Violinist/ Composer Alexa Torres and her Quartet to release new recording : IN SITU

In July 2022, Alexa Torres set out on a one-year trip to interview and collaborate with improvising violinists across Belgium, France, and Poland. Her hybrid research and performance sojourn was funded by two prestigious awards: The Presser Graduate Music Award and The Fulbright Grant. Torres recorded her debut album, In Situ, in preparation for this journey, to reflect internally on the sound cultures that shape her personal musical milieu before turning her gaze externally to new soundscapes.

“In situ is an archaeological term which refers to the original position of an artifact found in place. When I was 21, I spent five weeks excavating Maya ruins in the Belizean jungle. We spent 8 or 9 hours a day digging in the wet dirt, often without finding much. But I remember the sense of awe I felt when I finally dug up an artifact. It was a scraper – a type of tool, carved out of stone. As I held it, I thought about how I was likely the first person to touch it in over a thousand years, and I imagined stories about the people who had used the tool before me so long ago. I wanted to bring that very particular feeling of awe to this album. The term in situ evokes a sense of rediscovery and recontextualization which are processes that I think play a big role in improvisation. It also conveys a feeling of connection between past, present, and future. Artifacts found in situ represent material culture which we use to construct narratives of the past in order to better understand our present and our future.”

This sense of temporal connection is reflected musically through the textures, improvisational languages, and timbres of In Situ. With a blended acoustic-electric violin sound, Torres’s be-bop lines intertwined with modern diminished and altered vocabulary float over guitarist Wellman’s bright, distinctly contemporary voicings. Further mirroring Torres’s goal of bridging past, present, and future, In Situ brings together original compositions as well as contemporary arrangements of jazz standards. The result reflects an intimate engagement with jazz idioms and with Torres’s own Latinx heritage by synthesizing Latinx rhythms, modern jazz devices, and improvisation.

“I recorded this album right after I had finished my master’s degree in jazz violin from The University of North Texas. It was real transition moment – I was preparing to leave the country for an extended period of time, I was in the process of moving, and my future was uncertain. And I really wanted to use this record as an opportunity to sit in that liminal space between where you are coming from and where you are going. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to reflect not just on this deep digging into jazz traditions I did in my master’s, and what it means to try to transfer these traditions to the violin, but to move further into the past to also reflect on my Cuban heritage, and on the years I spent living and performing in Chile. I saw this album a sort of excavation of my own past, and also as a deeply personal, multilayered syncretism. When I say this, I mean that I saw it as a way of integrating the different physical spaces I’ve occupied, the various soundscapes I’ve encountered in those spaces, and also of uniting my research and performance practices.”

In addition to being a professional improvising violinist, Torres is a music researcher with a background in cultural anthropology. “I view my work as an ethnographic researcher and my performance practice as an improvising violinist as intrinsically connected,” she says. “They mutually inform each other.”

Torres was awarded the Austin Live Music Grant to support the release of In Situ and the album will be available on all streaming platforms on June 14th, 2024. Immediately following its virtual debut,  In Situ is set for a live release concert on June 15th at the Dougherty Arts Center in Austin, Texas. Torres has teamed up with the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin, TX to offer a community-centered performance that is free to the public, which will be complemented by additional summer release performances in New York City and Austin, TX.

In December and January 2023-2024, Alexa performed a pre-release tour of In Situ in Chile. During the tour, Alexa played in the cities of Valparaiso and Santiago, performing at some of the country’s top jazz clubs such as Thelonious Lugar de Jazz.

“My four years living in Chile were really formative for me. I did a lot of growing up in Chile. I learned a lot about myself, and about what I want in life and in music. And so much of this album is about connecting different spaces and times that were important to me, so I was thrilled to be able to do that not only conceptually but also physically by performing this album in Chile with some really great friends and musicians.”

Torres’s violin is supported by a rhythm section of talented musicians: Mario Wellmann on guitar, Josh Newburry on bass, and Jordan Proffer on drums. Weaving an aural landscape that is both personally and historically grounded, In Situ sculps a sonic bridge between the past and the present, between tradition and innovation, and between musical idioms and cultures.

