Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The Julian Hartwell Project - The Julian Hartwell Project (2016)



The first effort from The Julian Hartwell Project showcases a distinctive blend of high-energy original music by composer and arranger Julian Hartwell and his band of up-and-coming players. Featuring a cadre of rising talent from the Philly jazz scene, many members of the quintet/sextet group are recent graduates of Temple University's Boyer College of Music jazz studies program, and lend a youthful, vibrant approach to the varied tight-knit arrangements throughout the record. 

Cinematic, funky, evocative, soulful and swinging…this all-original debut injects fresh lifeblood into the contemporary jazz scene and points to a bright future for the promising group known shorthand as “The JHP”. 

“Well worth a sample and repeated spins, The Julian Hartwell Project offers a splendid slice of straight ahead jazz delivered with a fresh new sound…a gifted pianist leading a group of young talented players in their first recording together, this is one musical project that begs for an encore.” 
– Ed Blanco, All About Jazz 

“This is feel good music that doesn’t get too unapproachable like so many jazz groups get, making music that appeals not only to the head, but to the heart as well…It’s a fresh take on original jazz music, that somehow manages to sound like something old school AND brand new at the same time.” 
-Mark Weber, Mark Weber Music Blog 

“…A broad range of musical perception.” 
– Dick Metcalf, ‘Doctor Jazz’ of Improvijazzation Nation Blog



1. Street Dreams 10:06
2. Doubleshot 05:32
3. The Minotaur 07:53
4. It's The New 07:50
5. Stranger Now 05:16
6. Stay Easy Bro 07:46
7. Say No More 08:15
8. KnewBlews 10:40

Released November 5, 2016 

The Julian Hartwell Project features: 

Julian Hartwell - Piano & Rhodes 
Jake Kelberman - E. Guitar 
Noah Hocker - Trumpet 
Seth Ebersole - Tenor & Soprano Saxophone 
Harry Forlenza-bailey - Trombone 
Paul Horner - E. Bass 
Jon Cannon - Upright Bass 
Tom Cullen - Drums 

All songs composed and arranged by Julian Hartwell (ASCAP), all rights reserved. 
Copyright Julian Hartwell Music 2015. 

All tracks recorded by Dash Williams at Boyer Studios, Temple University. 

Mixed and Mastered by Jeff Hiatt and Rob Shaffer at Turtle Studios, Philadelphia, PA

ESKORZO este domingo en MADRID • ÚLTIMAS ENTRADAS • Concierto Fin de Gira


ESKORZO DARÁ SU ÚLTIMO CONCIERTO DE LA GIRA "CAMINO DE FUEGO" ESTE DOMINGO EN MADRID, ÚLTIMAS ENTRADAS ANTICIPADAS A LA VENTA!


Domingo 13 Noviembre · MADRID · Sala Joy Eslava · FIESTA FIN DE GIRA

Venta Anticipada: www.ticketea.com y Bar Amor Voodoo.

Puertas 19:00h · Entrada: 18€ Anticipada - 23€ Taquilla    



+  Warm Up: DJ KAPTIN (Boom Town · Big Swing Sound / UK)

Y con las colaboraciones de EL CANIJO DE JEREZ, BOIKOT, ARCO, Ana y Chiki de CANTECA DE MACAO, ANTILOPEZ, MARIO DÍAZ, Gerardo Sanz de LA PULQUERIA y Aitor Velázquez de HORA ZULU




Eskorzo se despide en Madrid en una gran fiesta rodeado de amigos que colaborarán en el “concierto fin de gira” del aclamado “Camino de Fuego”.

Será este domingo 13 de Noviembre en la Sala Joy Eslava, a esta gran fiesta de han apuntado grandes artistas y amigos, entre ellos El Canijo de Jerez, Boikot, Arco, Ana y Chiki de Canteca de Macao, Antilopez, Mario Díaz, Gerardo Sanz de La Pulquería y Aitor Velázquez de Hora Zulú. Sin duda, uno de los conciertos más especiales y emotivos de su carrera que quedará grabado en la retina de todos.

