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Adventures in Time and Space Featuring Bassist David Arend

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Accomplished Composers — Erica Lindsay, Sumi Tonooka, Samantha Boshnack, Bassist David Arend, and Salim Washington — transcend barriers of distance and style in a compelling musical experience…

Adventures in Time and Space, the second release by Alchemy Sound Project, blends jazz, classical and world music traditions in striking and inventive ways

When Alchemy Sound Project initially came together, their mission seemed as elusive as the medieval mystics that inspired their name: after all, combining five distinctive composers, separated by miles and even continents, each melding jazz, classical and world music influences in their own unique ways, into a single ensemble that also played to their individual gifts as performers and improvisers – well, that all starts to make turning lead into gold seem like child’s play.

Despite those challenges, Alchemy’s debut Further Explorations (the title suggesting that they were already looking forward, even their first time out), made an impressive impact, earning widespread critical acclaim and earning the band a place on DownBeat Magazine’s Best Albums of 2016 list. Many a collective ensemble has managed one great album before disbanding; the proof is in the longevity. Now, Alchemy returns with their second outing Adventures in Time and Space– due out June 15, 2018via Artists Recording Collective– and the results are even more compelling this time around.

“We’re committed to each other,” says pianist Sumi Tonooka who originally masterminded the project.

The five core members of Alchemy Sound Project were initially brought together by the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute, a program of the American Composers Orchestra and the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University that encourages jazz composers to explore writing music for symphony orchestra. Saxophonist Erica Lindsay attended the first JCOI session in 2010; at her encouragement, both Tonooka (a frequent collaborator) and trumpet player Samantha Boshnack(a former student of Lindsay’s at Bard College) enrolled in the second round in 2012. There, Tonooka and Boshnack met and bonded with bassist David Arendand multi-reedist Salim Washington. For this release, the band is supplemented by trombonist Michael Spearman and drummer Johnathan Blake.

“We all wanted to write in a way that helps each other grow as composers but also provides a platform for us to experiment,” Tonooka says.

“It’s a community of sorts, a support system that allows us to have our music heard within a certain context. We write for each other, we learn from each other, we’re all growing in our own ways and it’s coming out in the music.”

Forming Alchemy Sound Project provided a means to hone the members’ composing chops with an encouraging, supportive and skilled ensemble. But all five have also broadened their musical horizons in other ways as well. Most remarkably, at a time when orchestras across the country are under scrutiny for the dearth of female composers represented in their repertoires, the ensemble boasts three female composers who’ve had their innovative work performed by major orchestras.

Tonooka served as composer-in-residence for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and was commissioned by Seattle’s Northwest Symphony Orchestra to write her piece “For Malala,” an homage to Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history. Lindsay’s piece for drum set and orchestra, “Mantra,” was performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, while another orchestral composition, “Inner Dialogue,” was read by the American Composers Orchestra. Boshnack’s piece “Coelacanth: In Its Own Time,” was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in 2015.

That’s not to discount the guys, who have also been making waves as composers.

Arend is currently working on an orchestral commission for the Bellingham Festival of Music’s 2019 season and recorded two concertos featuring himself and Washington with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. Based in Durban, South Africa, where he teaches at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Washington recently received a commission from the Jazz Foundation to arrange big band charts of his music as well as the music of South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini.

“We’ve all broadened our experience,” Tonooka says. “Everyone in this band is really unique, and when we come together it creates a very interesting picture.”

The title Adventures in Time and Space offers a broad explanation for why that picture is developing in such a vivid fashion. The six pieces on the album are just that – sonic adventures – but they’re also born of the time these five composers have spent together and the travels and communions they’ve shared. “I thinkeach of us as composers noware really starting to understand the range and the possibilities that each player, who is also a composer, offers,” says Lindsay, who wrote the title tune. “That opens up our compositional scope and gives us a really rich palette to work from.”

Lindsay’s two contributions bookend the album, the transformational narrative of the title track providing an enticing opening, and the buoyant “Jeff’s Joy,” penned in tribute to drummer/bandleader Jeff Siegel, closing on a celebratory note. Arend’s mysterious “Ankh” was inspired by early Egyptian alchemists. “The Ankh was a symbol of eternal life,” Arend notes, “of life beyond this mortal life. The music’s dreamy melody and subtle harmonic shifts are inspired by this symbol.”