Alexa website click here

Jazz Vocalist Allegra’s latest album, Out Of The Question, is out of this world! Set for release on May 20, 2024

NEW YORK – “How deep is the ocean?” “What is this thing called love?” Jazz singer-songwriter Allegra Levy may not have all the answers, but she sure has plenty of questions. One thing about which there can be no question, though, is that her career is on the rise. Named one of the Top Ten Rising Stars among jazz vocalists in Downbeat’s 2021 Critics’ Poll, she has been dubbed a “double-barreled talent” by JazzTimes, and called everything from “sophisticated, worldly, and swinging” to “the new pin-up girl for cool.” Her latest album, to be released May 20, truly seals the deal. Out of the Question, Levy’s fifth release from SteepleChase Records, is composed entirely of songs in search of answers, from “Where Are You Going?” to Carole King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” It features an all-star, all-women band, including Carmen Staaf on piano, Allison Miller on drums, and Mimi Jones on bass, with special guests Roxy Coss on sax, Aubrey Johnson on vocals, and Andrew Baird on guitar.

A Connecticut native now based in New York, Levy has appeared at most of the top jazz venues in NYC, including the Jazz Standard, the Blue Note, Birdland Theatre, Zinc Bar, and the Bitter End. “Fresh … exotic… and far beyond the ordinary,” declared The New York Times of her debut album, 2014’s Lonely City. Ever since, she has continued to pen a collection of harmonically adventurous-yet-familiar originals steeped in the Great American Songbook. Her third album, Looking at the Moon, was an Editor’s Pick in both DownBeat and JazzTimes. Her fourth, Lose My Number: Allegra Levy Sings John McNeil – featuring her own lyrics set to the tunes of renowned trumpeter John McNeil – was lauded in The New Yorker as “a showcase for Levy’s… agile vocalizing and her gift for sculpting words.”

Last spring, Levy ventured into jazz for the juvenile set with an internationally acclaimed children’s album, Songs for You and Me. Her new record, however, is strictly PG … or maybe even R, for rousing, riveting, and downright raunchy when it comes to her bluesy take on the ‘80s punk rock classic, “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” by The Clash.

This new project was the brainchild of Levy’s longtime collaborator, pianist Carmen Staaf, a winner of the Mary Lou Williams jazz piano competition, who currently serves as musical director for DeeDee Bridgewater. “She pointed out that some of the most beautiful songs are questions, not answers, and I became fascinated with the concept,” Levy says. “As I get older, I find that it really is more about the questions.”

The question remained what songs to choose. Although there were countless cross-genre standards to choose from — from Irving Berlin’s flapper-era “What’ll I Do?” to Michel Legrand’s haunting 1969 melody “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” — the album also includes two classic instrumental numbers for which Levy wrote lyrics: “Are You Real?” by Benny Golson, and Horace Silver’s “Que Pasa?”

There are two of Levy’s originals as well, entitled “What’s In a Name?” and “What Are You Waiting For?” The latter is a sort of musical pep talk about going for what you want rather than waiting for dreams to magically come true. “It’s a message I want to pass on to newcomers and other young women on the scene,” Levy says, “to make your own dreams and shape your own existence, because nobody is going to hand it to you.”

One personal dream come true for her was getting to record with drummer Allison Miller. “She’s been one of my heroes ever since I got to New York,” Levy says. Called “a modern jazz icon in the making” by All About Jazz, Miller is known for everything from leading her own stellar band, Boom Tic Boom, to being a member of the supergroup ARTEMIS. Her frequent collaborators include singers Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco, and Natalie Merchant, organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith, and reedists Anat Cohen and Ben Goldberg, as well as Staaf, with whom she has released two stellar albums.

Rounding out the band is bassist Mimi Jones, voted No. 2 Rising Star jazz bassist in Downbeat’s Critics’ Poll three years in a row. During her more than two decades as both a leader and sought-after sidewoman, she has worked with everyone from Beyoncé, Dianne Reeves, and DeeDee Bridgewater to Roy Hargrove, Ravi Coltrane, and Terri Lyne Carrington. The combined force of these three phenomenal femme fatales helped inspire the album’s title. “I have this all-female trio that can’t be reckoned with,” Levy explains, “and messing with them is really ‘out of the question.’”

