelbar nach ihrem erfolgreichen Abschluss kam sie 2018 nach München, um ihren Horizont mit einem Doppelmasterstudium in Jazzklavier und Jazzkomposition an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater zu erweitern. Im Alter von 23 Jahren hat sie bereits zwei Masterstudiengänge und ein Weiterbildendes Zertifikatsstudium Meisterklasse erfolgreich absolviert.

Shuteen Erdenebaatar ist Preisträgerin u.a. des renommierten BMW Young Artist Jazz Award 2022, des Musikstipendiums der Stadt München, des 1. Preises und Publikumspreises des 10. Jungen Münchner Jazzpreises, des Kompositionspreises beim Biberacher Jazzpreis 2022 und des 1. Preises beim Kurt Maas Jazzpreis 2021, wo sie einen Sommerkurs am weltberühmten Berklee College of Music gewann.

Sie spielte mit international renommierten Künstlern wie Kenny Washington, Laurent Maur, Tim Collins, Henning Sieverts und hat unter anderem bei Richie Beirach, Christian Elsässer, Claus Raible und Gregor Hübner studiert. Ihre eigenen Kompositionen wurden bereits in der Münchner Philharmonie oder im Studio 2 des Bayerischen Rundfunks aufgeführt. Darüber hinaus erhielt sie Kompositionsaufträge von den bedeutendsten Orchestern der Mongolei, wie der Bayan Mongol Big Band, dem Mongolischen Staatsphilharmonieorchester oder dem Symphonieorchester der Mongolischen Staatsoper. Derzeit arbeitet sie als Komponistin und Pianistin an eigenen Projekten wie dem Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartett, dem Lightville Duo und als Dirigentin ihres neu gegründeten 20-köpfigen, genreübergreifenden Chamber Jazz Orchestra in München.

FEATURING:

TRUMPETER VOLKER GOETZE, KORA MASTER ALI BOULO SANTO CISSOKO, AND FLAMENCO GUITARIST ALEJANDRO MORENO

JIHYE LEE Orchestra- DARING MIND

Motéma/ PIAS- VÖ: 26.03.2021

Webseite Jihyee Lee:

Jihye Lee: Daring Mind is a documentation of my first four years in New York. Composing has been my best friend. We danced, cried, laughed, and suffered together. Music heals me by helping to release my emotions. I hope this album can take on you a similar journey as we are all human beings sharing the ups and downs of life.

Motéma Music is proud to announce the release of Daring Mind, the sophomore album by the Jihye Lee Orchestra , which streets on March 26, 2021. Produced by Lee, in collaboration with the innovative composer and Secret Society bandleader Darcy James Argue, and with renowned trumpeter Sean Jones as a key contributor, Lee’s Motéma debut showcases the South Korea native’s personal and adventurous storytelling approach to large-ensemble jazz over the course of nine spellbinding compositions.
As a follow up to her widely-acclaimed 2017 debut April, Daring Mind presents selections from Lee’s ‘Mind’ Series, including her BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize-winning “Unshakable Mind” and her Manny Albam Commission “Revived Mind.” The album reflects her struggles, doubts, joys, and hopes while living in the amazing city of New York. The compositions explore the human mind, heart and soul, the various states of the human psyche from confusion to rage to enlightenment.
Lee describes composition as a form of record-keeping for herself, as the documentation of her life, the process of finding musical equivalents to the images, thoughts and emotions in her mind. She writes first and foremost for herself, to release her feelings, which makes her music deeply personal. “My goal is to invite listeners into my creative world, to relate to my stories, and to reflect on the truth that as humans, we share similar struggles and triumphs regardless of where we come from. It is my hope that we can create genuine connections with each other through art,” she says.

Jana Herzen "LIVE"-VÖ:12.03.21 CD/digital - 11.06.21 Vinyl

Produced by Charnett Moffett
Motéma / PIAS/ The Orchard

Webseite Jana Herzen

The celebratory and soulful performance featured an all-original set with Herzen on vocals and guitar, veterans Charnett Moffett (on fretless electric bass) and Brian Jackson (on piano and keyboards), alongside the spirited young drummer Corey Garcia on drums, and the gifted Irwin Hall (known best for his work with Melody Gardot) on multi-reeds and woodwinds. Slated as a preview for Herzen's 'Nothing But Love' studio album (which came out to critical acclaim in January of 2020) the concert had an electric, anticipatory vibration.  Little did they know that the COVID crisis was crouching around the corner, the group would not be able to gather and perform together to an unforeseeable time to come.

“There’s something special anytime that Jana Herzen and Charnett Moffett make music together.
 It’s pure, soulful, and especially beautiful to hear now, maybe more than ever.
Together their magic.”– AMERICAN SONGWRITER
“A rather wonderful musical partnership” – JAZZWISE (UK)

The presence of an enthusiastic and increasingly enchanted audience helps elevate the performance to higher dimensions and makes this an especially heart-warming listen at this difficult and unprecedented time in history.
Meticulously produced by Charnett Moffett, the album will be released in tandem with a full concert video.

