UK-based Parisian bassist, vocalist and composer Amy Gadiaga has announced the release of her debut EP All Black Everything, an expansive, boundary-pushing 5-track collectionset for release on the Jazz re:freshed label on April 5th 2024.

Showcasing prodigious bass playing and a voice brimming with power and emotion, All Black Everything is a profound exploration of self-acceptance that presents both a celebration and acknowledgment of Gadiaga’s deep-seated darkness.Inspired by the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, All Black Everything confronts racial identity complexities and the challenges of being a societal 'black sheep’ and sees Gadiaga courageously transform her insecurities into a narrative of self-empowerment. 

All Black Everything’s lead single Paloma Negra, an adventurous, unpredictable track pervaded by shimmering jazz grooves and Mexican rhythms is out now and available to listen to HERE.

“Paloma Negra is a tribute to black artists as they contribute to shifting culture all over the world” explains Gadiaga. “I wrote it during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement at a time when I was really into Mexican folk music. The title means Black Dove in Spanish and it’s a recurring theme in Mexican folk songs.”

Born to parents of Senegalese, Gambian, and Malian descent, and hailing from the outskirts of Paris, the multitalented Gadiaga has been making waves in the UK music industry since she moved to London aged 18. With a fresh and unique style that bridges the old school jazz tradition of musicians such as Betty Carter and Wayne Shorter with the raw, rootsy modern sound of artists such as D’Angelo, Stevie Wonder and Twinkie Clark, Gadiaga’s breadth of ambition and revitalising approach have brought early critical acclaim and ardent fans.

Signalling the arrival of a significant new voice on the London music scene, All Black Everything communicates the liberating essence of embracing individuality and presents a journey through Gadiaga's personal struggles, standing as a testament to art's transformative power and encouraging listeners to find strength in their uniqueness. “All Black Everything is very much an exploration and embracing of one of my archetypes in life which is the black bird/black sheep” she explains. “That feeling of not thinking you belong anywhere, of being misunderstood and really tending to your own. No helping hand. But it’s ok sometimes because you also feel like nobody can compete with you, you’re one of a kind.” 

All Black Everything is released on the Jazz re:freshed label on April 5th 2024.

PRE ORDER HERE

Available Friday March 29th on Chronograph Records

Barefoot (single) released Friday March 8th

Release concert Saturday April 6th at Theatre 1308, Calgary AB

When the world stopped, our family’s identity was stripped away overnight, we were no longer who we thought we were. We embarked on a journey of wearing different skins, playing different roles, feeling generally out of place. These skins led me down a path I never thought possible, surrounded by warm hands, life and death.

What began as a project with a vastly different direction, Horns of Hope was born out of a need for a simple, uncomplicated gathering of friends that materialised in eight beautiful, heartbreaking, and hopeful songs. There was a sense of urgency in comparison to BORJONER which took nearly a decade to complete. Horns of Hope happened in a period of months - imagined in coffee shops and texts between myself and Carsten, it came to life in what seemed like only a few conversations.

The title "Horns of Hope” was brought on when I was contemplating the philosophical phrase, “the horns of the dilemma”, which is the choice between two things, and neither of them are desirable. The pandemic felt this way to me, for I could choose myself and my own freedoms or rights, or I could choose the rights and freedoms of others, keeping myself secluded and masked. This made me hopeless for a time. However, Hope exists in duality, for we cannot be hopeful without the existence of struggle, pain, and loss. We must accept the duality of our existence, be present in it when possible, and listen for the signs. To be in society, we must see the dualities of light and dark, hope and fear.

Why these songs? It’s both uncomfortable and important for me to say that I had specific moments, people, and experiences attached to each song on this album. It’s incredibly private and utterly public. I will most likely never mention to those people that it’s about them, but they might infer it.

