Now Playing on AccuJazz - 4/27/10

Here are all the CDs added to AccuJazz's playlists since the last update. You'll notice new releases at the top, then a few older discs I recently added at the bottom. Most all new releases are playing on the main channel and the New Releases channel. The other channels on which they're programmed to play are listed below the titles, and each CD has a link to purchase on Amazon. Also, my personal favs are adorned with the double star (**). Enjoy!

New Releases:

**Brad Mehldau - Highway Rider (Nonesuch)**
Piano, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

**Dave Holland Octet - Pathways (Dare2)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, New York, Bassists

**Paul Motian / Chris Potter / Jason Moran - Lost in a Dream (ECM)**
Saxophone, New School, Live Jazz, New York, Drummers

**Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - Portraits in Seven Shades (Jazz at Lincoln Center)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Big Band

**Lionel Loueke - Mwaliko (Blue Note)**
Guitar, Vocals, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices

Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit (Verve)
Vocals, Emerging Voices, Europe

**Amir El Saffar and Hafez Modirzadeh - Radif Suite (Pi Recordings)**
Saxophone, New School, Cutting Edge, Chicago, New York, Avant-Garde, Trumpet

Claudio Roditi - Simpatico (Resonance)
Straight Ahead, Latin, Brazilian, Modern Mainstream, Trumpet, Nothin' But the Blues

Nnena Freelon - Homefree (Concord)
Vocals, Modern Mainstream, Women of Jazz

**Stephan Crump Rosetta Trio - Reclamation (Sunnyside)**
Guitar, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, New York, Bassists

Gene Harris - Another Night in London (Resonance)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Live Jazz, 90s

Hot Club of Detroit - It's About That Time (Mack Avenue)
Guitar, Old School

**Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Chicago, Avant-Garde, Trumpet, Drummers

**Orrin Evans - Faith in Action (Positone)**
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream

**Trombone Shorty - Backatown (Verve)**
New School, Emerging Voices, New Orleans, Trumpet, Trombone, Groove Jazz, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2010

Jacky Terrasson - Push (Concord)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz

Frank Kimbrough - Rumors (Palmetto)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

Geri Allen - Flying Toward the Sound (Motema)
Piano, New School, New Releases, Women of Jazz

Wayne Escoffery - Uptown (Positone)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Organ

**Avishai Cohen - Aurora (EMI)**
Vocals, New School, Cutting Edge, Bassists

Don Braden and Mark Rapp - The Strayhorn Project (Premium Music Solutions)
Saxophone, Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Trumpet, Ellington

**Dave King - Indelicate (Sunnyside)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Drummers

Ehud Asherie featuring Harry Allen - Modern Life (Positone)
Straight Ahead, Piano, Saxophone, Emerging Voices, New York Now

Aaron Goldberg - Home (Sunnyside)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

**Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomas Fujiwara - Stepwise (Not Two)**
New School, Avant-Garde, Trumpet, Drummers

**Dan Weiss - Timshel (Sunnyside)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Drummers

Antonio Adolfo and Carol Saboya - Here and There (AAM)
Piano, Vocals, Brazilian, Modern Mainstream, Jobim

Hadley Caliman - Straight Ahead (Origin)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Mellow

George Cotsirilos - Past Present (OA2)
Guitar, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Damian Erskine - So to Speak (notneK Music)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Bassists, Fusion, Groove Jazz

Espen Eriksen - You Had Me at Goodbye (Rune Grammofon)
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Europe

Eric Frazier - Live @ Cecil's Jazz Club (Eric Frazier Productions)
Live Jazz

Shawn Graham Quintet - Redefining the Standards (Self-Released)
Straight Ahead, Cool Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Meklit Hadero - On a Day Like This (Porto Franco Records)
Vocals, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

**Doug Hammond - It's Now (Idibib Productions)**
New School, Live Jazz, Drummers

The Adrienne Hindmarsh Trio - Blue Skies (Self-Released)
Straight Ahead, Vocals, Organ, Women of Jazz

**Michael Musillami - Old Tea (Playscape)**
Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

Edu Negrao - Verdenovo (Apria Records)
Guitar, Latin, Brazilian

The Avery Sharpe Trio - Live (JKNM Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Bassists

**Polar Bear - Peepers (Leaf)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Europe

**Pharez Whitted - Transient Journey (Owl Studios)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Trumpet

Gerry Gibbs and the Electric Thrasher Orchestra - Play the Music of Miles Davis 1967-1975 (Whaling City Sound)
New School, Modern West Coast, Drummers, Fusion