Charnett Moffett: “Working with Jana in a live setting is truly a joy. I love her spontaneity and the diversity of styles she brings as a musician. She sings every note from her heart, and the way her compositions flow from one style to another always amazes me. Janis Joplin, Ella Fitzgerald, Julie Andrews, are just a few of the diverse influences that I hear in her sound.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Nothing but Love
2. Speak
3. On the Outside
4. My Latin Love
5. Night Blooming Jasmine
6. With an Open Heart
7. Lightening the Load
8. Like a River
9. Thinking of You
10. Precious Air
11. In the Name of Love

The Royal Bopsters to Release Party of Four,
With Very Special Guests Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough & Christian McBride
Sophomore Album, out on Motéma, November 13th   (Vertrieb Pias / RTD)

Motéma Music is honored to announce Party of Four, the sophomore release from renowned vocal jazz quartet The Royal Bopsters, which streets November 13, 2020. This twelve-track venture, which follows up their critically acclaimed 2015 debut, celebrates both the proud history and the bright future of vocal jazz.  A hard-swinging amalgam of vocal virtuosity, electrifying group chemistry, and masterful arranging, Party of Four displays the group’s stunning facility to swing deeply and sing passionately while navigating incredibly precise four-part harmonies.
A master class in the art of vocal jazz and vocalese, Party of Four demonstrates the dazzling possibilities of four voices coming together as one. Bopsters Amy London, Dylan Pramuk, Pete McGuinness, and the late Holli Ross (to whom the album is dedicated) are joined by guest lead vocalists, NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan (91 years young) who delivers a delightful rendition of “Lucky to Be Me” and NEA Jazz Master Bob Dorough, whose humorous recording of his classic “Baby, You Should Know It” became one of his final recordings when he sadly passed in 2018. GRAMMY®-winning bassist and jazz personality Christian McBride also guests on bass for two strong tracks.
Party of Four follows up The Royal Bopsters’ debut release – The Royal Bopsters Project – which was an unprecedented vocal jazz summit featuring five of history’s most celebrated vocal bop innovators and monarchs: Mark Murphy, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough and Annie Ross.  The album was proclaimed  “Extraordinary.” by Downbeat (4.5 stars), “A priceless landmark” by Jazz Times (Best Albums of 2015), and  “A magnum opus of jazz and song” by WBGO Radio.  Party of Four, with liner notes by WBGO’s Michael Bourne, builds on that solid foundation and is poised to become one of the defining jazz vocal albums of the year.
Cited as “expert practitioners of vocalese” in The New Yorker, The Royal Bopsters celebrated their first release with a star-studded, sold-out week-long residency at New York’s iconic Birdland Jazz Club with guests Annie Ross, John Hendricks and Bob Dorough. Darmon Meader, of the New York Voices, sang tenor on the first album, and then soon after the Birdland show Pete McGuinness, a three-time GRAMMY®-nominated arranger, stepped into the tenor chair for the group. Party of Four – the title penned by Holli Ross – began to take shape as Pete and Dylan brought additional arrangements to the group in 2016. The new music shone, and seeds were planted for the ensemble’s sensational second chapter. NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, who began her career singing with Charlie Parker, and
who now, with the passing of Annie Ross this July, has become the reigning Queen Matriarch of Vocal Bop, has commented “The Bopsters are my favorite vocal group.” The love is mutual, and The Bopsters include Sheila as a guest in their live shows wherever possible. Dorough, who is most famous for writing

Schoolhouse Rock, also guested frequently until his sudden death in 2018. He and Annie, as well as Mark Murphy, are all much loved and sorely missed by the Bopsters.
Each Royal Bopster is a renowned jazz educator, and collectively they instruct at the entire gamut of excellent jazz programs in the NYC area: The New School (London was a founder of the program), NYU, William Paterson, Manhattan School of Music, Montclair State, City College, Hofstra and Jazz House Kids (where London & Pramuk teach and co-created their Vocal Academy). The group’s vast collective knowledge of the history and technique of the artform of vocal jazz shines through on every note.
Party of Four offers audiences a jubilant recognition of multiple generations of architects and proud purveyors of the vocal jazz art form.  Dedicated to Bopster Holli Wasser Ross, the album is a resounding celebration of life, rhythm, harmony and tradition at a time when the world can definitely use a little cheering up.

The album will be released on November 13th to coincide with the weekend of Holli Ross’s 64th birthday on November 16th and Sheila Jordan’s birthday November 18. Two singles will be released before the album; “But Not for Me” on September 18th, and “Cuando Te Vea” with lyrics and lead vocals by Holli Ross, on October 16th.

Tracklist
But Not for Me
 On a Misty Night/The Gipsy featuring Christian McBride

How I Love You (Let Me Count the Reasons)
Lucky to Be Me featuring Sheila Jordan
Why’d You Do Me the Way You Did?
 Day Dream
 Cuando Te Vea (When I See You) featuring Christian McBride
 Baby, You Should Know It featuring Bob Dorough
 Our Spring Song
Rusty Dusty Blues
Infant Eyes
My Shining Hour

Motéma Music LLC / Pias / The Orchard

VÖ digital: 3.Juli 2020       VÖ CD: 17.Juli 2020

“Charnett Moffett is a Bass Wonder Man” – Downbeat
“Herzen’s rich past imbues her work with color and character.”  – People
“Herzen’s clean guitar work [is] a confident dance partner for her sly vocal style… storytelling remains first and foremost. “  – Downbeat