Boshnack’s “Song of the Whistle Wing” draws on her childhood memories of growing up in rural New York. “I started the piece by trying to capture the nostalgia of the call of the mourning doves,” she says. “I then incorporated the whistling sound their wings make during takeoff and landing.” Tonooka’s moving “Transition Waltz (for Matt)” was penned for her longtime friend Matt Yaple, a Philadelphia composer and presenter who’d recently left his longtime apartment for a new home that doubles as a performance space. “I’ve known Matt for more than 30 years and he’s finally transitioning into this life that he’s always wanted,” Tonooka says. “So I thought I would write something for him to help celebrate our friendship and the fact that he’s moving forward.”

Washington’s “Odysseus Leaves Circe” was originally intended to accompany an exhibition of Romare Bearden’s paintings in Cape Town. While the show never happened, Washington had already immersed himself in the artist’s work and this piece, as vibrant and multi-layered as Bearden’s work, was the result. He says, “I loved the painting ‘Odysseus Leaves Circe.’ The color and composition haunted me. So I tried to write a composition that on the one hand gave voice to the painting and on the other referenced the story of Odysseus trying to free himself from the pull of Circe and her charms.”

Alchemy Sound Project

Alchemy Sound Project is a collective of composer-performers whose music combines elements of jazz, world music and modern chamber music. This diverse and eclectic group aims to blur the boundaries between notated composition and improvisation. The alchemy of these individual voices working together results in music that is powerful, original and highly interactive. Pianist Sumi Tonooka, saxophonist Erica Lindsay, trumpet player Samantha Boshnack, bassist David Arend and multi-reedist Salim Washington are all unique and forward-thinking composers traversing the borders between the composed and the improvised. Alchemy Sound Project is committed to synthesizing the individual voices and experiences of diverse composers into a musical experience that is fresh and new.

Visit online at alchemysoundproject.com

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New Album: Iron Axxis, 2286

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New Album: Iron Axxis, 2286

Iron Axxis, 2286…

New York’s metal scene is growing and mighty, and bringing the genre to new heights is instrumental metal band Iron Axxis.

Iron Axxis is gearing up for the release of their forthcoming album 2286. Due out March 29, 2024, the album highlights the band’s unique progressive, guitar-driven songwriting. “The sound is closer to Dream Theater than Van Halen, but there are some neat tips of the hat to Eddie, with some playful bends and whammy bar horse whinnies, while the track also crosses into Vai-esque meditative phrases and Holdsworthian scalic runs.” (GuitarWorld)

The band states, “‘‘2286’ is our first full-length album release. The album blends the high-risk Influences of the ‘guitar & bass guitar virtuosos’ of yesteryear and looks into the future by incorporating modern metal.. for a futuristic take on ‘guitar music. The listener will hear that ‘2286’ runs deep with their favorite metal influences with badass heavy riffage, thundering bass lines, and monstrous drum grooves, all while exploring metal through a wide cinematic lens, which ultimately takes it up a notch to an untamed guitar universe. “

Iron Axxis was forged from a friendship between Anupam Shobhakar and Phil Duke, two metal heads. They have worked together on previous recording studio projects and were in Book of Harmony, which was signed to Sony affiliates. Hailing from Brooklyn, they began to develop Iron Axxis at their studio in 2022.

Visit online at ironaxxis.live

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New Solo Album: Derek Frank, Origin Story

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New Solo Album: Derek Frank, Origin Story

Former Gwen Stefani/Shania Twain Bassist Announces New Solo Album “Origin Story”…

Veteran session/touring bassist Derek Frank is thrilled to announce the release of his new instrumental album “Origin Story” on March 25th, 2024. 

Origin Story is Derek’s third album as a solo artist, and his second album project with multiple Grammy award-winning producer Jim Scott (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tom Petty, Wilco, Sting, Red Hot Chili Peppers). He is joined by his touring band, which includes guitarist Joshua Ray Gooch (Derek’s longtime bandmate with Shania Twain), keyboardist Carey Frank (Social Distortion, Tedeschi Trucks Band), drummer Randy Cooke (Smashmouth, Brit Floyd), percussionist Demian Arriaga (Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers), along with keyboardist Matt Rohde (Janes Addiction, The Chicks), guitarist Anthony King (Buffy Sainte-Marie), Vegas horn Section The Fat City Horns, featured guests Karl Denson (saxophone), Brent Mason (guitar), among others. 