**Little Women - Throat (AUM Fidelity)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Avant-Garde

**Thomson Kneeland - Mazurka for a Modern Man (Weltschmerz Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Bassists

Organissimo - Alive and Kickin' (Big O Records)
Straight Ahead, Guitar, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Organ, Groove Jazz

**Aram Shelton's Fast Citizens - Two Cities (Delmark)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Avant-Garde

**Dan Pratt - Toe the Line (Positone)**
Straight Ahead, Saxophone, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Organ

Edu Puperi - Bossa Livre (Tratore)
Piano, Latin, Brazilian, Modern Mainstream

Cindy Blackman - Another Lifetime (Four Quarters Entertainment)
New School, Drummers, Fusion, Women of Jazz

John Vanore and Abstract Truth - Curiosity (Acoustical Concepts)
Big Band, Trumpet

Jens Wendleboe's Big Crazy Energy New York Band - Inspirations (Rosa)
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, Pop Composers

**Aaron Choulai Trio - Ranu (Sunnyside)**
Piano, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Pop Composers

Jon Burr and Lynn Stein - Jon & Lynn (jbQ Media)
Vocals

Dawn of Midi - First (Accretions)
New School, Avant-Garde

Nybakat! - Happy Land (Mindoors Music)
New School, Cutting Edge, Europe

Scott DuBois - Black Hawk Dance (Sunnyside)
Guitar, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Avant-Garde

Older Releases:

Chris Speed - Iffy (Knitting Factory, 2000)
Saxophone, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Organ

Don Byron - Romance With the Unseen (Blue Note, 1999)
Straight Ahead, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream

Ira Sullivan and Jim Cooper - Nutville (Delmark, 1992)
Straight Ahead, Everybody's Boppin', Chicago, Good Vibes

Barrett Deems - Deemus (Delmark, 1978)
Straight Ahead, Old School, Chicago, 70s

Now Playing on AccuJazz - 3/22/10

So, there were about 5 months between the last two Now Playing posts. I'm committed to staying more on top of it now and I have some fantastic new releases to let you know about as well as some older music that I've just added to the collection.

Also, I hope to introduce a new AccuJazz channel playing my favorite new releases. It will be a "Staff Picks" sort of thing, and I'm planning on writing brief reviews of each CD I add to the list. I floated the idea on FB and Twitter and everyone seemed to be into it. Watch out for it! Artists who send me your stuff: promise not to be sad if you're not on my channel, K?

I've broken up this post into two sections: first New Releases, then older stuff that I added recently. Included are links to purchase the CDs on Amazon as well as info about which AccuJazz channels are playing each CD. All New Releases are playing on the New Releases channel and, most likely, the Main Channel. The double star means I like it a lot.

New Releases:

**Ralph Bowen - Reverence (Posi-Tone)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

**Gerald Clayton - Two-Shade (Emarcy/ArtistShare)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York

Garaj Mahal - More Mr. Nice Guy (Owl Studios)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Chicago, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

**Ted Sirota - Seize the Time (NAIM)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Give the Drummers Some, Groove Jazz

Gabriel Johnson - Fra_ctured (Electrofone Music)
Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast, Trumpet Jazz, Jazz Fusion

Billy Cobham - Palindrome (Rhythmatix Ltd.)
Give the Drummers Some, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

**Colorlist - A Square White Lie (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz

Demi-Seq - By Nature (Squint Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe

**Empty Cage Quartet & Soletti Besnard - Take Care of Floating (Rude Awakening)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Europe, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Empty Cage Quartet - Gravity (Clean Feed Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz

Jerry Leake - Cubist (Self-Released)
New School, Good Vibes, Give the Drummers Some, Jazz Fusion

Peter Madsen - The Litchfield Suite (Playscape Recordings)
Piano Jazz, New School, Live Jazz, New York

Mark O'Connor - Jam Session (OMAC Records)
Old School

Univers Zero - Clivages (Cuneiform)
Cutting Edge, Europe, Third Stream

Older Releases:

Paul Bley - Memoirs (1990, Soul Note)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Avant-Garde Jazz

Paul Bley - My Standard (1985, Steeplechase)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Nothin' But the Blues

Paul Bley - Not Two, Not One (1999, ECM)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Avant-Garde Jazz

The Pantastic 4 - Lornabarret (2007, Upbeat Music Publications)
Latin Jazz, New School, Chicago, Good Vibes, Give the Drummers Some

Cedar Walton - The Promise Land (2001, High Note)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

Ari Erev - About Time (2008, Self-Released)
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Europe

Now Playing, Part 2 of 2

As part 2 of this week's 2 "Now Playing" posts (part 1 here), these are the dozens of CDs that started playing on AccuJazz in 2010 so far. Again, most are new, so you can catch them on the New Releases Channel, and many are featured on the Main Channel as well. As always, the album title is a link to purchase the disc, and I've honored my personal favorites with the double asterisk.