‘Round The World’ is the new album from acclaimed U.S.singer-songwriter/guitarist Jana Herzen and innovative, world-renowned bassist Charnett Moffett. Released through Herzen’s Motéma label, (which debuted Gregory Porter and has 24 GRAMMY® nominations and 5 wins), ‘Round The World’ finds the duo serving up a delightful eleven track set which combines skillfully assembled originals alongside freshly imagined covers by the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Maria Muldaur, Roberta Flack, Men At Work and more.
Herzen and bassist Charnett Moffett capture lightning in a bottle with a dreamy, sophisticated, smart and quirky mix of songs. They marry innovation with nostalgia as they seamlessly shape shift from folk to jazz to reggae to Afro-beat and beyond.  Outstanding new originals such as ‘On The Outside’, ‘Far Away’ and ‘Round The World’ sit comfortably alongside the duo’s very personal take on covers such as ‘Blackbird’ (The Beatles), ‘Both Sides Now’ (Joni Mitchell, ‘Sweetheart’ (Maria Muldaur), ‘Down Under’ (Men At Work) and the much cherished ‘Killing Me Softly’ (Roberta Flack). Throughout the album, the duo reveals themselves to be creative partners who can finish each other’s musical sentences.
At the heart of the album, which was recorded,long before the Covid-19 pandemic, are central themes of love, hope, optimism, respect and honesty. Though they never intended to release the album during a worldwide pandemic, the album’s themes feel very appropriate for this moment. Herzen and Moffett hope that the comforting vibrations of their music will provide a healing antidote to the isolation, fear and disconnection that so many are feeling.

After sixteen years helming the genre-bridging Motéma label, that has introduced ground-breaking albums by Gregory Porter, Joey Alexander, Deva Mahal, Pedrito Martinez, Jaimeo Brown, Brian Jackson, Donny McCaslin, Monty Alexander, Geri Allen,Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science and more is now experiencing a watershed moment for her own considerable musical talents. This duo release follows close on the heels of another all-original band project, ‘Nothing But Love,’ which came out in January 2020, sparking fervent press response and rising social media engagements. She also recently began touring and recording as a guitarist in Moffett’s Bright New day band which she credits as opening new creative horizons.

Herzen has spent a lifetime in the arts. The child of activist scientists on the Stanford University Campus in California in the turbulent 1960’s. She began performing at five, sang in coffee houses as a teenager, and worked extensively in music and theatre in her early professional life. In her thirties she travelled the world and began writing and recording.  She has worked as an art agent, and as a Founder and key executive for two of New York’s more influential arts companies: the MCC Theater (now in its fourth decade), and Motéma Music (now in its 16th year). Wisdom gained along this winding way shows up in her poetry and musicality as well as her confident and magnetic performance style.
As for Moffett, he brings his own forty plus years of arts experience to the table, along with an unusual abundance of spirit and charisma. Considered one of the most virtuosic bassists in jazz, Moffett has honed his A-Team chops through four decades as a musician/composer during which he’s recorded fifteen innovative albums of his own, and over two hundred albums as a bassist to the stars including such revered jazz titles as Wynton Marsalis' ‘Black Codes for the Underground’, McCoy Tyner’s ‘Land of the Giants’, Ornette Coleman’s ‘Sound Museum’, Herbie Hancock’s ‘Future 2 Future’, and Sonny Sharrock's ‘Ask the Ages’.

When Herzen first signed Moffett to Motéma in 2008 they began forging an uncommon artistic bond that has grown organically through years of producing, touring and recording together. Serving first as his Executive Producer, Herzen released two Moffett projects on Motéma before releasing their first duo project, ‘Passion of a Lonely Heart’ in 2012. In 2013 she co-produced Moffett’s solo upright bass tour-de-force ‘The Bridge’ and in 2016 she produced Moffett’s acclaimed live recording debut, ‘Music From Our Soul’, featuring Pharaoh Sanders, Stanley Jordan, Cyrus Chestnut, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Victor Lewis, and Mike Clark. The success of that project led to Moffett inviting Herzen to fill the guitar chair on his live dates and then on his quintet album ‘Bright New Day’ which came out in June 2019. Loving the sound that Moffett’s band brought to her song ‘Precious Air’ in his Bright New Day sessions, Herzen decided to engage the same team for her own band album ‘Nothing But Love’ which came out January 17th.
The release of ‘Round the World’ represents both a new direction and a full circle return for the duo. The tracks for these eleven songs were laid down in early experimental sessions that that led to their first duo recording. Of twenty-two tracks recorded back then, half came out on Herzen’s jazz focused ‘Passion of a Lonely Heart’ in 2012. The others were saved for later release and now appear on this disc. These moving duo arrangements of 1960, ‘70 & ‘80s hits that Herzen used to cover at folk clubs and coffeehouses in her teens, and for her five story-driven originals written along her path since then, reveal the deep musical camaraderie and artistic telepathy that seeded this unlikely pair’s many fruitful collaborations.

“The music doesn’t lie,” explains Moffett. “Jana’s musical creativity is diverse. She is an artist with an original sound and style who always sings and plays from her heart. Her poetic lyrics and song writing embrace the listener with the compassion of truth. I’ve found that playing in a duo capacity allows the sound of the bass to have a voice of its own. Our duo recordings and performances have all been exciting for me.
I never know which style Jana will travel into next as each song finds a new journey every time the music is created.” – Charnett Moffett

  “Charnett’s ever flowing waterfall of musical ideas is always a thrill to collaborate with. There’s a language we’re developing that been gaining nuance through the years and I’m looking forward to what’s coming ‘round the bend.” – Jana Herzen

The duo will be sharing performances online to support ‘Round the World and their other recent releases and looks forward to touring and more recording in better times to come.”