After years of touring the world with artists such as Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Shakira, Air Supply, and others, veteran LA bass player Derek Frank decided it was time to take a slight detour from the life of a “hired gun” musician and focus on his own instrumental quintet. Described as “Seventies-Inspired Funky Instrumental Jams With Fewer Bass Solos Than You Would Expect”, Derek and his band blend funk, blues, soul, jazz, southern rock, and seventies soundtrack music into a genre all their own. 2020 saw the release of “Eleven Years Later”, Derek’s first solo album since his 2009 debut “Let the Games Begin…”, and now Origin Story is set for release on March 25th, 2024 on all download and streaming platforms. The 2-disc vinyl version (with bonus live tracks) will be available sometime in May 2024. 

In concept, Origin Story is an instrumental homage to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the city where Derek was born, grew up, discovered his love for music, and decided what he wanted to be when he grew up. 

For more information, visit online at derekfrank.com 

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New Album: Tom Kennedy, New Start

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New Album: Tom Kennedy, New Start

Tom Kennedy, New Start…

Autumn Hill Records is pleased to announce the March 22nd release of Tom Kennedy’s New Start.  Autumn Hill Records is a worldwide leader in instrumental music, boasting 11 billion streams and counting, and Tom Kennedy ranks as one of the top electric and acoustic bass players on the planet.  The new album features the Grammy-winning and Modern Drummer Hall of Famer Dave Weckl, as well as performances from Eric Marienthal, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Bill Evans and others. It is the sixth solo album from Tom Kennedy.  New Start will be available digitally on all major streaming and download platforms March 22nd, 2024. 

Kennedy writes that “The legendary pianist Keith Jarrett once said of his recorded music, ‘If there were words to express it, there would be no need for the music.’ Ironically, Keith’s sentiment provided the perfect verbiage for describing the process I’ve experienced in creating the music for this album.  These compositions did not come to me in complete thoughts, but rather as bits and pieces of melody, harmony, or rhythm to build from, much as in a live improvisation.  A single note or chord could inspire a pathway to a new section or critical transition of a song, and at times a completely orchestrated idea would just pop into my head.  No method, no foresight…just the music.”

Kennedy’s musical roots were on the acoustic bass, an instrument he started playing at age 9 and took to so naturally that within a few years, he was performing with internationally known players such as Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, Nat Adderley, Sonny Stitt and Stan Kenton. At age 17, Tom would create a musical alter ego when he began playing the electric bass. Intrigued by the endless possibilities of the instrument, he began developing his now signature style best described as deep, soulful grooves merging seamlessly into acrobatic, horn-like soloing.

Gaining a reputation that soon traveled beyond his native St. Louis, Tom relocated to New York City, where he quickly gained work with multiple groups. Further accolades came through a recording with guitar great Bill Connors and tours with tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker in the world-renowned jazz-fusion group Steps Ahead. Additional tours and recordings with Brazilian pianist Tania Maria and guitarist Al DiMeola followed. In 1998, Tom became an integral part of Modern Drummer Hall of Famer Dave Weckl’s band, a group he toured, composed and recorded with for over nine years. Tom and Dave have continued to perform and record together on various of Tom’s own albums as well as projects for other artists, including Mike Stern, Didier Lockwood, Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour.  They’ve been performing this music live for the last two years during tours of The Dave Weckl/Tom Kennedy Project.

Visit Online

www.autumnhillrecords.com
www.tomkennedymusic.com

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New Album: EZRA’s Self-titled Debut Album

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New Album: EZRA's Self-titled Debut Album

EZRA released their self-titled debut album with Adhyâropa Records…

Founded by award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Jones, EZRA is a collective of classical, jazz, rock, and bluegrass musicians focused on the creation of genre-crossing and style-inclusive new music. The ensemble consists of world-renowned mandolinist Jacob Jolliff, banjo virtuoso Max Allard, and bassist extraordinaire Craig Butterfield, with Jones on guitar- and keyboard-related instruments.