Las entradas siguen a la venta en www.ticketea.com al precio de 18€, las anteriores ofertas ya están agotadas. En caso de existencias, en taquilla las entradas tendrán un coste de 23€. 

Después de 2 años intensos y más de 100 conciertos con “Camino de Fuego”, la banda nazarí pondrá punto y final a este ciclo que les ha consagrado en lo más alto del panorama musical. Y es que “Camino de Fuego” ha sido catalogado como uno de los mejores discos del siglo XXI.  Un disco innovador que ha marcado un antes y un después en la World Music, el Rock Latino, el Afrobeat y el llamado Mestizaje. Los padres del género han seguido abriendo horizontes y siguen siendo, hoy más que nunca, una banda de culto

Pero Eskorzo en concierto cómo sabemos rebasan los límites de lo humano, explosionan poderosamente en una invocación rítmica y lírica espeluznante, una orgía festiva y chamánica que asevera una vez más, que la formación granadina es uno de los grandes reclamos en nuestra geografía española y fuera de nuestra fronteras con varias giras europeas a sus espaldas durante estos 20 años de trayectoria.


Paal Nilssen​-​Love Large Unit - Rio Fun (EP) 2016


1. Rio Fun 24:28

Recorded May 7th, 2015 live at Bimhuis, Amsterdam. 

Recorded by: Jurre Wieman for Bimhuis Radio
Mixed and Masterd by: Christian Obermayer
Cover by: Lasse Marhaug 

Thanks to Huub Van Riel, Alexandra Mientjes

Released June 2015

Released November 8, 2016 

Thomas Johansson – cornet and flugelhorn 
Mats Äleklint – trombone 
Julie Kjaer – alto saxophone 
Klaus Holm – alto and baritone saxophone 
Per Ake Holmlander – tuba 
Ketil Gutvik – electric guitar 
Tommi KerÄnen – electronics 
Jon Rune Strøm – double and electric bass 
Christian Meaas Svendsen – double and electric bass 
Andreas Wildhagen – drums & percussion 
Paal Nilssen-Love – drums & percussion

Magnus Broo / Paal Nilssen​-​Love - Game (2016)


Magnus Broo on trumpet and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. The 6 tracks are freely improvised, and move us across a broad landscape of jazz expressiveness : from rhythmic and melodic parts to very avant-garde excursions, from slow and bluesy sounds to staccato blasts, with the real focus on the interplay between the two artists. Through Broo's playing, other trumpeters come to mind : Lester Bowie, Don Cherry, Paul Smoker. 

One of the reason's I like the album a lot is that both musicians demonstrate that it's possible to be creative, innovative, avant-garde, free and still be deeply emotional. Despite the limited possibilities of the duo, they manage to captivate the attention from beginning to end. This is intense, direct and raw music, but beautiful ...


1. Marching 09:08
2. Stomping 08:29
3. Cut Loose 08:11
4. CodA 06:16
5. Mas 13:30
6. Brown Sugar, Sweet Rice  05:43

Released 2008

Released November 8, 2016 

Paal Nilssen-Love: Drums 
Magnus Broo: Trumpet

Ryan Blotnick - Kush (SONGLINES 2016)




“Blotnick has an original and distinctive voice on the guitar…a great late-night album and a goldmine of inspiration for guitarists in a wide range of styles.”
– Delarue, Lucid Culture (Reviewing Solos, Volume 1)

In his new album of original compositions, East-coast guitarist Ryan Blotnick mines a bittersweet melodic/harmonic vein balanced by an African-influenced rhythmic elan. Conceived as an antidote to the more aggressive forms of New York jazz, Kush offers freshly-minted waltzes, haunting ballads and more than a touch of Frisellian Americana, as well as a variety of grooves combining jazz and African feels. Ryan comments: “I think a lot of ‘modern’ cats look outside of themselves for direction and this music is more introspective even though it reaches out to the audience very directly.” New York saxophonist Michael Blake (with three releases on Songlines, most recently Fulfillment), a longtime Blotnick mentor and collaborator, is the perfect foil, contributing his own blend of lyricism, heat, and harmonic depth. Also integral to the record’s success is the buoyant yet laid-back rhythm team of Scott Colberg, bass (Calexico) and RJ Miller, drums.