Tracklisting:

1. Sweetheart (1974, Ken Burgan) 3:16

2. Both Sides Now (1968– Joni Mitchell) 4:51

3. Killing Me Softly (1973 – Charles Fox/Norman Gimbel) 4:10

4. On the Outside (Jana Herzen)  –5:20  

5. Blackbird – (1968 – Lennon/McCartney) 3:48

6. (Jana Herzen/Shakara Mutela) 6:13
-  
 – Lyrics are by Herzen, music by Congolese ex-pat Shakara Mutela, producer of Herzen’s debut album, Soups on Fire (2001), whom she met indirectly through Carlos Santana. It’s a long story.

7. ‘Round the World (Jana Herzen) 4:13

8. Bali Dream  (Jana Herzen) 5:50

9. Land Down Under (1980, Colin Hay, Ron Strykert) 4:47


10. Part Of The World Jana Herzen) 4:32

11. Rainbow Connection (1979, Paul Williams, Kenneth Ascher)  3:57 


JANA HERZEN "NOTHING BUT LOVE"   VÖ: 17.JANUAR 2020     MOTEMA/ PIAS

On ‘Nothing But Love’, Jana Herzen’s diverse, soulful and sophisticated collection of folk/pop/world/jazz originals, the singer-songwriter and guitarist reaches new heights as a storyteller and composer. The wonderfully rich, mature, and complex song tapestry will be released on January 17, by the multi-GRAMMY® winning Motéma label.

With its unexpected juxtapositions of isolation, loss, and melancholy, alongside eye-winking fun, hopeful‘turning the page’ and finding the courage to consider letting the sun back in, ‘Nothing But Love’ offers a complex portrait of a force that, in Herzen’s words, ‘makes the world go ‘round’. “This cycle of 12 songs –one of which I wrote on a napkin in an NYC jazz club as far back as the 1980's– has long desired to see the light of day.” she explains. “Each song is inspired by a particular moment, place, or person in my life. Together, they tell a tale of love in many guises.”

Herzen’s varied and colorful history infuses her writing. Raised by famed activist scientists Leonard and Leonore A. Herzenberg of Stanford University, her initial calling as a theater artist led her to London and then to New York City in the 1980s where she eventually became a founding member and dramaturge for the award-winning and influential MCC Theater. After ten years with MCC, she then traveled the world extensively, recorded her first album, Soup’s on Fire, and eventually founded her tastemaker Motéma label in 2003.

Though she has primarily devoted her last sixteen years to leading Motéma, Herzen has never lost sight of her journey as a singer, composer, and instrumentalist. The influences of her deep immersion in diverse styles of music show up in the production and arrangements of ‘Nothing But Love’. The album’s soundscape benefits from the vibrancy and immediacy of being recorded ‘live in the studio’ by a group of seasoned jazz musicians with a shared history of working together. The chemistry of the band is palpable. Each instrumentalist brings a special gift to the table, including Herzen whose guitar work plays a key role in leading the arrangements. As a vocalist, Herzen’s rich, milky and confident tone is warmly inviting as it leads us through the journey of “Nothing But Love.” The song-cycle opens with the title track, a swaggering guitar-driven blues/reggae/country vibe that packs a humorous spiritual punch. Next is the mournful, smart and redemptive “Speak” a story of lost love and found freedom set to six-eight rhythms born of Herzen’s love for African music. “Speak” is further elevated by a memorable song structure and instrumental interplay.

"Absolute intimacy..." – Gary Walker, WBGO   

"Herzen presents warmly wrought jazz-pop.” – Time Out NY
"A composer, guitarist, and lyricist whose performances are imaginative and soulful."  – JazzTimes 

Personell:Jana Herzen - guitar and vocalsCharnett Moffett - fretless electric bassBrian Jackson - piano and keyboardsScott Tixier - acoustic/electric violinMark Whitfield, Jr - drums

CHARNETT MOFFETT     "BRIGHT NEW DAY"   VÖ: 21.06.19    MOTEMA/PIAS

The Bright New Day Band:Charnett Moffett - electric bassJana Herzen - electric guitarBrian Jackson - piano and synthScott Tixier - acoustic/electric violinMark Whitfield, Jr - drums

MELISSA ALDANA "VISIONS" VÖ: 24.05.2019  MOTEMA/ PIAS

Featuring Melissa Aldana (tenor saxophone),

Sam Harris (piano, Rhodes trk 5)

Pablo Menares (bass),
Tommy Crane (drums)

Joel Ross (vibraphone, all trks except 5, 8 & 10)

On her first jazz quartet album Visions, award-winning saxophonist Melissa Aldana connects her work to the legacy of Latina artists who have come before her, creating a pathway for her own expression. Inspired by the life and works of Frida Kahlo, Aldana creates a parallel between her experiences as a female saxophone player in a male-dominated community, and Kahlo’s experiences as a female visual artist working to assert herself in a landscape dominated by men. On her first jazz quartet recording, Aldana adds a new dimension to her sound, resulting in a transformative movement of expression and self-identity.

