Author Archives: JWQ

FREEDOM TREE

Freedom Tree (Norway/Brazil/Mozambique)-Modern Acoustic World Jazz Rock

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FREEDOM TREE is a multicultural jazz group that have achieved international popularity among music fans for their eclectic performances, drawing from three continents.

Close friends and colleagues, internationally acclaimed musicians each in their own right; acoustic guitarist Steinar Aadnekvam – from Bergen, Norway, bassist Rubem Farias from Salvador Da Bahia, Brasil and drummer/singer Deodato Siquir from Maputo, Mozambique make their base in Stockholm, Sweden and since 2015 they form this band.

Moving from clarity to clarity ever since, they released their joint debut album “Freedoms Trio” in 2016 and followed up in 2018 with the sophomore release “Freedoms Trio II” – both on Losen Records, Oslo.
Together, the band has performed several hundreds of concerts in some 17 countries across Europe, Eurasia, Africa and the United States until 2020 brought all touring to a halt.

Formerly known as ”Freedom’s Trio” the band has undergone a slight name change in 2021, embracing the name FREEDOM TREE – a significant name with deep connotations – and with their new album they continue characteristically in the vain of an eclectic afro jazz rock expression firmly rooted in both past & present.

Aptly titled ”MODERN ACOUSTIC WORLD JAZZ ROCK” the new album was recorded live in studio during the pandemic and the performance was originally live streamed to a group of fans.


Only afterwards did the band realize that the music that had been captured was of such a high quality in both performance and recording that it deserved to be released as a proper album.

The record features a set of familiar tunes from the bands original repertoire in what is arguably their best recording to date. What we hear is a band that has lived together on tour for a number of years, honing their interplay through hundreds of concerts, perfecting their compositions and collective musical presence to a such degree that there is not a split second of temporary loss of focus to be found anywhere in the recorded music…

All tracks on this release were also captured as film during the ’live in studio’ recording session and will be released online across streaming services with video capabilities simultaneously with the audio album on
September 24.

”Their music is both complex and joyful, full of passion and energy. (…) They have a natural synergy which can be rare, especially when the musicians are so accomplished individually. People should hear FREEDOM TREE. Gives you hope!” – Robben Ford, 2019

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World Music Mix

Octantrion II

JazzWorldQuest World Music Mix: Octantrion(France)-Album: II

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Octantrion – Nouvel album IISortie le 22.10.2021 chez Quart de Lune/UVM Distribution/IDOL
Octantrion is back with their second album II. Always unclassifiable, Éléonore Billy and Gaëdic Chambrier, who lead the Octantrion ensemble, offer us a musical journey through the countries of northern Europe, between colorful fjords and large spaces where nature reigns supreme.

Octantrion est de retour avec son second album II. Toujours aussi inclassifiables, Éléonore Billy et Gaëdic Chambrier, qui mènent l’ensemble Octantrion, nous proposent un voyage musical dans les pays du nord de l’Europe, entre fjords colorés et grands espaces où la nature est reine.Né d’une envie commune de jouer des musiques vivantes, énergiques et sensibles, le duo Octantrion combine des influences traditionnelles et plus modernes dans un répertoire mêlant compositions et adaptations originales d‘airs nordiques, avec un instrumentarium hors du commun : cistre basse nordique, mandoloncelle, guitare-harpe, nyckelharpa suédois, hardingfele norvégien.Entre jazz, nea-folk et musique traditionnelle, Octantrion affirme sa forte personnalité sonore et sa densité artistique avec ce second abum encore plus dense que le premier, grâce à l’ajout de voix et l’appoint de musiciens traditionnels. L’album contient cinq reprises de morceaux traditionels suédois et islandais. La thématique du corbeau, comme symbole des cultures païennes nordiques/vikings, a été choisie et sert de fil rouge à ce disque. Le premier extrait s’appelle Chaman, et sa mélodie hypnotique est jouée au mandocello.

Pour regarder et diffuser le clip de Chaman :

L’histoire discographique de Octantrion a débuté en 2014 avec l’album éponyme nourri de morceaux écrits avant tout pour la scène. Devant le succès de cet album auto-produit, qui s’est hissé un temps dans le classement des meilleures ventes après, entre autres, le passage du groupe sur France 2 dans La boîte à musique de Jean-François Zygel, une édition remasterisée et augmentée de quatre nouveaux morceaux baptisée 8 est sortie en 2018.

Aujourd’hui Octantrion est de retour avec l’album II qui a été pensé de manière très différente. La thématique du corbeau, comme symbole des cultures païennes vikings, a été choisie et sert de fil rouge à ce disque qui comprend quinze morceaux, dix compositions originales ainsi que cinq traditionnels suédois et islandais réarrangés.

