Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Trumpeter Jim Rotondi has been a major figure in the world of jazz for over thirty years, both in New York and on the international scene. His sound, soul, and sense of swing have been in demand as a leader and sideman all over the world. For his new album, “Finesse,” Rotondi has joined forces with arranger Jakob Helling and the Notes & Tones Orchestra to record some incredible versions of his own compositions with big band and strings.
“Oh Mother” was inspired by Vancouver vocalist and composer Andrea Superstein’s own experience as a mother. Between the trauma of birthing a baby and all of the physical changes a mother goes through, coupled with balancing a job, feeling out your new role and your place with the world, mothering can be a very isolating experience. Superstein interviewed close to 100 mothers to get at the root of motherhood and, based on these conversations, she wrote music: some songs are one person’s story, others are of the collective consciousness.
Also this week, trombonist Ruben Caban’s new release, “Kangana,” brings a fiery blend of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Taino melodies and neo-soul together with the spontaneity of jazz harmony and improvisation; acclaimed vibraphonist Joel Ross returns with his fourth Blue Note release, “nublues,” an album of blues and ballads as refracted through the prism of one of the most creative modern jazz groups of our time; and Uruguayan percussionist and guitarist Gaston Reggio’s “Michigan” marries the folk feels of United States vistas with his South American roots to bring an original and fresh approach to world music and jazz.