JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2025: Antoine Fafard (UK/Canada)-Quadra Spherium

Released in June 2025, Quadra Spherium is the name of the album from Antoine Fafard, featuring Gary Husband on drums and Jean-Pierre Zanella on tenor saxophone. The concept behind this album stems from two fortuitous opportunities. Firstly, Antoine’s motivation to craft an album specifically for Jean-Pierre Zanella on the tenor saxophone. Although Jean-Pierre has been primarily associated with the alto sax, a session he recorded for Antoine on the tenor inspired further exploration.

The second opportunity arose when Gary Husband informed Antoine that his new Pearl Crystal Beat kit was stored at Dock Street Studios in London, and that he was available for recording. Antoine eagerly embraced the chance to combine this with the project he had envisioned for Jean-Pierre, creating at the same time a sequel to the Sphère album released in 2016, where Gary played drums. Quadra Spherium showcases Antoine on bass and all guitars, allowing him to push the boundaries of his guitar playing in an instrumental jazz fusion context. Multi-instrumentalist Gary Husband is well known for his long association with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, with whom he recorded multiple albums and extensively performed over many years. As a session musician, Husband’s credits include collaborations with artists such as Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, Level 42, Jeff Beck, Mike Stern and many more. His parallel voice as a keyboard player has seen him as a member of John McLaughlin’s group The 4th Dimension and Billy Cobham’s touring bands. As a bandleader, soloist and composer Gary has released over 14 album recordings under his own name.

Jean-Pierre Zanella, a highly sought-after player in Montreal, Canada, earned his master’s degree in jazz from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, in 1982. Recognized by the Brazilian government with the honorific Order of Rio Branco, Zanella won the Oscar Peterson Prize at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in 2011 for his significant contributions to the Canadian jazz scene. Having released music for 25 years, Antoine Fafard has collaborated with some of the world’s most respected and influential players, including Vinnie Colaiuta, Jerry Goodman, Gavin Harrison, Simon Phillips, and Todd Sucherman. Fafard’s music has consistently earned praise for its intricacy and originality from his peers.

Distributed by Amplified Distribution and Code 7 (UK), Quadra Spherium is now available for exploration and enjoyment since its release in June 2025.

Quadra Spherium
The new album featuring Gary Husband and Jean-Pierre ZanellaI’m glad to announce the upcoming June 13th release of Quadra Spherium, a new album featuring Gary Husband on drums and Jean-Pierre Zanella on saxophone.

This project is the result of bringing together two amazing musicians to perform new, original music that I’ve composed over the years. This album is my second release featuring Gary on drums, following Sphère, which came out nearly 10 years ago. Gary played his parts on his Pearl Crystal Beat kit – a performance that was captured on video and is also available for purchase as a single file. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre, a longtime contributor to my album projects, is featured throughout Quadra Spherium on tenor saxophone.

The CD version of the album is now available to pre-order on my website, as well as various packages. Orders from my website will be shipped prior to the official release date.

Exclusive to my website is a sheet music book package (CD included). This product features the written parts used by the musicians who performed on the album.

I hope you’ll enjoy this new project and many thanks for your support!

Antoine
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World Music Mix: Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun(India/Switzerland)-People of Tomorrow

Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun-People of Tomorrow

Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun(India/Switzerland)-Ananda
Album: People of Tomorrow
Label: Neuklang

Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun

Nouvel album People of Tomorrow

Sortie le 28/10/2022 chez Neuklang

En concert à Paris au Pan Piper le 28/11/2022

Baiju Bhatt retrouve son groupe Red Sun pour un troisième album, People of Tomorrow, prévu le 28/10/2022 sur le label Neuklang, qui brouille encore davantage les frontières musicales.

Quatre ans après la sortie du singulier Eastern Sonata, qui mélangeait avec beaucoup de malice et de talent les influences d’une Inde fantasmée et du jazz-rock occidental, le violoniste et compositeur indo suisse Baiju Bhatt récidive et enfonce le clou en nous proposant un album encore plus ambitieux et puissant, doté d’une profonde richesse musicale, harmonieuse et subtile.

Un pied en orient, et un pied en occident, le violoniste Baiju Bhatt réalise avec People of Tomorrow un métissage audacieux entre jazz-rock et musique indienne, entre tradition et modernité.

