For her second Discus Music release, Charlotte has convened her regular working quartet to explore open ended versions of her compositions which form the basis of their live set. Captured with energy and clarity in the studio, here we have 50 minutes of real group interaction where the music from each player is balanced equally within the total group sound.

Charlotte writes: "Charlotte Keeffe’s Right Here, Right Now Quartet featuring Ashley John Long, Ben Handysides and Moss Freed, is a breeding ground for squelchy, sploshy, splashy Sound Brush playing - music-making! …Overtly over-blowing, splitting, splattering, squirming, squeaking and squealing out ALIVE! Howling and hooting, chomping and chaffing… Dusty, distorted, flimsy, fragile, manic, ghostly, guttural sound strokes rip through whirlwinds and whirlpools of wholesome gooey-sound-dough! A turbulent tease, staggering, swaying, abruptly plunging into intentional vagueness… A messy emporium of raw, raucous realness. Alive. Right Here, Right Now. It is as it is…"

Charlotte Keeffe - Sound Brush / trumpet, flugelhorn and compositions

Ashley John Long - double bass

Ben Handysides - drums

Moss Freed – guitar

Produced by Martin Archer

Cover painting by Gina Southgate

To purchase click here

The brilliant Rio-born vocalist/pianist/composer, long based in Santa Cruz, California, follows up her 2019 release "Encantada (Live)" with her first made-in-Brazil recording, featuring a host of her favorite musical friends: Jorge Helder, b; Mario Adnet, g/arr; Marcelo Costa, d; Vitor Goncalves, acc; Toninho Horta, g; Romero Lubambo, g; Ze Nogueira, sax; et al. "This is not a 'jazz' album," says Claudia. "It's not about theme and improvisation. I wanted everything to be part of the song ...."

More than a musical homecoming, Cartas ao Vento is a fervid embrace, a joyous celebration marking Claudia Villela’s return to Rio de Janeiro for her first recording in Brazil. Since the mid-1980s the vocalist, pianist, percussionist, and composer has thrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her extraordinary voice and capacious improvisational skills have earned an avid following amongst American and Brazilian jazz’s greatest figures. Cartas ao Vento (“Letters to the Wind”) was an indirect result of the pandemic, when Villela was in Rio for a couple of weeks visiting family. Handed a basket of limes, she turned the tart and bitter fruit into an intoxicating pitcher of caipirinhas. 

Villela’s small but precious discography includes albums with Toots Thielemans, Kenny Werner, and Michael Brecker. Amongst Brazilian masters she’s collaborated with Toninho Horta, Romero Lubambo, Guinga, Airto, and Dori Caymmi. Hermeto Pascoal recently hailed her from the stage of the SFJAZZ Center as a singularly adventurous artist. Cartas ao Vento illustrates that praise,bringing her together with some of her earliest musical comrades, including bassist Jorge Helder, an esteemed accompanist who works with legendary artists like Maria Bethânia and Chico Buarque, and drummer Marcelo Costa, who also performs widely with Maria Bethânia, among others.

Another friend from high school days, Mario Adnet, contributed several charts for flutes, saxophones, and strings (“His sisters are dear friends and I was always at their house, going to the beach, sleeping over, going to parties, listening to records,” Villela recalls). And another heavyweight, Edu Neves, contributes on saxophones and flutes, less as a soloist than as an integral part of Villela’s exquisitely crafted musical settings. Rather than writing tunes to stretch out as an improviser, she designed the project to focus on her work as a composer and arranger. “This is not a ‘jazz’ album,” she says. “It’s not about theme and improvisation. I wanted everything to be part of the song, to get away from the solo as a virtuoso statement.”

Yet there’s virtuosity aplenty, starting with the opener “Cartas ao Vento,” which launches the album with an ebullient blast of joy powered by Villela’s deft pandeiro work propelling her poetic, sensory-laden description of her homecoming. In many ways the title track embodies several themes running through the album, with her Brazilian team joined by U.S.-based collaborators, including bassist Gary Brown and fellow Brazilians Vitor Gonçalves on accordion and Celso Alberti on surdo and percussion. 

She’s at her most freewheeling on “Agua Santa,” a multipart excursion that features her impressive accompaniment on piano. With Lubambo’s gorgeous guitar work, the piece is a hat tip to the great composer/guitarist Guinga, centering on an unaccompanied vocal passage echoing the anthem of the sertão, “Asa Branca.” She composed the dreamy ballad “Meninando” with Toninho Horta in mind, and in a match made in guitarra heaven, Horta is joined by Lubambo.

