Four Wheeler August 2016

2019 is a milestone year for altoist Will Vinson. It’s twenty years since he relocated to New York from his native London, and commenced an exploration that led him into the heart of that city’s legendary scene, where the tradition and the avant-garde intersect. Seven records as leader have confirmed his stature: now, for his debut on Whirlwind, titled four forty one, he’s dug into his contact book to present the realization of a long-held dream - to record with five of the greatest contemporary piano masters. Sullivan Fortner, Tigran Hamasyan, Gerald Clayton, Fred Hersch, and long-time associate Gonzalo Rubalcaba are each matched with their respective bass and drum team of Matt Brewer and Obed Calvaire, Matt Penman and Billy Hart, Matt Brewer and Clarence Penn, Rick Rosato and Jochen Rueckert, and Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland, to create five dream trios for Vinson to play off “as a bystander and participant at the same time.”

In less than 24 months, Taj Mahal (guitars/vocals/banjo/harmonica) had issued the equivalent of four respective long-players. The electric Giant Step was released alongside the acoustic and decidedly rural De Ole Folks at Home. The nine cuts on Giant Step feature support from the instrumental trio of Jesse Ed Davis (guitar/keyboards), Gary Gilmore (bass), and Chuck Blackwell (drums). They back Taj Mahal on a wide selection of covers ranging from Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Take a Giant Step" to the upbeat and soulful reading of the Huddie Ledbetter blues staple "Keep Your Hands Off Her." The arrangements are unique and offer the artist's distinctive approach. Nowhere is this more evident than the practically jovial midtempo "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" or the freewheeling abandon brought to the 18-wheeler anthem "Six Days on the Road"…

Limited UK four CD box set from the Pop/Rock diva containing her first four albums: Can't Take Me Home (2000), Missundaztood (2001), Try This (2003) and I'm Not Dead (2006). While she has respectable sales in her homeland (the U.S.), Pink is an absolute superstar all over the world including Australia and Europe. The four albums included in this box contain a massive 16 Top 10 hit singles, which is a pretty impressive feat!

We are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration is a commemoration of a half-century of magical music making from The Art Ensemble of Chicago, a band that has been at the forefront of creative improvised music since forming in 1969. It has also long served as the flagship ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the august Chicago-based organization that also fostered the careers of members such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and Wadada Leo Smith, among many others. Now led by the surviving members Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye, the album is also a loving tribute to the band’s three original members who have passed: Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, and most recently, Joseph Jarman.