Alors que le premier album d’Octantrion faisait la part belle aux timbres des extraordinaires instruments joués par Eléonore Billy (nyckelharpa suédois, hardingfele norvégien) et Gaëdic Chambrier (cistre basse nordique, mandoloncelle, guitare-harpe), tout juste soutenus par la contrebasse de Jean-Philippe Viret (lauréat d‘une victoire de la musique en 2011 et d’une victoire du Jazz en 2020), le nouvel album II  est servi par des orchestrations beaucoup plus denses, l’intervention de six musiciens additionnels ainsi que par l’apparition de la voix et du chant sur quatre morceaux.

Après avoir été adoubés par de grands musiciens scandinaves et être devenus la référence française des musiques d’inspiration nordique, Octantrion revient avec l’album II séduit par l’intensité de ses couleurs musicales. Les mélodies trottent dans la tête, les morceaux se dansent et se fredonnent emmenant l’auditeur en voyage vers un Nord rêvé, terre d’évasion et de légendes.

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Fabrizio Savino Trio – The Rising Sun

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021 : Fabrizio Savino Trio(Italy) – Album: The Rising Sun

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 From Saturday July 10th 2021, “The rising sun”, the new and fourth album by modern jazz guitarist Fabrizio Savino, is available on all streaming and download platforms including Apple Music.


The album is also physically distributed worldwide by Inner Urge Records through the website innerurgemusic.com, in Benelux by Xango Music and will soon be available also in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong through the Albore Jazz distributor.

Two weeks after its release, the album has over 80,000 plays only on the Spotify platform and has been selected by the editors and included in important playlists such as “State of Jazz”, “Jazz X- Press” and “All new Jazz”. The song “Rebirth” was selected and played, accompanied by a beautiful introduction to the album for the Anglo-Saxon audience, by presenter Chris Philips of the London radio station Jazz FM UK.


After the success of his previous production “Gemini” that has won many awards and was broadcasted by the most important worldwide radios (France, Norway, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Finland, USA, Canada and Japan), Savino brings rock sounds through a deep contemporary jazz language. With “The rising sun” Savino explores many sonorities and composes music starting from an inner analysis. The main topic of the album is the “Rebirth”.


The musical journey it’s the transposition of inner energies through the music language and the spiritual research with the practice of meditation and yoga.
The songs of the album were composed over a period of one year and embrace many of the musical forms that have always fascinated the author who was able to translate them into the line-up that best represents him: the Guitar trio.
The modern jazz sound that distinguishes him is intertwined with the sounds that most influenced his adolescence, the rock of Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix.
“The Rising Sun” is a musical journey that mix of eleven tracks, two standards and nine original compositions one of which includes an arrangement for string quartet.

To complete the line-up there are the Italian double bass player Luca Alemanno and the German drummer Sebastian Merk, musicians with whom Savino has a particular musical, artistic and human affinity.

For the release of the album, the official videoclip was published on Youtube and on the Facebook and Instagram pages of the label and the artist.

It will soon be published a video animation, entirely hand made with the technique of ink on paper by the graphic designer Marika Mastrandrea of the MM Visual Communication Design Studio, for the song of the album with the string quartet “So close and yet so far “.

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021

Big Space-In Relation To

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021: Big Space(Canada)-Album: In Relation To

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Big Space(Canada)-Triptrap
Composer: Grant King, Ian Murphy, Ashley Chalmers
Album:  In Relation To

Big Space is an instrumental jazz-rock trio Newfoundland & Labrador featuring Grant King (guitar), Ian Murphy (bass) and Ashley Chalmers (drums). The band’s music blends jazz and improvisation with genres like post-rock, math rock and progressive rock. “Triptrap” is the first single from their upcoming album “In Relation To”, which releases October 22, 2021. The song is a good representation of the trio’s style, ranging from contemporary jazz fusion to instrumental rock and atmospheric soundscapes, with plenty of improvisation.
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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021

Jimmy Layton - Thief in the Night

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021: Jimmy Layton and his International “Not Your Daddy’s Jazz” Band(USA) – Album: Thief In The Night

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Jimmy Layton and his International “Not Your Daddy’s Jazz” Band(USA) – Only A Fool (feat. Lena Rose)
Album: Thief In The Night
Label: Jazzapple Records
A vocal piece in the vein of Basia

Jimmy Layton and his International “Not Your Daddy’s Jazz” Band(USA) – The Man From Nowhere
Album: Thief In The Night
Label: Jazzapple Records
So, what is ”Not Your Daddy’s Jazz”? Using, as it’s guideline, the principle of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do ~ it takes what is useful, and discards what is not. With neither prejudice towards traditional jazz, nor discrimination against other music styles, it freely integrates elements of jazz, Latin, funk, rock and classical. It’s only goal is musicality. It is a form that has no form. “There are only two kinds of music. Good music and the other kind.” ~ Duke Ellington
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JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2021

