Bass CDs
New Album: Mulberry Street Symphony, With Bassist Scott Colley
Mulberry Street Symphony…
Prolific Danish composer Anders Koppel, whose distinguished career includes music for theatre, film, ballet and over 150 scores for various classical ensembles, pays homage to his fellow countryman, the famed photographer and social reformer Jacob Riis, on Mulberry Street Symphony. Riis, who emigrated from his native Denmark to America in 1870, exposed the poor living conditions of impoverished immigrants in his groundbreaking photojournalism book, “How the Other Half Lives.” Inspired by Riis’ compelling photographs, Koppel created Mulberry Street Symphony, an epic work in seven movements, each one based on a different Riis photo depicting tenement life in New York City during the 1880s. “The work is a eulogy to the life and dreams of these people,” said the composer.
Koppel’s symphony for jazz trio and orchestra (the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martin Yates) showcases the composer’s son, alto saxophonist Benjamin Koppel, as the main voice through all seven movements. The work is underscored by the world-class rhythm tandem of bassist Scott Colley, whose sideman credits include work with Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, Carmen McRae and Andrew Hill, and drumming great Brian Blade, a longtime member of the Wayne Shorter Quintet who has also toured and recorded with Bill Frisell, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. As Koppel noted of the flexible trio of Colley, Blade and his son Benjamin, “With their profound understanding of the music and their capacity for catching the moment, they melt effortlessly into the symphony orchestra and move the work to where the border between notation and improvising disappears.”
In capturing the essence of Riis’ striking photos in music, Koppel deftly integrates symphonic elements with jazz improvisation while also conjuring up a wide palette of colors and moods along the way. “The whole symphonic score is completely developed and notated, but I didn’t write that much for the trio,” he explained. “Great musicians have fantastic ears. And I wanted to take advantage of that by giving Brian, Scott and Benjamin the freedom that I knew that they could fill. And they interpreted my vision completely.”
Each of the seven movements of Mulberry Street Symphony is a dramatic piece that tells a story in sound. The cinematic opening track, “Stranded in the City,” conveys the sights and sensations of an immigrant’s arrival into New York City during the latter part of the 19th century. Benjamin Koppel commented on his father’s gift for capturing the extra-musical in his scores. “The way that he uses his music to describe feelings and stories and emotions and even actions is more like an abstract painter would paint a feeling. And because we know him so well, we know his intentions and we can hear his stories and we can relate to it all the way. And so that made this collaboration very easy and open for us to just go into exploring mode.”
As the expansive “Stranded in the City” develops, Benjamin’s alto sax alternately darts and soars to convey its shifting moods, from pensive apprehension to giddy optimism. Anders described the newly-arrived immigrant in Riis’ photo this way: “He’s a 19-year old boy in his best, maybe only suit, stranded on a staircase, in the corner, outside closed doors, hoping for food and lodging. Something happened to his eye. The pulsating sounds of the big city resound from the streets. The wondering, curious and shy look of his eye tell a story of arrival, isolation and will to survive.”
Equally cinematic, while also deftly straddling the through-composed and improvisational divide, are the gentle lullaby “Minding the Baby” and the frantic 20-minute “Tommy the Shoeshine Boy,” the latter featuring facile, Bird-like flights by Benjamin throughout, along with some ecstatic blowing over the more turbulent sections. The poignant and moody tone poem “Blind Man” is meant to portray the lonely figure in Riis’ compelling photo. As Koppel noted: “Always standing on the same spot, leaning slightly agains the lamppost at the corner, peddling his rubber-tipped pencils. The darkness in his gaze, the dignity of his posture.” The composer added, “I tried to convey a special character, a man who is very much himself, apart from society, in a sense. But then again, the music took on its own way.”
A dramatic “The Last Mulberry” is trudging, blues-tinged requiem for the last mulberry tree in Little Italy. As Koppel wrote: “A blues for the tree and for the time closing in. Still blooming every spring, its leaves became more and more sparse. In the end it was cut down.” The conversational playing between Benjamin Koppel, Scott Colley and Brian Blade enlivens this track as the orchestra swirls around the interactive trio.
