On this show new releases from Tina Hartt, Jacques Kuba Séguin, Elizondo, Ojeda, Taveira Trio, Jazz From Hell, Eyal Netzer & Milton Michaeli, and Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra. I also have archive tracks from Paul Flaherty & Randall Colbourne, Peter Epstein Quartet and Chicago London Underground.
Tina Hartt – Amour castagnettes et tango – Absence Of You
Tina Hartt – Voice
Konrad Pluta – Piano, Accordion, Arrangements
André Wickenheiser – Flugelhorn
Cédric Blary – Clarinet
Jonathan D. Lewis – Violin
Keith O’Rourke – Baritone Saxophone
Nick Bettcher – Guitar
Rob Hutchinson – Double Bass
Luis ‘El Pana’ Tovar – Percussion
Jeff ‘El Jefe’ Fafard – Drums, Percussion
Tina Hartt is a singer, composer and musician from Montreal. She has enjoyed a diverse singing career across Canada, including stints with rock bands and church choirs in Montreal, with big bands and jazz combos in Toronto, and work as an actor, singer, and dancer in Nova Scotia and PEI. Her first album was released way back in 2000 – she thought it would be her last. Luckily, life was generous enough to give her a second chance with 2023’s Absence of You. In 2014 she moved west to Calgary, where she decided to focus her musical efforts on jazz. Returning to her french roots, she dusted off a few old french chansons and gave them new life by combining their inherent French romance with latin rhythms and jazz harmony. These elements are the foundation for her original music, and lend a freshness to her interpretations of jazz standards. Absence of You pays homage to the many factors that have influenced Hartt’s life and sound. Her mother was a painter whose preferred medium was water colour – for Hartt, she feels jazz allows her a similar freedom to “paint a little outside the lines” like her mother. Hartt herself is mother to two children, and it was their Venezuelan father who helped nurture and develop her love of latin music and culture. She quickly recognized that the French and Spanish share a common approach to life, full of intensity, mischief and an undeniable “joie de vivre” – all of which is reflected in her singing on this beautiful new album.
Jacques Kuba Séguin – La danse du hasard – Parfum N°1
Jacques Kuba Séguin – Trumpet, Compositions
Jean-Michel Pilc – Piano
Elizabeth Shepherd – Voice
Rémi-Jean LeBlanc – Double Bass
Kevin Warren – Drums
The trumpeter and composer Jacques Kuba Séguin begins a new cycle of creation with La trilogie des odeurs. Smell is the sense that has always appealed to him the most (after his hearing, of course.) But what if the two senses were more connected than we imagined? Both have the power to appeal to our subconscious, awakening deep memories that lie dormant in us and provoking a wide range of emotions. By combining olfactory memories with the soundtrack of our lives, Séguin has created a rich and evocative musical universe. Let yourself be guided by the music; follow the trail that leads to a rediscovery of the senses.
The first chapter, Parfum n°1, is inspired by the natural and raw materials that make up perfume. It explores the genesis of life. There are delicate references to childhood, particularly that first meeting between parent and a child, and the flurry of emotions that this brings to the surface, forming a string of deep and intimate memories.
Séguin’s previous record Migrations received both the 2020 Juno Award for solo jazz album and the 2020 Félix Award for jazz album of the year. Séguin has been making a name for himself on the national and international music scene with his projects for over fifteen years. This Polish-Canadian performs regularly in Poland with his ensembles, as well as with pianist Pawel Kaczmarczyk. His 7 album discography – including the recent Mikrokosmos EP with Norwegian musicians Jens Fossum,
Hermund Nygård, and Anders Aarum – is available via ODD SOUND, the record label he founded.
Parfum n°1 released worldwide on Friday, February 17th, 2023 on ODD SOUND.
Elizondo, Ojeda, Taveira Trio – Ya ni nombre tienen los temas – Cerentenyal
Uruguay’s Elizondo, Ojeda, Taveira Trio follow up their wonderful 2022 ANBU with Cerentenyal. Filled with the same melodic improvised jazz and ambience as ANBU, Cerentenyal highlights the trio’s virtuoso skill coupled with tasteful songwriting.
Ramble Records
Jazz From Hell – L´arte di morire – Jazz From Hell
One person’s bad trip is another’s magic carpet ride and the new release from Argentina’s Jazz from Hell is just exactly that. From the good folks who bought you last year’s twisted EL ZOMBIE ESPACIAL – SKOTOS OMAN, ‘Jazz from Hell’ belongs in a David Lynch movie – strap yourselves in and let the lysergic lounge jazz tinged with fried electro experimentia wash your blues away and decalcify your third eye.
