PIANIST CAILI O’DOHERTY REVISITS AND HONORS THE GENIUS OF LIL HARDIN ARMSTRONG WITH BLUER THAN BLUE

OUT ON MARCH 7 VIA OUTSIDE IN MUSIC

The first single “Let’s Call It Love” available here

Lillian “Lil” Hardin Armstrong is a name most jazz aficionados recognize, having read it in the annals and footnotes of jazz history, but often mistakenly gloss over it in passing as a detail in the broader narrative. For pianist Caili O’Doherty, the story of Lil Hardin Armstrong became the caper of an unsung heroine of jazz history. While most will remember that Armstrong was the second wife of jazz icon Louis Armstrong who is often credited with spurring him forward to greatness, few may know the extent of her influence. For O’Doherty, what started as a few lines in a textbook at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College quickly turned into an enigmatic journey of discovery. Through research, study, and the music itself, O’Doherty discovered that not only did Lil Hardin Armstrong’s music become the staple foundation of her husband Louis’s career, but she went on to write hits for greats throughout history such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. With Bluer Than Blue, O’Doherty goes directly to the source, drawing on beloved and deep works from Lil Hardin Armstrong’s and instilling them with new vigor and reinterpretations of O’Doherty’s own masterful devising.

Bluer Than Blue was born, like so many great discoveries, inventions, and works, by questioning what is taken for granted. While studying a course entitled “The Music of Louis Armstrong” under Ricky Riccardi, the Director of Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong Museum, O’Doherty thought it was odd that while Hardin was credited with pushing her husband toward fame, generations of jazz historians simply dismissed her role in Louis’s career. Some, such as Gary Giddins, went so far to state that even though Hardin’s name appears in the credits of many of her husband’s works, that it was because Louis “allowed” her to claim credit. Bold assumptions without factual evidence did not sit well with O’Doherty, and she struck forth to begin researching the matter herself.

O’Doherty’s research continued through correspondence with Riccardi, and began to culminate in practice when her project highlighting Hardin’s music and influence earned a week-long residency at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2018, and a grant-funded, high-profile performance of Hardin’s music at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, where Bluer Than Blue was recorded in 2021.

Historically, Hardin was a firm believer in forward motion in jazz. When visited in her home by jazz journalist Chris Albertson in the 1960s, Hardin pointed out her stacks of Thelonious Monk and Dr. Billy Taylor records, stating, “This is what I like to listen to. I only wish I could play that well.” When shown the Gil Evans arrangement of “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue” (which Hardin co-wrote) featuring Cannonball Adderley in that same interview, Hardin was “ecstatic”, leading to her musical taste being described as “thoroughly modern”. The performances of Hardin’s music heard on Bluer Than Blue are all uniquely arranged by O’Doherty, and lean into both the musical sensibilities of the time in which Hardin lived and the modern mode of composition that Hardin adored. In summation, Hardin’s love for the “thoroughly modern” would be met with great enthusiasm in how her music is being honored on Bluer Than Blue.

Part of the beauty of Bluer Than Blue is in the curation of the music. O’Doherty shows wisdom not only in her arrangements of the music, but in her selections from Hardin’s repertoire in such a way to tease audiences with what they know and enrapture them with that which may be wholly unfamiliar. “Let’s Call It Love,” the album’s first single, is a prominent example of the latter. A lesser-known work composed by Hardin in 1937, O’Doherty’s arrangement takes a 12/8 bembe twist on the piece, and spotlights engrossing bassline, which is doubled between the upright bass and the piano’s left hand. The track also features vocals and scat singing by Michael Mayo. Due to Hardin’s fame in contributing to Louis Armstrong’s oeuvre, O’Doherty features perhaps two of Hardin’s most beloved pieces on this album: “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” and “Two Deuces”. O’Doherty’s arrangement of “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” in particular highlights her nod to and love for jazz history, as she showcases her dynamic stride piano playing, which brilliantly incorporates an iconic lick from Louis Armstrong’s performance of “Tears”, which was co-written with Hardin, and then later made famous in his recording of “Potato Head Blues”. Bluer Than Blue features a distinctive, and arguably now definitive, arrangement of “Just For a Thrill”. Often regarded as Hardin’s most beloved standard, “Just For a Thrill” features the prominent vocals of Tahira Clayton on O’Doherty’s reimagining of the piece. 