**Pat Metheny - Orchestrion (Nonesuch)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Jazz Fusion, Third Stream

**Ahmad Jamal - A Quiet Time (Dreyfus)**
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream

**Christian Scott - Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (Concord Jazz)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New Orleans, Trumpet Jazz, Pop Composers

**Myra Melford - The Whole Tree Gone (Firehouse 12)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Chicago, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

John Stein - Raising the Roof (Whaling City Sound)
Straight Ahead, Guitar Jazz, Modern Mainstream

**Mike Reed - Stories and Negotiations (482 Music)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Give the Drummers Some

**Nels Cline Singers - Initiate (Crytogramophone)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Live Jazz, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

Matthew Shipp - 4D (Thirsty Ear)
Piano Jazz, New School, New York, Avant-Garde Jazz

David S. Ware - Saturnian (AUM Fidelity)
Avant-Garde Jazz

**Dave Rempis and Frank Rosaly - Cyrillic (482 Music)**
New School, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Annie Sellick - Street of Dreams (Chalice Music)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz

**Allison Miller - Boom Tic Boom (Foxhaven Records)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some, Women of Jazz

**Gary Lucas and Dean Bowman - Chase the Devil (Knitting Factory)**
Vocal Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge

Steve Raegele - Last Century (Songlines)
Cutting Edge, Avant-Garde Jazz

Jay D'Amico - Nocturne: Jazz Under Glass (CAP)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

Gail Pettis - Here In the Moment (OA2)
Jazz Vocals, Modern West Coast, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

**Jeb Patton - New Strides (MaxJazz)**
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York

**Eri Yamamoto - In Each Day, Something Good (AUM Fidelity)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Women of Jazz

VW Brothers - Muziek (Patois Records)
Latin Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Covering All the Bassists, Give the Drummers Some, Jazz Fusion

Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore - Three Less Than Between (Clean Feed)
New School, Chicago, Emerging Voices, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Matthew Shipp - Harmonic Disorder (Thirsty Ear)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Avant-Garde Jazz

Marc Pompe - Hi-Fly (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Chicago

New Haven Improvisers Collective - Inflection (NHIC)
New School, Cutting Edge, Avant-Garde Jazz

Pat Mallinger with Dan Trudell - Dragon Fish (Chicago Sessions)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

Chris Kelsey - Not Cool {As In, "The Opposite of Paul Desmond"} (Tzazz Krytyk)
Avant-Garde Jazz

Whitney James - The Nature of Love (Damselfly Productions & Stir Stick Music)
Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Women of Jazz

Dewey Jackson - Live at the Barrell, 1952 (Delmark)
Old School

Chris Greene Quartet - Merge (Single Malt Recordings)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Groove Jazz

Tony Foster - In Between Moods (Indie)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices

Jon Crowley - Connections (Self-Released)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Trumpet Jazz

Babik - American Gypsy (Self-Released)
Guitar Jazz, Old School

Mads Tolling - The Playmaker (Madsman Records)
New School, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast, Pop Composers, Jazz Fusion

Salsamba Latin Jazz Group - Mojito Blues (Clave)
Latin Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Groove Jazz

Buckley Mills - Violin on Fire (Chacra Music)
Straight Ahead, Composers: Ellington

Bebel Gilberto - All in One (Verve)
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Women of Jazz

Fred Fried - Core 3.0 (Ballet Tree)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

Laura Klein and Ted Wolff - Cerulean Blue (Self-Released)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Good Vibes

Suresh Singaratnam - Lost in New York (Self-Released)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Trumpet Jazz

Kenny Davis - Kenny Davis (Daken)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Covering All the Bassists

**Steve Colson - The Untarnished Dream (Silver Sphinx)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz

Antonio Ciacca - Lagos Blues (Motema Music)
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream

