Here are a few beautiful pictures from Jan Vandevyver:

José James and Jef Neve

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All pictures © Jan Vandevyver

Moodio.tv also has a video interview online from earlier this year, where you get some more background info on the record.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – Antiquity (Live) – Mochilla (2010)
Archie Whitewater – Cross Country – Cadet Concept Records (1970)
Reverie – In Every Way – Luv N Haight Records (1980)
Azimuth – Linha Do Horizonte – Som Livre (1975)
Arthur Verocai – Na Boca do Sol (Live) – Mochilla (2010)
Donny Hathaway – Valdez In The Country – Atco Records (1978)
YNQ – I Am Singing – Stones Throw (2004)
Marlena Shaw – Woman Of The Ghetto – Cadet (1969)

Dee Edwards – Why Can’t There Be Love – Bump Shop (1972)
Esther Philips – Just Say Goodbye – Atlantic (1966)
Tammi Terell – All I Do Is Think About You – Tamla Motown (1966)
The Pharaohs – Freedom Road – Scarab Records (1972)
Amnesty – Everybody Who Wants To Be Free (Part 1) – Now Again (2006)
JR Bailey – Just me ‘n’ You – Soul Brother (1974)
Lee Fields – My World Is Empty Without You – Truth And Soul (2009)
Bill Withers – Let Me In Your Life – Sussex (1972)
Dionne Warwick – You’re Gonna Need Me – Warner Bors (1973)

Darondo – Didn’t I – Luv N Haight (1973)
Eddie Kendricks – My People … Hold On – Motown (1972)
Marva Josie – He Does It Better – Thimble (1973)
Gil Scott – Jazz (Interlude) – XL Recordings (2010)
Mary Lou Williams – Miss DD – SABA (1963)
Jose James & Jef Neve – For All We Know – Verve (2010)
Nina Simone – I Loves You Porgy – Doxy Music (1957)
Billy Holiday – Ill Wind – Verve Recordings (1959)

Moe Koffman – Days Gone By (Egyptology) – Grt (1978)
Sun Ra – Excerpt from Space Is The Place DVD (John Coney) (1974)
Edward Larry Gordon – All Pervading – SWN (1978)
Travis Biggs – Tibetan Serenity – Source Records Inc (1979)
Paris Smith – Pentatonia – Soul Jazz Records (1970)
Build An Ark – Tryin Times – Kindred Spirits (2010)
The Phil Hewitt Quintet – I’m Wondering – Now Again (1969)

I have to credit Gilles Peterson, my main man Lennart and Christopher for putting me on this music. These guys have been a main source of inspiration and information about recordings that are about twice my age.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

A couple more over here or join the Beyondjazz Flickr group for more visual candy.

Hypnotic Brass will release a Heritage ep later this month. Make sure you’re on the look out for that and support independent musicians. Oh, and a thumbs up for dj’s Lefto & Azer for great sets in between & after. Great night!

Shacho

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

A couple more over here or join the Beyondjazz Flickr group for more visual candy.

We’ll be sure to drop some tunes from their most recent LP “6″ in the upcoming podcasts. And if you can’t wait, Juno.co.uk always has a great stock of Japan imports and Brownswood re-releases.

Christopher: Carlos, glad to be back in Europe?
Carlos: Yes, I’m glad to be back. Today was a little hectic, flying in from London, but we’ve just come from playing at Paradiso. There’s eight of us who came over. Actually, there’s 4 to 5 times that many people in our ensemble, but we’re traveling with eight.
And I’m happy to be here, seeing some friends, making new friends, and sharing this high vibration.

