"Life's a gig, it doesn’t pay much but it costs a lot." I said that at a party one evening, whispered it imitating Miles Davis. We all laughed. Truth is that life has offered me a lot. All I've ever wanted was to sing this beautiful music and make a living from it. I never thought I would also find family. Community. This album is meant to represent exactly that. Just family coming together singing tunes we've sung countless times before. I feel truly blessed to know Chris McCarthy (piano) and Kayla Williams (Viola - Jolene & Fall in Love With Me in Fall). They both carry this music with such integrity and ease. I want to flower my family with love. Arleen Simmons Gould and Hollis Gould are directly responsible for the voice that you hear on this album. Without their support and unending love, well, this gig called "life" would be undesirable, and without swing. My brother Victor Gould, also my favorite musician and composer, handed me my first Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong album - the rest is history. He is not just my confident, but he paved the path for me, as well. From middle school in Simi Valley, California to the New York Jazz scene, his extraordinary expertise and reputation has inspired me. Life's a Gig. A damn good one.

Our first duo session was September 2016. I had just moved to New York City three weeks prior. One of the tune's we tried that first session was Vanisha's classic "Now That You're Here," and the lyrics represent how I felt then, and still feel about all the possibilities of playing together: "Now that you're here, we should get to know each other. A lifetime of love is something we should both discover. Believe me my dear, if l had known you were here, we would have started this thing long ago." I only wish we had started playing sooner. Seven years and thousands of playing hours later, you're holding our first record. Every gig big or small has deepened our musical connection and led to this collection of our favorite tunes. These songs in Vanisha's voice become stories you can't look away from. Every musical choice I make when we play together is an attempt to complement the genius in every note sung. With Vanisha, the duo format is where I can be most free and myself, with ideals of beauty and swing shared coequally.

Thank you to Jordi Pujol for believing in this project, to Kayla Williams for her unwavering support and beautiful playing on "Jolene" and "Fall in Love With Me in Fall," to my family for everything, to every venue that ever had us perform so we could hone our craft, and to Vanisha for being a musical partner for the ages. Life's a gig worth playing when you're on!

Further from Two For The Show Media here

Vanisha Gould links here

Woman Rising is an Album that captures the intricacies of being a woman. In Mary Sho’s case it captures being black woman, a plus size woman and a creative woman navigating life and relationships. Throughout the Album interludes which she has interview her friends from all different walks of life noticeably draw to the sam conclusions when asked the same question which is a comforting common ground.

Sonically it takes you though late 70's jazz funk to 80's soul groove with elements of rock, pop and afro jazz. She is an amalgamation of all her musical influences growing up.

Ultimately this Album is empower and comfort all women, young and older and for the music to get anyone bopping their heads. Woman Rising is just the beginning its Mary Sho taking flight, rising from girlhood into womanhood.

Mary Sho, a singer and songwriter hailing from South London with a worldwide sound which transcends time and space, offering a home to lovers of authentic, live sounds. Sho’s sound drops you into the late 70’s and early 80’s with tinges of contemporary soul infused with funk origins, creating sounds similar to if Lizzo met Solange met Childish Gambino met Sly and The Family Stone with Thundercat on additional bass!

Armed with live instrumentation and striking, self-directed and self styled  visuals, Sho’s spacey vocals float over bass-heavy, funk-soul sounds. while highlighting the experiences of Black women and owning the power of her identity, mind, body and soul. Mary Sho has been featured on BBC London Radio multiple times and has recently performed at Brixton House (Soho Friends) ans Cafe KOKO. This year she was one of the recipients of Women in Jazz Media 2023 and is Now releasing her debut Album titled ‘WOMAN RISING’ in the world. She will also be performing at The Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer for Southbank ‘Futuretense’ on 30th November

Mary Sho links click here

Tango is the poetry of a city: the the music of passionate fate. DISTANCIA by Solidaridad Tango takes you on a journey from the despair of the pandemic to a celebration of the love and hope that kept us going through our darkest hours. “Distancia” is the Spanish word for “distance”—-this album captures the way people reach across boundaries of place and space, bridging the vast distances from Toronto to Buenos Aires to Kandy in Sri Lanka through music and poetry. 

The album is an emotional roller coaster - a searing portrait of our times and a riotous answer to the divisions that keep us apart. The English lyrics and poetry by Aparna Halpé are unique in the world of tango, where songs are written almost exclusively in Spanish. They capture issues of homelessness, anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination, and the universal experiences of love and loss that haunt us all. Halpé’s compositions are a unique synthesis of multicultural musical influences, while being situated clearly within the language of tango.

The album celebrates emerging women tango composers such as Pétalo Selser and Eva Wolff, while also tipping its hat to the iconoclast of contemporary tango, Julián Peralta. DISTANCIA ends with a poetic land acknowledgement, signaling the band’s commitment to reconciliation practices, an approach further demonstrated in the powerful album art by Oneida visual artist Mo Thunder.

