DISCOVERY
This Power of Three Summer 2021 collection assembles the best new trio releases from Newvelle Records, a premium subscription-only vinyl service, as well as new music from today's most promising independent artists.
The understated radiance of pianist Carmen Staaf has been on full display in recent years. An accomplished musician, composer and educator, Staaf turned heads in projects alongside drummer Allison Miller, as well as with her own trio, whose first recording, 2019’s Bloom, was actually under drummer Jeff Williams’ name. The threesome, also featuring bassist Michael...
On Irmãos de Fé (Brothers of Faith), a 2017 release for the Newvelle label’s second season of recordings, the John Patitucci Trio plunged into compositions by Brazilian masters including Chico Buarque, Egberto Gismonti and Milton Nascimento. Given their knowledge and understanding of Nascimento’s music, it’s unsurprising to learn that bassist Patitucci and Brazilian drummer-percussionist Rogério...
Bass virtuoso Rufus Reid boasts a remarkable résumé. His credits include recording and performing with jazz giants Eddie Harris, Harold Land, Lee Konitz, Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz, to name a few. However, the 77-year-old Reid also studied under James Harnett of the Seattle Symphony and Warren Benfield and Joseph Guastefeste of the Chicago Symphony...
Quiet Revolution was the perfect title for the Ben Allison Trio’s season one Newvelle offering. Bassist Allison teamed up with saxophonist/clarinetist Ted Nash and guitarist Steve Cardenas in a group that takes its cue from reedist Jimmy Giuffre’s drummerless trios of the 1950s and ’60s. In addition to tunes by Giuffre, the trio also delves...
Tenor saxophonist and composer Andy Zimmerman received an ideal showcase for his introspective songcraft with Half Light, his season three recording for Newvelle. The native Chicagoan is surrounded by simpatico confederates who help him establish his twilit soundscape, and it helps that label founder Elan Mehler is a longtime friend and collaborator going back to...
With a few notable exceptions, the words “jazz” and “cello” don’t frequently appear in the same sentence. Nonetheless, musicians Tim Berne, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and John Zorn made cello virtuoso Hank Roberts a vital part of their adventurous, genre-defying music. The Indiana native had moved to New York in the 1980s, his timing just...
How do artists slip the bonds of training and influence and develop a voice of their own? This question haunted pianist Billy Lester, a longtime student of Sal Mosca, who was himself a disciple of Lennie Tristano. In his early 30s, Lester was determined to discover his voice, intently concentrating on his emotional state as...
The members of the OWL Trio first met in New York City about 20 years ago. Bassist Orlando le Fleming, saxophonist Will Vinson and guitarist Lage Lund found each other while playing in ensembles together and gigging at the same clubs. Their first performance as a trio took place at the intimate Bar Next Door,...
When approached about recording for Newvelle’s season two, bassist Chris Tordini rounded up a couple of old friends, vocalist Becca Stevens and guitarist Greg Ruggiero. Tordini and Stevens met at the New School in Manhattan and have played together in various settings for more than a decade. And Tordini and Ruggiero are likewise longtime musical...
While working on other projects, saxophonist and composer Patrick Zimmerli would often find songs coming to him unbidden, sometimes waking him from his sleep and begging for him to jot them down. Thus comes much of the material on Zimmerli’s season five Newvelle release, Book of Dreams, sourced from compositions the New York native had...
Trumpeter Booker Little was just 23 when he died in 1961. His recorded output revealed a prodigiously talented instrumentalist and composer, and he went out with a bang with a couple of classic albums, Out Front and Booker Little and Friend, both recorded in the year of his death. Among the all-star ensembles on those...
Stuck at home during COVID lockdown, saxophonist Mindi Abair had the opportunity to revisit some of the music she had recording during the past two decades. Among the tracks she unearthed were rarities and collaborations with blues and roots artists such as Gregg Allman, Booker T. Jones, Keb’ Mo’ and Joe Bonamassa. A lightbulb clicked...
Trumpeter, vocalist and composer Sarah Wilson is the first to admit that she stands on the shoulders of giants. On Kaleidoscope (Brass Tonic), her latest recording, the native Californian dedicates several songs to the important mentors and influences who inspired her — including pianist Myra Melford, who also plays on the album. Having moved to...
Trombone virtuoso Clifton Anderson wrote the music for the title song to his recent release, Been Down This Road Before (Ropeadope), following the 2013 murder of Trayvon Martin. However, continued violence, by police and others, toward people of color in ensuing years prompted him to pen lyrics for the song, as well. Anderson recruited venerable...
More than 25 years have passed since Lunar Octet captured their funky brand of Afro-Latin groove on their first (and only) album, Highway Fun. The group now reunites for their sophomore release, Convergence (Summit), the album’s title describing their committed commingling of rhythms and styles as well as the gathering of the musicians, who had...
If the music on New Love, Charnett Moffett’s seventh album for the Motéma label, sounds fresh and of-the-moment, it’s likely because the bassist and composer only shared it with his collaborators when they arrived at the studio. This bespeaks deep trust between Moffett and his bandmates, to one of whom he’s actually married. The relationship...
Adventurous jazz fans may recognize the name Ches Smith from his work alongside avant-garde artist such as Marc Ribot, Darius Jones and Kris Davis, or perhaps from his group Hammered Arches or his 2016 ECM release The Bell with Craig Taborn and Mat Maneri. The New York-based drummer also harbors a long-held fascination with Haitian...
When vocalist Kari Kirkland initially went into the studio for a quintet session produced by pianist Shelly Berg, it was with the intention of recording a six-song EP. However, over the course of two days, the synergy between singer and musicians was scintillating enough to convince them that a full album was warranted. The results...
German drummer and composer Sy Joynet started out playing violin before switching to the drum set at the age of 16. He became adept enough to win the Grand Prix du Jury at a jazz festival in Dunkirk, France, with his trio. Pursuing a passion for Brazilian jazz, he played with Brazilian musicians in Hamburg,...
Bay Area native Lilan Kane works the soul/R&B edge of the jazz continuum, her smoky, emotive vocals inhabiting a space between old-school and new. Based in Oakland, the Berklee College of Music grad, like so many of her musical colleagues during the past year, struggled with pandemic-induced isolation, loss of performance opportunities and creative inertia....
Having concentrated much of her career on jazz education, vocalist Trineice Robinson is stepping out of the halls of academia with her debut recording All or Nothing (4RM Music Productions) which will be released in August. The results were certainly worth the wait, as the Princeton faculty member dives into a repertoire of jazz standards,...
