Dan Mccarthy

For his first album on Origin, veteran New York vibraphonist Dan McCarthy gathers with some of the most creative and interesting improvisors in jazz - violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Steve Swallow and guitarist Ben Monder. Crafting an elegant program of impressionistic originals, McCarthy uses them to highlight the unique color and texture of the instrumentation, along with these master performer's eloquent use of mood, subtlety, timbre and patience. Sharing sonic territory with classic albums by Eberhard Weber, or several of John Abercrombie's ECM recordings, McCarthy's new offering engages with disarming beauty. "An extraordinary musical ability and a boundless imagination" - Gary Burton.

Dan McCarthy’s Songs of the Doomed: “Some Jaded, Atavistic Freakout” is an album of (almost all original) music inspired by the writing of political journalist and general dingbat Hunter S. Thompson. A lot of the jangled madness that makes up this band’s repertoire comes from a new compositional style created specifically for this band called the ‘Gonzo Cypher’. The cypher allows you to take a word, phrase, or even paragraph of Hunter’s writing, submit it to the cypher, and what you are left with is a weird and likely obnoxious ‘tone row’, which is then used to compose the music - serial music rules apply.

Aliens exist, the government knows, and Dan McCarthy just found the proof.
When Dan McCarthy stumbles upon a folder containing evidence of the conspiracy to end all conspiracies – a top-level alien cover-up – he leaks the files without a second thought.
The incredible truth revealed by Dan’s leak immediately captures the public’s imagination, but Dan’s relentless commitment to exposing the cover-up and forcing disclosure quickly earns him some enemies in high places…

The name “Jim Dan Dee” comes from the expression “Everything is just Jim Dandy”, an old cliché often used with expletives inserted. Jim Dan Dee (affectionately known as ‘J.D.D.’ by their fans) is not only a Blues band, but also a character; an idea that embodies the spirit of the music and Jim Stefanuk’s frontman persona. On stage Jim’s intensity is like a man possessed, his soulful baritone voice juxtaposed against cutting vintage guitar tones. Tying the melodies together is the silky-smooth saxophone of Bobby Sewerynek, veteran horn player and former big-band sessionist.

Dan Kaufman, Pamelia Kurstin, Catherine McRae, Peter Hess, Danny Tunick, Peter Lettre, John Bollinger, Dawn McCarthy, Fiona Templeton, Dan Coates. Drawing upon ancient Roman Jewish melodies and incorporating Resistance poems by Pasolini and Alfonso Gatto, Dan Kaufman has put together a powerful and touching homage to the Italian Resistance during the period of Nazi occupation after the fall of Mussolini. Using the members of his band Barbez, including the stunning theremin virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin and vocalists Dawn McCarthy and Fiona Templeton, this is a stunning suite of music from the mastermind who brought you Force of Light from 2007.