Dwight Trible (© Jurriaan Persyn)

“Love” studio sessions

Christopher: You’ve just released the third Build An Ark album LOVE part 1, on the Kindred Spirits label. How long did you spend in the studio?
Carlos: The recordings definitely were a process. We started the last couple of weekends of December 2008. It really was a weekends thing, which is very different than the way I usually record this band. Normally we rehearse for a few days, go over all the material and then get into the studio and record it in like two or three days.
This time we took our time more. We did a lot of improvs – which you’re going to hear on LOVE part 2 – and we recorded a lot of songs. We allowed the process to take on a life of its own, rather than being forced into that time period. We didn’t just record and whatever came out right, was going to be on the record; this time we had some things we knew we really wanted to do, so we allowed it to happen and take its own natural course.
We recorded during most of the weekends over the course of two and a half months. And then Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, our music director, wrote some really beautiful arrangements. We did some overdubs and we mixed the record.

Christopher: Were there any highlights? Moments you knew something special was happening when recording?
Carlos: There’s a song on the record called In The Park and at the end of it, there’s this amazing drum, high energy, rhythmic improvisation. That came about when djembe player Leon Mobley and conga player Derf Reklaw sort of conspired – while we were recording the rest of the piece – to go into this thing at the end of it. That was not intended whatsoever. They were actually in the studio that day, to do an intro to the piece. We tried that a couple of times and it didn’t totally work, and then, all of a sudden, when this song is done, they immediately go into this drum thing. I was right there with them and started cueing one musician at a time to join this improv. That was a really wonderful moment.
There was another session we did, that the song World Music came out of, that featured sitar, violin, viola, cello, harp, upright bass and percussion. Violinist Michael White and his wife, vocalist Leisei Chen, joined us that day, together with Kamau Daaood, a poet. That was a really wonderfull session. Maybe three or four pieces from LOVE part 2 (which will be coming out in 2010), came from that day. That one day only, which – I just have to say – was a magical day.

Christopher: You’re surrounded by musicians some of them twice your age. Is that intimidating? Or how does it feel like working with people like Phil Ranelin and Dwight Trible?
Carlos: It’s great. There’s a lot to learn from everyone, actually. We have some youngsters in the band, people from all sorts of ages. Late teens as well as our kids. My son’s ten and a half, there’s other people in the band that have kids that are younger and come around too.
There’s something to learn from everyone and a lot of really wonderful wisdom and experience and insight from a lot of the elders, but equally from everybody. Everybody from the ensemble is in a place in their life, where they’re open to contribute and collaborate and communicate and be part of the collective spirit. The elders are definitely revered and welcomed in the band. It’s very diverse.

Christopher: I guess that’s why Build An Ark works, and makes it special, because of the collaborations. On the liner notes, Jurriaan noticed Azul Niño, and we wondered; that’s your son, right?
Carlos: Exactly, he’s singing on the chorus of one of the songs, as well as a couple of the other kids. That was really nice. It was great to have them there. Azul is also on the cover of the second Build An Ark record Dawn.

Kindred Spirits in Europe and beyond

Christopher: The album’s been released on a Dutch record label. How important is it for you to have a European audience for this kind of music?
Carlos: The European audience have been very supportive. Of course, I’d be happy to have an audience anywhere, as long as people are conscious, and listening, and interested in some sort of exchange and in growing.
I definitely feel there’s a culture, not only of record labels, but of music fans, based here in Europe, and also in Japan – throughout the world in fact, but concentrated in these areas – that really does support the music.
Kindred Spirits is a great name, for a group that is interested in actually supporting music that they love and by people that they feel close and related to.

Christopher: The majority of musicians you’re working with are based in the US. Is there any temptation to work with European or Japanese artists and musicians?
Carlos: I’d love work with Donovan. I got the chance to meet him recently, and that was a great joy. I know for sure, that we’re also interested in presenting Build An Ark in it’s full form. With 30 to 40 pieces, and additional orchestral pieces. It would be great if we could pick up musicians from all over the world and play with them in their hometowns.