The same could be said for Levy herself, who continues to accumulate accolades. She was among last year’s winners of the John Lennon Songwriting Competition for Best Children’s Song. She was also a 2023 finalist in the International Songwriting Competition’s Children’s Music category for her song “It’s So Hard to Be You.” Plus, she took first place in the 2019 Great American Song Contest’s Adult Contemporary Music category for her pop tune “Waste My Time.” Yet she is equally known for her jazzy originals and rich, emotive, contralto voice. A graduate of New England Conservatory, she proudly serves on the leadership of the Women in Jazz Organization. She wishes to dedicate this album to her young daughter, Stella Plum, as well as her future son, due this summer, about whom she wonders,“Who will you become?” But in the end, “Sometimes we don’t need all the answers,” Levy says. “We just have to explore the questions.”

Out of the Question will be available on all major platforms.

Album Details: Out of the Question

Release Date: May 20, 2024

Label: SteepleChase Records

Out of the Question Track Listing

1. Are You Real?

2. What Are You Waiting For?

3. Where Are You Going?

4. Should I Stay or Should I Go?

5. What Is This Thing Called Love?

6. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

7. Que Pasa?

8. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?

9. Will You Still Be Mine?

10. What's In a Name?

11. How Deep is the Ocean?

12. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

13. What'll I Do?

Allegra Levy website

Dolomite, the fifth release of Ghezzi’s series Minerals, is a collaboration with acclaimed bassist, vocalist, composer and environmentalist Ruth Goller (International Anthem). Both  linked to the Dolomites mountain range, Ruth and Maddalena reckon with themes around climate change, nature and healing spaces. This is a water journey through a changing landscape.

The EP is written from the perspective of a particle or water embarking into the water cycle and each time witnessing changes in the environment it passes through. Ghezzi and Goller were inspired by the transient element within nature and its constant motion. The Dolomites were once the bottom of the ocean and now they constitute some of the highest mountains in Europe. What seems static to our human viewpoint, like a mountain range, is instead in constant change. This puts into perspective the full human experience and the balance between stability and instability.

Seiser Alm (Alpe di Siusi) is the valley where Ruth grew up and Maddalena spent her summers. The mountains, its forests and its stories have a strong influence on both artists. Maddalena spent the last 10 years doing a sort of secular pilgrimage in memory of her father whose ashes were scattered on Plattkofel (Sasso Piatto). Spending some days each year in altitude, immersed in nature, switching off her phone, walking from hut to hut has allowed Ghezzi to heal and to feel small yet part of the magnitude of nature. This has helped to deal with the concept of death and has raised questions about healing. Being in nature is beneficial to our psyche and body, being in nature alone can be inspirational and help tap into creativity but who has access to that? As women, how do we access remote places? If nature is destroyed, forests are screaming and fresh water is a scarcity, can we heal? Aren’t we just killing ourselves? How do we reckon with this?

The EP is in 4 languages. Ghezzi wrote a poem in English and Italian and Goller translated it in German and Ladino. Italian, Ladino and German are the languages spoken in South Tyrol. After WW1 South Tyrol, prior part of the Austrian Empire, was annexed to Italy and a ruthless Italianization of the area began under the Italian fascist government. In the area all these communities are intertwined not without frictions yet all engulfed in the incredible nature that surrounds them. Singing the same poem in different languages makes it resonate in more directions providing moments of reflections around similarities and differences. Ghezzi is not new to singing in various languages and experimenting with translation. She feels that the strong connection between sounds, languages and meaning has been at the basis of her development as a singer. When Ghezzi asked

Goller how she felt about singing in different languages, Goller replied: “I love to sing in different languages, however I tend to get a bit nervous about pronouncing languages that I don't speak well, as for instance the Ladino. But then I just have to accept that languages are here for communicating and very fluid in themselves. It's ok to make them a bit our own, mixing with others if it feels necessary. Singing something in Ladino for the first time was near to my heart, as it is the culture I am from.”

