Wednesday January 19, 2022

VIRTUAL MARATHON NIGHT 3

Red Baraat

Lakecia Benjamin ‘Pursuance’

Brandee Younger Quintet

Samir Langus

Sana Nagano ‘Smashing Humans’

Oran Etkin ‘Open Arms Project’

8PM EST BROADCAST BEGINS


Oran Etkin ‘Open Arms Project’

Personnel:

Oran Etkin - Clarinet, Bass-Clarinet & sax

Vanessa Ferreira - Bass

Vinicius Gomes - Guitar

Sérgio Machado - Drums & Electronics

Benjamim Taubkin - Piano & Rhodes 

Dani Gurgel - Videographer

Thiago Rabello- Audio Engineer

Winter Jazzfest in São Paulo, Brazil

Oran Etkin has been described as "ebullient" by NY Times, "composer of eminent individuality" by Yusef Lateef and #1 Rising Star Clarinetist by DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll. With Open Arms Project, Etkin flipped the traditional record-then-tour model, taking time off during his tours to create new music with traditional mbira musicians in Zimbabwe, Roma musicians in Czech Republic, innovative composers in São Paulo and Paris and legendary songwriters in Rio de Janeiro. As the world closed down in 2020, Etkin began releasing singles and music videos of each of these collaborations, recorded on-location before the closures. Now as the world opens up, Etkin presents a new live show, in which he and his band deconstruct and recompose fresh music based on the melodies, rhythms and motifs that he recorded around the world. The live band is enhanced with electronics as the musicians improvisationally trigger samples of stems from the original recordings, creating new textures and grooves. Imagine fragments of hand-clapping from Zimbabwe, a string instrument from Turkey and two flutes from Brazil all layered on top of each other, triggered in and out spontaneously, in dialogue with the band's live improvisation. This combination of deeply traditional sounds with forward-looking energy tells the story of an opening and connected world, rooted in its cultures, yet intent on forging a fresh path forward.


Sana Nagano ‘Smashing Humans’

Personnel:

Sana Nagano - Violin/Composition

Peter Apfelbaum - Tenor

Keisuke Matsuno - Guitar

Ken Filiano - Bass

Danny Sher - Drums

Winter Jazzfest at The Jazz Gallery, Manhattan

Brooklyn-based composer Sana Nagano has a highly distinctive approach to violin playing, grounding chaotic improvisations with restrained precision. Formally trained in both jazz and classical traditions, she rips up the rulebook with projects such as the avant-bluegrass trio Astroturf Noise and 2021's Smashing Humans, which bears the name of her explosive prog-jazz quintet.

Sana Nagano was born in Tokyo, where she began playing violin as a child, and moved to the United States as an exchange student. She earned performance and composition degrees from the Berklee College of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College. Living in New York City since 2010, she's been highly active as both a collaborator and bandleader. She has played as part of Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra and Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra, in addition to working with artists such as William Parker, Daniel Carter, Harvey Valdes, and numerous others. Her debut album, Inside the Rainbow, was released in 2014, featuring Berger on vibraphone and John Ehlis on guitar. Nagano formed several ensembles during the decade, including avant-rock quartet Atomic Pigeons and experimental pop duo Peach and Tomato (with Leonor Falcon).


Samir Langus

Personnel:

Samir LanGus - Sintir & Lead Vocal

Carolina Mama - Backup Vocals

Arta Jekabsone - Backup Vocals 

Nizar Dahmani - Drums

Leo Genovese - Piano 

Edo Gur - Trumpet

Rich Stein- Percussion 

David Lizmi - kastanets & Bass guitar 

Winter Jazzfest at The HighBreedMusic Recording Lounge, Brooklyn

Samir LanGus is a Grammy nominated musician, born and raised in the city of Agadir, Morocco. Music has always been a part of the constant variety of street sounds of his city, from merchants to entertainers and calls to prayer. LanGus began learning Gnawa, a traditional, spiritual trance music, when he was 8 years old from the Gnawa masters of Morocco.