– Aimee-Jo Benoit

Featuring:

Aimee-Jo Benoit - Vocals

Carsten Rubeling - Trombone

Mark DeJong - Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet

Andre Wickenheiser - Trumpet

Daniel Gaucher - Drums

Mark Limacher - Piano, Rhodes

Jon Wielebknowski - Upright Bass, Electric Bass

About Aimee-Jo Benoit:

Renowned for her distinctive vocal style, articulate diction, and expressive phrasing, Calgary vocalist Aimee-Jo Benoit is recognized for her unwavering commitment to featuring the works of Canadian songwriters in her repertoire. Her performances guide the audience along the path of her emotional roots with the music of Daniel Lanois, Joni Mitchell as well as Leslie Feist, Michael Feuerstack and others.

Benoit takes a classic approach to standards as well as interpreting well- known contemporary songs into a new sound, paying homage to the long-standing jazz tradition of creating a new canon.

Continually honing her craft, Aimee-Jo has studied privately with Tamara Beatty, Leon Leontaridis, Cheryl Fisher, Vivian Martin & workshopped with Jay Clayton. Her discography includes four studio albums with Woodpigeon from 2008-2012, has lent her vocal talent to recordings by Summerlad and Aaron Booth in 2005 and 2008 respectively, as well as Hermitess' 2020 release, "The Tower.”

Independently released in June 2020, her debut album "BORJONER," a improvisation led collaboration with TRIO VELOCITY, marked a significant milestone in her musical journey. On March29, 2024 her sophomore album HORNS OF HOPE will be released on boutique label Chronograph Records.

In addition to being a performer, Aimee-Jo has earned a Master of Arts degree in the academic study of religion, with a particular emphasis on examining the correlation between improvisation in religious contexts and its application to the study of religion in academic research. Committed to her local jazz community she volunteers as Secretary of the Board for Buckingjam Music Foundation, as well as maintaining a blog under MOTHER/MUSIC/HOOD. Through this platform, she shares her personal experiences of motherhood, striving to construct a supportive community for fellow creatives navigating the complexities of balancing artistic pursuits with motherhood. She hopes that her vulnerability will help to empower women to realize their own second acts in the realm of creativity.

Website: aimeejobenoit.com Instagram: @aimeejobenoitmusic Facebook: AimeeJoBenoitMusic

Carla Diratz - voice, keyboard

Martin Archer - saxophones, clarinets, keyboards, electronics

Nick Robinson - guitars

Adam Fairhall - organ, electric piano

Dave Sturt - bass guitar

Adam Fairclough - drums

Charlotte Keeffe – trumpet

When Carla, Nick and I has completed our previous work “The Scale” in 2021, I felt this was such a unique work in its scope and feel – prog, pop, abstraction and chanson – that it would be very difficult to follow up such a definitive statement.

Then in 2022 Carla commented that if she made another album, the state of the world dictated that it would have to be a blues album. Immediately we had our brief for a new record. Each of us had out own take on this idea.  Carla sent in four jazz infected / inflected pieces for voice and keys which were recorded on her phone.  Nick came up with a sequence of progressive blues rock pieces for the band.  And I came up with a few little odds and ends with my own leftfield take on the format.

All of these were realised magnificently in the studio by our wonderful band, this time round bringing in the great improvising musician Adam Fairhall on organ.

We hope you will enjoy our modern contribution to the progressive blues rock tradition. – Martin Archer

On first hearing this album our friend the poet Carl Sonnenfeld wrote:

"Carla and her heavy voice crushed rock a whisper that blows the hot the cold a whisper that sinks snake engulfs with the alligator in a swamp of New Orleans Carla and her voice flows this Mississippi river that we go up against current back to reblues as an initiative quest towards Chicago Carla and her river voice that carries all the pain and grace Carla and her voice dries like sand that hangs on to the erratic harmonica of a mad angel Carla and her old dodge vehicle voice that tracks its way on the desert red dirt From Mojave to see Captain Beefheart and Neil Young. Carla and her voodoo voice to conjure fate and communicate with old bluesmen prayers to severe echoes of bass sax in osmosis with ambient chaos Carla gives her voice to the Blues a revisited and destroyed blues a Blues that resembles Carla"

For further information and links: Martin Archer - Discus Music

Impulse! Announces Previously Unreleased Recording Of Historic 1971 Carnegie Hall Performance The Carnegie Hall Concert - which features an all-star band including Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Garrison, Cecil McBee, Kumar Kramer, Tulsi Reynolds, Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis - will be available in full for the very first time
Release Date: March 22 2024*

February 8, 2024 — In 1971, Alice Coltrane performed at Carnegie Hall for a special gala benefiting the Integral Yoga Institute. Backed by an all-star group of musicians, Coltrane delivered a captivating set which will now be available in full for the very first time. On March 22, Alice Coltrane - The Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!), will finally bring the full recording of Coltrane’s Carnegie Hall performance to fans worldwide. Pre-order the album HERE. 