Throughout the EP Goller experiments both with tuning and different bass sounds. In Jole she explores an unconventional bass tuning to create melodies with harmonics on a different harmonic bed. In “I Fliag” Ruth experiments with a short delay.

In the summer of 2023, Ghezzi recorded the Mediterranean sea in Sicily for Flex and Float, a storm in Val di Dona and a disastrous hail storm in Milan for Volo.Goller and Ghezzi choose to call the tracks: Volo, I fliag and Jole. All meaning “I fly” as it felt organic to them. The track in English is called Flex and Float bringing attention to the motion and constant changeable aspect of water. Water exploitation from the tourist industry has been an issue resident to the valley experience. This has brought Goller and Ghezzi to reckon with our society's priorities and how the accumulation of wealth seems to often be the main concern instead of the balance with nature.

The single Flex and Float is accompanied by an animated collage technique video by art collective Libri Finti Clandestini and photographer and filmmaker Tanguy Bombonera who created a collage video using original photos from the Ghezzi’s family archive. People become containers of nature to symbolise our belonging to the environment.

Dolomite was home recorded

Compositions: Ruth Goller and Maddalena Ghezzi

Production: Ruth Goller and Maddalena Ghezzi

Lyrics: Maddalena Ghezzi

Translation (Italian): Maddalena Ghezzi

Translation (German and Ladino): Ruth Goller

Mix: Pietro Cavassa a.k.a. Anything Pointless

Master: Nick Powell

Released under DēngYuè Records

Video: Libri Finti Clandestini and Tanguy Bombonera

Supported by LaMunt (premium mountain clothing created by women for women) and VAIA (innovative sustainability project)

Photography, makeup and styling: Sara Polonghini

Maddalena Ghezzi website click here

Ruth Goller website click here

New Orleans, Louisiana.  Bold, beautiful, sexy, smart and fun - these words can be used to describe pioneering vocalist Judith Owen and her merry band of New Orleans-based musicians, The Gentlemen Callers.  With an amazing blend of song delivery prowesses and personality delighting fans across the globe, Judith’s new live album “Comes Alive” follows on the heels of her hugely successful 2022 album “Come On & Get It” (over 2.6 Million album streams and more than a million YouTube views). 

“Judith Owen Comes Alive” will be released worldwide in early spring, and features 16 tracks recorded live over a weeklong residency in Bern, Switzerland at the legendary Marians Jazzroom.

Revisiting some of the jewels featured on “Come On & Get It” with brand new live interpretations of Lady Be Good, Teach Me Tonight, Down With Love, Skylark, and Fever to name a few new tracks, Judith once again looks to the music of the unsung “badass” ladies of Jazz and Blues.  

Originally hailing from Wales in the UK but now calling New Orleans home, Owen conceived of the project as a result of her childhood fascination with the Jazz music of some of the so-called “pioneering but oft forgotten women” of the Jazz and Blues world including Julia Lee, Blossom Dearie and Nellie Lutcher - who she discovered hidden on the shelves of her father’s record collection alongside the likes of Oscar Peterson and Jelly Roll Morton. Captivated and enchanted by these “Unapologetic” chanteuses of the 40’s/50’s, who were singing about sex - and enjoying it at a time when women were meant to sing about romance - Owen made it her mission to dig deep and find out more from both a musical and historical perspective. The result is a joyful, uplifting, and empowering project; a throw-back with a fresh feel complete with a look and style that speaks of all those delectable, hugely entertaining women who broke the glass ceiling with their stiletto heels and were ever so proud of it!

Accompanying the release for the new album is a weekly podcast, “Unapologetically Judith Owen.” Owen’s passion for these women and their unapologetic attitudes drives the creation of the podcast. “It simply wasn’t enough to just sing these incredible women’s fierce songs,” she explains. “I had to talk about them, too. Talk and tell EVERYONE how these amazing women changed my life – and how they could change yours, too!”

Unapologetically Judith Owen, produced by Pineapple Audio Production, is a 10-part series filled with discussions on topics ranging from sexual empowerment to the power of saying “no” to the importance of being unapologetic in every aspect of life. Owen is joined by journalist and broadcaster Bibi Lynch, known for her work with the BBC, Soho Radio, and The Guardian, among others, as they delve into the complexities of these pioneering musicians and their enduring influence.