EZRA’s debut album EZRA includes nine works by Jones, and was recorded while Jones was on a one year sabbatical from his composition professorship at Oberlin Conservatory. Jones, who is also a luthier, used much of his sabbatical to build some of the instruments he plays on the album. He then invited longtime collaborator Butterfield, together with Jolliff and Allard, for an intense week of rehearsals and recording in Oberlin. It was the first time all four musicians had been in the same room, much less played together, but things fell into place from the first notes.

This speaks to the musicianship and camaraderie of all involved, but it is also due to the fact that Jones had been collecting these pieces for years, waiting for the right moment, and the right musicians. Jones says, “I sat alone in my living room for at least a decade playing through the dozens of compositions I had in my head. When I met Craig, who shared a lot of similar classical, roots, and folk interests, I decided to stretch myself and see if I could hang (musically) with a world-class musician like him. We hit it off, and from 2013 through 2019 we co-wrote and recorded three albums as a duo. I grew immeasurably as a musician as a result.”

Jones continues, “When the pandemic closed everything down, I found myself back in my living room, writing tune after tune alone with my instruments. In 2021, I fortuitously reconnected with an old friend, the phenomenal mandolinist Jacob Jolliff, and around the same time became acquainted with banjo wunderkind Max Allard. I jumped on the chance to get these guys together and record nine of the tunes I had lying around. The result was beyond what I could have imagined and was heaps of fun to rehearse and record.”

“Fabulous playing! So great to hear the next generation of string wizards dive in and continue the tradition forward.” — Mike Marshall

Jones began building instruments in 2020, studying with Alan Chapman of Chapman/Fisher Guitars. In the last year and a half, Jones has built a variety of instruments, including a quarter-tone Irish bouzouki, a 13-tone small instrument, a Pardessus, several steel string guitars, four classical guitars, two ukuleles, three mandolins (two of them experimental, single string designs), and a mandola.

On the track “Jarrah,” Jones plays the banjo-tuned guitar he built using jarrah wood, a deep red wood he particularly enjoys working with: “I have just a small block of it and used it for the rosette/headstock — when I got the instrument up and running, a tune fell from it into my hands, and I named it “Jarrah” after the wood.”

Jones explains that a lot of his compositions come about that way: “I play a lot of different instruments, and when I go down the rabbit hole on one of them (say the banjo in double C tuning), I tend to fall into several new tunes, almost by accident — Banjaleena, Dix-Neuf (at least the 4/4 melody part), Smoke in the Valley, and Garden Gate all came as I was searching and discovering new shapes and sounds on the banjo (the parts Max plays). “Cowboy Walks” just emerged from the first classical guitar I made.”

Though Jones wrote all nine compositions for the debut album, EZRA’s focus is centered around collaboration. Working up the arrangements together was part of the process (and the fun). Recorded and engineered by Paul Eachus at First Church in downtown Oberlin and mastered by Dave Sinko (Punch Brothers, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer), EZRA’s debut album captures lightning in a bottle.

EZRA is available on all services. For more information, visit online at ezraquartet.com

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New Album: Alberto Rigoni, Unexpected Lullabies

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New Album: Alberto Rigoni, Unexpected Lullabies

Alberto Rigoni, Unexpected Lullabies…

In an exhilarating revelation, the musical genius Alberto Rigoni has announced his latest masterpiece, “Unexpected Lullabies”, set to hit the airwaves on June 4th, 2024.

This album isn’t just any release; it’s a bold exploration of sound, merging the soothing essence of lullabies with the raw energy of rock-metal to create a musical hybrid that’s absolutely groundbreaking. Rigoni’s latest venture is a heartfelt ode to the circle of life, dedicated to newborns everywhere, symbolizing hope and the beautiful continuity of life with the poignant message: “There are no just tragedies in this world, life is going on!”

*A Stellar Lineup of Musical Legends*

What makes ‘Unexpected Lullabies’ even more exciting is the assembly of musical titans. The album features the legendary bassist Michael Manring, the keyboard wizardry of Alessandro Bertoni (of the Graham Bonnet Band) and Vitalij Kuprij (known for Artension and Trans-Siberian Orchestra), and many more yet-to-be-revealed guest artists.

Unexpected Lullabies is now available on pre-order from Shop Sliptrick at deadpulse.com/product/alberto-rigoni-unexpected-lullabies/

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