The Minas Gerais thread continues with “Chamego,” a breathtaking Villela original that feels like it could have come from a third volume of Milton Nascimento’s Clube da Esquina. Featuring her piano, the superlative rhythm section tandem of Helder and Costa, and Adnet’s string arrangement, Villela evokes the lush countryside with an incantatory melody echoing the flow of the hills. 

Another thread running through the album is Villela’s gift for setting poetry to music. She wrote three of the Cartas ao Vento pieces as part of a commissioning project to compose music for Latin American poets. “Flores do Mais” is a captivating setting for verse by the great, doomed Brazilian poet Ana Cristina Cesar that features Villela’s piano with Helder and Costa and Adnet’s lithe horn arrangement featuring the great Rio saxophonist Zé Nogueira. Nogueira is also featured prominently on “Instrumento,” providing a beautifully buzzy but unsettling sonic scrim on the double-reed duduk in the midst of Villela’s setting for lyrics by the late Rio de Janeiro poet Mario Quintana; Claudia created the vocal arrangement on the spot. And “Paramo,” sung in Spanish, is a ravishing setting for a poem by the late Venezuelan writer Ramon Palomares. Adnet’s arrangement for Everson Moraes’s smoothly regal trombone highlights a line Palomares could have written about Villela herself: “when you’re singing everything moves.”

Not that Villela needs lyrics to make a brilliant impression. On “Chorinho pra Elas,” in the studio, she crafted a lapidary chart that includes her two daughters, granddaughter, mother, and godmother. Edu Neves’s flute shadows their soaring vocals, a blend that adds a luminous sheen to the bountiful love spilling out from the dancing melody. Dedicated to Chico Buarque, “Bolero” offers a very different wordless soundscape with a confidently climbing line that ascends to glory (accompanied by the Everson Moraes’s work on vintage brass ophicleides). The album closes with “Batucador,” an ecstatic blast of frevo dedicated to percussion legend Airto that centers on the wordless interactions between Villela and Gonçalves’s accordion. Building to a burst of energy, the track embodies the creative vitality of an artist whose roots in her homeland have grown deeper the longer she’s away. 

Claudia Villela website

Singer-songwriter Lara Eidi releases her stunning new album ‘Sun’, following the huge success of the album’s first single ‘ Breathe Love’ ( Canadian Beat’s Passport Selection) with A& R Music calling it “a jazz-folk remedy for modern malady “. With its genre-defying sound and heartfelt lyrics, the song is a testament to Eidi’s unique artistic vision and creative prowess, a true mirror of the album ‘Sun’. Born to Lebanese-Canadian parents, relocating to Athens from London, Lara is a modern day troubadouress that has seen hard working recognition for her distinct voice and presence ; “ quite simply, the future of cosmopolitan folk “Ex- Friendly. The award-winning jazz artist, journalist and Recording Academy Voted Member Fiona Ross who wrote the album liner notes says of the album:

“Music is an omnipotent tool. It has the potential to strengthen and empower. To bring light where there is dark . To calm the mind and soothe the soul. But these almost magical moments of connectivity can only be realised if placed in the right hands. Lara Eidi is those hands ..”

About the album, in Lara’s words:

“I had spent so long in the hustle and beautifully chaotic London , building my career, gaining momentum, performing, the works, but I had started to lose sight of my ‘voice’. What was it that I wanted to say, now, as a changed person. I went through three heavy life altering years, that had weighed on my heart and soul- so obviously, aside from being a haven for creating, I decided to do something which felt like the bold choice. I looked to the past to re-create what I had lost: old songs that were never released ( Forgive, Tide, Sun) , newer ones that weren't finished ( Damien, Hang On), and because I had more to say, wrote a few new ones ( Hello Gravity, Breathe Love, and Maybe Then). I wanted to give the WHOLE picture, raw, truthful, beautiful and embodied all the different layered emotions I was feeling on a daily basis. The sound of these songs was huge- full of rich layers and textures that came alive and felt like a burst of energy I had kept hidden from the world. That’s when I realised, that it was time for an album. “Sun” was born. Now, I just needed the musicians. Not knowing anyone in Athens except for a few trusty old band mates, I went out and saw loads of gigs. Slowly but surely, I pulled together some of Athen’s most amazing musicians from the folk, classical and jazz worlds. I put them in the same room, gave them the music which I had worked tirelessly with my friend and producer, Giotis, and said “let’s just play through everything and see what happens”.