With a project spearheaded by such a distinct vision, O’Doherty required a highly dedicated team of musicians who would not only pour their soul into these arrangements, but would take the time to steep themselves in the music and history of Lil Hardin Armstrong from which all these works take their root. When one listens to the end result achieved, it is unequivocally evident that O’Doherty achieved exactly that. The central trio at the core of this album comprises the bandleader Caili O’Doherty on piano, bassist Tamir Shmerling, and drummer Cory Cox. Throughout the album, the various featured personnel rotates per track, and consists of a stellar cast of Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone and vocalists Tahira Clayton and Michael Mayo. 

Bluer Than Blue is more than a retelling of jazz history; it’s more than a love letter to the music of a late genius; and it’s more than a masterwork of informed arranging. At its core, Bluer Than Blue is a profound monument to an unsung hero that captures not only the spirit of the music but the ebullient character of the composer herself.

Thank you to Lydia Liebman from Lydia Liebman Promotions for sharing with us

Website: Caili O’Doherty

British composer/pianist Claire Cope vividly expands the scale and vision of her Ensemble C on the band's sweeping and dramatic second release. Out March 7, 2025, Every Journey celebrates International Woman’s Day with gorgeous compositions inspired by pioneering women and the courage to embark on life’s adventures.

Pre save by clicking here

“Claire’s music is beautiful; imaginative, uplifting, thoughtful and reflective. The beauty is the subtlety; of the journey of a melody, the gently shifting sands of texture and the control of form, energy and dynamic.”  – Andy Scott, award-winning saxophonist and composer

An oft-repeated Chinese proverb states, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Looking back from a vantage point several steps along her own proverbial journey, British composer and pianist Claire Cope came to discover that no matter how daunting a venture may become, it’s always taking that first step that requires the most courage. That realization provided the inspiration behind Every Journey, the gorgeous second album by Cope’s Ensemble C.

Every Journey will be released on March 7, 2025, to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8. The occasion is significant given the fount of inspiration that Cope found in the stories of intrepid women pioneers who undertook their own daring journeys. The books of writer and explorer Jacki Hill-Murphy were key resources – specifically

Adventuresses, a compendium of stories of 18th and 19th-century female explorers, and The Extraordinary Tale of Kate Marsden, about a Victorian nurse who trekked across pre-Revolutionary Russia to find a possible cure for leprosy. Musically, the groundbreaking compositions of Maria Schneider provided a luminous north star for Cope’s own writing.

Arriving five years after Ensemble C’s acclaimed debut, Small World, Cope’s follow-up represents significant evolutions in both the composer’s life and her musical vision. Where Small World offered Cope’s introductory statement as a composer, a path she arrived at only gradually, Every Journey is a remarkably assured expansion of that mindset. Significantly, Ensemble C has bloomed from a septet to an 11-piece group, allowing for a wealth of new colors and possibilities, of which Cope takes bold and vibrant advantage. The intricate music she’s devised for the ensemble reflects her existence in both the jazz and contemporary classical music realms. Closer to home, Cope became a mother in the interval between albums, a development that can’t help but deepen one’s insight and empathy.

“Discovering that I am a composer and becoming a mum were both turning points in my life,” Cope says. “Then I found myself reading these stories about these inspiring, real-life characters and the music took on a sense of adventure. All of this fused together in my mind and led to my wanting to write something that was about not having limits.”

Cope seized on the idea of expanding her ensemble immediately after recording Small World. “As a composer I really wanted to push myself,” she explains. “Then when I started writing this music about adventures and journeys, the pieces naturally felt like they required a more substantial force. Also, an eleven-piece ensemble is a bit unusual – this idea of something that is not quite a big band but something towards it was really appealing to me.”

With the Maria Schneider Orchestra as one pillar of inspiration, Cope also looked to the mercurial sound of the early Pat Metheny Group and, closer in scale to the newly imagined Ensemble C, Michael Brecker’s Grammy-winning 2004 Quindectet album Wide Angles. While Cope’s music was inspired by these composers, it is not confined to them: her musical voice is distinct and singular. The human voice is a vital element of her writing, courtesy the typically wordless vocals of Brigitte Beraha, who also contributes lyrics to the moving song “The Birch and the Larch,” which recounts a fable called “Leprosy in Love” that Hill-Murphy incorporates into her biography of Kate Marsden.

The album opens with the atmospheric “Every Journey (Has a Beginning),” which sets the tone for the sonic expedition to come, culminating in a quicksilver solo by guitarist Ant Law. The set is bookended by the tender “Home,” highlighted by a captivating duo between Beraha’s  and Mike Soper on flugelhorn. The soaring groove of “Flight” pays homage to Bessie Coleman, the first woman of African American and Native American descent to earn her pilot’s license in the US. “Isabel” is named for one of the subjects of Adventuresses, Isabel Godin des Odonais, the first known woman to traverse the length of the Amazon River, and features percussionist Jack McCarthy along with baritone saxophonist Rob Cope, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, and trumpeter Freddie Gavita.