The release of “Judith Owen Comes Alive” will be accompanied by tour dates across the US and Europe including stops in New Orleans at the French Quarter Festival (April 11th, Chickie Wah Wah April 29th, the Historic BK House May 4th, and Snug Harbor May 18th), New York City (Club Django April 13th and The McKittrick April 14th), The Blue Strawberry in St. Louis April 19th, Rudy’s Jazzroom Nashville April 20th, Vibrato in Los Angeles May 16th, Jazz Club Etoile in Paris on June 6th and 8th, the Blue Note in Milan on June 14th, and the Estavayer Festival in Switzerland July 13th, with more dates to be added. 

“One of the most joyful releases of the year” — The Times UK

“An exercise in style” — Rolling Stone

“A joyous homage to some of the trailblazing women from jazz and blues history” — JazzWise

“Every song on the album is a gem delivered with crystal clear intonation by Owen and super musicianship from the band.”  — Jazz Journal

“Bold Female Declarations, Without Apology” — JazzIz

“And how about a little music to set the mood? That's Welsh singer-songwriter Judith Owen, honoring a generation of female jazz musicians on her new album… Judith has made her home in New Orleans for many years, and she assembled some of the city's top talent into the big band that backs her on the album.” —NPR, Weekend Edition

Judith Website click here

Two Jazz Visionaries, Violinist MEG OKURA and Pianist KEVIN HAYS, Release Debut Duo Album Lingering on Adhyâropa Records in Celebration of National Chamber Music Month

“Meg and Kevin connect on so many levels. The repertoire varies, from composed songs to purely improvised pieces. Kevin is in excellent form, and Meg demonstrates her wide range as one of the premier violinists, jazz or otherwise, of our time.” – Jim McNeely, jazz composer-pianist

Hailed as “the queen of chamber jazz (All About Jazz),” Tokyo-native violinist Meg Okura and American jazz pianist Kevin Hays celebrate the release of their debut album as a duo, Lingering on Adhyâropa Records. With recognition such as the highly competitive Jazz Road Tours grant, which took them over 5,000 miles to Hawaii, Okura and Hays have been collaborating for a decade since their serendipitous encounter on a New York City bus in 2014. Lingering showcases the remarkable synergy and confidence they share, evident from their transcendent exploration of musical possibility. They engage in a musical dialogue using only the raw essence of two instruments without overdubs or effects, exploring a spectrum of textures and tones, inviting listeners into unfiltered emotions of intimacy and vulnerability.

For Hays, whose discography boasts numerous duo projects with jazz contemporaries such as Brad Mehldau, Lionel Loueke, and Bill Stewart, the connection with Okura was immediate and undeniable**.** Their collaboration, unlike many others, is not born from shared musical associations or cultural backgrounds. Hays and Okura hail from disparate musical traditions – Hays, a jazz pianist with a sound steeped in the post-bop and modern jazz tradition, boasts a storied career working with luminaries such as Sonny Rollins and John Scofield, while Okura's journey from concert violinist to rising star in the world of jazz composition has earned her acclaim from the likes of the International Society of Jazz Arranger and Composers.

*“Kevin grounds me in a gentler, earthier realm, as his aesthetic is deeply rooted in traditions, extending from post-bop to Americana, and reaching farther back to the works of J.S. Bach. When playing so freely as a duo, even on written pieces, my perfect pitch becomes a lifeline, seamlessly catching every chord while my instincts anticipate his next move. When I go into the Bach-like counterpoint, Kevin catches me within two beats and starts creating his counter melody. Kevin knows how to trust his duo partners and, more importantly, his adeptness in creating music no matter what happens during a tune or lack thereof. I love this attitude and the challenge that comes with it! It’s an adventure that I welcome!” *