“These compositions, and the rest of the music on Visions, deals with challenging questions that bubbled up while I was immersed in Kahlo’s paintings, as well as researching her professional life and personal struggles – the latter of which I feel connected to almost on an intuitive level. In these compositions I aim to create different aesthetics and instrumental soundscapes that represent two specific forces in Kahlo’s life that have had a direct, evolving impact on the direction of my music, as well as my own self-identity.” – Melissa Aldana

Since beginning her life as a saxophonist at age six (first on alto, then upon hearing Sonny Rollins immediately switching to tenor), Aldana has loved to transcribe her heroes, people like Don Byas and Mark Turner. And, as a young painter she would try to copy the works of her two favorite artists, Frida Kahlo and Oswaldo Guayasamin. By her early teens she was a working musician, and was personally invited by Danilo Perez to play at the Panama Jazz Festival. Aldana graduated from Berklee in 2009 and moved to NYC that same year. At age 24, just after recording her second album, she won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, prompting The Washington Post to describe her as representing, "a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz."
Over the past two years, leading up to the recording of Visions, Aldana has been exploring this music through a variety of live contexts across the globe with the Melissa Aldana Quintet. Beginning as mutual admirers of each other’s playing, the Quintet has transformed into a fearless, virtuosic ensemble of explorers, traversing through new musical landscapes composed by Aldana.
Working informally as global jazz ambassadors, the Quintet has appeared at Thailand’s International Jazz Day and the Hong Kong International Jazz Day Marathon. They have engaged in an open exchange of musical ideas and artistic inspiration on nearly every continent, having been featured in Madrid, Granada, Perth, Barcelona and the So What’s Next? Jazz Festival in The Netherlands. They have also appeared at mainstay NYC venues such as the Birdland, as well as emerging artist hotspots such as The Miller Theater at Columbia University.

The genesis of Visions took place as Aldana was working through some changes in an effort to seek and refine her voice, and raison d'être as an artist. Frida Kahlo began to emerge as a pivotal figure in Aldana’s work and quest for honest representation of self. Aldana elaborates, “Like Kahlo's and Guayasamin’s works, this album became a path for my own identity and expression. My hope is that this contribution is my first of many that will continue advancing my concepts and convictions.”
The composition “Visions” is emblematic of the album as a whole. This movement is the musical representation and the sound of Aldana’s explorations of self-identity that every artist faces, and includes feelings of pain, mistrust, exhilaration and relief. She explains, “experimenting both harmonically and rhythmically with moments of frantic movement interspersed with order and structure is one of the ways I conjure the messiness, struggles and heartbreaking contradictions present in these visions of identity and self-worth.”
“La Madrina” explores the concept of the “Godmother” who appeared to Kahlo throughout her life and gave her the choice of either living with inescapable pain, due to childhood polio, a horrific bus accident, miscarriages, and gangrene (all brutally depicted in perhaps her most famous painting, “The Broken Column”), or dying and being at peace. This music addresses the subtle but important difference between the choices we actively make and the choices we’re led to make, and how all these choices, for better or worse, come to create our individual narratives. “To capture the complexity of our life choices, Kahlo’s struggles and my own personal challenges, I’ve written layers of tension and resolution into the music and tightly arranged certain sections, but I’ve also allowed for sections of extended improvisation and possible spontaneous arranging within the form,” explained Aldana.

DownBeat Magazine Premieres The Title Track, “Visons”
“… such a monumental statement… Aldana and Ross’ ferocious exploration of the song’s theme that displays the deft musicality Visions showcases over 12 cuts.” – Dave Cantor

MARK GUILIANA BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC!

VÖ: 12.APRIL      MOTEMA/ PIAS

CD: MTM0322    VINYL: MTM0324 (180 gram + Poster)

Hailed by The New York Times as “a drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed,” Mark Guiliana brings the same adventurous spirit, eclectic palette and gift for spontaneous invention to a staggering range of styles. Equally virtuosic playing acoustic jazz, boundary-stretching electronic music, or next-level rock, he’s become a key collaborator with such original sonic thinkers as Brad Mehldau, Meshell Ndegeocello, Donny McCaslin, Matisyahu, and the late, great David Bowie.

Guiliana’s forward-leaping BEAT MUSIC is more than a band – it’s a community. Over the last decade the drummer has gathered around him a family of like-minded artists who share a passion for the limitless possibilities of electronic music combined with an in-the-moment creativity rooted in jazz improvisation. On April 12, Motéma Music will release Guiliana’s third plunge into that vast musical ocean, the emphatically titled BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC!  The in-your-face exclamation of that title is no accident; Guiliana’s third recording with his BEAT MUSIC cohort is a bold and vigorous exploration of window-rattling grooves, cinematic imagery, ecstatic atmospheres and a captivating tapestry of textures and voices.

GILAD HEKSELMAN- ASK FOR CHAOS VÖ: 07.09.2018

Motéma/ PIAS

GILAD HEKSELMAN'S passionate artistry and complexity are at the forefront of his new album ASK FOR CHAOS. Named Rising Star guitarist in 2017 by DownBeat Magazine, on his sixth album he combines his melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic expertise, bringing together his two touring bands – his acoustic-based gHex Trio, and his electric-leaning ZuperOctave. The result is his most compelling and innovative sound to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prologu0001101

2. VBlues

3. It Will Get Better

4. Tokyo Cookie

5. Stumble

6. Milton

7. Home to You

8. Little Song For You

9. Clap Clap

10. Do Re Mi Fa Sol

STEFON HARRIS + BLACKOUT  "SONIC CREED"       VÖ: 27.09.2018

GRAMMY-nominated Stefon Harris & Blackout's first recording since Urbanis is a sonic manifestation and creed of family, community and legacy. The album simultaneously honors the past (masters such as Bobby Hurtcherson, Abby Lincoln, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver) while representing the present. Sonic Creed is a reflection of Black American life in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, in Harris's words "the sounds of right now."

