Photo: Ralph Gabriner

On Sunday, October 30th at 4:00 p.m., the Jazz At Dicapo series at Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York will present a special double-bill featuring Playscape Recordings artists the Ted Rosenthal Trio and the Michael Musillami Trio + 4.

Pianist Ted Rosenthal and his working trio, featuring bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Quincy Davis, will be celebrating the October release of Out Of This World (PSR#031010), which shows off his distinctive arrangements of ten popular selections from the Great American Songbook.

It follows the group’s 2010 debut, Impromptu (PSR#122109), which reviewers called “consistently intriguing” (George Kanzler, Hot House), “technically erudite and impeccably tasteful” (Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes) and “one of the most ridiculously entertaining CDs of the year” (Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix).

Guitarist/composer Michael Musillami will be presenting the New York premiere of his new extended composition, “Summer Suite: Twenty Ten” written for his longstanding trio featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller and special guests Russ Johnson (trumpet), Ned Rothenberg (alto saxophone and clarinet), Jeff Lederer (tenor saxophone and clarinet) and Matt Moran (vibraphone).

The eclectic, eight-movement work will be the centerpiece of his forthcoming 2012 release, Mettle (PSR#070111), which celebrates the trio’s 10th anniversary as a working unit. “Working with drummer George Schuller and bassist Joe Fonda (who both lead their own ensembles),” writes the Hartford Courant‘s Richard Kamins, “Musillami creates music that ignores category and boundary and moves ahead fearlessly.”

Learn more about Playscape Recordings and its releases at http://playscape-recordings.com

Photo: Peter Gannushkin

On Friday, October 14th at 8:30 p.m., New York-based alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones and his working trio, featuring bassist Adam Lane and drummer Jason Nazary, will celebrate their new AUM Fidelity release, Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), at Outpost 186 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Doors open at 8:00 p.m. and admission is a $10 suggested donation.

This will be Jones’ first performance in the Boston area since his October 2009 concert at the same venue celebrating his widely acclaimed debut, Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing).

That record appeared on best-of-the-year lists in over 20 different publications, including the Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix.

“The young saxophonist plays both raucously and sweetly,” wrote the Globe‘s Steve Greenlee, “and he puts every genre at his disposal, from blues to swing to free improvisation.”

The Phoenix‘s Jon Garelick added, “On Man’ish Boy (AUM Fidelity), his music sounds older than old—ancient, in fact—but also completely up to the minute…Jones delivers forceful melodies with a just-discovered freshness. The trio’s show at Outpost 186 in October was a standout.”

Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), which officially hits the streets October 11th, is Jones’ eagerly anticipated follow-up to Man’ish Boy. It documents the next chapter of the ongoing autobiographical “Man’ish Boy” series of compositions he introduced on his first release.

Where that record was inspired by aspects of his early childhood in rural Virginia, this latest effort revisits his years of study, experimentation and self-discovery at university where he began the search for his own voice.

“Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) continues the sonic tone poem of my life,” Jones explains. “It focuses on my experiences in Richmond, Virginia, which changed my life profoundly. It captures that mystical moment when I fell in love with music for the first time so completely. It delves deeper into the concept of developing organically without the awareness of boundaries. It expresses my love for underground hip-hop, soul, gospel, jazz, blues, rock and all things funky. Soul Power!”

Jones’ working trio has been his primary outlet as a composer/bandleader for the past three years. The group, which was first heard on record in 2009 thanks to a special foreshadowing bonus track on Man’ish Boy, has since performed at such notable venues as the Earshot Jazz Festival, Undead Jazzfest and the Vision Festival. Jones and Nazary have also performed together all over the world in the genre-defiant quartet Little Women.

The recording session for Big Gurl was documented in an April feature article in the Wall Street Journal by Steve Dollar.

A two-time nominee for Up & Coming Artist of the Year at the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, Jones is a musician on the rise thanks to a string of diverse AUM Fidelity recordings, including Cosmic Lieder, an intergenerational partnership with pianist Matthew Shipp, released earlier this year.

“Jones speaks through his alto in an original and unforced language,” writes DownBeat‘s Joe Tangari. Critics have called him “robustly creative” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), “one of NYC’s most incisive and passionate saxists” (Time Out New York) and “an up-and-coming virtuoso with big plans on the horizon” (John Garratt, PopMatters.com).

“He’s a fluid player who adapts to the context in which he finds himself,” explains Burning Ambulance‘s Phil Freeman, “but through his choice of a single instrument and the way he plays, Darius Jones is always uniquely and recognizably his own man. He is aware of history (the history of his instrument, the history of his culture), even enraptured by it, willing to serve it, but not beholden to it. He wants to bridge the generations, but he’s ready to move forward. More than ready; he’s doing it, right now.”

Learn more about Darius Jones and his AUM Fidelity recordings at http://www.aumfidelity.com/darius_jones.html

Photo: Peter Gannushkin

This just in!

Alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones and his working trio, featuring bassist Adam Lane and drummer Jason Nazary, will celebrate their new AUM Fidelity release, Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), with a four-week residency at the newly renovated Ibeam in Brooklyn.

The band will perform on four consecutive Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. beginning October 20th and continuing October 27th, November 3rd and November 10th.

Doors will open at 8:30 p.m. and admission will be $10.

Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), which officially hits the streets October 11th, is Jones’ eagerly anticipated second recording as a bandleader. It documents the next chapter of his autobiographical “Man’ish Boy” series of compositions introduced on his widely acclaimed 2009 debut, Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing), which was included on over 40 best-of-the-year lists.

