News of Past Guests, Holiday 2018 Edition

It's been a while since we did a roundup of our past guests' recent activity, and after such a long pause, it's hard to catch up.  What follows, then, is more selective than comprehensive.

December is, among other things, the "Best Of" season. NPR's "50 Best Albums of 2018" include the new record by Myra Melford's Snowy Egret, The Other Side of Air, as well as Ambrose Akinmusire's Origami Harvest. (In his "Favorite Albums of 2018," former New York Times and Jazz Times jazz writer Nate Chinen, now Director of Editorial Content for NPR's flagship jazz station WBGO in Newark, New Jersey, also favored Akinmusire and Melford, as well as Cécile McLorin Salvant and Dan Weiss.)

The New York Times's "The Best Jazz of 2018" likewise includes Akinmusire and Melford, along with albums by Justin Brown (Akinmusire's longtime friend and drummer), Allison Miller (with Carmen Staaf), the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, and Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Salvant is also included among Rolling Stone's (well, veteran jazz critic Hank Shteamer's) 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2018, together with Dan Weiss's Starebaby and Still Dreaming, Joshua Redman's all-star tribute to the band Old and New Dreams, whose lineup also includes RJA alumni Ron Miles, Scott Colley, and Brian Blade.

Ambrose Akinmusire and Myra Melford are also high atop the Jazz Times Top 50, with Salvant, Still Dreaming, and Miguel Zenon not far behind.  (Other RJA vets on the list: David Virelles, Tyshawn Sorey, Dan Weiss, Noah Preminger, Martin Wind, Gilad Hekselman, and Chris Lightcap.) At the Ottawa Citizen, Peter Hum singles out Frank Kimbrough, Ben Wendel (Linda Oh's Sun Pictures), Noah Preminger (with Frank Carlberg), and Myra Melford.

Finally, Dave Sumner's "Best Jazz Albums of 2018 [on Bandcamp]" include both the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble's All Can Work and Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch's Live in Healdsburg.


Recent Interviews:
Jazz Speaks spoke to Jamie Baum, The Jazz Session hung with Helen Sung (so did WBGO's Salon Sessions), and Straight No Chaser chased down Ben Allison and Rudy Royston.  Royston was plugging a new album, Flatbed Buggy, which had a featured review in DownBeat and an Editor's Pick in Rolling Stone. Sung, meanwhile, was touting her collection of settings of Dana Gioia poems, Sung With Words, which was also featured on NPR's First Listen in the week preceding its release.





Other notable new releases include Frank Kimbrough's magisterial, multi-volume set of the complete compositions of Thelonious Monk, Monk's Dreams:



and Miguel Zenón's collaboration with the Spektral Quartet, Viejo:



At WBGO, Nate Chinen previewed Viejo--and in his onlin "Take 5" column, he featured first Rudy Royston and Myra Melford, then Tyshawn Sorey and Allison Miller.

And speaking (once more!) of Allison Miller: the Thanksgiving episode of NPR's Jazz Night in America showcased the supergroup "Artemis," with Allison Miller, Anat Cohen, and Cecile McLorin Salvant.

News of Past Guests, New Year 2017 Edition

I don't know that "happy" is an adjective we're ready to apply to 2017.  But some of us on the RJA board started the new year off right, anyway, with a visit to New York for Winter JazzFest. Our old friend Donny McCaslin was part of this year's lineup--as well as a recent visitor to NPR's Tiny Desk:



--and an interviewee of Dave Sumner at the Bandcamp Daily blog.

Across the pond, Phronesis have announced a forthcoming album, The Behemoth, to be released in March. The name might have something to do with the fact that the trio are backed by the Frankfurt Radio Bigband, arranged and conducted by Julian Argüelles. Here's a preview track, "Zieding":



Noah Preminger also has a new album, Meditations on Freedom--a protest album of sorts, with tunes that respond passionately to our difficult times. He talks about it on the Straight, No Chaser podcast, and you can buy the digital download or the CD at Noah's website.

It's the season for new sax albums, evidently. Miguel Zenón's Típico was recently featured on NPR's "First Listen."  You can't hear it there any more, but you can listen to one track below and another on Soundcloud.  Then buy the album from CD Baby (where the artist gets a much more generous cut of the purchase price than at most other digital outlets).



Finally, Linda May Han Oh is leaving Dave Douglas's Greenleaf Music label and joining Fabian Almazan's Biophilia label.  Preview her forthcoming album, Walk Against the Wind, below:

News of Past Guests, March 2015

It's been awhile.  So without any further ado:

Antonio Sanchez's arresting score for the Oscar-winning Birdman was disqualified--on an ill-conceived technicality--from consideration for a well-deserved award.  Still, you can buy a copy of the score for yourself and appreciate it all you like.