The unabashedly swinging “Bandit’s Roost” is perhaps the most dynamic and freewheeling track of the set. With Colley and Blade setting the kinetic pulse, Benjamin wails with rare abandon and authority over the top of this up-tempo burner. Koppel described the Riis photo that inspired the invigorating music: “Young Italian mobsters posing underneath their mothers’ laundry hanging out to dry. Fragments of a popular song echo between the walls while plans are being made and energies collected, ready to burst.”
Mulberry Street Symphony closes on a comforting note with the hopeful hymn, “The New House,” based on a 1894 Riis photo of a new home for orphans and homeless children that he helped build on a green hill in the countryside. As Koppel noted: “The simplicity of the hymn reflects the hope and knowledge that lies behind this photo: things will change – and it matters what you do.”
In the process of putting the music together for Mulberry Street Symphony, Koppel said, “I was inspired by
the Riis photos but my aim was not to make a sort of programmatic piece. The music has its freedom always, as it should have. The music often has its own will. So my point of departure was the photographs, but then the music sometimes sort of took over.”
The significance of Koppel, born into a musical family in Copenhagen in 1947, now honoring the legacy of the Danish-American immigrant Riis at a time of increasing debate over the growing wave of refugees and immigrants around the world was not lost on the Danish composer. “In my family’s history there are these two immigrant stories: Firstly, my grandparents coming to Denmark in the beginning of the 20th century as Jewish immigrants from Poland. At that time, Poland was occupied by Russia and there were always pogroms on the Jews, so they fled to Denmark and made a living there. And secondly, my parents and my sisters were refugees from Hitler during World War II. When Germany occupied Denmark in 1940, they fled to Sweden. So the idea of being an immigrant has always been very present in my thinking. And these days, in this time of history, the whole issue of refugees that have no home and immigrants desperately trying to come into other countries is ever present. It’s a mess and it’s a tragedy. So that was another line of thinking in this new work.”
The son of classical composer and pianist Herman D. Koppel, Anders Koppel was a child singer in the Copenhagen Boys Choir and studied piano with his sister and father from the age of five. He also played the recorder and later clarinet and made several television and concert appearances as a youngster, including the first performance of his father’s Variations in 1962 at age 15. He took up the Hammond organ in 1966 and the following year founded with his brother Thomas the legendary Danish rock group The Savage Rose. The band toured Europe extensively from 1967 to 1974 and even made a Stateside appearance in 1969 at the Newport Jazz Festival while also recording eight albums in studios located in London, New York, Los Angeles, Rome and Copenhagen. Koppel left the group in 1974 to make his first solo recordings, Valmuevejen with singer Otto Brandenburg, and Aftenlandet, a progressive instrumental album. In 1976 he cofounded with bassoonist-clarinetist Peter Bastian and percussionist Flemming Quist Møller the trendsetting world music trio Bazaar. The band played together for 37 years until 2013.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Koppel wrote music for 50 plays, eight modern large-scale ballets and more than 100 movies. Since 1997, he has devoted himself to composing for classical ensembles and has completed 150 scores to date — solo pieces, chamber music, orchestral and vocal works, an opera and 33 concertos for solo instrument with orchestra. His saxophonist son Benjamin has been a featured player in six of his concertos. Father and son have also been playing together in recent years in a highly interactive quartet setting with Colley and Blade.
In the process of composing Mulberry Street Symphony, Koppel said, “I thought about the relationships between America and my country, and all the fantastic music that has been brought to us from America that has in many ways changed our lives and inspired us endlessy. And then Jacob Riis ran through my mind because I knew his story. I had just seen an exhibition in Copenhagen of his photographs, which impressed me very deeply. And so there was another link between Denmark and America.”
As a fully-realized work seeking to bridge the worlds of classical and modern jazz, Anders Koppel’s Mulberry Street Symphony is in the lineage of such successful orchestral works as Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige (1943), Miles Davis-Gil Evans’ Sketches of Spain (1960), Stan Getz’s Focus (1961) and the Claus Ogerman-Michael Brecker collaboration on Cityscape (1982). And like many of his past works, it brings together Koppel’s love of symphonic music and jazz improvisation in organic fashion. “I think that has been my language ever since I started writing scores,” he said. “I believe that the musical language that you have as a composer is a result of the life you have lived and the music you have studied and loved. My music has traces of all the music that I have been occupied with in my fairly long life —
classical, jazz, Cuban music, Italian folk songs, Turkish music. There’s so much fantastic music that influenced me during my life and all of that is in the music too. It’s all combined in my language, I believe.”