Whereas the first record was inspired by aspects of Jones’ early childhood in rural Virginia, this latest effort revisits his years of study, experimentation and self-discovery at university where he began the search for his own voice.

“Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) continues the sonic tone poem of my life,” Jones explains. “It focuses on my experiences in Richmond, Virginia, which changed my life profoundly. It captures that mystical moment when I fell in love with music for the first time so completely. It delves deeper into the concept of developing organically without the awareness of boundaries. It expresses my love for underground hip-hop, soul, gospel, jazz, blues, rock and all things funky. Soul Power!”

Jones’ working trio has been his primary outlet as a composer/bandleader for the past three years. The group, which was first heard on record in 2009 thanks to a special foreshadowing bonus track on Man’ish Boy, has since performed at such notable venues as the Earshot Jazz Festival, Undead Jazzfest and the Vision Festival. Jones and Nazary have also performed together all over the world in the genre-defiant quartet Little Women.

The recording session for Big Gurl was documented in an April feature article in the Wall Street Journal by Steve Dollar.

A two-time nominee for Up & Coming Artist of the Year at the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, Jones is a musician on the rise thanks to a string of diverse AUM Fidelity recordings, including Cosmic Lieder, an intergenerational partnership with pianist Matthew Shipp, which came out earlier this year.

“Jones speaks through his alto in an original and unforced language,” writes DownBeat‘s Joe Tangari. Critics have called him “robustly creative” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), “one of NYC’s most incisive and passionate saxists” (Time Out New York) and “an up-and-coming virtuoso with big plans on the horizon” (John Garratt, PopMatters.com).

“He’s a fluid player who adapts to the context in which he finds himself,” explains Burning Ambulance‘s Phil Freeman, “but through his choice of a single instrument and the way he plays, Darius Jones is always uniquely and recognizably his own man. He is aware of history (the history of his instrument, the history of his culture), even enraptured by it, willing to serve it, but not beholden to it. He wants to bridge the generations, but he’s ready to move forward. More than ready; he’s doing it, right now.”

Learn more about Darius Jones and his AUM Fidelity recordings at http://www.aumfidelity.com/darius_jones.html

Photo: David C. Sampson

Tonight, Chicago-based clarinetist/composer James Falzone will celebrate his 40th birthday with a hometown performance at Comfort Station with his Allos Musica Trio.

The Arabic-themed group, which is gearing up for a week of Midwest/Southeast tour dates in October, features Ronnie Malley (oud and voice) and Tim Mulvenna (hand drums and percussion).

Its set will feature the premiere of a series of new pieces written specifically for its upcoming tour, as well as selections from its 2010 release, Lamentations (Allos Documents).

“The album,” writes the Chicago Reader‘s Peter Margasak, “includes several beautiful original pieces by Falzone—he calls many of them ‘lamentations on time,’ and they meditate on its relentlessness, its mercuriality, or the restless human desire to speed it up. Though the Arabic influence is unmistakable, the music’s emotional clarity and lyrical grace is universal.”

A nominee for Clarinetist of the Year at the 2011 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, Falzone been called “a virtuoso and a brilliant strategist” (Michael Jackson, DownBeat), “an articulate and interesting composer” (Jerry D’Souza, AllAboutJazz.com) and “the finest improvising clarinetist in Chicago” (Neil Tesser, Examiner.com).

Learn more about James Falzone and his genre-spanning career, including his latest release, Other Doors (Allos Documents), at http://allosmusica.org

On October 11th, AUM Fidelity will release the Darius Jones Trio’s Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), acclaimed alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones‘ highly anticipated second recording as a bandleader.

Jones, who has earned widespread critical praise for his 2009 debut, Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing), as well as ensuing releases with pianist Matthew Shipp and the collective ensemble Little Women, is heard here with his longstanding trio featuring bassist Adam Lane and drummer Jason Nazary.

The group documents the next chapter of his “Man’ish Boy” series of compositions. Whereas the first record was inspired by aspects of Jones’ early childhood in rural Virginia, Big Gurl revisits his years of study, experimentation and self-discovery at university where he began the search for his own voice.

“Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) continues the sonic tone poem of my life,” Jones explains. “It focuses on my experiences in Richmond, Virginia, which changed my life profoundly. Up until that point I had very few outside influences other than my family and my own imagination. Once my family’s values and desires were no longer a daily influence, I felt a sense of new found freedom. The freedom to develop without boundaries is the greatest gift to a young man searching for his place in life.”

He adds, “This album is a musical love letter to Richmond for the beautiful people I connected with and life lessons I learned during my time there as a young man. It captures that mystical moment when I fell in love with music for the first time so completely. It delves deeper into the concept of developing organically without the awareness of boundaries. It expresses my love for underground hip-hop, soul, gospel, jazz, blues, rock and all things funky. Soul Power!”

“Jones speaks through his alto in an original and unforced language,” writes DownBeat‘s Joe Tangari. Critics have called him “robustly creative” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), “one of NYC’s most incisive and passionate saxists” (Time Out New York) and “an up-and-coming virtuoso with big plans on the horizon” (John Garratt, PopMatters.com).

“He’s a fluid player who adapts to the context in which he finds himself,” explains Burning Ambulance‘s Phil Freeman, “but through his choice of a single instrument and the way he plays, Darius Jones is always uniquely and recognizably his own man. He is aware of history (the history of his instrument, the history of his culture), even enraptured by it, willing to serve it, but not beholden to it. He wants to bridge the generations, but he’s ready to move forward. More than ready; he’s doing it, right now.”

Learn more about Darius Jones and his AUM Fidelity recordings at http://www.aumfidelity.com/darius_jones.html