JOEY ALEXANDER : "ECLIPSE"     VÖ: 04.05.2018 


featuring Ruben Rogers, Eric Harland und Special Guest Joshua Redman



Joey Alexander geht mit seinem vierten Album, Eclipse einen großen Schritt nach vorn. Zusammen mit fünf Coverversionen präsentiert er sechs Eigenkompositionen, die seine beeindruckende Entwicklung unter Beweis stellen. Dieses ebenso anspruchsvolle wie immens unterhaltsame Album wird von der unvergleichlichen Rhythmussektion von Bassist Reuben Rogers und Drummer Eric Harland getragen. Saxofonist Joshua Redman ist als Gast auf drei Stücken vertreten.
Am 21. August 2017, dem Tag der totalen Sonnenfinsternis in Woodstock, NY, entstand der Titel Eclipse und wurde zum Herzstück des Albums. Die spontane Verarbeitung der Erfahrung dieses außergewöhnlichen astronomischen Ereignisses unterstreicht Alexanders Spontanität, mit der er das Unbekannte sowohl musikalisch als auch persönlich feiert. 



„Die Dimension seines Talents ist frappierend. Er hat nicht nur das absolute Gehör, sondern auch ein phänomenal taktiles Gedächtnis. Selbst hochkomplizierte Bewegungsabläufe eines Pianisten kann er sofort abspeichern und umgehend reproduzieren.“  - SWR, Georg Waßmuth

“ ... Alexander erschafft Schatten wie ein Renoir. Er lässt niemanden daran zweifeln, dass er mehr als ein herangezüchtetes  "Wunderkind" ist, nämlich die prophetische Stimme einer neuen Jazz-Generation…” – Jazz Weekly

"Ich kann mich an niemanden erinnern, der in seinem Alter so spielen kann wie er." -  Wynton Marsalis

Zu oft überschätzen junge Talente ihre eigenen Fähigkeiten, so dass sie ihr wahres Potenzial in ihrem jeweiligen Bereich aus dem Auge verlieren. Glücklicherweise gibt es andere Künstler, die darum kämpfen, die Musik mit Enthusiasmus, Leidenschaft und emotionaler Tiefe auf ein neues Niveau zu bringen. So einer ist der Pianist Joey Alexander, der schon als Vierzehnjähriger zwei GRAMMY-nominierte Studioalben, My Favorites Things (2015) und Countdown (2016), sowie Joey.Monk.Live! (2017), eine von der Kritik gefeierte Überraschungsveröffentlichung zu Ehren von Thelonious Monk aufgenommen hat. Mit seinem dritten Studio-Album Eclipse, seinem persönlichsten bisher, macht Joey einen weiteren großen Schritt nach vorn und untermauert seine Fähigkeiten als Komponist, Bandleader und Musiker, die ein enormes künstlerisches Potential für die kommenden Jahre und Jahrzehnte ankündigen.

Eclipse wurde in einem dreitägigen Zeitraum aufgenommen, der am Tag der Sonnenfinsternis 2017 begann. Auf dem Album erleben wir Alexander als Pianist zusammen mit Bassist Reuben Rogers und Schlagzeuger Eric Harland als Rhythmusgruppe. Joshua Redman ist auf drei Stücken zu hören. Das Programm reicht von Jazz-Klassikern von John Coltrane und Bill Evans zum Beatles-Hit "Blackbird" und einer ehrwürdigen Neuvertonung des Gospel-Hymnus "Draw Me Nearer" von 1875. Vor allem aber zeigt Eclipse Alexanders Entwicklung hin zum scharfsinnigen Komponisten, denn sechs der elf Stück schrieb der Ausnahme-Musiker selbst.

Alexander, der 2003 in Bali geboren wurde, zog mit seinen Eltern mit acht nach Jakarta, verbrachte dort zwei Jahre und ging 2014 nach New York, wo er zu einem der einflussreichsten, aufstrebenden Jazz-Musiker wurde. GRAMMY-Gewinner Jason Olaine, der als Director of Programming für Jazz At Lincoln Center fungiert und die vier Alben Alexanders produziert hat, erklärt, er stehe nach wie vor im Bann des fantastischen Talent des jungen Pianisten. "Es ist toll, was aus Alexander herauskommt. Er will Spaß haben, wenn er spielt. Es geht ihm nicht um die Auszeichnungen oder den Applaus.“, sagt er und fügt hinzu: „Eclipse zeigt, welche erstaunliche Reise Joey zurückgelegt hat."

"Joey hat ein ansteckendes Spielgefühl und eine tiefe Faszination für die kaleidoskopischen Möglichkeiten des Jazz", ergänzt Motéma-Gründerin Jana Herzen, die den Künstler als Zehnjährigen unter Vertrag genommen hat. "Was waren diese vier Jahre mit Joey für ein unglaubliches Abenteuer! Mit jedem Album wird seine Musikalität tiefer und breiter. Und im vergangenen Jahr war Joey.Monk.Live! eine große Inspiration. Mit seiner ausgeklügelten und lebendigen Herangehensweise an die Songs des sehr häufig interpretierten Jazz-Komponisten brachte Joey selbst die härtesten Kritiker dazu, sich zu ihm zu bekennen. Und mit Eclipse entwickelt er sich zu einem multidimensionalen Komponisten. Ich kann es kaum erwarten zu hören, was als nächstes bei ihm passiert."

Für Eclipse haben sich Joey, seine Familie und Produzent Jason Olaine dazu entschlossen, die Aufnahmesituation von der belebten Stadt New York in die friedlichen Dreamland Studios in den Bundesstaat New York zu verlegen. "Da herrschte naturgemäß eine ganz andere Stimmung" , sagt Alexander: "Alles war grün und es fühlte sich an wie zu Hause auf Bali. Das war eine entspannte Zeit für uns alle, und dieser Ort hat mich inspiriert."