Christopher: The lp just got released in Europe this week. What about the States?
Carlos: Back in the States it’s on Dusty Groove. And we made it available at this concert we just did on November 12th, which is also Neil Young’s birthday. We opened for the McCoy Tyner Trio featuring Gary Bartz. That was a really wonderful concert.
Other than that, it’s not available in the US yet, apart from Dusty Groove, based out of Chicago; they’re very supportive.

Christopher: Can we expect any remixes from the first part?
Carlos: Sure, yeah. Who d’you think should do ‘em? I know some people that I’ve always wanted to do a remix.
Christopher: Such as?
Carlos: I’d love to get one from Broadcast (Warp Records ~ Jurriaan) and collaborate with them in some way.

Christopher: You mentioned part two will be coming out in 2010. Is all the material finished for that? Or is there more to come?
Carlos: It’s not 100% mixed. And there’s one very interesting arrangement that will be put on top of the whole thing, but it’s very very close to being finished.

Spaceways Radio

Christopher: You’re doing the Spaceways radioshow. Beyondjazz celebrated it’s 350th show this year, that’s seven years of radio, and we wondered how many years the spaceways radioshow has been going.
Carlos: Well, I just celebrated my 700th show then. I come from celebrating 14 years, just recently. The show is still going great, since fall 1995. The last episode was a Neil Young special, two hours of Neil Young, which was great, great fun.
I feel blessed being able to continue doing radio. It’s been a major part of my life and of my projects, and I value it, greatly.

Christopher: You’ve been doing that since your late teens then? How did you get into that?
Carlos: I started volunteering when I was 16 and got my first show when I was 18. I got into it just because I love radio. Radio in Los Angeles in the early nineties was really good. There were lots of great shows and I knew from early on I wanted to get involved, so I did.

Christopher: How does the show differ now, from the way it was when you started?
Carlos: When I started my tagline was “Hip Hop, Soul, Jazz and World Rhythms” and now it’s “Your sure shot for psychedelic love music, classic and rare recordings from around the world”. So it’s pretty different. A lot of the stuff I played back then, I could still play, but I’ve kind of moved on. I’m in a different part of my life.
I still revisit things that I would consider to be timeless and classic from when I first started. There’s some recordings that I think will always be with me, things that I was right about back then.

Christopher: Our station Urgent.fm is a youth student radio station where we see a lot of young people who want to get into radio. What would your tips for future radio makers be?
Carlos: My advice, I think, is universal. When you’re getting involved in radio, you should be sure that your content and your energy are good. That you’re ultimately writing about things, reporting about things, broadcasting things that are actually beneficial. And that’s kind of up to a person to decide, what exactly is of benefit and is of worth. But I feel like there’s an ultimate awareness, that we should all be a part of, that will lead us in the right direction, that will advise us. And that awareness is in our heart, it’s a vibration of love. Radio is just a wonderful way of amplifying that, and being immediately in touch with the listener, of having real intimate moments and sharing, in a really direct way.
I would just say, I hope people’s intentions and energies are for the best.

Carlos Nino

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All pictures © Jurriaan Persyn

Interview by Christopher of the World Service radioshow and podcast, and close Beyondjazz friend. Pictures by Jurriaan Persyn (more here).
Thanks to Boye ‘t Lam, Antal, Kees Heus and the whole Kindred Spirits and Rushhour family for making this concert and interview happen.

Timo Lassy - Round Two

label: Ricky-Tick
releasedate: November 27th, 2009
cat #: RTCD014/RT033
style: Jazz

Finland’s central sax titan Timo Lassy is here with his second go solo, on the promptly titled ‘Round Two’ album. Interesting jazz albums from Finland have been in good supply over the recent years *duh, I hear you say*, and there is no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Personally, Lassy’s fist album, “The Soul & Jazz of” had an enormous impact on me, and I don’t exaggerate by saying it’s my favourite of the whole, hyped Ricky-Tick catalogue, and thus perhaps the whole of Finnish jazz output in the past decade. So, it’s obvious that reaching those heights would be anything but easy.