**Greg Burk - Many Worlds (482 Music)**
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz

Project Trio - Project Trio (Harmonyville Records)
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Pop Composers

Anita Wardell - Noted (Specific Jazz)
Vocal Jazz, Europe, Nothin' But the Blues, Women of Jazz

Monica Ramey - Make Someone Happy (Cognito Music)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz

Diana Panton - Pink (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Emerging Voices, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Nancy Harms - In the Indigo (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Emerging Voices, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Antoinette Montague - Behind the Smile (In the Groove)
Vocal Jazz, Pop Composers, Women of Jazz

**Rob Clearfield - A Thousand Words (Self-Released)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Emerging Voices, Chicago

Anita Wardell - Kinda Blue (Specific Jazz)
Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Europe

Charlie Apicella & Iron City - Sparks (CArlo Music Records)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Organ Jazz, Groove Jazz

Johnny Butler - Solo (Hi4Head / Modern Vintage Recordings)
Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York

Greg Spero - Radio Over Miles (Self-Released)
New School, Live Jazz, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Jazz Fusion, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz

Sarah Marie Young - Expressive (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Emerging Voices, Chicago

Tim Green - Catching Yourself Gracefully (OA2)
Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

Tim Green - Jeannie's Song (OA2)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

**SFJazz Collective - SFJazz Collective (Nonesuch)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, SFJazz 2010

BMR4 - Turning Point (Hallway Records)
Straight Ahead, Guitar Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

Jimmy Bennington - The Spirits at Belle's (Cadence Jazz)
Avant-Garde Jazz

Steven Schoenberg - An Improvisational Journey (Quabbin Records)
Piano Jazz, Live Jazz

Queen Esther - What is Love? (EL Recordings)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz

Thomas Lorenzo - Spanish Breeze (Barcelona Music)
Guitar Jazz, Jazz Fusion

Joel Moore Quartet - Joel Moore Quartet (Self-Released)
Saxophone Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Chicago

GMG Trio - GMG (Phuture Trax)
New School, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Organ Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

Shawn Maxwell - Maxwell's House (Chicago Sessions)
Chicago

The Twin Cats - Thick (OWL Studios)
Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

Kat Walker - Jazz Skat Gumbo (Self-Released)
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2010

The Subdudes - Street Symphony (Back Porch)
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2010

Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer - The Melody of Rhythm (Koch Records)
SFJazz 2010

Now Playing, Part 1 of 2

Caught up in Holiday-themed promotions, month-long jazz celebrations, and learning a little bit about HTML, I haven't posted a "Now Playing" post in quite a while. In fact, I posted the last one on October 30. For shame.

In the time since, dozens and dozens of new CDs have started playing on AccuJazz, so I'll do my best to list them in a two-part post. Part 1 lists CDs added in the tail end of 2009. The second part will have all the CDs added in the new year.

Most of these CDs are new releases, with a few exceptions. Some of them were purchased for specific channels: the Jobim composers channel, the Grammy channel, and Best of '09. Most of the releases are currently featured on the main channel, and you'll also find a list of the other channels on which you're most likely to hear them. As always, I've adorned my personal faves with the coveted double-asterisk (**).

Enjoy perusing, and be sure to listen to the New Releases channel to hear the music.

**Miguel Zenon - Esta Plena (Marsalis Music)**
Saxophone Jazz, Latin Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Best of '09, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

**Ben Allison - Think Free (Palmetto)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Best of '09, Covering all the Bassists, Jazz Fusion, Groove Jazz

**John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble - Eternal Interlude (Sunnyside)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Best of '09, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

**Kurt Rosenwinkel - Reflections (WOMmusic)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Best of '09, Monk

**Dana Hall - Into the Light (Origin)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Give the Drummers Some

Joe Zawinul - 75 (Heads Up)
Live Jazz, Jazz Fusion, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

**Dave Douglas - A Single Sky (Greenleaf Music)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, Best of '09, Trumpet Jazz

Wadada Leo Smith - Spiritual Dimensions (Cuneiform)
New School, Cutting Edge, Trumpet Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Jason Adasiewicz 's Rolldown - Varmint (Cuneiform)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Best of '09, Good Vibes

Nellie McKay - Normal as Blueberry Pie (Verve)
Vocal Jazz, Emerging Voices, Women of Jazz

**Fred Hersch - Plays Jobim (Sunnyside)**
Piano Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Best of '09, Jobim, Mellow Jazz