First track “Shiva-Loka” is out now, accompanied by a new visualizer. Watch HERE. 

The captivating performance, held four years after John Coltrane’s untimely passing and recorded by Impulse! for eventual release, marks Alice’s first performance as a leader at Carnegie Hall.  The concert arrived at a pivotal moment in both Coltrane’s career and her spiritual journey: she had just released her fourth solo album, Journey in Satchidananda, and had deepened her spiritual quest over a five-week trip to India. Her band that night added two members of Satchidananda's circle — Kumar Kramer and Tulsi Reynolds, playing harmonium and tamboura, respectively — to a large jazz ensemble comprising two saxophonists (Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp), two bassists (Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee) and two drummers (Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis).  

Her set included two transcendental tunes from Journey in Satchidananda, followed by two compositions by John Coltrane and served as a sign of things to come, a chronicle of an artist during a musical and spiritual emergence.

This year Impulse! and Verve Label Group have partnered with The John & Alice Coltrane Home to launch the “Year of Alice,” a year-long celebration of Alice Coltrane’s profound work.

At the center of the celebration are Coltrane’s groundbreaking recordings for Impulse!, and the label will be working in tandem with The John & Alice Coltrane Home for varied activations throughout the year. To kick off the year-long celebration there will be special night of performers and speakers that include Ravi Coltrane, Michelle Coltrane, Brandee Younger and more at the legendary Birdland on February 22. 

To learn more, visit ververecords.com 

Tracklist:\

1. Journey in Satchidananda\
2. Shiva-Loka\
3. Africa\
4. Leo

Presenting the inaugural full-length album from the Danae Olano Trio, a collection comprising nine songs that signify the artist's first venture into bandleading. This album symbolizes the culmination of her artistic evolution since she relocated from Cuba to the multicultural city of Toronto in 2016. The central theme of this project revolves around capturing her original compositions, seamlessly merging a diverse range of musical styles that have influenced her during her Canadian journey, including jazz, classical, and Afro-Cuban traditions.

From a track titled "This City," born from the simple act of strolling through downtown Toronto, to other compositions that accentuate the fusion of jazz and Olano’s Cuban heritage, rooted in the legacy of Cuba's esteemed "Great Masters of the Piano" and enriched with Afro-Cuban rhythms, there is a conviction that this album has the potential to create a substantial artistic influence, resonating not only within Canada,but also across the global stage. The album features worldwide known musicians such as Jane Bunnett on flute, drummer Horacio el Negro Hernandez, singer Joanna Majoko, among others.

About the Trio

Havana-born pianist and composer Dánae Olano is known across North America and internationally as a founding member of the all-female Afro-Cuban band Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, which since its formation in 2013 has earned a Juno Award and been nominated on one other occasion, as well as earning a Grammy nomination. She is the band’s pianist and sings, composes, and arranges for this renowned ensemble. Dánae has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious jazz clubs, including Birdland, The Blue Note and Bimhuis as well as at top American festivals such as the Monterrey, Newport and Saratoga Jazz Festivals in addition to Jazz al Parque in Bogota, Colombia and JazzAhead (Bremen, Germany). In 2018 she shared the stage with pianists Jason Moran, James Francis, Booker T. Jones and Jane Bunnett as part of NPR’s Jazz Piano Christmas” which was hosted by Felix Contreras at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Dánae’s own project focuses on the roots of Cuban piano, and explores the legacy of the Master of Jazz Music.

