Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
While growing up in Oklahoma, one album that became saxophonist Sharel Cassity’s personal guiding light was Christian McBride’s “Getting’ To It.” After moving to New York City in 2000, she worked her way up in the performing scene and eventually came to play alongside each member of the rhythm section featured on that album. Cassity decided to assemble that same rhythm section for the making of her new release, “Gratitude.” It includes the eight-time Grammy winning bassist and composer McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut as well as trumpeter Terell Stafford, and trombonist Michael Dease, a longtime collaborator of Cassity’s.
Award-winning jazz artist Pureum Jin brings together a group of up and rising female saxophonists and NYC’s most sought-after rhythm section for a full steam of straight-ahead jazz filled with sparkling reed ensemble work through her new group The Empress. With Pureum herself as the leader, the group features Grammy-winner Lauren Sevian, rising star Erena Terakubo, and the versatile Chelsea Baratz, supported by Steve Ash on piano, Joey Ranieri on bass and Pete Van Nostrand on drums. The group’s debut album, “Square One,” showcases the driving force and the movement of women in jazz as well as Asian musicians on a jazz scene that has developed tremendously in recent years.
Also this week, drummer and U.S. Navy musician Jonah David releases his debut album, “Waltz for Eli,” recorded last year while he was a percussion instructor at the Naval School of Music; Omaha-based organist Mitch Towne, who performed at last summer’s Iowa City Jazz Festival, steps into the spotlight with his debut recording, “Refuge”; and guitarist, composer and arranger Russ Spiegel embarks on the release of his seventh album, “Nitty Gritty.”