Nora Germain releases new book: Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist

Jazz violinist and author Nora Germain has been playing the violin for over 25 years and performing professionally since 2010. She studied at Idyllwild Arts Academy, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, and University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She is currently based in Los Angeles. She has performed and/ or recorded with many of the world's greatest musical talents including Jon Batiste, Postmodern Jukebox, Sam Smith, Lewis Capaldi, Tommy Emmanuel CGP, John Altman, Jacob Collier, Martin Taylor MBE, JMSN, KNOWER, Jeff Goldblum, Dee Dee Bridgewater and many others. In addition to playing on over 100 recordings of many genres, she has also released ten of her own jazz albums as well as an inspirational book. She has appeared on episodes of The Late Late Show with James Corden and The Ellen DeGeneres Show accompanying other artists, and performed at the Eckhart Tolle Foundation and as a musical volunteer for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A musician of many facets who is only at the beginning of her career, Nora has been called the best jazz violinist in the world. The sky is clearly not the limit for Miss Germain.

Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist is ‘a creative mindset book about being (a woman) in music, learning jazz, playing violin specifically, improvisation, and so forth’

In "Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist," we have a rare invitation to explore the life and mindset of a young jazz violinist, from childhood to leader in her craft. We are taken on a journey through heartache and loss, through success and humor, and into the practice room and recording studio. Within these stories and memories we're taken on a journey of our own, a journey that welcomes any person, musician or otherwise, to explore what it takes to improvise and to transcend. Both candid and passionate, "Go For It" asks us tough creative and spiritual questions, shares wisdom from a wide array of luminaries, and reignites our love of the arts.

Nora Germain Website click here

US Vocalist Lizz Wright Marks Illustrious 20 Year-Career With New Studio Album Featuring Angelique Kidjo & Meshell Ndegeocello

Acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright encapsulates an illustrious 20-year career as one of the great modern American singers with new album, Shadow, the studio debut on her label Blues & Greens Records (with licensing/distribution through Lightyear Entertainment/Virgin Music), set for release on April 12, 2024.

On Shadow, Wright pens five originals with special guests Angelique Kidjo and Meshell Ndegeocello appearing on two separate songs (“Sparrow” and “Your Love”). Renowned for her singular writing style across six critically-acclaimed studio albums, Wright also beautifully weaves into her recordings unforgettable renditions of songs by artists she loves. Shadow’s producer and longtime collaborator/music director Chris Bruce(Seal, Bettye LaVette, Sheryl Crow) with Wright brought “Sweet Feeling” by Candi Staton into her world as part of the pre-production process of listening to an array of songs. 

Wright comments, “I first heard Candi Staton as a child because of her gospel singing, which my father loved. I didn’t realize that she also sang contemporary music until years later. Her voice is like no other and sounds honest and at home in anything she sings, no matter the genre.”

On “Sweet Feeling,” Wright digs her heels into the blues without apology. Making a home in the blues city of Chicago, she signals that now is the time and place to lean back and be in it. Wright says, “I’m excited to be singing the blues more now. It has a boldness, but it also comforting. Singing the blues in Chicago is like finding sap in a great old tree. The blues is in the spirit of the city.”

For the music video of “Sweet Feeling,” Wright sings on stage at the legendary Green Mill jazz club on Broadway in Uptown, Chicago. Sweeping views of the Chicago skyline, Lake Michigan and the iconic ambience at the Green Mill set the backdrop for Wright’s performance. The filming aesthetic of “Sweet Feeling” pays tribute to both past and modern Chicago blues. Video credits include: Angelo Valentino Margentina (Director Of Photography), Halley Buenrostro (Cinematographer), Carlos Bernal (VHS Camera Operator), and Monica Haslip (Art Director).

Blues & Greens Records is Wright’s innovative label venture designed to position artists to build sustainable and wholesome careers. Blues & Greens Records seeks to create a healthy ecosystem for artists as it uplifts and centralizes humanity in the music business with wellness offerings and sound business practices at the forefront. 

Click here for Lizz Wright website

UK-based Parisian bassist, vocalist and composer Amy Gadiaga has announced the release of her debut EP All Black Everything, an expansive, boundary-pushing 5-track collectionset for release on the Jazz re:freshed label on April 5th 2024.

Showcasing prodigious bass playing and a voice brimming with power and emotion, All Black Everything is a profound exploration of self-acceptance that presents both a celebration and acknowledgment of Gadiaga’s deep-seated darkness.Inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, All Black Everything confronts racial identity complexities and the challenges of being a societal 'black sheep’ and sees Gadiaga courageously transform her insecurities into a narrative of self-empowerment. 

All Black Everything’s lead single Paloma Negra, an adventurous, unpredictable track pervaded by shimmering jazz grooves and Mexican rhythms is out now and available to listen to HERE.