Added Benjamin Koppel, “I think all his music is very much his own music. He has his totally own voice and his own direction, which is this borderland between classical and jazz or rhythmical music. And because he was a performer himself, he has always been able to write music that all the members of the symphony orchestra love to play. He was a clarinet wunderkind when he was a child and performed of a lot of my grandfather’s clarinet pieces when he was 10, 12, 14 years old. So he knows what it’s like to be a wind player, but he’s also an extraordinary Hammond organ player and pianist as well. So he knows the instruments and he knows the importance of having fun while playing but also being challenged by the music. So he makes sure that every voice in the symphony orchestra is swinging and melodic and important. That is very much a part of his sound and his personal approach. And I think that’s a line going through all this orchestral works.”
Mulberry Street Symphony is scheduled to be released on February 18, 2022 via Unit Records.
Bassist Tony Saunders Reimagines Two R&B Classics on “Return of the Mack (I Like It)” with GRAMMY® Nominee Gerald Albright
During January’s NAMM Show, two?time EMMY?winning bassist Tony Saunders played a demo mashup of Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” that weaves in El DeBarge’s “I Like It” for 9?time GRAMMY® nominee Gerald Albright. The saxophonist instantly heard its radio potential and agreed to play on the recording. The newly released single is now climbing the Billboard and Mediabase charts.
Joining Saunders and Albright on the track is GRAMMY®-winning keyboardist Michael Mani (Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Tori Kelly), who produced the single with Saunders along with playing keyboards, synths, key bass, vocal processing, drum programming, and guitar synths. John Mitchell added live drums to anchor the rhythm track.
“I’ve always loved ‘Return of the Mack’ — the groove is off the hook — and I knew I’d record it someday. ‘I Like It’ has also been one of my favorites, and because it’s in the same key, the mashup came together naturally. The reaction from fans when we play it live is incredible,” said Saunders, who records for the Baja/TSR label and received clearance to release the single on his own imprint.
Saunders dedicates the new single to the memory of two of his cousins, Kurt Kaywood and Oliver Rodgers. They passed away two weeks apart as Saunders was finishing up work on the track. “They played an important part of my life, always introducing me to new things.”
“Return of the Mack” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996. El DeBarge’s “I Like It” was the group’s breakthrough hit, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B chart in 1982.
Last week, Saunders was on-set in Sacramento shooting a cameo appearance in the Belton Mouras Entertainment film Fingers: The Vegan Zombie Musical, which is expected this Halloween. In addition to scoring several films, Saunders made his big screen debut in 1986 in the Francis Ford Coppola blockbuster Peggy Sue Got Married playing in a scene as a band member of Nicolas Cage.
Saunders’ musical path began with taking piano lessons from Herbie Hancock. He was gifted with an organ by Sly Stone and received his first bass from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Tom Fogerty. His professional career began when he was invited to play in his father’s band. His father was Merl Saunders, and the co-band’s leader was Grateful Dead legend Jerry Garcia. Tony Saunders’ diverse musical journey spans jazz, funk, rock, R&B, and Latin music. He also composed the musical Rock Justice with Jefferson Starship’s Marty Balin.
Saunders debuted as a solo artist with 2011’s Romancing the Bass. His latest collection, 2024’s The Romance Continues, spawned multiple Billboard Top 10 hits. Over the years, Saunders has collaborated with contemporary jazz luminaries Jeff Lorber,Paul Brown, Paul Jackson Jr., Nils, Jeff Ryan, Randy Crawford, Blake Aaron, and Adam Hawley.
In addition to releasing more new music this year, Saunders is eager to perform with his new band: Mitchell on drums, bassist Vernon Hall (Tony! Toni! Tone!), guitarist Tim Landis, and keyboardist Ray Roland.
“I have played with a lot of musicians in my life, but this group really gets the Tony Saunders vibe!”