Cyrus Chestnut - Spirit (JLP)
Piano Jazz

New Orleans Jazz Orchestra with Irvin Mayfield - Book One (World Village)
Modern Mainstream, Big Band, New Orleans, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Bill Dixon - Tapestries for Small Orchestra (Firehouse 12)
New School, Avant-Garde Jazz, Best of '09

Heath Brothers - Endurance (JLP)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

**Kat Edmonson - Take to the Sky (Convivium)**
Vocal Jazz, New School, Emerging Voices, Best of '09, Pop Composers, Women of Jazz

Steve Davis - Eloquence (JLP)
Straight Ahead, Modern Mainstream, Trombone Jazz

Myron Walden - Momentum (Demi Sound)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

The Bob Florence Limited Edition - Legendary (Mama)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

**Zevious - After the Air Raid (Cuneiform)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York, Jazz Fusion

Kalil Wilson - Easy to Love (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Emerging Voices, Modern West Coast

Hristo Vitchev and Weber Iago - The Secrets of an Angel (First Orbit Sounds Music)
Piano Jazz, Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

**Lennie Tristano - The New Tristano (Atlantic)**
Piano Jazz, Everybody's Boppin'

Trio This That - Trio This That (GM Recordings)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

The New 5 - Introducing the New 5 (Blue Canoe)
New School, Modern Mainstream

**Stefania Tallini - Maresia (Alfamusic)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Europe, Women of Jazz

Vince Seneri - Prince's Groove (Prince V Records)
Straight Ahead, Modern Mainstream, Organ Jazz, Groove Jazz

David Mackenzie and Josh Johnston - Notes Home (Shandon Records)
Old School, Europe

Mike Longo - Sting Like a Bee (CAP)
Straight Ahead, Piano Jazz, Modern Mainstream

Jake Langley - Here and Now (Tone Poet Productions)
Straight Ahead, Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York, Organ Jazz, Pop Composers

Ergo - Multitude, Solitude (Cuneiform)
New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York, Avant-Garde Jazz, Trombone Jazz

**John Coltrane - Side Steps (Prestige)**
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Everybody's Boppin', Nothin' but the Blues, '50s

Amy Cervini - Lovefool (Anzic)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Emerging Voices, New York, Pop Composers, Women of Jazz

Peter Cardarelli - Knights of the Living Groove (Musica Tyrnaviensis)
Saxophone Jazz, Groove Jazz, Europe

Frank Sinatra - Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (Warner)
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Jobim, Mellow Jazz, Third Stream

Joe Henderson - Double Rainbow (Polygram)
Saxophone Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Jobim, '90s

Jeff Lofton - Jazz to the People (Self-Released)
Modern Mainstream, Trumpet Jazz

Steve Hudson's Outer Bridge Ensemble - Seamless (Groovaholic Music)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York

Brigitte Zarie - Make Room for Me (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz

Ben Sidran - Dylan Different (Nardis)
New School, Pop Composers

Jacques Schwarz-Bart - Abyss (Obliqsound)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, New York

Iris Ornig - New Ground (Gema)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York, Covering all the Bassists, Women of Jazz

Haftor Medboe Group - A Box of Monkeys (Fabrikant Records)
Europe, Jazz Fusion

David Berger Jazz Orchestra - Sing Me a Love Song (Such Sweet Thunder)
Straight Ahead, Vocal Jazz, Old School, Big Band

Sharel Cassity - Relentless (JLP)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Best of '09, Women of Jazz

**Maria Schneider - Sky Blue (ArtistShare)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, Big Band, Women of Jazz

Bebo Valdes & Chucho Valdes - Juntos Para Siempre (Ariola Germany)
Piano Jazz, Latin Jazz, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Tierney Sutton Band - Desire (Telarc)
Vocal Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Mike Stern - Big Neighborhood (Heads Up)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Jazz Fusion, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

**Martial Solal - Live at the Village Vanguard (Camjazz)**
Piano Jazz, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Philippe Saisse - At World's Edge (Koch Records)
2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Sammy Nestico - Fun Time (Hanssler Classics)
Big Band, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Chembo Corniel - Things I Wanted to Do (Chembororecords, Inc.)
Latin Jazz, Modern Mainstream, 2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations

Jazz In January: Outliving its Namesake Month

Ah, the first month of the first year of the new decade is over. How did you do? Are things looking good for the 10's? We made sure to get things off to a solid start here at AccuJazz. We celebrated a made-up, month-long holiday called "Jazz in January," where we gave you, the listeners, some lovely new channels as gifts. Even though it's February, we're going to keep the JIJ decorations up on the site for a little while. You don't take the Christmas tree down on December 26th, do you?