DISTANCIA rocks out with tango, rock, candombe, murga, milonga, and vannam rhythms and melodies, embodying the diversity of this band of women who are changing the face and sound of tango. Described as “bringing tango forward” by Laura Fernandez, host of Jazz FM 91’s Café Latino, this album by Canada’s all-woman tango band is a passionate embrace of life and death, and of the kind of inspiration that arrives at 3AM in the morning, wherever you are in the world.

Valeria Matzner - Vocals

Aparna Halpé - Violin

Suhashini Arulanandam - Violin

Esme Allen-Creighton - Viola

Sybil Shanahan - Cello

Shannon Wojewoda - Bass

Elizabeth Acker - Piano

Eva Wolff - Bandoneón

DISTANCIA will be released worldwide on Friday, November 17th, 2023.

To purchase click here

Solidaridad Tango website

Canadian trumpet virtuoso Nicole Rampersaud is (finally!) launching her debut LP on Friday November 3rd on the Ansible Editions imprint (home to Brodie West Quintet, High Alpine Hut Network and others). Rampersaud has been active since 2008 in projects such as Eucalyptus, and alongside notable players including Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Ra-kalam Bob Moses, Joe Morris, Roscoe Mitchell, Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier, Anthony Coleman, Raven Chacon, and Ig Henneman.

Since 2008, Canadian trumpet player and composer Nicole Rampersaud has relentlessly probed the sonic boundaries of her instrument, crafting exploratory works for it alone that she montages spontaneously into riveting solo performances.  On her debut LP Saudade for Toronto imprint Ansible Editions, she ventures further along this trajectory, augmenting her brilliant, individualistic playing with textural electronic treatments.

Although said electronics play a crucial role in shaping the identity of this recording, it's her expansive lexicon as an acoustic player that drives much of abstraction that transpires. Then Again..., for instance, sees a base of moist, guttural growls stacked with twirling high-register phrases that bubble and melt as efects are intermittently applied. Similarly, its her faint pan-fute-like whispers of Erasure that immediately catch the ear—even as dub-like cascades stream of of this primary line by way of echoes and tweaked overdubs, listeners remain transfxed by Rampersaud's exquisite command of ultra-specifc trumpet techniques. Where others use processing as a means to obliterate the intrinsic timbre of their instruments entirely, Rampersaud almost deploys it like she's making a documentary—cutting between or superimposing various camera angles, crafting transitions, adjusting the tint of the footage, and only judiciously engaging in blatant trickery.

Her capacious repertoire of sounds is mirrored in the remarkably broad scope of the vignette-like compositions themselves. Eruptive cybernetic jazz splatters down right beside a digitally-botched ballad or slices through quivering ambient mists. Sandro Perri, with whom she has worked in several other scenarios, enhances the gentle unruliness of this release wielding his keen ear for mixing and mastering.

Nicole Rampersaud is recognized internationally as a singular improviser. Her adventurous versatility has led to collaborations with notable fgures such as Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Ra-kalam Bob Moses, Joe Morris, Roscoe Mitchell, Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier, Anthony Coleman, Raven Chacon, and Ig Henneman. She's been heard at key venues and festival including Toronto Jazz Festival, Suoni per il Popolo, the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Massey Hall, Aga Khan Museum, National Art Gallery of Canada, Guelph Jazz Festival, Cornell University’s Symposium - After Experimental Music, and  Göteberg Art Sounds Festival (Sweden). Her primary groups include Brass Knuckle Sandwich (with celebrated pianist Marilyn Lerner), a duo with guitarist Joel LeBlanc, and she co-founded the trio c_RL alongside Allison Cameron and Germaine Liu. She is also a member of Brodie West’s Eucalyptus, and regularly performs and records with Joseph Shabason.  Her compositional output has been commissioned by the EVERYSEEKER Festival (where she was their frst composer-in-residence), Festival RE:FLUX, the Canadian Music Centre's CMC Presents Series and presented by Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales, the Festival of New Trumpet Music in New York, and the Suddenly Listen series in Halifax, In 2021, she co-founded the improvisation-driven multi-disciplinary series, Understory, which uses technology to reimagine collaboration between artists across Canada.

Reviewing Toronto's Women From Space Festival for Musicworks Magazine, veteran critic Stuart Broomer said the following of her: “Trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud opened the festival with an expansive exploration of extended trumpet techniques and electronic interaction. Beginning with bird calls and muted forest cries, she employed both standard and soprano trumpet and extensive looping through multiple microphones to create a world of trumpets—lows, highs, and blips—expanding her clarion horn into it’s own soundworld

Recorded by Nicole Rampersaud at home. Produced by Sandro Perri and Nicole Rampersaud. Edited, mixed, and mastered by Sandro Perri. All compositions by Nicole Rampersaud © 2022 SOCAN. Photograph by Nicole Rampersaud. We acknowledge the support of Canada Council for the Arts.

