Carmen Villain - Both Lines Will Be Blue - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Norwegian producer Carmen Villain follows up last years cosmic beauty - Both Lines Will Be Blue - with a remix mini-album. Curated by Carmen, she asked some of her favourite producers to pick a track from the album to remix, which resulted in this collection of 6 tracks and 31 minutes of cosmic/dubs, featuring club ready tracks by Parris and Karima F., deep atmospheric reggaetón by DJ Python, fourth-world jams by D.K. and Yu Su and a far out dancehall dub by Jay Glass Dubs.

Carmen Villain - Infinite Avenue [COMPACT DISCS] date 09/08/2017

The history of jazz piano resonates from a plumb line whence new developments spring. Pianist/composer Carmen Staaf makes a case for the connection between two brilliant and revolutionary pianists, Thelonious Monk and Mary Lou Williams, exposing the common threads on her new recording, Sounding Line. Staaf grew up unraveling the language of Thelonious Monk. But it was with her discovery of the vast stylistic range of Mary Lou Williams that Staaf began to see connections between the two piano legends, proposing that the two had similar influences and, also, influenced one another. Monk's music is a treasure trove of fantastically diverse compositions. Though commonly seen as uniquely idiosyncratic, Monk's tunes are deliberate in their construction and methodical in their performance. Having been enamored with his works since her introduction to jazz, Staaf feels a deep connection and understanding of these pieces, though she insists that Monk can never truly be known, which is part of the attraction. Staaf was introduced to the music of Mary Lou Williams fifteen years ago. Staaf's amazement at Williams's longevity, relevance, and integral support of the jazz scene led Staaf to an in-depth investigation into Williams and her music. Through this study, Staaf kept coming across similar musical ideas, like voicings and harmonies, that reminded her of Monk. Williams famously held pianist salons at her Harlem apartment, where a who's who of pianists came to share ideas on composition, improvisation, and harmony. Monk was certainly a part. Their shared ideas emerged in their respective repertoire over the years, as they influenced each other. Originally from Seattle, Staaf has become a fixture in the New York City and, through her connections with Allison Miller, Todd Sickafoose, and Jenny Scheinman and teaching at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Staaf became engrained in the dee