I was filled with a sense of overwhelming joy: they had learnt the music off my heart. Mind you, this isn't common. Especially in a city where music is underappreciated. A month later we hit the studio ( Syn Ena Recording), recording the rhythm section first, myself on piano, guitar with Petros Fatis on drums, and Harrys Pandazsi on bass. Next up, the magical string trio-Lagom Quartet - with my trustee friend and co – arranger Stavros Parginos. Finally, it was time for the vocals. I knew I had to make the most out of those sessions, so I went home and re-wrote the most intricate and complex harmonies, imagining for a moment I was back in London and had 10 singers in the same room. As I recorded each vocal line, I felt a slow and almost spiritual release of music and stories I had lived with for a long time come to life.

Before we finished the record, I wrote this, which pretty much sums up each track of the album, and what I want to share with you all. I had to face my nearly crippling anxiety, and a fear that I wouldn’t be able to turn to the one thing that kept me going. Even on the darkest of days, there is always Sun .. I like to believe that on the hardest of days, I can breathe love into the world. I can feel the sun, touch down and converse with gravity. I can choose to let go and forgive, and I can choose to ride the tide as it comes and get ready for the unexpected wave. After all, all we can do really is hang on, forgetting the Damien's of this world. Maybe then when I’ve embraced it all, maybe then everything will turn out fine. Maybe then, we’ll find the Sun, within.’

The album’s liner notes are written by award winning UK jazz artist and journalist Fiona Ross, who praises Lara for an album that “heals and astounds all at once “.

Eidi is an artist known for her genre-bending style and captivating presence “ a gift of a voice “ ( Sandy Brown Jazz), and also takes pride in her work as a music journalist and creator of songwriting podcast “ The Notes Between “., as well as founder of educational music platform Phonica Music CoachingHer ability to connect with audiences on a profound level coupled with her powerful voice and evocative songwriting has made her debut album Sun a piece that showcases her artistic evolution and delivers a message of hope, empowerment, and freedom. Out now on all platforms via independent UK based @Pastiche Records.

Visit www.laraeidimusic.com to listen and support Lara and her music.

After Japanese vocalist **MASUMI ORMANDY **released her debut album in 2016,Sunshine in Manhattan, a world of opportunities opened up for her. During the past seven years, she has released three CDs in Japan, performed recently with the “Father of Slovak Jazz,” Peter Lipa, in Slovakia, who invited her to participate in a concert tour to the Czech Republic, plus she has performed concerts in Japan, Italy, the USA and Vienna, where she was featured at the Viennese Ball in 2023. This was quite an accomplishment considering she is an astute businesswoman and educator who followed her dream to become a singer, making her debut album at the age of 77. 

Ormandy’s adventurous heart, now 84 years young, yearned to return to where it all began in New York City to record a new album, BEYOND THE SEA, in June 2023. ROSEANNA VITRO produced once again along with master audio engineer, PAUL WICKLIFFE. Vitro is an esteemed performer, clinician, recording artist, and jazz vocal instructor, who has released fourteen critically acclaimed recordings. Her album The Music of Randy Newman earned a Grammy Nomination for "Best Vocal Jazz Album." Vitro and ALLEN FARNHAM, longtime collaborator and renowned New York pianist and arranger, worked for two months creating a travelogue interpreting music of America and back to Japan in this inspiring new recording. 

Ormandy is surrounded by a stellar cast of New York’s finest musicians, including Allen Farnham on piano and synth, DEAN JOHNSON on bass, TIM HORNER on drums, star tenor saxophonist HOUSTON PERSON, trumpet great BRIA SKONBERG, master trombonist JOHN ALLRED, the formidable DANNY BACHER, who plays soprano sax and performed a vocal duet with Ormandy, guitar great CHIELI MINUCCI, who’s known for his group Special EFX, the swinging guitarist PAUL MEYERS, tenor saxophonist TIM RIES (Rolling Stones), ANDERS BOSTROM on flute, and MINO CINELU on percussion. Star violinist SARA CASWELL and cellist JODY REDHAGEFERBER are featured on the orchestral arrangements. Truly a dream team.

Ormandy’s jazz vocal career began when she came from Japan to New York to study with Vitro. Although Ormandy had music training at conservatories in Tokyo and San Francisco when she was young, she quit her studies when she met and fell in love with Ray, an American who was living in Tokyo and teaching at a university. Masumi and Ray overcame social taboos and married. Together they founded the Pacific Language School in Tokyo, which offers English language instruction for Japanese students of all ages. The school continues to be a major success and an important part of Ormandy’s life. 