Available here

Website here

The UK’s jazz scene is an internationally-renowned melting pot of cultures and one that Athens-born pianist Maria Grapsa has firmly established herself in. Bringing together an all-star cast of the country’s rising stars including saxophone phenomenon Emma Rawicz, she presents her debut album ‘Life’ (November 3rd, Musical Dojo Records).

Merging a deep affinity for the modern jazz tradition with a classical background, Greek roots and folk, middle eastern and latin influences, she refined her distinctive compositional style at the UK’s prestigious Royal Conservatoire of Birmingham. With her writing in the spotlight, she empowers each member of her ensemble to improvise and explore their way through to new musical discoveries.

Aptly named ‘Life’, the pianist’s debut reflects on her personal journey to date; in particular the early years. A scrapbook of memories reinforced by the photo (Maria’s sister circa 1985) on the album cover, her young nephew chatting on one track, and glimpses of long-forgotten folksongs. A colourful journey which took her, via a masters degree in environmental engineering, to the decision to immerse herself totally into the world of music.

With a wealth of experience at leading venues as part of award-winning UK ensembles including Tomorrow’s Warriors Female Frontline, COLECTIVA and NU Civilisation Orchestra, as well as artists such as Jelly Cleaver and ESKA, ‘Life’ provides the perfect platform for Grapsa’s music to take centre stage.

The sextet’s sound is highly dynamic, moving from pin drop/knife’s edge individual spotlights and emotionally charged balladic melodies, to the untamed energy of burning saxophone solos over a roaring rhythm section. The introspective lyricism of vocalist Becca Wilkins and thoughtful arrangements help create a welcoming, intimate space for the listener to hear Maria’s stories and reflect on their own experiences..

Her compositional work has already been championed by the likes of Jamie Cullum, Jamz Supernova (BBC 6), Jazz FM’s Chris Phillips and Toshio Matsuura of Worldwide FM; a new collection of touching and intricate pieces are about to be discovered! 

Maria Grapsa | Piano, compositions, Becca Wilkins | Vocals

Matthew Kilner | Tenor Saxophone, Liam Brennan | Alto Saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Kai Chareunsy | Drums,Tommy Fuller | Double Bass

Emma Rawicz | Tenor Saxophone (track 7)  Tom Pountney | Guitar (track 9)

Torin Davies | Guitar (track 9)

Artist website: http://mariagrapsa.com/

Five trombonists and a three-member rhythm section: that sort of unique musical synergy is what Nabou Claerhout brings to life with her own Trombone Ensemble. For years, such a project had been one of the dream projects on her bucket list, and thanks to Antwerp based cultural actor Rataplan, she already saw the creation become a reality in spring 2022. In the summer of that year, the eight-piece ensemble opened both Gent Jazz and Jazz Middelheim.

In January 2023, Nabou was artist in residence at the Brussels Jazz Festival in Flagey, where she presented the Trombone Ensemble as one of three carte blanche projects. In a sold-out Studio 4, American trombone legend Robin Eubanks joined the line-up as a special guest, having previously also contributed during the studio recordings of the young collective during. The band’s self-titled debut album will be released on November 3rd 2023 via W.E.R.F. Records.

Nabou composed the entire repertoire for this Ensemble herself, and did so with a fully open vi- sion. While writing the music, she explored the trombone’s wide possibilities: “The aim is to both indulge you with warm, soft, carrying parts and then afterwards discover the trombone’s spicy and cordial character.” That rhythmic playfulness, which we hear more often in Nabou’s compositions with her acclaimed quartet N∆BOU, also seeps subtly into this band’s sound.

Despite the ‘unusual’ line-up of five diverse jazz trombonists, each with a different background, you still get to hear a very homogeneous sound, which is full of playfulness and small details. “I tried to make room and focus for each individual. And of course there is also a starring role for the rhythm section with guitar, double bass and drums.”

When Nabou started looking for the dream fellow jazz musicians for this project, she ended up with artists from her own country, Belgium, but also from far beyond the country’s borders: The Netherlands, the UK and Germany. “In selecting the trombonists, I looked for specific timbres, but also for personality. It is important that there is a good balance in playing together, but also that each musician is strong enough on his or her own for the solo parts.”

Wanting to push boundaries in her approach to both compositions and the trombone as an instrument, the real crème de la crème of the newest generation proved indispensable. “I selected a handful of European trombonists with whom I may or may not have already played, but who, above all, inspire me very deeply. They are all young people who have a lot to offer and already have sig- nificant projects to their name in their own region or country.”

Nabou Claerhout (Trombone, compositions)

Rory Ingham (Trombone) Peter Delannoye (Trombone) Nathan Surquin (Trombone)

Tobias Herzog (Bass trombone, tuba)

+ GUEST: Robin Eubanks (Trombone)

Gijs Idema (Guitar)

Cyrille Obermüller (Double bass)

Daniel Jonkers (Drums)

Website here