Amhed Mitchel is a Cuban-Canadian drummer who calls Toronto home since 2006. As a session musician Mitchel has collaborated with a vast amount of artists. In 2004 he was part of the closing concert of the Tokyo Jazz Festival where he shared stage with such musical icons like the great Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Dianne Reeves and Leonel Loueke. Amhed continues to collaborate and record with renowned artists from the music scene. These include multiple Juno Award winners and Grammy- nominated figures such as Jane Bunnett and Hilario Duran, the highly successful singer-songwriter Marc Jordan, Shawn Kellerman, the eminent Lucky Peterson, Jordan John, among others.

Born in Holguin, Cuba, bassist Roberto Riveron was a founding member of the legendary Cuban group Klimax, playing and contributing compositions to the ground- breaking ensemble’s first four CDs. He can be heard on Isaac Delgado’s 2001 Grammy-nominated album La fórmula. He is a Latin Grammy-winner as part of the compilation La rumba Soy Yo which was recognized in the folk category that same year. Roberto worked with the Grammy Award-winning Cubanismo! led by Jesus Alemañy for more than six years, touring in Japan, The United States, Australia, Asia and Canada. Riveron has performed and recorded with international artists Poncho Sanchez, Chucho Valdez, Ricardo Lemvo and Harold Lopez Nussa as well as Canadian luminaries Hilario Duran, Jane Bunnett, Amanda Martinez, OKAN Penderecki String Quartet and Alexis Baro, to name a few.

Visit Danae Olano website here

Norah Jones has shared her spirited new song “Staring at the Wall” along with an accompanying video which was directed by Jones and Kyle Paas and features studio footage as well as Norah’s handwritten lyrics. It’s the second track to be revealed from the nine-time GRAMMY winning singer, songwriter, and pianist’s vibrant ninth solo studio album Visions which comes out March 8 on Blue Note Records. A collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels, the album was introduced last month with the lead single “Running.”

“This is one of my favorites,” Jones says of “Staring at the Wall,” which was co-written by Jones and Michels and features Norah on vocals, guitar, and piano with Leon on bass, drums, and tambourine. “It was kind of a left turn from everything else on the album. It's the first time I played guitar with Leon, we were just trying to come up with something different. I got on guitar and he got on drums and it just took off. It’s just so fun to play music sometimes, and I feel like on this album there were a lot of those times. He had a really cool guitar sound going for me so it just felt good.”

Jones will be making several TV appearances around the album release including performances on NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (March 6), NBC The Today Show (March 8), and CBS Saturday Morning (March 9). She has also announced her Summer 2024 North American tour dates which kick off in late June and include sets at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (July 2) and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival (July 14), as well as shows in Seattle (Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheater, July 29), San Francisco (The Masonic, August 3), and Los Angeles (The Greek Theatre, August 4). Ticket pre-sales begin February 27 with a general on-sale March 1. See below for a list of dates and visit norahjones.com for more info.

Visions is a 12-song set that finds Jones singing about feeling free, wanting to dance, making it right, and acceptance of what life brings. It’s the yang to the yin that was Pick Me Up Off The Floor, Jones’ last album of new original songs which was released early in the pandemic lockdown of 2020 and foreshadowed many of the dark emotions of that period.

“The reason I called the album Visions is because a lot of the ideas came in the middle of the night or in that moment right before sleep.” says Jones. “We did most of the songs in the same way where I was at the piano or on guitar and Leon was playing drums and we were just jamming on stuff. I like the rawness between me and Leon, the way it sounds kind of garage-y but also kind of soulful, because that's where he's coming from, but also not overly perfected.”

Michels played saxophone in Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and has performed with Lee Fields & The Expressions, Dan Auerbach’s band The Arcs, Menahan Street Band, and his own project El Michels Affair. Michels and Jones first collaborated on the single “Can You Believe” and later worked together on Jones’ 2021 holiday album I Dream of Christmas. Visions also features contributions from trumpeter Dave Guy, bassist Jesse Murphy, and drummers Brian Blade and Homer Steinweiss.

Visions is available for pre-order now, with formats including indie record store exclusive orange blend vinyl featuring an alternate cover, Barnes & Noble exclusive teal blend vinyl, as well as a Target exclusive CD with the bonus track “Until My Heart is Found” and poster.