For more information, please visit www.tonysaunders.com.
VIDEO: “Who Are the People?” – Composed by Brandon Kyle Miller, Performed by Golden Flower
Golden Flower is an improvising quintet from Orlando, Florida… violin, trumpet/flugelhorn, Rhodes/piano, upright and electric bass, and drums, whose debut studio album “Are You Even Awake?” releases June 12, 2026, on Romantic Poker Records.
Brandon Kyle Miller handles both upright and electric bass with effects throughout the record, navigating everything from deep funk grooves to Indian classical-inspired rhythmic structures to post-rock textures, often in the same song. The album was recorded live at Phat Planet Studios and mixed and mastered by Aaron Gandia, and represents five years of development from a band that has clearly found its voice.
Standout bass moments include the deeply grooving “Piecemeal” and “Distant Glow,” the slow-burn intensity of “Intrasomatic” (composed by Brandon) and “The Search Goes On,” and the album’s epic closing triptych “Perihelion I, Interlude, & Perihelion II,” which moves through funk, African 12/8, and metric modulation with purpose and power.
The band also cites Roy Hargrove, The Bad Plus, Kneebody, and Vijay Iyer among their touchstones, a lineage that should resonate with Bass Musician readers.
Pre-order: goldenflower.bandcamp.com/album/are-you-even-awake and visit online at goldenflowermusic.com
This 8-song collection by Linc Bloomfield (also known as Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.), longtime bass player for Kelakos, showcases his songwriting, singing and overall musicianship, along with his studio engineering skills. After remixing and re-releasing the 1978 Kelakos album in 2015 as Kelakos Uncorked, Linc produced Kelakos’ second album, the 2023 Deko double LP release Hurtling Towards Extinction, in which the collection of accompanying videos have racked up over one million views.
Echoes of Dreamwold is a true solo project. With the skillful studio work of two great drummers, Carl Canedy and Andy Hamburger, a sweet country pedal steel track by Billy Cooper on ‘No Second Chances’, and a classic lead guitar track by George Haberstroh on ‘(Got to) Save the World’, Linc sang all the vocals, played all the guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion tracks, and mixed every song, before they were mastered by Blaine Misner.
Listen to Echoes of Dreamwold here: https://push.fm/fl/nhz0a3fg
This album is meant to be played over and over, in the tradition of the sixties’ and seventies’ legends who inspired and influenced LB JUNIOR’s own songwriting. No two songs are in the same genre. As he explains the origins of each of the songs
“Walk Away My Girl” is a soft-rock tale of heartbreak, originally written on his dad’s 1917 Steinway baby grand piano, on which he recorded this smooth, melodic track.
“Alive” explores the insecurity that holds many people back. Against a lively track derived from the reggae sounds heard on local radio on the island of Kauai, the lyrics are about coming to terms with self-doubts.
“Shot Down”, the first song Linc wrote after leaving Kelakos, in 1978, is a lively pop song featuring bright acoustic guitar harmonics and chords, and a story about how not to try and meet women.
“Greedy Child”, also written years ago, captures the sadness as the giants from the golden age of rock and pop music pass from the scene and along with it, a generation for whom their music was the soundtrack of their lives.
“(Got to) Save the World” reflects Linc’s life’s work promoting international security. This fast-paced rocker featuring George Haberstroh’s lead guitar and Andy Hamburger’s relentless backbeat, is a wake-up call to do something about armed conflict, mass shootings, and environmental destruction, and realize what is at stake.
“The (2nd) Fiddler’s Song” is a personal message set to a soft acoustic track, in which LB JUNIOR explains why contributing to something worthy and necessary is more satisfying than chasing personal glory.
“No Second Chances” is a country song, pure and simple, featuring Billy Cooper’s pedal steel licks and the distinctive rich tone of Linc’s 1955 Gretsch Country Club guitar.
“Sand in My Hourglass” completes the 8-song set with a blues song, inspired by the recent pandemic, and showing LB JUNIOR’s chops on his 60s Les Paul guitar – inspired long ago, in 1968, when teenage Linc saw a memorable performance by bluesman Mike Bloomfield accompanied by Al Kooper and his whipping Hammond organ sound. This one is a real ‘echo’ of late sixties’ Dreamwold, as Linc’s earlier band Emergency Exit used to perform Kooper’s classic tune with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, ‘I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know.’