As detailed in the last post, we launched a channel devoted to jazz musicians with January birthdays as well as channels based on the line-ups of both SFJazz and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

To finish up Jazz in January, we've launched channels devoted to two great jazz record labels that celebrated significant anniversaries last year: Blue Note, who just celebrated 70 years in business, and ECM, who turned 40.

My boss and I have been talking about the idea of label-specific channels for a while, but for some reason or another (probably the fact that we had no lack of ideas for channels), it has only now become a reality. Judging from listener feedback on the shoutbox (on the AccuJazz homepage) and on twitter, it was a good idea.

In an age when record labels are becoming less and less central to the dissemination of indie music styles (like jazz), Blue Note and ECM have stood the test of time as reliable curators of music with strong brand identities.

They are among the few record labels that have a specific "sound" associated with their name. In fact, "ECM feel" has been widely accepted as a musical term indicating a loose, straight 8th note rhythmic pulse. "The Blue Note Sound" is a commonly used phrase in jazz discussions, usually referencing the classic hard bop of Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Lee Morgan. To be sure, both labels have released plenty of music that doesn't fit either of those stereotypes, but the fact that their names have entered the lexicon as something beyond mere music business middlemen is notable.

What's exceptional about these two labels is that they have continued releasing all types of adventurous new music in the 21st Century. When you pop on the Blue Note channel, you'll hear everything from Sidney Bechet to Jason Moran. Likewise with ECM; you might hear Keith Jarrett's famous Koln Concert followed by some sax/accordion duets by Trygve Seim and Frode Haltli, from their spacious 2008 album Yeraz. You'll likely be surprised by the music on both channels.

Happy listening, and do let us know if you have any other suggestions for future channels. There are plenty in the bullpen now, but we're always looking for new ideas.

Put Your Party Hat On and Get Yourself to a Jazz Fest

As I noted in a previous post, we're celebrating "Jazz in January" over on AccuJazz.com. To get things started, we featured three channels: "Decade: 2000s," "2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations" and "Best of 2009." Now, the new channel rollout is off the ground: we're throwing an Internet radio-style Birthday party for a handful of jazz musicians with January birthdays, as well as previewing two major jazz festivals coming up this Spring. Head to AccuJazz.com to see what's going on.

If you listen to the January Birthday Channel, you'll hear music by 33 different artists who were born in the first month of the year. The listening experience is unique, with the playlist being based on a completely-non musical qualifier: the month in which an artist was born. Case in point: my most recent listening session began with avant-garde bassist William Parker and his quartet tearing through "The Golden Bell," a Parker composition with a folk-like bass line, rhythmically knotty horn lines, and the ferocious drumming of Hamid Drake. The next selection was fellow January birthday boy Cyrus Chestnut playing a solo piano version of the century-old Christian hymn, "I Surrender All." Also heard: Bobby Hutcherson (pictured), Chris Potter and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

The January Birthday Channel isn't the only place on the site that's throwing a B-Day party, though. For the rest of the month, our main channel is featuring the music of 9 select artists with January B-Days. Who are the chosen few, you ask? Django Reinhardt, Max Roach, Herbie Nichols, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Benny Golson and Bobby Hutcherson. The main channel is still playing all of the music it was playing before, but now you'll hear music by these 9 great musicians a little more often.

I feel pretty good about my picks, but if you want to argue with me, feel free. Notable January B-Day people I left out include Parker, Potter, John McLaughlin, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Krupa, Jeff "Tain" Watts, James Carter, Alex and Nels Cline, Henry "Red" Allen and Jason Moran. Wow, now that I list those guys, I feel bad for leaving them out. No worries though: they're still on the main channel, just not with the same frequency, and you can hear all of the birthday buddies on the January Birthday Channel.

Also new today are two channels devoted to musicians performing at spring's two biggest American jazz festivals: SFJazz and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest. Technically, SFJazz is a series of concerts taking place over a few months, and the NOLA fest is heavily weighted towards non-jazz artists (Pearl Jam and Simon & Garfunkel are the headliners), but they both have a whole lot of great jazz artists performing. We've made a channel for the Chicago Jazz Festival the last two years, and I thought it was about time to highlight some other festivals.