The very core of what made “The Soul & Jazz of” great, is still in place. “Round Two” is again produced by Teppo “Teddy Rok” Mäkynen, this time in co-operation with Lassy himself. Lassy also takes a step towards self-efficacy on the material, as all of the tunes are composed by him. The proven-well band has remained the same, with the addition of Ari Jokelainen to the reeds section.

Some evolution in sound can be heard. The most evident of course is the addition of José James flying in from NY to feature on two vocal tracks (the whole lot was recorded 100% direct in a studio in Helsinki, over three days). The collaboration between the two began on the Nicola Conte album “Rituals” and became incarnate on the Nicola Conte Jazz Combo live setup later.

José James is every bit as solid as his reputation on the opener “The More I Look at You”, which was also released as a 7″, and then he lets even more loose on “Ya Dig”, which some of you might notice to be the instrumental tune of the flipside of that very same single.

Secondly, Timo Lassy steps out of the hard bop idiom to knock on the doors of older and lighter styles on pieces “Fooling Rosetta” and “Buzz Beater Stomp”. This variation is welcome to the overall sound, further proving that he has a voice that is well outside that of TFCQ’s. Even though it’s “swingy”, it still cooks. “Stomp” ends the album with a bang, quite literally.

The rest of “Round Two”, clocking at 42 minutes, is more in the vein of the compositions of the first album. There is the latin-tinged “Shifting Winds” that’s a highlight – “Deeper Into” is on the spiritual side, and then the lone ballad, “Some Love”. The solo spotlight is much locked on Lassy throughout, while the other horns settle to fill.

After listening to this album many times and letting it grow on me, I’m not sure if I recognise the instant hit potential of, say, “Timber Yard”, “Early Move”, or “Skinny Dipping” from TFCQ’s “Hot Corner”. Only the club dance floors around the world will tell, eventually.

Over the continuing span of success of Ricky-Tick Records and everyone around the phenomenon, much has been discussed about the right of modern jazz’s accessibility rooted on tradition to excel, without always trying to push the limits or be somewhat enigmatic. Even the liner notes address the question. I don’t think we need to be asking this anymore. It’s like what I kept saying to the doubters back in 2005, these guys will hit big. Rosetta may get fooled, but nobody else. Lassy & co. at Ricky-Tick have now, at the latest, proven to the toughest of public that one’s nod to the past isn’t showing one’s rear end to the future. Boy was I glad to be right!

Timo Lassy – Round Two from Ricky-Tick Records on Vimeo.

• Tracklist: The More I Look At You (ft. José James) / Shifting Winds / Ya Dig (ft. José James) / Some Love / Deeper Into / Fooling Rosetta / Backyard Puma / Buzz Beater Stomp
• CD / LP (includes download) / download available through Nov 27th worldwide
• More info: http://www.timolassy.com/new-lp-round-two/

by -Janski- for beyondjazz.net

A big thank you to José James, Jef Neve, Michael Campagna, Neville Malcolm and Richard Spaven for a very special night and thanks to the AB crew for the ability to relive this moment.

Bruno Bollaert (cc)

The first time we saw José James perform was at the gig with Lefto, Marc Mac and Drumlesson in Depot (Leuven), soon after releasing his debut album ‘The Dreamer’ in 2008 that left everybody stunned. Later that month his performance at the Jazz Middelheim festival led to lots of exposure in the local press and was by many considered one of the highlights of that year’s festival season.
Jef Neve invited him to his radioshow Neve (Klara), and that guest performance was breeding ground for 3 more shows to happen. They were brought together on stage for the first time on a night in Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique. That concert got one of Belgiums quality newspapers De Morgen so excited, they gave it a rare five-star-rating.