Dreamwold was a grand estate built in 1901–1902 by financier Thomas W. Lawson in Scituate, Massachusetts. By the late 1960s, the ballroom had become a popular venue for live music. One of the regular performers was Emergency Exit, from nearby Cohasset, that included Linc, George Haberstroh, and Mark Sisson, who would later join Carl Canedy to form Kelakos. The band had a homemade light show, black lights, and a vintage Kustom P.A. system wrapped in sparkling Naugahyde. The Dreamwold estate was eventually redeveloped into condominium residences.
Order the vinyl of Echoes of Dreamwold: dekoentertainment.com/inthesquare/lb-junior
The double bassist Alon Near presents his first album of compositions, “Names, Places”, a musical travel journal, written over five years of touring, traveling, and hiking. Available
May 22nd, 2026. Each composition reflects a place and a meaningful encounter that left a melody behind. Alon Near’s debut album moves between city and village, complexity and simplicity, tracing a personal journey shaped by movement, memory and human connection.
“Names, Places” starts with Alon’s first composition from years ago, Breathe, which he carried through years and changing landscapes. The music unfolds with openness and release, followed by Missing, written on a small keyboard after hiking Mount St. Catherine in Egypt with his grandfather, which inspired a melody searching for steadiness between distance and memory. The Same Story reflects the awareness of an old pattern repeating itself and the quiet decision to turn away from it. Strength of Repetition is a solo bass reflection on repetition as a quiet virtue: The piece unfolds through gradual development, suggesting that consistency and patience can shape one’s voice more deeply than sudden inspiration. The fifth song, Shiguim, a playful yet intricate composition, moves through shifting phases and rhythmic turns. Lichi centers on clarity and warmth, as Yotam Silberstein’s classical guitar meets a string quartet, creating a lingering and intimate musical landscape. Tokyo carries a light and affectionate spirit while Coral is structured in the spirit of a Bach chorale, leading to the outro, a quiet gesture of closure.
About Alon:
Based between Europe and New York, he began playing at 14. After winning 1st Prize at the Rostov International Jazz Competition in 2013 and earning scholarships to Berklee College of Music and The New School in 2015, he moved to New York City, where he performed with Grammy Award-winning Billy Childs, saxophonist Eli Degibri, piano virtuoso Joey Alexander, and WDR Big Band alongside Chris Potter. Awarded 3rd Prize at the International Society of Bassists competition in 2021, Alon’s ensemble features pianist Tom Oren, winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competition, alongside trumpeter Itamar Borochov and drummer Ofri Nehemya.
Visit online at alonnear.com/
The healing power of music is more than just a mantra for The Nth Power, it’s an energy that drummer Nikki Glaspie, guitarist Nick Cassarino and bassist Nate Edgar harness with intent in the recording studio. When preparing to bring their fourth studio album ‘Never Alone’ to life, the trio converged on a remote farmhouse studio in Colchester, Vermont at the personal invitation of Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Over the course of two weeklong sessions overlooking a quiet bay of Lake Champlain, they tapped into what Cassarino calls “The Great Spirit” – a creative, driving force behind their genre-defying, soulful music.
“Vermont has an energy, there’s something special in the air,” Cassarino explains. “We were there recording late into the early morning hours one night during a lunar eclipse, and it was like the whole atmosphere changed. The creative force and beauty of where we were was just ridiculous.” Each band member brought raw demos and ideas into the recording space and collectively tracked songs that would become the final eight tracks on ‘Never Alone’.
Glaspie shares, “We created this album with the intention of sharing love back into the world, with the understanding that all people deserve love. You don’t have to know someone to love them. It’s about inspiring others to have more compassion for your fellow man, and mankind as a whole. We’re only here for a speck of time, so be nice. Time is precious.”