As you can see from the website, SFJazz's lineup is enough to make any jazz fan drool. Keith Jarrett, Joshua Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Kurt Elling... the list goes on and on. For folks thinking about attending an SFJazz concert or two, the channel will serve as a great way to get pumped up, and for those drooling over the lineup from far away, it's the next best thing to actually being there.

As noted before, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is a definite misnomer, and at least one New Orleanian agrees with me on that. Among the hundreds of artists slated to perform, I'd estimate that about 5% are playing jazz. Nevertheless, there still will be a lot of great jazz performed at the fest, and we're doing our part to draw attention to it. Check out the channel and hear for yourself. If you're going, you just may find a jazz musician worth missing Pearl Jam for. Most of the jazz will be coming from NOLA natives -- including Brian Blade, Terence Blanchard, Irvin Mayfield, Galactic, Allen Toussaint and more -- but there are some notable out-of-towners too, such as the Wayne Shorter Quartet, Joe Lovano and Hiromi.

Between celebrating Jazz in January birthdays and previewing a couple of jazz festivals, it looks like you have a lot of listening to do. Get on it!

AccuJazz Channels Available on the iPhone!

For those of you out there who are both AccuJazz fans and iPhone obsessives, it's like Christmas is happening again, a month later. The AccuRadio iPhone app is now available, and it includes all the AccuJazz channels you know and love. Go find it here. I've already gotten a lot of positive feedback from users on Twitter about the app, and I'm pretty sure that you're going to love it, too.

I, unfortunately, am not among the fortunate legions of iPhone owners. My phone is a little more low-tech, but I was able to poke around on the app using my boss' iPhone, and I'm very impressed with it. You start out with a list of available genres, within which you'll find Jazz as well as dozens of other options. AccuRadio does have over 400 channels, after all.

Once you select "Jazz," you'll be able to scroll through all of our channels, from "2010 Jazz Grammy Nominees" to "Women of Jazz" (listed alphabetically, not chauvinistically.) Click on a channel, and a song will start playing, complete with all pertinent info and the album cover art. Underneath the cover art you'll see a few icons dealing with customization features. You can "favorite" a channel, "deselect" artists that you don't want to hear, and pause and skip songs, just like when you listen on your computer.

I wish I had an iPhone so I could enjoy it all myself, but I'll be content for now to live vicariously through my iPhone-wielding listeners. Let me know how you like it, and, especially, if there are any glitches you notice or suggestions you'd like to make.

Happy listening! One more time, you can get the app right here.

Jazz in January - That's Now!

Well, the Jazz Holidays are over, and it's time to look forward to a new year that will, hopefully, be full of all sorts of good things for you, me, and the greater jazz community. We thought it would be a good idea to hit the ground running in 2010, introducing some new channels and shedding the spotlight on AccuJazz.com. Our new "Jazz in January" promotion is doing just that, directing AccuRadio listeners over to our swingin' little corner to hear the wealth of jazz music they may have been missing out on.

So far, everything's going according to plan. We sent a mass email to AccuRadio listeners and put up the Jazz in January graphic on AccuRadio's homepage, and voila!, AccuJazz had its biggest listener numbers ever yesterday, and they're holding up pretty well today.

So far, we're just featuring the year-end/decade-end channels that we rolled out in December. Starting next week, we'll get a little more creative. Look forward to a channel devoted to Jazz musicians with January birthdays, channels based on the rosters of two notable spring jazz festivals, and channels honoring the recorded legacy of two of jazz's most iconic record labels.

If you still aren't done drafting your New Year's resolutions (I'm not), then make a resolution to start the year off right by listening to all the great jazz on AccuJazz.com.

Last Two New AccuJazz Channels of the Decade!

Just in time for Christmas, we have two new channels to finish up both our "Jazz Holiday" roll-out and the decade. First, we have a channel that looks back on everything that happened in jazz over the last decade.

The last decade was by all accounts a great one for jazz. I don't know exactly how history will judge the time period, but I wouldn't be surprised if the last ten years or so were regarded as a high-water mark for creativity in jazz. There are too many artists, albums, labels, and mini-movements to detail in any justice right now, but the good news is that AccuJazz has a new channel playing all sorts of great jazz from the last 10 years!

We're launching "Decade: 2000s," the last and final channel in the decades category (for a while, anyway). It's playing over 3,000 songs from artists as diverse as Ray Brown and Rudresh Mahanthappa, Wynton Marsalis and Maria Schneider [pictured]. I really don't even know how to begin to express the breadth of the music involved, so, just listen and see what you think.