The four-piece horn section could threaten to overwhelm the balance of the ensemble, but Cope employs it nimbly, often using flugelhorn in one of the trumpet chairs and tending toward the lush rather than the powerful – as in the stirring, Kenny Wheeler-inspired chorale “The Light of the Dark.” The horns can swell and ascend when needed, however, as they do to provoke the dramatic tenor extemporizations of Matt Carmichael on “Amboseli.” The through-composed piece is named for a national park in Kenya set against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, the contrast of immense heights and vast plains is breathtakingly captured in Cope’s piece. The simmering rhythm laid down by Cope’s left hand, bassist Gavin Barras and drummer Jon Ormston on “That Nabongo Feeling” paint a vigorous portrait of modern-day explorer Jessica Nabongo, who recently became the first documented Black woman to visit all of the planet’s 195 countries.

Cope describes the album as being about “courage, overcoming anxiety and finding inner peace. Everyone can relate in some way to that moment of taking a step forward in life. For me, it was about feeling comfortable in my choices as a musician and deciding to identify as a composer. Once you get past that first step, you’re on your way to where you want to go.”

Ensemble C – Every Journey

clairecopemusic.com

ensemblec.bandcamp.com

Thank you to Ann Braithwaite for sharing the press release with us.

Never-Before-Released Ella Fitzgerald Live Concert Album 
Latest single Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) is out today and available to listen to here

Never-before-released album recorded at 1967 concert featuring members of The Duke Ellington Orchestra was recently unearthed in the private tape collection of Verve Records founder Norman Granz

The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum - Album Release Date: February 28th 2025

February 7, 2025 — Today, Verve Records is proud to release Ella Fitzgerald’s “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love),”the second singlefrom her never-before-released live concert album, The Moment of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum. “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” offers a sinfully playful twist on the highly esteemed Cole Porter classic from the 1928 Broadway show Paris. Ella adds her own sprinkle of magic by not only extending the chorus of the track, but by switching up the original melody and mixing in pop culture references of the time. Listen to the new single here. Watch the visualizer here. 

The full live album, The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum on June 30, 1967, and was recently unearthed in the private tape collection of Verve Records founder Norman Granz. The album spans nine tracks, most never heard before, and features Ella accompanied by members of The Duke Ellington Orchestra at its prime.  

Listen to the first single and title track “The Moment of Truth” here, watch the animated music video directed by Sharon Liu here, and pre-order the album here.

Ella’s band includes the rarely heard but hard-swinging trio of Jimmy Jones, Bob Cranshaw, and Sam Woodyard, while the Ellington band captured here at its peak, featured Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, and Russell Procope. Ella alongside her band was a sight to behold. There was never a moment when she was not doing her absolute best work. The first lady of song strikes again with a song that makes you want to move to the sweet rhythms and melodies she seamlessly weaves together. “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) is sure to be food for the soul and a treat for your ears. 

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: ELLA AT THE COLISEUM

1. The Moment Of Truth - 2:52

2. Don’t Be That Way - 4:33

3. You’ve Changed - 4:37

4. Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) - 4:43

5. Bye Bye Blackbird - 5:02

6. Alfie - 5:43

7. In A Mellow Tone - 4:41

8. Music To Watch Girls By - 3:56

9. Mack The Knife - 4:53 

Recorded at The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA on June 30, 1967.

BAND DETAILS:

Ella Fitzgerald – vocals

The trio:

Jimmy Jones – piano

Bob Cranshaw – bass

Sam Woodyard – drums

Members of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra:

Trumpets: Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Herbie Jones, Cootie Williams 

Trombones: Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors, Buster Cooper

Reeds: Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope

Thank you to Joe Baxter for sharing with us

British saxophonist, composer and bandleader Josephine Davies marks a striking new chapter in her career with the release of The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite (28th Feb 2025, Ubuntu) alongside her 17-piece group The Ensō Ensemble.

