Sumrra - REVOLUTI8N - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

A fiery and dedicated improviser and composer, saxophonist Idit Shner's latest quartet recording highlights her rich and ongoing relationship with pianist Josh Hanlon and drummer Stockton Helbing, which dates back to the early 2000's when Idit was working on her Doctorate at the University of North Texas. Along with bassist James Driscoll, the quartet tackles a program of Idit's compositions, all based in the jazz tradition but with influences ranging from traditional melodies & rhythms from Zimbabwe, to classical Arabic music, to the Latin-tinged grooves of McCoy Tyner from his early '70s recordings. For the album's lone standard, Billy Strayhorn's InchPassion Flower,Inch Shner declares her debt to one of jazz's definitive alto stylists with this haunting Ellington band staple, one of Duke's many feature numbers for Johnny Hodges.Inch... an excellent group of players jamming, meshing together fluidly, and the energy is consistently high.Inch ALL MUSIC GUIDE

The planets align once again as the mighty Sun Ra Arkestra, under the direction of the maestro Marshall Allen, their first studio album in over twenty years entitled Swirling. Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia, the new recording represents the continuation of a heartfelt rebirth of the Arkestra under Allen's guidance since Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, gaining new generations of followers from their regular touring across the globe. With a big band line-up featuring long-standing Arkestra members including Danny Ray Thompson (RIP), Michael Ray, Vincent Chancey, Knoel Scott, Cecil Brooks, Atakatune (RIP), Elson Nascimento and Tyler Mitchell, the album is a full-blooded celebration of Sun Ra's legacy.

Ashram Sun', Surya Botofasina's much-anticipated album follows his hugely acclaimed debut 'Everyone's Children' and his first offering since his contribution to 'New Blue Sun' and global touring alongside André 3000. It is an ode to Surya's upbringing and musical teachings in the tradition of Swamini Turiyasangitananda - aka Alice Coltrane, by the spiritual jazz colossus Herself, at Her Sai Anantam Ashram in California. 'Ashram Sun' is a deep listening, spiritual masterpiece with close collaborators Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau, and is produced by the prolific Carlos Niño, whose vision has become a pivotal point for contemporary progressive jazz music. Ashram Sun features appearances from musical luminaries, including multi-instrumentalist Angel Bat Dawid, Los Angeles saxophonist Randal Fisher, vocalist Mia Doi Todd, as well as collaborations with vocalist MidnightRoba and acclaimed harpist and vocalist Radha Botofasina, among others. The album continues to expand on and conversate with the innovative spiritual-jazz configurations of recent works by Shabaka Hutchings, André 3000 and Carlos Niño -all of which Surya plays on. This evolution follows from his debut album 'Everyone's Children', also produced by Niño, which was one of the earliest offerings of this fresh, spiritual approach. As the keyboardist on André 3000's New Blue Sun and an integral member of André's touring group, Surya has already directly brought the legacy of Alice Coltrane/Turiyasangitananda into this rich new current in creative music. The music on Ashram Sun is tuned into these wavelengths, consolidating a new jazz lineage with energies directly from the source. The album blends improvisation in the creative music tradition with washes of cleanly spiritualised keyboard work, atmospheric percussion, and sanctified vocalisation. As Surya Botofasina explains, InchSwamini (Alice Coltrane) and the