Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
It’s no secret that the Branford Marsalis Quartet can be as freewheeling off the bandstand as in performance. The saxophonist and his ensemble, made up of pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner, are each bold personalities with strong opinions, equally intense in both musical and verbal exchanges. One of these exchanges led to “Upward Spiral,” their new disc featuring special guest Kurt Elling. “One topic we got into was picking the best singer to work with our band,” Marsalis recalls. “My candidate was Kurt Elling, because he has the most flexible voice around, it is always in tune and he is a true jazz musician.” What has emerged, after an intense week of performances and recording in New Orleans, is a collection that blends Songbook staples, jazz standards, and standards-to-be from a diverse array of composers.
Allen Toussaint’s work as composer, producer, arranger and performer, especially in the 1960s and ‘70s, helped shape the sound of R&B, soul and funk as we know it today. He collaborated memorably with artists ranging from Lee Dorsey to Ernie K. Doe to the Pointer Sisters and Labelle, from the Meters to Dr. John to the Band and Paul McCartney. The New Orleans legend had just completed his new album, “American Tunes,” when he passed away last November during a European tour. Recording took place at two sets of sessions: solo piano in New Orleans in 2013, and with the rhythm section of Jay Bellerose and David Piltch—joined by guests Bill Frisell and Charles Lloyd—in Los Angeles in 2015. The disc comprises solo performances of Professor Longhair tunes and band arrangements of songs by Toussaint, Ellington, Fats Waller, Paul Simon and others.
Also this week, soprano saxophonist and composer Jane Ira Bloom releases her sixteenth disc as a leader, “Early Americans,” which is her very first trio album.
Saxophonist Kenny Garrett unveils his first release in three years, “Do Your Dance!”.
Keyboardist Mark Minchello introduces his new band, “The Funky Organics.”
n jazz bandleaders from across the musical and generational spectra regularly lament the difficulty of keeping a band together, it’s all the more remarkable that a supergroup like One For All has stuck it out for twenty years. But the impeccably swinging sextet, made up of some of the most in-demand players in modern jazz, is not just celebrating past achievements but charging forward into the future. “The Third Decade,” One For All’s 16th release and its first in five years, is the first in its history to feature original compositions by all six members. The disc once again brings together tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Jim Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farsnworth.
“The pianist Brad Mehldau has led this iteration of his pace-setting trio—with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard—since 2005, and it has evolved into a graceful powerhouse, equally savvy about groove and harmony,” according to the New York Times. The Brad Mehldau Trio now unveils its first new release since 2012, “Blues and Ballads.” Their previous release received critical acclaim, with the Financial Times saying, “Mehldau never lets his peerless technique and meticulous timing interrupt the narrative flow of a well-told tale. Here, the pianist and his trio burrow deep into left-field pop and the American songbook, and give an adventurous sheen to modern jazz.” The new disc similarly comprises interpretations of songs by other composers, this time with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title.