Pre order here

With roots in the Scottish archipelago of Shetland, the 8-part suite takes the listener on a year-long journey of ancient Celtic and seasonal festivals. From the darkness of winter to the renewal of spring, the harvest season, the Autumn Equinox, and the Winter Solstice, it weaves together classical, jazz, and folk influences into a cohesive, Nordic-tinged whole.j

Fittingly, it all started with the sunrise. The piece Eos - named after the Goddess of the Dawn - was composed during a period of early mornings while she served as composer-in-residence for the London Jazz Orchestra. Fast forward a decade, and several high-profile commissions, she felt compelled to complete the circle. “Having written several jazz orchestra pieces, and inspired by a lockdown move to the countryside, I felt drawn to deepen my connection with the earth and revisit my earlier composition. The result is the 8-part suite, each movement inspired by a particular time of year and what it holds for me emotionally and spiritually.”

Perhaps best known for her award-winning trio Satori, the depth of talent and inventiveness in the ensemble is testament to Davies’ long-standing position at the heart of the UK’s contemporary music scene. London jazz stalwarts Dave Whitford (bass), Noel Langley (trumpet) and Alcyona Mick (piano) sit alongside distinctive newer voices such as saxophonists Michael Chillingworth, Rachael Cohen and Tamar Osborn - each carefully chosen for their musicality, creativity, and unique soloistic voices.

Through this fascinating large ensemble and the rich history of Celtic mythology, the recording sees Davies stretch her compositional wings, blending the improvisation and spontaneity inherent in jazz with a highly distinctive compositional voice as a writer. As we embark on yet another cycle around the sun, it serves as both a milestone in her career and a calling card for future projects.

Josephine Davies composer, conductor, tenor saxophone | Michael Chillingworth alto & soprano saxophone | Rachael Cohen alto saxophone | Helena Kay tenor saxophone | Adam Bishop tenor saxophone, clarinet, alto flute | Tamar Osborn baritone saxophone, bass clarinet | Noel Langley trumpet, flugelhorn | Reuben Fowler trumpet, flugelhorn | Nick Smart trumpet, flugelhorn | Robbie Robson trumpet, flugelhorn | Anna Drysdale french horn | Olli Martin trombone | Maddie Dowdeswell trombone | Eddie Curtis bass trombone | Alcyona Mick piano | Dave Whitford double bass | Shaney Forbes drums

Thank you to Matt Fripp for sharing with us Josephine website click here

Artemis Announce New Studio Album Via Blue Note: Multi-award-winning collective features pianist Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Alison Miller 

“New York group deliver rhythmic bite and sharply defined emotional contrasts.” Financial Times

Arboreqsue is released on 28th February 2025 Pre Order here

Fresh off their 2nd consecutive win for “Jazz Group of the Year” in the DownBeat Readers Poll, ARTEMIS returns with their third Blue Note album ARBORESQUE out Feb. 28 featuring a new quintet line-up of the band helmed by pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Allison Miller. A paean to the sheer joy of collaboration and creativity, the album also explores a theme of natural and environmental beauty. 

ARBORESQUE is a vibrant 8-song set that presents original compositions by each of the band members as well as Rosnes arrangements of pieces by Wayne Shorter (‘Footprints’), Burt Bacharach (‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’), and the unsung pianist Donald Brown whose inquisitive, noirish piece ‘The Smile of the Snake’ opens the album and is available to stream or download now. “The title refers to people whom you love and trust, but who end up disappointing you,” says Rosnes, who has been a fan and friend of Brown’s for decades.

The genesis of ARTEMIS can be traced back to 2016 when Rosnesfirst assembled an all-star ensemble to celebrate International Women’s Day with liveperformances in Europe. Nine years later, as the band releases its third album,the collective continues to demonstrate its staying power and prove how the musictranscends any notion of patriarchy. But ARTEMIS’ purpose has also expanded, reaching beyondspecial projects, cultural initiatives, or the supergroup concept.

“Our goal is to make honest music that touches people,” says Rosnes. “We inspire one another and feel passionate about playing together. All that positive energy comes through in the music and I believe the audiences feel it.”

ARTEMIS exists as a deeply committed core unit who’ve played together more than any other incarnation of the group. “As a quintet, there’s a greater feeling of elasticity. We’ve become looser and tighter at the same time,” Rosnes says.  Jensen is “a stunningly original voice on trumpet and can pollinate a chord with the perfect note.” As Jensen’s ideal foil on the frontline, Glover is “a bold storyteller and plays with a innate sense of purpose and freedom.” Ueda is “a virtuoso of the bass whose lines are centered and buoyant.” Miller is “the band’s center of gravity as well as being a gifted orchestrator behind the drumkit.” Together with Rosnes and Ueda, the rhythm section puts power and finesse in perfect equilibrium.