Also showing up just in time for the new decade is the latest addition to our composer channels, "Composers: Jobim," playing the timeless and gorgeous compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim was the compositional force behind the classic "Getz/Gilberto" album, which launched the international bossa nova craze. The gorgeous melodies and rich chords of tunes like "Desafinado" and "Corcovado" helped make him one of the most played composers in the history of jazz.

Our channel is playing over 200 versions of Jobim songs, including tribute albums by Frank Sinatra, Rosa Passos, Joe Henderson, and more. If you only know the hits, give the channel a listen and you'll no doubt fall in love with lesser-known tunes like "Zingaro" and "Inutil Paisagem."

Until next time, Happy Holidays and happy listening! Thanks so much for your support of AccuJazz!

The Best of 2009, According to People Older and Smarter than I

I knew that I wanted to create a Best of 2009 channel this year, but I still haven't made a top-10 list of my own yet. So, instead of relying on my own opinion, I looked to a whole bunch of people who are smarter, more experienced and better-listened than I am to guide the channel's programming.

Critics and bloggers have been posting best-of lists on their own websites as well as on the Jazz Journalists Association site for well over a month now. JazzTimes also conducted a critics poll, tallying up everyone's votes and aggregating the results into a top-50. I expect the Village Voice to publish their critics poll soon.

For the last few weeks, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for year-end lists and compiling the results in a spreadsheet, awarding an album one "point" for every list on which it appeared, and half a "point" if it was granted an honorable mention. The objective was to have a document that showed which albums were deemed the best by the largest number of experts, so that I could create a channel that reflected their opinions.

Now, I know this is an inexact method: some people published a top-10, others had a top-25, and one guy even had a top-130(!). One critic's #11 would be actually be as good as another critic's honorable mention. Also, the JazzTimes poll included the opinions of 40 different critics -- should I have awarded points based on every single critic's individual list, or make up some other points system based on the final results? In the end, I just made up the rules as I went along, and ended up with a spreadsheet that I think fairly accurately reflects the "critical consensus."

You can check out a document showing all of the lists I referenced here. Below is the list of high scorers. With my simplistic point system, many albums received the same amount of points, so I've indicated the ties with letters placed after the numbers. Also, I've only included albums that we have in the AccuJazz collection, so you [regrettably] won't see Miguel Zenon or John Hollenbeck -- gotta get on that. Without further ado, the heavyweight champions of Jazz in 2009:

1) Vijay Iyer - Historicity
2a) Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines
2b) Steve Lehman Octet - Travail, Transformation and Flow
3) Henry Threadgill Zooid - This Brings Us To, Vol. 1
4) Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi
5a) Keith Jarrett - Paris/London: Testament
5b) Joe Lovano Us Five - Folk Art
6a) Fly - Sky & Country
6b) Darius Jones Trio - Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing)
6c) Gary Burton/Pat Metheny/Steve Swallow/Antonio Sanchez - Quartet Live
7a) Linda Oh - Entry
7b) Matt Wilson - That's Gonna Leave a Mark
7c) Jeff "Tain" Watts - Watts
7d) Monterey Quartet - Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival

Total, there are 242 different albums on my spreadsheet, the majority of which are not in the AccuJazz collection. There are dozens more albums that received less points but were still singled out by critics as being among the best. You will hear many of these on the channel, too, but with less frequency. Chances are you'll hear a Vijay Iyer track within your first 6 songs, but it may take a while before you hear something from Mike Reed's About Us, an album that only received a half a point but which I personally place among the best.

There were exactly 2 albums that made it on the JazzTimes poll and which are in my collection but I didn't deem deserving of a place on the channel. What albums are they? I'd rather not publicly ridicule anyone on the blog. If you really, really want to know, you can DM me on Twitter.

I really love listening to this channel, and I sincerely hope you do too. It's as good of evidence as any that the art of jazz is alive and well in 2009. An hour of music from this channel is as good a rebuttal as any to NYT columnist Glenn Branca's recent claim that "Jazz has stopped evolving and become a dead art." From Henry Threadgill's brainy explorations of free improvisation to Darcy James Argue's fusion of big band tradition with modern rock sensibilities, jazz in 2009 was as varied and exhilarating as ever, perhaps moreso than ever.

Enjoy.