Entouré par le quintet transalpin Red Sun et par le guitariste Nguyên Lê en invité, Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun forment un groupe alchimique où les différentes sonorités de chacun se fondent dans une parfaite harmonie. A eux cinq, ils effacent les frontières et mixent les cultures dans un grand feu d’artifice multicolore, virtuose et harmonieux. Un jeu fougueux au placement rythmique exemplaire, qui sait aussi devenir romantique et aérien.

Ancien élève de Jean Luc Ponty et Didier Lockwood, le violoniste Baiju Bhatt défend avec son groupe Red Sun un projet musical ambitieux plaçant au centre de sa recherche la quête d’identité et la volonté de faire chanter ensemble des mondes musicaux différents, en particulier le jazz et la musique indienne.

Avec People Of Tomorrow, nous voyageons à travers le monde et différents styles musicaux, et nous en ressentons toutes les saveurs, les odeurs et les épices, si bien que la notion de «musique du monde» prend ici sa pleine signification en effaçant toutes les frontières dans un grand feu d’artifice, chatoyant et multicolore.

Baiju Bhatt approfondit son langage musical et il nous épate encore davantage avec ses thèmes prégnants joués à l’unisson (saxophone-violon avec la complicité de Valentin Conus, ou piano-violon avec Mark Priore) et avec sa musique contrastée, faite de breaks et de ruptures rythmiques, qui multiplie les climats et les atmosphères. Une musique riche et complexe, formidablement bien construite et structurée, qui a l’intelligence d’être toujours accessible et fluide.

L’énergie musicale déployée est à la hauteur du lyrisme des différents solistes, parfois teinté de romantisme, à l’image du jeu de violon de Baiju, qui sait comme personne manier virtuosité et élégance et assembler, avec brio, musique classique, traditions du monde, musique indienne, et jazz-rock !

Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun :

Baiju Bhatt – violon, composition, arrangements

Valentin Conus – saxophone ténor, saxophone soprano

Mark Priore – piano

Blaise Hommage – basse électrique

Paul Berne – batterie

  • invité spécial : Nguyên Lê – guitare électrique

Baiju Bhatt is back with his group Red Sun for a third album, People of Tomorrow, scheduled for 10/28/2022 on the Neuklang label, which crosses musical borders even further.

Four years after the release of the singular Eastern Sonata, which mixed with great playfulness and talent the influences of a fantasized India and Western jazz-rock, the Indo Swiss violinist and composer Baiju Bhatt does it again and insists by offering us an album yet more ambitious and powerful, endowed with a deep musical richness, harmonious and subtle.

One foot in the East and one foot in the West, the violinist Baiju Bhatt achieves with People of Tomorrow a daring mix between jazz-rock and Indian music, between tradition and modernity.

Surrounded by the transalpine quintet Red Sun and by guest guitarist Nguyên Lê, Baiju Bhatt & Red Sun form an alchemical group where the different sounds of each blend in perfect harmony. The five of them erase borders and mix cultures in a great multicolored, virtuoso and harmonious fireworks display. A fiery game with exemplary rhythmic placement, which becomes romantic and ethereal.

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World Music Mix

JazzWorldQuest Showcase 2022: Mike Miller(USA)- Album: Trust (Blue Canoe Records)

Mike-Miller-Trust

Mike Miller(USA)-Mr. Moreira
Album: Trust
Label: Blue Canoe Records
Rock and Jazz Guitarist Mike Miller releases a beautiful ten song album titled Trust. Mike is best know for his work with Chick Corea, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Yellowjackets, Quincy Jones and so many more. Mike brings all of his year of experience into this incredible body of work. “Trust” features guest appearances from Jimmy Haslip, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Earl, Scott Kinsey, Brandon Fields, Gary Novak, Marilyn Scott, Jeff Babko, Chad Wackerman, Airto Moriera and so many more talented artists. “Trust” is a must have for fans of Mike Miller which features rich original compositions, stellar improvisations and prowess interplay and technique. This is a gorgeous, inspiring album and a must have for music fans everywhere!
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Freedom Tree (Norway/Brazil/Mozambique)-Modern Acoustic World Jazz Rock

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

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