“Paloma Negra is a tribute to black artists as they contribute to shifting culture all over the world” explains Gadiaga. “I wrote it during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement at a time when I was really into Mexican folk music. The title means Black Dove in Spanish and it’s a recurring theme in Mexican folk songs.”

Born to parents of Senegalese, Gambian, and Malian descent, and hailing from the outskirts of Paris, the multitalented Gadiaga has been making waves in the UK music industry since she moved to London aged 18. With a fresh and unique style that bridges the old school jazz tradition of musicians such as Betty Carter and Wayne Shorter with the raw, rootsy modern sound of artists such as D’Angelo, Stevie Wonder and Twinkie Clark, Gadiaga’s breadth of ambition and revitalising approach have brought early critical acclaim and ardent fans.

Signalling the arrival of a significant new voice on the London music scene, All Black Everything communicates the liberating essence of embracing individuality and presents a journey through Gadiaga's personal struggles, standing as a testament to art's transformative power and encouraging listeners to find strength in their uniqueness. “All Black Everything is very much an exploration and embracing of one of my archetypes in life which is the black bird/black sheep” she explains. “That feeling of not thinking you belong anywhere, of being misunderstood and really tending to your own. No helping hand. But it’s ok sometimes because you also feel like nobody can compete with you, you’re one of a kind.” 

All Black Everything is released on the Jazz re:freshed label on April 5th 2024.

PRE ORDER HERE

Available Friday March 29th on Chronograph Records

Barefoot (single) released Friday March 8th

Release concert Saturday April 6th at Theatre 1308, Calgary AB

When the world stopped, our family’s identity was stripped away overnight, we were no longer who we thought we were. We embarked on a journey of wearing different skins, playing different roles, feeling generally out of place. These skins led me down a path I never thought possible, surrounded by warm hands, life and death.

What began as a project with a vastly different direction, Horns of Hope was born out of a need for a simple, uncomplicated gathering of friends that materialised in eight beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful songs. There was a sense of urgency in comparison to BORJONER which took nearly a decade to complete. Horns of Hope happened in a period of months - imagined in coffee shops and texts between myself and Carsten, it came to life in what seemed like only a few conversations.

The title "Horns of Hope” was brought on when I was contemplating the philosophical phrase, “the horns of the dilemma”, which is the choice between two things, and neither of them are desirable. The pandemic felt this way to me, for I could choose myself and my own freedoms or rights, or I could choose the rights and freedoms of others, keeping myself secluded and masked. This made me hopeless for a time. However, Hope exists in duality, for we cannot be hopeful without the existence of struggle, pain, and loss. We must accept the duality of our existence, be present in it when possible, and listen for the signs. To be in society, we must see the dualities of light and dark, hope and fear.

Why these songs? It’s both uncomfortable and important for me to say that I had specific moments, people, and experiences attached to each song on this album. It’s incredibly private and utterly public. I will most likely never mention to those people that it’s about them, but they might infer it.

– Aimee-Jo Benoit

Featuring:

Aimee-Jo Benoit - Vocals

Carsten Rubeling - Trombone

Mark DeJong - Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet

Andre Wickenheiser - Trumpet

Daniel Gaucher - Drums

Mark Limacher - Piano, Rhodes

Jon Wielebknowski - Upright Bass, Electric Bass

About Aimee-Jo Benoit:

Renowned for her distinctive vocal style, articulate diction, and expressive phrasing, Calgary vocalist Aimee-Jo Benoit is recognized for her unwavering commitment to featuring the works of Canadian songwriters in her repertoire. Her performances guide the audience along the path of her emotional roots with the music of Daniel Lanois, Joni Mitchell as well as Leslie Feist, Michael Feuerstack and others.

Benoit takes a classic approach to standards as well as interpreting well- known contemporary songs into a new sound, paying homage to the long-standing jazz tradition of creating a new canon.

Continually honing her craft, Aimee-Jo has studied privately with Tamara Beatty, Leon Leontaridis, Cheryl Fisher, Vivian Martin & workshopped with Jay Clayton. Her discography includes four studio albums with Woodpigeon from 2008-2012, has lent her vocal talent to recordings by Summerlad and Aaron Booth in 2005 and 2008 respectively, as well as Hermitess' 2020 release, "The Tower.”

Independently released in June 2020, her debut album "BORJONER," a improvisation led collaboration with TRIO VELOCITY, marked a significant milestone in her musical journey. On March29, 2024 her sophomore album HORNS OF HOPE will be released on boutique label Chronograph Records.