Throughout their individual careers, The Nth Power have used their time wisely, creating and performing with some of music’s most recognizable names. Notably, Nikki Glaspie was hand-picked by Beyoncé to join her all-female touring ensemble the Suga Mamas for many years, before expanding her chops with legendary saxophonist Maceo Parker, New Orleans funk torchbearers Dumpstaphunk, and most recently with Grammy-winning jazz ensemble Snarky Puppy. A longtime member of John Brown’s Body, Nate Edgar’s signature reggae-forward bass stylings have been tapped by Sister Nancy, G. Love & Special Sauce and Rubblebucket. And Nick Cassarino has been called upon by Christian McBride, Big Daddy Kane and Babyface along the way. But no matter where individual ventures take them, they always find their way back to each other, and the higher vibrations discovered in the music they create together as The Nth Power.
The album’s lead track “Dream Alive” delivers a transcendent first taste of the new record, with driving rhythms and colorful musicianship that captures The Nth Power’s raw and unapologetic musical approach as a power trio. “It’s a song about rolling with your crew, the chosen family we get to spend our lives with,” shares Cassarino. “The chorus says it all. We’re just happy to be creating, learning and riding together.” The closeness of their bond as friends, musicians and leaders is reinforced in the accompanying video for “Dream Alive”. Recorded in San Francisco during the group’s 2025 fall tour, visuals capture scenes from a spirited performance at the historic Glide Memorial Church, where the band led a musical worship of love one Sunday morning in between tour dates on the West Coast.
Love has always been a central theme of The Nth Power, ever since the group first coalesced during a late night New Orleans Jazz Fest showcase in 2011. The new album dives into a spectrum of sexy songs – “Crave You” speaks to the deliciously addicting nuances of a relationship with its sweet, irreverent country-funk groove; while “Thirsty” calls out more carnal elements of desire with early 80s R&B undertones. “Could It Be ‘74 Remix” – a 70s-esque revamp of a song originally heard on their 2015 album ‘Abundance’ – calls upon the band’s deep roots in soulful R&B and their collective love of Leon Ware. Former bandmate Courtney Smith delivers a powerful vocal performance in the final verse to round out the song’s smooth, soulful presence.
The title track “Never Alone” ushers in a more experimental undertaking for the group. Glaspie brought a raw afro-beat demo to the Vermont farmhouse recording sessions. Inspired by musical stylings from multiple regions across the globe, the song embodies the group’s uncanny ability to transcend genres with depth, meaning and musicality. Edgar explains, “‘Never Alone’ really represents who we are as a band that can’t be defined by one musical genre,” while Glaspie adds of the lyrical inspiration, “We’re all out here doing the best we can, but we’re all in this together. You don’t have to feel alone because you aren’t.”
Embodying that same spirit of community, The Nth Power called upon a handful of special guests to lend their talents to the new album. One of the standout songs “Smile” is enriched with world-class horn arrangements provided by jazz trumpeter Nicholas Payton and master saxophonist Skerik. Recorded at Marigny Studios in the band’s spiritual hometown of New Orleans, “Smile” has been kicking around The Nth Power’s catalog ever since their initial recording session for their debut EP ‘Basic Minimum Skills Test’. A song about finding light in the darkness of drug addiction, its lyrics are pleading yet hopeful. “‘Smile’ has one of my favorite choruses we’ve ever created, and feeds my inner strengths with its message,” says Edgar. With building, layered instrumentation and exceptionally powerful horn solos, it’s a track that will give you chills.
‘Never Alone’ comes full circle with its final offering, “Simple Life” – a song about enjoying the simple pleasures and finding peace with what’s in front of you, whether that be solace in the woods or a Michelin-star meal. Edgar explains, “I came up with the groove and idea for the title when I was living in remote California during the pandemic and asking myself what it really was that I wanted from life.” The capstone song showcases duet-style vocals from Cassarino and Glaspie, while horn ensemble The Soul Rebels elevate the recording with a joyous, New Orleans-style celebration throughout.
To The Nth Power, ‘Never Alone’ continues a heartfelt mission now 13 years in the making. Glaspie explains. “We believe in the power of love, and exhibit that belief through our music. This album is a culmination of our calling as musicians and human beings on this planet. We want to take the message as far as it can go.”
Listen on all platforms HERE
Find Nate Edgar on Instagram @n8_bass
Find the Nth Power on Instagram @thenthpower