Als Pianist klingt Alexander weder aufdringlich noch bombastisch. Er nähert sich dem Instrument mit Disziplin, wie auf dem Eröffnungsstück "Bali" zu hören ist, das in einigen Abschnitten subtil und sanft mit zarten Harmonien spielt, in anderen spielerisch und berauschend klingt, während Alexander die Rhythmen hin- und herschiebt. Sein tiefes Verständnis der Melodie ist bei der Originalkomposition "Peace" zu erleben. Sie lässt uns seine Geduld und seinen Instinkt erleben, mit dem er die melodischen Aussagen richtig trifft. "Ich habe gelernt, ein guter Zuhörer zu sein", sagt Alexander bescheiden.
 
Dann gesellt sich zu Alexander der Tenor-Titan Joshua Redman. "Faithful" handelt von den Opfern und Herausforderungen, denen er und seine Familie sich auf der Suche nach der Kunst gegenüberstanden. "Fourteen" handelt von seinem Geburtstag und gibt zugleich einen Hinweis auf die Bedeutung dieser Zahl in der biblischen Überlieferung. Und mit der zeitlosen Ballade "The Very Thought of You" von Ray Nobel aus dem Jahr 1934 liefern Alexander und Redman ein tolles Duett.

Wie bei seinen früheren Studioterminen kehrt Alexander auch hier wieder zu den harmonischen Kniffen des Meisters John Coltrane zurück. Diesmal liefert Alexander eine optimistische Interpretation von "Moment's Notice" aus dem Album "Blue Train" von 1957. "Ich spiele Coltrane gerne, weil er mir so spirituell ist", sagt Alexander. "Für mich ist das, was Jazz ausmacht. Es gibt ein erhebendes Gefühl in seinen Songs, und ich versuche, meine eigene Meinung dazu zu entwickeln."

Kurz nachdem die Band am 21. August 2017 eine Studio-Pause eingelegt hatte, um die Sonnenfinsternis zu erleben, schlug Produzent Olaine vor, dass das Trio frei spielen sollte und schauen, wohin es gehen würde. Das Ergebnis war das Herzstück des Albums, es heißt "Eclipse". Es ist eine 10-minütige Tour de Force, in der Alexander sein ganzes emotionales Spektrum zwischen Nachdenklichkeit und Dramatik verarbeitet.

"Das war völlig unvorbereitet", lacht Alexander. "Nachdem wir die Sonnenfinsternis gesehen hatten, kamen wir zurück ins Studio und begannen zu spielen, ohne uns abzusprechen. Ich bin Gott dankbar, dass ich das Selbstvertrauen und den Mut hatte, das zu tun. Es geht auch darum, wie sehr wir einander vertrauen. Ich wusste, dass die anderen für mich da sein würden - obwohl niemand wusste, wo hin die Reise geht. Wir wollten etwas Neues entdecken.“  Olaine bemerkt dazu: "Das war eine erstaunliche Erfahrung für einen so jungen Künstler, sich ins Unbekannte zu werfen."

Mit der Veröffentlichung von Eclipse hat Joey Alexander die bisher persönlichste und kraftvollste Interpretation seiner einzigartigen künstlerischen Vision erschaffen. Seine Arbeiten basieren weiterhin auf Inspirationen aus der Vergangenheit. Aber er drückt der Musik seinen progressiven Stempel auf, indem er sie sowohl auf der Bühne als auch im Studio ständig neu erforscht.


ECLIPSE

1. Bali 5:02 (Joey Alexander Sila)

2. Faithful feat. Joshua Redman 9:04 (Joey Alexander Sila)

3. Draw Me Nearer 4:38 (Francis J. Cosby)

4. Moment's Notice 6:31 (John Coltrane)

5. Blackbird 4:58 (John Winston Lennon, Paul James McCartney)

6. Eclipse 10:23 (Joey Alexander Sila)

7. Fourteen feat. Joshua Redman 8:04 (Joey Alexander Sila)

8. The Very Thought of You feat. Joshua Redman 5:32 (Ray Noble)

9. Space 7:59 (Joey Alexander Sila)

10. Time Remembered 5:59 (Bill Evans)

11. Peace 5:19 (Joey Alexander Sila)

PLAYING FOR CHANGE: "LISTEN TO THE MUSIC"     VÖ: 27.04.18

Listen to the Music ist der vierte Teil der mit zahlreichen Stars bestückte "Songs Around the World" Album- und Videoserie der weltbekannten Playing for Change-Organisation. Listen to the Music enthält Aufnahmen von Rock- und Worldbeat-Hits sowie eine atemberaubende Sammlung von Performance-Videos, in denen PFCs einzigartiger Aufnahmeprozess eindrucksvoll dokumentiert ist. Jeder Song wird vom visionären Produzenten und Philanthropen Mark Johnson an mehreren malerischen Orten auf der ganzen Welt von einer Reihe von Musikern in Ton und Bild aufgenommen und zu einem einzigen Clip montiert. An dem gesamten, aus 12 Songs bestehenden Projekt waren mehr als 200 Künstler beteiligt, die aus 25 verschiedenen Ländern stammen.