Armagos-Promises

JazzWorldQuest World Music Mix: Armagos(Greece)-Album: Promises

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Armagos(Greece)-Promise
Composer: Armagos
Album: Promises(2021)
In 2020 Greek composer Armagos created the album “The Lonely Piano”, his first studio instrumental project, which became popular among music lovers in Greece and around the world.
Armagos released on September 2021 his new instrumental album, “Promises”: a unique collection of 10 emotional tracks for piano and ney (asian flute). The listener lives the experience of a journey full of images, emotions and melodies that come straight from the heart and capture a unique sense of atmosphere, presence and peace.
Two of the best Greek musicians perform in this recording: Neoklis Neofytidis (piano) and Nikos Paraoulakis (ney).
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Corciolli-No Time But Eternity

JazzWorldQuest World Music Mix: Corciolli(Brazil)- Album: No Time But Eternity

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Corciolli(Brazil)- Yerazel /  No Time But Eternity
Album: No Time But Eternity
Label: Azul Music (2021)

What we do now echoes in eternity.”
Marcus Aurelius

It is our main responsibility to preserve the planet for generations to come. It is also expected of each individual, awareness and effective attitudes, cooperating and participating with all sectors of society in this necessary and urgent duty. The Earth is suffering and we are the cause.

Brazilian composer and instrumentalist Corciolli, brings here music with an exquisite arrangement for piano, synthesizers, horns and string quartet. In this video, the musicians´ performances are interlwined with extraordinary drone footages in the Pantanal, located in south-central Brazil and considered the largest tropical wetland area and flooded grassland in the world.

Music from album NO TIME BUT ETERNITY.
Music composed, arranged and produced by Corciolli

Corciolli: Piano, synthesizers
Claudio Cruz: 1st violin
Renan Gonçalves: 2nd violin
Gabriel Marin: Viola
Raïff Dantas Barreto: Cello
André Ficarelli: French Horn

Strings and horns recorded by Adonias Souza Jr.
Mixed by Alan Meyerson
Mastered by Carlos Freitas, Classic Master USA

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FRANCE: Le saxophoniste Rodolphe Lauretta revient le 15/10/2021 avec son nouvel album Kreolia chez Cristal Records.

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Le saxophoniste Rodolphe Lauretta revient le 15/10/2021 avec son nouvel album Kreolia chez Cristal Records.

Après Haïti, et Anticipation avec la chanteuse californienne Genevieve Artadi, Rodolphe Lauretta dévoile The Roy, hommage au chantre de la musique afro-américaine Roy Hargrove. Sur un beat G Funk qui n’aurait pas déplu à Snoop Dogg, le thème aux accents hardbop gravite sur une rythmique lourde, avec un Moog charnu en guise de basse, tandis que l’orgue hammond « churchy » soulève les âmes.L’improvisation collective des cuivres, évoquant le fameux thème de Roy Hargrove « Strasbourg St Denis », conclut le titre dans un esprit de célébration et de communion festive.Avec son nouvel album Kreolia, Rodolphe Lauretta nous livre un cocktail détonnant de musique caribéenne, de hip hop, de future funk, sous le sceau d’un jazz tutélaire.  Ce nouvel extrait, The Roy, nous plonge dans la diversité de styles confondantes et le riche panel d’invités de l’album Kreolia. 

Né à Amiens de parents guyano-antillais, le saxophoniste Rodolphe Lauretta a sorti son premier album Raw, préfacé par Jacques Schwarz-Bart (saxophoniste de Roy Hargrove et D’Angelo) et Alain Jean Marie, en 2017.Le prochain album, Kreolia, à paraître en octobre 2021, souligne les influences hip-hop, caribéennes et future funk du saxophoniste, avec la présence d’invités prestigieux :  le chanteur Dwight Trible (Harry Belafonte, Pharoah Sanders, Kahil El’ Zabar…), la chanteuse Genevieve Artadi du groupe Knower, le rappeur M.E.D aka Medaphoar, (Aloe Blacc, Madlib, Anderson Paak, Jay Dilla…) et la chanteuse Ruppert Pupkin.En 2011, Reza Ackbaraly, programmateur au festival Jazz À Vienne et fondateur de Qwest TV aux côtés de Quincy Jones, a passé commande au saxophoniste d’un hommage au producteur culte de hip-hop californien Madlib. Rodolphe Lauretta a créé pour l’occasion The Jazz Side Of Madlib sur la scène du Jazzmix à Jazz à Vienne, avec un répertoire d’arrangements novateurs sur des instrumentaux du beatmaker américain.Des concerts ont suivi au festival Jazz sous les Pommiers, au Mona Bismarck American Center de Paris, au festival Jazz à la Villette, qui ont donné l’impulsion à l’enregistrement de l’album Kreolia, dont on peut déjà savourer trois extraits : Haïti, reprise du pianiste guadeloupéen Alain Jean-Marie, Anticipation, avec la chanteuse californienne Genevieve Artadiet enfin The Roy, hommage à Roy Hargrove. FACEBOOK