Follow ARTEMIS:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

Follow Blue Note Records:

Website • Facebook • Instagram • Threads • BlueSky • X • Spotify • Apple Music • YouTube

Thank you to Joe Baxter at Baxter PR for sharing!

Premiered by Lauren Laverne on BBC 6Music, Blessed feat. Nadya Albertsson is the new single from Glasgow-based pioneering DJ-Producer Rebecca Vasmant, taken from her upcoming album Who We Are, Becoming, out 9th May via a label partnership between New Soil and Women In Jazz.

The track follows Rooted feat. Paix & Emilie Boyd which saw support from Jamz Supernova, Gilles Peterson, Nemone, Deb Grant & Tom Ravenscroft, Craig Charles, Huey Morgan, Don Letts (BBC 6Music), Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), Emma-Jean Thackray (BBC Radio 3), The Quay Sessions (BBC Radio Scotland), Tony Minvielle and China Moses (Jazz FM), FIP Radio France, The Skinny, Wordplay and beyond.

Purchase Blessed here

Pre Order ‘Who We Are, Becoming’ here

Written as a love letter to one of Rebecca’s favourite records, Blessed feat. Nadya Albertsson takes inspiration from the Garrick’s Fairground track “Blessed Are The Peacemakers”, by Michael Garrick and Norma Winstone. “I am so incredibly grateful to have heard this track, it has absolutely changed my life”, Rebecca explains. “I wanted to make my own version as a way to show my gratitude and love for such a beautiful piece of music”. Through the making of the track, Rebecca became pen pals with Michael Garrick’s son Gabriel, after asking for his blessing to use a sample of his dad’s piano from the original record. This has started some beautiful and deep conversations about jazz, connection, collaboration and more.

Expanding the boundaries of traditional jazz production, Vasmant leads a 25-strong ensemble of musicians (with a 60/40 female/male split) on a sonic journey exploring themes of identity, equality, femininity, and self-growth. As she puts it, “This album is about becoming your true self and accepting that we’re part of something bigger.” Vasmant’s unique DIY ethos shines throughout Who We Are Becoming, with all vocals and instruments - apart from drums - recorded in her Glasgow flat using a single Rode microphone gifted by Soma Records’ Jim Matune. Rebecca’s process reflects her self-taught, self-funded, and self-made ethos**: “I’ve always believed you don’t need fancy studios to create amazing music. My setup is basic but meaningful; I’ve built it over time and made it work.”**

The LP is a standout contemporary jazz record, representing an exciting new chapter in Rebecca’s artistic journey. Staying true to her roots, it boasts powerful collaborations with some of Scotland’s finest musical talents, with the single featuring interdisciplinary artist Paix and vocalist Emilie Boyd, alongside Amanda Whiting (harp), Joe Rattray (bass), Graham Costello (drums), and Cameron Thomson-Duncan (trumpet). Rebecca’s impact on Glasgow’s jazz scene is undeniable. Her debut, ‘With Love From Glasgow’, was hailed by Jazzwise, Clash, and The Vinyl Factory, drawing comparisons to Pharoah Sanders and garnering support from tastemakers Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova, and Bandcamp’s Andrew Jervis. Follow up EP “Dance Yourself Free” received significant support from BBC 6Music and saw Rebecca celebrate the Record Store Day release with DJ sets at Monorail (Glasgow), Phonica and Rough Trade (London). She has performed live as part of BBC 6Music Festival and has presented ‘Round Midnight on BBC Radio 3. Her label, Rebecca’s Records, has spotlighted Scottish artists such as ARI TSUGI and Azamiah.

Born in Paris and raised in the Scottish countryside, Rebecca moved to Glasgow at 22, earning a Ministry of Sound residency before rejecting commercial pressures to champion her jazz-inspired sound. She has become Scotland’s unofficial ambassador for contemporary jazz, with a journey of resilience, vision, and authenticity, peppered with radio shows for Worldwide FM and Rinse FM. She has performed DJ sets and live ensemble performances alike at acclaimed festivals and venues including Glastonbury, We Out Here, Brick Lane Jazz Festival, Jazz Café, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club, supporting the likes of Questlove, Thundercat, BADBADNOTGOOD and Gilles Peterson.

Thank you to Glow Artist for sharing with us

Rebecca Vasmant Live Dates

March 7th - Jazz Cafe, London Madame Jazz (Rebecca Vasmant Ensemble) // March 15th - Small Town Club, Dundee (DJ) March 22nd - Shapes Festival, Switzerland (DJ) //April 16th - Brick Lane Jazz Festival, London (Rebecca Vasmant Ensemble)

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