Throughout Lingering, Okura and Hays weave a tapestry of sound and emotion, from melancholic beauty to haunting echoes to boundless expressions bursting with dynamism. The album comprises 11 short melodies by Okura, including “Seven Short Pieces” — a Jewish-influenced suite written for this duo during the Pandemic. “Waltz for Wollesen,” by Hays has previously been recorded on his 2019 album Where Are You with Mark Turner and Marc Miralta. In this duo version, the piece takes on new life, and they recorded what Okura calls the “Brahms’s version of Kevin Hays.” The album also includes two entirely improvised tracks demonstrating just how differently the duo approaches free improvisation. Even within the composed pieces, Okura leaves ample room for interpretation and improvisation. Drawing inspiration from both classical and jazz composers from Olivier Messiaen to Oliver Nelson, or Schuman to Ellington, Okura uses big classical sounds as well as tender whispers of harmonics, to col legno batuto, to the “chop” technique to create a percussive groove. As the album reaches its poignant denouement with the title track, "Lingering," Okura's single note and Hays' last chord hang in the air like a whispered promise, never fully resolving.

Meg Okura website

Rebecca Trescher was born in Tübingen in 1986. She lives and works as a freelance composer, clarinetist, and bandleader in Nuremberg and Berlin. Driven by boundless curiosity and the joy of experimenting with both jazz and symphonic contemporary music, she has acquired an outstanding reputation in the German and international jazz scene. Her compositional ideas are closely related to nature: her music is both grounded and ethereal. Her role models include musicians as varied as Björk, Bob Brookmeyer, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Radiohead, Maurice Ravel, Wayne Shorter, Igor Stravinsky, and Questlove. In her compositions, Trescher creates a unique sound world that is associative and organic rather than provocative. Critics and audiences alike have been fascinated by her ability to use only a few notes to transform a serene musical atmosphere into poetic arcs of tension at a symphonic scale.

Rebecca Trescher is a frequent guest at prominent festivals. Her concerts are regularly recorded and streamed by the Bavarian Radio and Arte. On international concert stages, she performs most frequently with the Rebecca Trescher Tentet and the Rebecca Trescher Quartet, but also as a soloist and as a duo with the Greek guitarist Giorgos Tabakis. She has received numerous prizes and scholarships, including the German Jazz Prize for “Composition of the Year 2022”. In that same year, she won DownBeat magazine’s international critics’ poll as “Rising Star Clarinet”. 

About 'Character Pieces'

At high altitudes, it’s comforting when a melody inspires trust. Wild dreams begin peacefully. Cloud travelers move forward with uneven meters. But what would a night without harp be like? Layer by layer, new and constantly changing vistas open. In the riverbed, wild frothing waters run deep. And what is the mustard maker doing? 

 In the character pieces that Rebecca Trescher composed for her Tentet, there is much to hear, to experience, to think about. Subtly orchestrated symphonic sound colors merge into one another. Arcs of tension stretch to the horizon, full of intensifications, changes of direction, and rhythmic transformations. All of this is interspersed with spaces for improvisation as well as seamless transitions between combo passages and multi-voiced activity – always with great clarity. Rebecca Trescher plays the clarinet and loves melodies. Melodies are not linear. In the contexts where she employs them, they have a shimmering ambiguity. Trescher’s Tentet is an experienced team. Every member contributed an idea to this project. The bandleader used these ideas to make something of her own and returned them to the group, where the material fell on fertile soil – the result of the group’s years of working together.  

When the players improvise, they are not necessarily playing jazz. Every member of the group is able to take on a constantly shifting array of roles, languages, and personal characteristics. Each player contributes their own version of the developing collective narrative, and all of these paths point in the same direction. 

In Rebecca Trescher’s music, things are never as one might expect. No trusted formulas, no predictable changes, no hastily constructed comfort zone. It’s more complex. Always. A number of people, musical approaches, ideas, and dynamic or rhythmic proclivities are consistently involved, often simultaneously. And everything is significant. 

Band:

Rebecca Trescher – Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Composition, Arrangement, Conception

Julian Hesse – Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Joachim Lenhardt – Tenor Saxophone, Flute

Markus Harm – Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet

Anton Mangold – Concert Harp, Alto Saxophone, Flute

Juri Kannheiser – Cello

Andreas Feith – Piano

Roland Neffe – Vibraphone

Christian Diener – Double Bass

Silvio Morger – Drums

More information about Rebecca Trescher Tentet: www.rebeccatrescher.com