Throughout the years, though, music was never far from Ormandy’s mind. She began learning English when she was just ten years old and had immersed herself in American culture. She particularly loved American jazz—especially Ella Fitzgerald. 

BEYOND THE SEA is an anthology of songs that frame Ormandy’s uplifting life view. She opens the album with "Beyond the Sea," the English-language version of the French song "La Mer” by Charles Trenet, popularized by Bobby Darin in 1959. While the French original was an ode to the sea, the English lyrics written by Jack Lawrence transformed it into a love song. “I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" is a jazz standard by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. It features Bacher in a Louis Armstrong inspired vocal duet with Ormandy complete with a New Orleans jazz-style horn section.

“Smile” appeared in Charlie Chaplin’s film, “Modern Times.” Chaplin co-wrote the music with David Raskin, a fellow filmmaker. The lyrics were the brilliant creation of songwriters John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, and brings the promise, even when your heart is breaking, “You’ll see the sun come shining through, if you just smile.” Masumi was 6 years old when the nuclear bomb hit Hiroshima, 188 miles from her home in Kobe. She spent over a month in blackout conditions, living in fear of another bomb. For Masumi, sunshine has healing properties for the darkness humanity encounters.

“Like a River Flowing” is iconic in Japan, written by Akira Mitake with lyrics by Yasushi Akimoto. These inspiring English lyrics were written by Steve Sacks, NYC saxophonist and member of Ormandy’s Tokyo quintet.

“Here’s to Life” by Artie Butler and Phyllis Molinary, was the signature song of the late, great Shirley Horn. With Ormandy’s 84-year-old journey, the story easily flows forth with conviction. “Sentimental Journey” — the classic World War II era anthem with music by Les Brown and lyrics by Bud Green —is reminiscent of the Andrew Sisters’ joyful swing era.

“I’m Through with Love” was written by Gus Kahn, Matty Malneck and Fud Livingston. It features Houston Person on tenor sax, with Ormandy’s poignant vocal delivery of love and longing. “Tea for Two,” originally from the show “No, No Nanette,” by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar, found new life with the Farnham/Vitro arrangement. Ormandy was inspired to include “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” by George C. Cory, Jr. and Douglass Cross, because of her years spent in San Francisco as a young adult.

“It’s Only a Paper Moon” was written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose. “Ringo No Uta” (Apple Song) is a beloved Japanese song originally composed by Tadashi Manjyome, with lyrics by Hachiro Sato. English lyrics by NY pianist Jonathan Katz, Ormandy’s Tokyo bandleader.

Ormandy may have found her voice late in life, but her conviction and maturity make her music authentically compelling. With Roseanna Vitro at the helm and a band of A-list musicians, Ormandy’s artistry and commitment shine through. 

***BEYOND THE SEA ***releases September 1, 2023 on Miles High Records and will be available for streaming on all platforms; more info here

Mixing the lyrical sensitivity of Madeleine Peyroux with the powerhouse vocals of Amy Winehouse, jazz vocalist Leslie Vincent puts together a collection of songs that chart the course of a night – from the playful sensuality of dressing up and going out to the highs of falling in love followed by late night regrets and ending with a brand new day to start all over again. About Last Night is available here from August 25th

With a start in musical theater, Vincent has made her mark as an innovative interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Her theatrical background lends itself to the album’s eclectic range of material–from jazz standards to contemporary tunes to Broadway numbers. The standouts, however, are her own originals, bringing a modern perspective to classic jazz sounds. Kicking off with her swinging tune “Psychedelics With You,” she sets the tone for an album that is a rich emotional rollercoaster reflecting the sudden turns of falling in and out of love with all the humor and soul that comes from someone who’s truly lived.

These emotional stories are the heart of the album and kept front and center with masterful production by Vincent and engineer John Miller (The Jackson 5, Sonny Knight & The Lakers, Black Market Brass). Recorded at Future Condo Studios and mastered by Bruce Templeton (Joyann Parker, Dessa), the album features frequent collaborators pianist Ted Godbout, bassist Matt McIntyre, drummer Ben Ehrlich and trumpet player Mitch Van Laar. They form a tight, minimalist jazz combo with a dynamic sound, letting Vincent’s vocals shine.