In addition to being a performer, Aimee-Jo has earned a Master of Arts degree in the academic study of religion, with a particular emphasis on examining the correlation between improvisation in religious contexts and its application to the study of religion in academic research. Committed to her local jazz community she volunteers as Secretary of the Board for Buckingjam Music Foundation, as well as maintaining a blog under MOTHER/MUSIC/HOOD. Through this platform, she shares her personal experiences of motherhood, striving to construct a supportive community for fellow creatives navigating the complexities of balancing artistic pursuits with motherhood. She hopes that her vulnerability will help to empower women to realize their own second acts in the realm of creativity.

Website: aimeejobenoit.com Instagram: @aimeejobenoitmusic Facebook: AimeeJoBenoitMusic

Carla Diratz - voice, keyboard

Martin Archer - saxophones, clarinets, keyboards, electronics

Nick Robinson - guitars

Adam Fairhall - organ, electric piano

Dave Sturt - bass guitar

Adam Fairclough - drums

Charlotte Keeffe – trumpet

When Carla, Nick and I has completed our previous work “The Scale” in 2021, I felt this was such a unique work in its scope and feel – prog, pop, abstraction and chanson – that it would be very difficult to follow up such a definitive statement.

Then in 2022 Carla commented that if she made another album, the state of the world dictated that it would have to be a blues album. Immediately we had our brief for a new record. Each of us had out own take on this idea.  Carla sent in four jazz infected / inflected pieces for voice and keys which were recorded on her phone.  Nick came up with a sequence of progressive blues rock pieces for the band.  And I came up with a few little odds and ends with my own leftfield take on the format.

All of these were realised magnificently in the studio by our wonderful band, this time round bringing in the great improvising musician Adam Fairhall on organ.

We hope you will enjoy our modern contribution to the progressive blues rock tradition. – Martin Archer

On first hearing this album our friend the poet Carl Sonnenfeld wrote:

"Carla and her heavy voice crushed rock a whisper that blows the hot the cold a whisper that sinks snake engulfs with the alligator in a swamp of New Orleans Carla and her voice flows this Mississippi river that we go up against current back to reblues as an initiative quest towards Chicago Carla and her river voice that carries all the pain and grace Carla and her voice dries like sand that hangs on to the erratic harmonica of a mad angel Carla and her old dodge vehicle voice that tracks its way on the desert red dirt From Mojave to see Captain Beefheart and Neil Young. Carla and her voodoo voice to conjure fate and communicate with old bluesmen prayers to severe echoes of bass sax in osmosis with ambient chaos Carla gives her voice to the Blues a revisited and destroyed blues a Blues that resembles Carla"

For further information and links: Martin Archer - Discus Music

Impulse! Announces Previously Unreleased Recording Of Historic 1971 Carnegie Hall Performance The Carnegie Hall Concert - which features an all-star band including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Garrison, Cecil McBee, Kumar Kramer, Tulsi Reynolds, Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis - will be available in full for the very first time
Release Date: March 22 2024*

February 8, 2024 — In 1971, Alice Coltrane performed at Carnegie Hall for a special gala benefiting the Integral Yoga Institute. Backed by an all-star group of musicians, Coltrane delivered a captivating set which will now be available in full for the very first time. On March 22, Alice Coltrane - The Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!), will finally bring the full recording of Coltrane’s Carnegie Hall performance to fans worldwide. Pre-order the album HERE. 

First track “Shiva-Loka” is out now, accompanied by a new visualizer. Watch HERE. 

The captivating performance, held four years after John Coltrane’s untimely passing and recorded by Impulse! for eventual release, marks Alice’s first performance as a leader at Carnegie Hall.  The concert arrived at a pivotal moment in both Coltrane’s career and her spiritual journey: she had just released her fourth solo album, Journey in Satchidananda, and had deepened her spiritual quest over a five-week trip to India. Her band that night added two members of Satchidananda's circle — Kumar Kramer and Tulsi Reynolds, playing harmonium and tamboura, respectively — to a large jazz ensemble comprising two saxophonists (Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp), two bassists (Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee) and two drummers (Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis).  

Her set included two transcendental tunes from Journey in Satchidananda, followed by two compositions by John Coltrane and served as a sign of things to come, a chronicle of an artist during a musical and spiritual emergence.

This year Impulse! and Verve Label Group have partnered with The John & Alice Coltrane Home to launch the “Year of Alice,” a year-long celebration of Alice Coltrane’s profound work.

At the center of the celebration are Coltrane’s groundbreaking recordings for Impulse!, and the label will be working in tandem with The John & Alice Coltrane Home for varied activations throughout the year. To kick off the year-long celebration there will be special night of performers and speakers that include Ravi Coltrane, Michelle Coltrane, Brandee Younger and more at the legendary Birdland on February 22. 

To learn more, visit ververecords.com 

Tracklist:\

1. Journey in Satchidananda\
2. Shiva-Loka\
3. Africa\
4. Leo