The album repays close attention for its subtle details while also rewarding listeners more attuned to moods than solos.


Blotnick has two acclaimed releases on Songlines (Music Needs You, 2007 and Everything Forgets, 2009) and a self-released solo guitar record (Solo, Volume 1, 2012) praised by the New York Times for its “intensely thoughtful design”.

After 10 years in New York he moved back to Maine in 2015 to give himself more space to deepen his connection to his playing, and began performing a weekly gig in a trio with RJ Miller.

They looked for ways to combine the aesthetics of ambient music (sampled loops and hypnotic grooves) and the more direct language of jazz. “When we were workshopping this music we were also playing RJ’s music (check out Ronald’s Rhythm on Loyal Label), and he was trying to break me out of a certain way of thinking. 

RJ wanted the music to simmer and just keep expanding as opposed to my natural inclination to sort of tell a succinct story and then step back. Alice Coltrane’s music (e.g. Journey in Satchidananda) is a great example of this – it doesn’t register as a series of solos and I think it has a lot in common with West African and possibly Indian classical music that way.

I think RJ’s playing on this record has a constant variation that is really hard to pull off the way he does it. The groove is always very much there even if he is playing all around it. I see it as an extension of what Paul Motian and Ed Blackwell have contributed to the music.”

Among the inspirations for Kush Blotnick cites guitarists Jacob Bro (“Lunenburg”), Ali Farka Touré (“May Day”) and Marc Ribot, Alice Coltrane (“Kush”, “May Day”), Billy Strayhorn (“Spring”), Wayne Shorter and Bill Evans (“Delaware”, “And Bright Snow”), Fela Kuti, and Niger’s most popular band Tal National (“DX7”). Ryan is a member of New York’s Akoya Afrobeat and has performed in South African saxophonist Duke Mseleku’s groups. 


“Afrobeat is an amazing synthesis of West African and African-American musics. Playing with Akoya put me deep in the rhythm section where I was stuck with one rhythm line for the whole twenty-minute song. At first it felt like jail time but after seven or eight years I found some freedom there! I guess the main thing with African music is that every style has its own rhythmic fingerprint that goes way beyond anything you could put down on paper.

When the music is passed down from generation to generation there is a subtlety about how to place accents and how to feel certain rhythms that gets lost in music that is passed down in writing…I always try to simplify my music to the point where it is memorizable – I also think it speaks to the audience more directly this way.” Lee Konitz is another mentor figure: “He tried to get me to think about where the note starts – does it start in the fingers? Or the heart? Or the brain? I didn’t really get what he was talking about at the time but I think I understand it better now…When Lee plays he lives and dies with each note but it is also not forced – it is very heavy yet still light at heart.”

As for the title: “Kush was a club in New York where I first met Michael Blake when I was sixteen, on my way to freshman orientation at William Paterson. He was playing with Ben Allison and Jeff Ballard and it really sent my friend Ned Ferm and me through the roof. Also, the bass line of ‘Kush’ is based on a middle-eastern rhythm [in 17/8] that Duncan Hardy showed me called “Khush Rank” – I thought that was an interesting coincidence.”


01. Kush
02. Lunenburg
03. May Day
04. Churchy
05. Delaware
06. And Bright Snow
07. DX7
08. Spring

Ryan Blotnick, guitar
Michael Blake, tenor and soprano sax
Scott Colberg, bass
RJ Miller, drums

Special guest: Jonny Lam, pedal steel (2)

All compositions by Ryan Blotnick