“In the beginning, it feels like it could be a big jazz dance number, but a lot of the song winds up leaning more into a cool piano jazz pocket while Vincent spins a modern pop sensible tune over top of a vintage classic vibe” - Glide Magazine

“About Last Night capitalizes on Leslie’s established wit and charm while expanding her palette with a soiree into vintage blues.” - Music in Minnesota

Leslie Vincent website

On her long-awaited debut album, Canadian-American violinist Aline Homzy ushers the jazz violin tradition into the contemporary world with improvisation, nuanced composition and the creation of a dazzling musical world. Available to purchase here

The virtuosic violinist Aline Homzy introduces us to her dazzling musical world on her debut album Éclipse with her group Aline’s étoile magique. The album will be released August 25, 2023 via Elastic Recordings. Joining her on the album are vibraphonist Michael Davidson (Joe Chambers), guitarist Thom Gill (Knower), Dan Fortin (Bernice) on bass, and Marito Marques (Ivan Lins) on drums, with special guests João Frade on accordion and vocalist Felicity Williams. The 11-track recording was ten years in the making and is a debut that showcases Homzy’s brilliant musicianship and compositional point of view with impressive clarity and maturity.

Homzy grew up in Montréal, Québec before moving to Toronto to study jazz. Private studies in New York with violinist Sara Caswell, arranger Sy Johnson (Charles Mingus’ arranger) and Berlin-based pianist/composer Aki Takasi had a profound impact on her musical trajectory. Homzy’s father, Andrew Homzy, is a musicologist and an Ellington, Mingus and Monk scholar. These three figures, who occupied much of her father’s interest, greatly influenced her compositions and playing. Intervallic melodies à la Monk, an Ellington-approach to writing for specific musicians, and Mingus-like shifts in tempi and moods are all present in this music. Above all else, Homzy shares the same musical goal that Monk, Mingus and Ellington championed: creating serious music - executed with a sense of playfulness, wit and humor.

As a jazz violinist, Homzy is wary of assumptions people often make before they’ve even heard her play a single note. “I’ve certainly learnt from the great violinists of the genre, like Stéphane Grappelli,” Homzy says. “But it’s important to me to use the tradition as a foundation while shining a more contemporary light on the instrument and its capabilities.” Homzy achieves this modernity by improvising with a fearlessness that highlights the fullness of the violin sound. She doesn’t shy away from bold choices when improvising and takes inspiration from the virtuosity of violinists like Jean-Luc Ponty and Regina Carter.

The album’s opening track “Caraway” highlights Homzy’s boldness in this regard, both as a player and a composer. She describes the tune as “Hermeto Pascoal meets the Mahavishnu Orchestra” with seamlessly blended sections that create a musical world through which the listener is transported. “Éclipse is a universe where I can explore the idea of the unknown,” Homzy says. “I’m fascinated by how we capture otherworldliness in music and sounds. When the sun and moon align during an eclipse, the light changes. How do we translate this visual shift into an aural one?”

Homzy finds the answer to this question by fully utilising the studio as the sixth band member on the album. Effects shape the compositions and alter the textures for variety. The musicians in étoile magique ventured to Kingston, Ontario where they spent a week recording at rock band The Tragically Hip’s studio. Homzy made use of post-production tools to help paint the picture of a vivid universe. On “Mesarthim,” the theremin and synth are manipulated manually to achieve the sensation that the listener is wrapped in the sound. The only cover on the album is Charlie Parker’s “Segment,” which receives a reverberant, “spacey” treatment so that it fits in perfectly with the rest of the tracks.

Homzy takes advantage of the ability to add layers in post-production but she also exercises restraint, aiming to whittle something down to its musical essence. “I always think of that Coco Chanel quote, ‘Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.’ The same can be said for post-production. Add in all the overdubs, take a step back, and remove one thing you added to restore sonic balance.” While Homzy certainly used the studio as a way to explore every possible nook and cranny of the music to maximum effect, the result is never heavy-handed. The lush effect of a well-chosen pad here, the faintest shimmer of a delay there. There is a thoughtfulness that runs throughout, from the structure of the music to the way in which it was arranged and brought to life.

Homzy waited ten years to record her debut album. 'I needed that time to mature as a composer and improviser. I also needed to learn how to be concise with my musical statement,” she explains. Éclipse is a testament to taking time and then creating with a laser-sharp focus and intention. Homzy and étoile magique create a richly nuanced musical world where theremins, vibraphones and violins combine to bring the great unknown to life.

Aline Homzy website