Neve: “We played the standard Lushlife. Just for fun, no rehearsing. It’s a complex piece of music, but it went so easily. It felt like playing around.” Magic was happening, so they decided to get into the studio together.
Neve: “After that first concert, we recorded some songs in “The Galaxy Studio”, a little studio in Mol. We listened to the recording in the car back home and it was so fresh and sparkling; we both agreed it was the best thing we’ve ever put on tape. I hardly listen to myself, but that moment, I thoroughly enjoyed.”

The recording will be released as the album “For All We Know“. Each track from the album was recorded in one take, “only piano, voice and good acoustics” and features ballads and standards. They didn’t explicitly choose for an album full of jazz standards, though.
James: “The whole idea was a short process, and standards just felt right. And it didn’t actually become just a standard jazz album. Jef plays in his own way.”
Neve: “For me José is a story teller. He really impresses with his own way of sculpting the text and atmosphere of a standard. In fact, for most of the standards, I now only realize what the lyrics are all about.”
James: “Standards are universal. They allow you to tell more. I approach my own compositions in an abstract form, open for the listener to create his own story. A same kind of intimacy can be found in this collaboration.”
The album will be released in the spring of 2010 on Verve Recordings.

Last summer, Gent Jazz was smart enough to program the duo at the 2009 edition, and again they struck a chord. Around that time they confirmed more details about the Coltrane project “Facing East“. Two days from now, we’ll see José realising one of his dreams; scatting to the work of the legendary John Coltrane. Jose and Jef both cite Coltrane as one of their main influences.
James: “I’ve been writing lyrics to Coltrane’s compositions for the past 13 years. I can’t just sing anything, but with Trane’s music it just feels right.”

From an interview with De Morgen more then a year back we knew José James had some plans in this direction.
James: [Answering a question about who his influences were] “Coltrane rewrote the alphabet of jazz, so that’s an example in itself. I’ve even written lyrics for his compositions, but the people who manage his legacy apparently found that sacrilege. A huge disappointment, as my version of ‘Equinox’ was to primarily serve as the basis around which the rest of the record would be constructed. I see it especially as a missed opportunity to introduce a new, younger audience to his music.” But now it is happening!
James: “I’m very thankful for being invited to bring this to the public. I’m doing my very best to make this something very personal and unique.”
Neve: “You see he’s grown up with Coltrane’s music. It’s in his blood. It’s not just about copying Trane’s music, we’re adding our own arrangements. It’s a challenge for both of us.”

The first concert of this series will be on Coltrane’s birthday, 23rd of september. James and Neve will play with a quartet, including the relatively unknown tenor saxophone player Michael Cabana.

Also on the solo front, the coming months will be exciting for the two. Jef Neve has written the score to Belgium’s contender for the oscars De Helaasheid Der Dingen, which will be screening soon. The film recently won the “Prix Art et Essai” at this year’s International Film Festival of Cannes. And José James will release his second solo lp in October. About that album Jose says: “I see my debut lp ‘The Dreamer’ as my love letter to John Coltrane and Billie Holiday. “Blackmagic“, the new one, focuses on todays music, and is an ode to Marvin Gaye. Eclectic, with touches of soul and hiphop.’

Update: (22 sep) On his MySpace blog Jose James shares some more info on tomorrows concert and the upcoming Blackmagic LP.

The show at Ancienne Belgique will be recorded live and some snippets from those recordings might appear on his MySpace soon after. The full line up for the concert is: Michael Campagna on tenor saxophone, Jef Neve on piano, “Level” Neville Malcolm on bass, Richard Spaven on drums and José James on vocals.

Due to additional production needs Blackmagic will be released only in 2010 on Brownswood, and not next month as stated above. The new release date will probably be mid January.

Update (23 sep): Looks like ABconcerts.be will be streaming the concert live. From 8.30PM tonight.

More:

• Facing East at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels (NL)
• Love Is Supreme, at Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
• More about Jame’s upcoming album Blackmagic
• MySpace José James

Sources: Jazz Magazine, De Morgen, De Standaard.