​For the uninitiated, Gnawa music is the ritual trance music of Morocco’s black communities, originally descended from slaves and soldiers once brought to Morocco from Northern Mali and Mauritania. Often called “The Moroccan Blues”, Gnawa music has a raw, hypnotic power that fascinated outsiders as diverse as writer/composer Paul Bowles, jazz giant Randy Weston and rock god Jimi Hendrix. The music is utterly singular, played on an array of unique instruments — from the lute-like sintir that the band leader uses to call the tune, to the metal karqaba, castanets with which the kouyos (chorus) keep time and pound out clattering, hypnotic rhythms. The music believed to heal people possessed by jinn, or spirits in all night ceremonies called lila.


Brandee Younger Quintet

Personel:

Brandee Younger - Harp

Anne Drummond - Flute

Chelsea Baratz - Tenor Sax

Dezron Douglas - Bass

Allan Mednard - Drums

Winter Jazzfest at Yamaha Studio, Manhattan

Over the past decade, the harpist Brandee Younger has been at the center of music’s celebrated work, even if you didn’t know she was there. Be it her output with the soul singer John Legend or the rapper Common, she’s always put her stamp on the music in question, all while setting a new course for what classical music can entail. But with her major-label debut, Somewhere Different, she’s pushing her artistry to the foreground. By her own admission, Younger would’ve stepped back in years past to let others shine; the harp would’ve been mixed behind layers of woodwind instruments. Now she’s putting her instrument first. “It was important for me to thrust the harp forward in a non-traditional setting,” Younger says of her new album. “I made a conscious effort to make sure that the harp was a bit more present in this recording. It’s important for the instrument.” Indeed, the first sound heard on Somewhere Different is the harp, a gorgeous, tone-setting solo that ushers in “Love & Struggle,” the album’s meditative opener. It also sets the mission for the music that follows: Younger has spent her career breaking down the barriers between classical music and contemporary forms of R&B, hip-hop, and funk. This album synthesizes her work while forging new ground. “I started recording music that wasn’t common on harp in 2006,” she says. This is my way of combining all the worlds I have into one. This is me doing my own thing completely.”


Lakecia Benjamin ‘Pursuance’

Personnel:

Lakecia Benjamin - Alto Saxophone

Zaccai Curtis - Piano

Lonnie Plaxico - Bass

EJ Stricland - Drums

Winter Jazzfest at XXX


Voted by 2020 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising star Alto Saxophonist and Up and Coming Artist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association ,Charismatic and dynamic saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin fuses traditional conceptions of Jazz, HipHop, and Soul. Benjamin’s electric presence and fiery sax work has shared stages with several legendary artists, including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, The Roots, and Macy Gray. As the bandleader of Lakecia Benjamin and Soul Squad, she melds the vintage sounds of James Brown, Maceo Parker, Sly and the Family Stone, and the Meters with soaring, dance-floor worthy rhythms. Benjamin’s grooves take the classic vibe to a whole new level with sultry alto saxophone creating something special on every cut – be it a smoldering late-night ambiance, or a forceful jazz intensity, or even the tight funk multi-horn harmony sections.

A streetwise New York City native born and raised in Washington Heights, Lakecia Benjamin first picked up the saxophone at Fiorello LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. From there she joined the renowned jazz program at New York’s New School University. However, even at that early stage, Benjamin was already playing with renowned jazz figures like Clark Terry and Reggie Workman, which introduced her to opportunities to play and tour with an array of artists such as Rashied Ali, the David Murray Big Band, Vanessa Rubin and James “Blood” Ulmer. With her deep jazz roots, she was soon in demand as an arranger and horn section leader, landing stints with such acclaimed artists as Anita Baker.


Red Baraat

Personnel:

Sunny Jain - dhol / MC 

Chris Eddleton - drums

Alison Shearer - alto saxophone

Sonny Singh - trumpet 

Huck Tim - trombone / rap

John Altieri - sousaphone

Jonathan Goldberger - guitar

Winter Jazzfest at Loove Labs, Brooklyn

Red Baraat is a pioneering band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by dhol player Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard driving North Indian bhangra with elements of hip-hop, jazz and raw punk energy. Created with no less a purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat’s spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hard-worked sleeve.