In better news: the results of the 2014 Expanded Jazz Times Critics Poll came out in the March 2015 issue, and who should we find at the top of the list?  Best New Artist: Melissa Aldana.  Artist of the Year: Miguel Zenón.  Farther down: Best trumpeter: Ambrose Akinmusire.  Tenor Sax: Mark Turner.  Alto Sax: Miguel Zenón again.  Clarinet: Anat Cohen.  Violin: Regina Carter.  Drums: Brian Blade (Joel Harrison).  Female Vocalist: Cécile McLorin Salvant.  Podcast: A Noise From the Deep with Dave Douglas.  We'll try not to break our arms patting our own backs--but you gotta admit, we do know how to pick 'em.

And elsewhere:

Joel Harrison, who organized the Alt Guitar Summit in New York in February, speaks with guitar god Nels Cline on the latest episode of his podcast, Say What You Mean.

Also in February, René Marie was Michael Feinstein's guest on NPR's Song Travels, performing duets with Michael and talking about Eartha Kitt.

On March 4, Anat Cohen performed on NPR's Jazz Night in America with her group Choro Aventuroso, which plays the improvisatory Afro-Brazilian instrumental music known as "choro." You can stream that program by following the link above, and you can order the band's new album, Luminosa, at the Anzic Records Bandcamp store (and preview three tracks from the album right here):



And speaking of new albums, trumpeter Eddie Henderson (The Cookers) and The Vijay Iyer Trio both have new releases.  (The New York Times says Iyer's album, Break Stuff, "confirms his stature in jazz's contemporary vanguard, along with the dynamic excellence of his working trio.") The new incarnation of Harris Eisenstadt's "Golden State" features Trio M's Mark Dresser and Humboldt's own Michael Moore on Golden State II (you can stream two tracks and download one at the Songlines Records website.) Dafnis Prieto's Sextet--who played maybe the most exciting set we heard at this year's WinterJazzFest in New York--has some terrific new tunes on Triangles and Circles. And guitarist Rez Abbasi, the subject of a feature in the March issue of DownBeat, has a fantastic new record with his Acoustic Quartet. With a nod to the late, great Bill Dixon, he entitled it Intents and Purposes. It's available from all the usual suspects: iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, etc.--and, if you're an audiophile, at HD download sites like Pro Studio Masters and Qobuz. Here's the Video EPK:



Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth just released Epicenter on the always hip Clean Feed label.  The title track and two others are available for streaming:





Finally, to our great shame, we never got around to plugging what was probably our favorite album of 2014, Michael Blake's brilliant, swinging tribute to Hawk & Prez, Tiddy Boom:

News of Future Guests II

On a recent episode of WBGO's The Checkout, we hear Miguel Zenón (November 12th) play the suite that forms the centerpiece of his forthcoming album Identities Are Changeable, recorded live at this year's Newport Jazz Festival.  Zenón, who's on the cover of this month's DownBeat magazine, was also on All Things Considered recently, talking about the piece:


On November 5th, one week before Zenón arrives in Arcata, his Newport performance will be featured on NPR's brand-new jazz showcase, Jazz Night In America. (Read more about Jazz Night, a weekly radio show and video webcast, here, and find out more about Identities Are Changeable on the project's Kickstarter page, from a short YouTube teaser, or in the full EPK below:)




Melissa Aldana (February 3, 2015) is an admirer, onetime student, and former labelmate of Greg Osby. Aldana's latest record with her Crash Trio has been out on Concord Jazz for a few months already, and back in August, Kevin Whitehead reviewed it on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross:



Finally, trombonist Ryan Keberle's new album with Catharsis (April 13th, 2015), Zone, is out and available for purchase on Bandcamp. (And it's getting great reviews!)

News of Future Guests

Our upcoming season's performers are making news. To wit:

The Cookers (September 30th) have a new album, Time and Time Again, out on Motema on September 16th, just two weeks before they arrive:



Meanwhile, a new album on Greenleaf Music by Ryan Keberle and Catharsis (April 13th, 2015), Into the Zone, appears September 30th, the very day that The Cookers touch down in Arcata:


Greg Osby (October 19th) has made a new record with Dutch alto saxophonist Tineke Postma (and RJA alumni Matt Mitchell on piano, Linda Oh on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums) called Sonic Halo. Released on Challenge Records, it was funded on Kickstarter.  You can hear Postma and Osby preview the project here:


Melissa Aldana (February 3, 2015) is an admirer, onetime student, and former labelmate of Osby's. Aldana's latest record with her Crash Trio has been out on Concord Jazz for a few months already, but Kevin Whitehead reviewed it recently on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross:


And on WBGO's The Checkout, we hear Miguel Zenón (November 12th) play the suite that forms the centerpiece of his forthcoming album "Identities Are Changeable," recorded live at this year's Newport Jazz Festival.

Miguel and Band

Here's Luis Perdomo, Miguel Zenon and Hans Glawischnig at their RJA Show this past spring.