Amerikanische Legenden wie die Doobie Brothers, Buddy Guy, Warren Haynes, Dr. John, der Preservation Hall Jazz Band kollaborieren mit Straßenmusikern, Gospelchören und einer Reihe internationaler Musikgrößen (darunter der Tuareg-Gitarrist Bombino, dem Kora-Meister Mamadou Diabaté aus Mali, dem kubanische Tres-Virtousen Pancho Amat und Kongos legendäre TPOK Jazz Band) und natürlich der Playing For Change Band.

Um das multinationale Flair des Projekts zu unterstreichen, wurden alle Künstler vor szenischen Kulissen in ihren Heimatländern gefilmt, wo sie jeweils Teile der Songs aufnahmen. In drei Jahren entstand so geniale Performance-Videos, in denen PFCs einzigartiger globaler Multi-Tracking-Aufnahmeprozess mit bisher über 200 Künstlern verschiedener Nationalitäten in 25 Ländern dokumentiert ist. Die Videos werden ab Februar einmal im Monat veröffentlicht, um der überwältigenden Vielfalt musikalischer Traditionen, die auf diesen Tracks und Videos nahtlos ineinanderfließen, Leben einzuhauchen und ein inspirierendes Dokument friedlicher, globaler Kooperation zu erschaffen.


"In einer Welt mit so vielen Grenzen müssen wir Verbindungen schaffen. Musikalische Kooperationen sind ein vorzüglicher Weg, dies zu erreichen.", sagt Mark Johnson, Mitbegründer von Playing For Change. Johnson hat die ganze Welt bereist, um jedes einzelne Video als Teil der Serie aufzunehmen. "Egal, wie viele Dinge im Leben uns trennen - sie sind nicht so stark wie die Kraft der Musik, die uns zusammenbringt. Das ist Musik für die Welt und für die Menschen. Deshalb beinhaltet unser Projekt so viel Vielfalt. Es geht darum, einen Kontext zu schaffen, in dem all diese Menschen auf der ganzen Welt auf harmonische Weise zusammenkommen können."

Während 100% der Gewinne von PFC aus dem Album "Listen to the Music" an die Playing For Change Foundation fließen, eine gemeinnützige Bildungsorganisation, die 15 Schulen für benachteiligte Schüler in abgelegenen Regionen unterhält, untermauern die Botschaften der Videos und der Musik die Mission der Organisation. Indem sie den Weltfrieden mit Musik pushen, dienen die Lyrics zum klassischen Titeltrack der Doobie Brothers als perfekter Titelsong für Playing For Change. Die 84-jährigen Blueslegende Buddy Guy liefert in der ersten Single "Skin Deep" eine ganz neue Perspektive auf die aktuellen Rassenprobleme, da er mit Musikern aus den gesamten USA zusammenarbeitet, um von seinen Erfahrungen in der Jim-Crow-Zeit zu berichten. Und dennoch kann er voll von Liebe verkünden: "Darunter, unter unserer Haut, sind wir alle gleich." Das Video mit Tom Morello, dem Chicago Children's Choir und vielen anderen Künstlern ist der perfekte Weg, um die "Listen to the Music"-Serie zu beginnen und den Black History Month zu feiern.

Mehr über Playing For Change
Die gefeierte "Songs Around The World"-Videoserie des GRAMMY®-ausgezeichneten Produzenten/ Toningenieurs/ Filmemachers Mark Johnson (Jackson Brown, Paul Simon, Taj Mahal) und des Philanthropen/ Filmemachers Whitney Kroenke (A Cinematic Discovery of Street Music, Peace Through Music, ReGeneration, The Power of Few) dient als das Vorzeigeprojekt von PFC. Diese Videos und Songs dokumentieren Musiker aus diversen Ländern, Kulturen und Genres, die von weitentfernten Plätzen auf der ganzen Welt aus über ein mobiles Studio gemeinsam Musik machen. Diese einzigartige, globale audiovisuellen Kollaborationen zeigen, wie diverse Künstler Songsteile von atemberaubenden Örtlichkeiten in ihren jeweiligen Heimatländern liefern und in der Musik und im Video zu einem Ganzen verbunden werden. Das Ergebnis ist zu gleichen Teilen Live-Performance-Video, Reisebericht und mini-anthropologische bzw. ethno-musikologische Dokumentation.

Seit der Veröffentlichung ihres ersten Videos "Stand By Me" 2008, das bis heute mehr als 100 Millionen mal auf YouTube geklickt wurde, hat PFC mehr als 100 Videos aufgenommen und mehr als 500 Millionen Aufrufe auf dem viralen YouTube-Kanal von PFC gesammelt, der über eine Million Abonnenten verfügt. Die Künstlerfamilie von PFC ist mittlerweile auf mehr als 200 Musikern aus Dutzenden von Ländern angewachsen, darunter die Stars Sara Bareilles, Keith Richards und Maroon 5. Sie hat drei gefeierte Alben veröffentlicht, das vierte erscheint am 20. April.

Der Anfangserfolg der Videoserie führte auch zur Gründung der Playing For Change Band, bestehend aus 11 Künstlern aus 10 Ländern, die die lebensnotwenige Friedensbotschaft von PFC auf Bühnen auf der ganzen Welt verbreitet. Darüber hinaus sind Johnson und Kroenke ihrer philanthropischen Leidenschaft mit der Gründung der Playing For Change Foundation (playingforchange.org) nachgekommen, einer gemeinnützigen Bildungsorganisation, die musikorientierte Schulen und Programme für benachteiligte Kinder in Mali, Ghana, Brasilien und 12 anderen Ländern ins Leben gerufen hat.

Joey Alexander piano

Scott Colley bass

Willie Jones III drums