Eyal Netzer , Milton Michaeli – Mamelodi Suite – Pt. I – ‘Go!’ – Shine
“SHINE” is an innovative jazz duet album that combines the raw energy of free jazz with the tradition of soulful, intimate jazz duets. The album features saxophonist Eyal Netzer and pianist Milton Michaeli, experienced musicians with a deep understanding and appreciation for both genres.
The album opens with “Mamelodi”, a 3-part suite which is named after the South African township, which written by Netzer following his strong personal and musical experiences while visiting the neighborhood. The first part is the fiery “Go!,” which showcases the duo’s energetic side, as they push each other to new heights with a simple, ecstatic theme. The following tracks “Shine” and “Mamelodi” showcases the influence of South African jazz, with its harmonic flavors and driving rhythms, highlighting the piano, saxophone and zurna (an Armenian woodwind instrument) interaction.
released February 16, 2023
Recorded at the Jerusalem Music Centre by Tzvika Hirschler
Mix by Tzvika Hirschler & Eyal Netzer
Art by Michal Rabinovitch
Videos by Gil Volfso
* Special thanks for Bob Trachtenberg
Eyal Netzer:
Saxophone, Clarinet, Zurna, Computer
compositions (all except #5 & #8)
Milton Michaeli:
Piano
compositions (#5 & #7)
Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra – Mardi Gras Mambo – Uptown on Mardi Gras Day
released February 3, 2023 via Troubadour Jass Records, features guest
appearances by Branford Marsalis, Marvin “Smitty” Smith and Glen David Andrews, performing classics by Professor Longhair, The Meters and Willie Tee
The entire city of New Orleans becomes one big party during Mardi Gras, but Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra know that there’s no place to be quite like Uptown on Mardi Gras Day. With their latest album, due out February 3, 2023, the UJO provides the ultimate soundtrack for Carnival Time in the Crescent City with a spirited collection of Mardi Gras classics and buoyant new originals. Under the leadership of trombonist, composer, NEA Jazz Master and native New Orleanian Delfeayo Marsalis, Uptown on Mardi Gras Day is a celebration like no other, a unique combination of big band swing feel, small group jazz spirit.
Paul Flaherty, Randall Colbourne – Ottawa (1999)
Label Zaabway Music [Zaabway 2006]
Released 1999
Recorded Live July 18, 1991, Concert “Art Court”, Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Ottawa, Canada
Personnel
Paul Flaherty: alto saxophone
Randall Colbourne: drums
Peter Epstein Quartet – Old Yarn – Polarities
PETER EPSTEIN alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
SAM MINAIE bass
MARK FERBER drums
RALPH ALESSI trumpet, cornet
Music composed by Peter Epstein
Recorded June 13, 2013 at The Bunker, Brooklyn
Songlines Recordings – SGL 1607-2
Tina Hartt – La bohème – Absence Of You
Jacques Kuba Séguin – Candeur – Parfum N°1
Eyal Netzer , Milton Michaeli – Mamelodi Suite – Pt. II – ‘Shine’ – Shine
Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra – Uptown Boogie – Uptown on Mardi Gras Day
Jazz From Hell – Hell – Jazz From Hell
Eyal Netzer , Milton Michaeli – Mamelodi Suite – Pt. III – ‘Mamelodi’ – Shine
Chicago London Underground – A Night Spent Walking Through Mirrors – A Night Spent Walking Through Mirrors
Cornetist Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor have been the sole constants in the revolving constellation of groups that have borne the name Chicago Underground going back nearly two decades, when the Chicago Underground Quartet dropped Playground for Delmark in 1998. Back then, the combo cleaved toward an inside-out strain of post-bop, but in the years since—in duo, trio, and quartet configurations–its music has embraced a fierce sense of freedom, even within hypnotic, circular forms. These days, Mazurek and Taylor work most often as a duo, where meticulously deployed electronics usually provide a muscular skeleton for the hornman’s powerful yet lyric improvisation.
In April of 2016, the Duo was performing at Café Oto in London—its first visit to the city in a decade—and for part of the stint the pair invited two powerful locals to join them. Bassist John Edwards has been a fixture on the UK improv scene for decades—he’s recently contributed some of his strongest playing to groups led by German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann—while pianist Alexander Hawkins is one of the country’s brightest young talents, already involved in strong partnerships with free improv sax legend Evan Parker and the legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. Their involvement on the four extended pieces featured on A Night Walking Through Mirrors pushed the Chicago Underground out of its recent modus operandi toward a raw sort of spiritual seeking, where Mazurek’s innate melodic gifts—still deeply informed by the tart playfulness of Don Cherry—regularly collide with the thrumming energy and spacious flow of his collaborators.
Different Noises 