Taborn Light

Nine years on from the widely-acclaimed Iron Stone recording, Scottish singer-songwriter, harpist and guitarist Robin Williamson returns with a new album of self-penned pieces – thoughtful and touching meditations on love, destiny, the natural world, roads travelled, and the daily pleasures of being alive today. The album finds Williamson in fine voice and in best creative form on his diverse instruments, drawing inspiration also from the ingenious improvisational input of violist Mat Maneri (further developing the association initiated on Skirting The River Road ) and percussionist Ches Smith (last heard on ECM with Tim Berne’s Snakeoil band). Trusting In The Rising Light was recorded in Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, in January 2014.

Steve Coleman - Lucidarium (2004) {Label Bleu LBLC6673}
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© 2004 Label Bleu | LBLC 6673
Jazz / Post Bop / M-Base / Modern Jazz / Saxophone

The uncompromising American alto saxophonist Steve Coleman isn't the kind of artist to hire a marketing team, but if he was you could bet that track titles like the name of this album, or Plagal Transitions, or Diasporatic Transitions II would be straight in the shredder. Coleman is a serious thinker about contemporary music, and he doesn't wear the responsibility lightly. But behind the solemn, lecture-room gravitas, and woven between the sometimes mathematical investigation of rhythm and ensemble patterns he favours, can be a hot and soulful alto-sax improviser, and a surprisingly nimble and free-spirited nu-bop enthusiast.

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth - Deluxe (2010) {Clean Feed CF174CD rec 2008}
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© 2010 Clean Feed | CF174CD
Jazz / Neo Bop / Modern Creative / Bass

Bigmouth – a project of bassist Chris Lightcap – apparently is inspired by stretched-out, two-toned, tail-finned, white-wall-tired cars of the mid-'50s, in reference to the cover art on Deluxe. The music is ultra-modern from a compositional standpoint, only hinting at neo-bop while pushing the creative improvised harmonic envelope. Lightcap's expertise on the bass is second to none, as he pushes and prods his way through these original works with an absolutely stellar band of drummer Gerald Cleaver, electric keyboardist Craig Taborn, tenor saxophonists Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek, and on three tracks alto saxophonist Andrew D'Angelo. While some allusions to the vintage autos are reflected in the titles, Lightcap's vision is of the future, a heady mix of heart and soul embedded in this refreshing new music.

Facets is saxophonist/composer Hafez Modirzadeh's latest radical entreaty against the cultural hegemony of the Western notion of equal temperament and his argument that musicians should be free to explore a variety of tonal possibilities, even on piano.

Small Places is double bassist/composer Michael Formanek’s follow-up to “The Rub and Spare Change”, his widely lauded ECM debut as a leader. If anything, Small Places is a step beyond this quartet’s first release, with the compositions and improvisation blending so seamlessly that a listener is scarcely able to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Earthy yet atmospheric, this is very 21st-century American jazz, the music brimming with piquant riffs and muscular ostinatos, rich in melodic possibility and the sound of surprise.

Following on the monumental Migration of Silence Into and Out of The Tone World box set earlier this year, composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griot, improviser and community leader William Parker will release an astonishing Pair of brand new trio albums which further expound on his profound and limitless vision: Mayan Space Station -&- Painters Winter. One of the iconic and enduring music leaders to emerge in the world over the last half century, Parker continues to raise the bar higher. As ever, AUM Fidelity is deeply honored & incredibly stoked (!) to present this work to you.

David Binney - Bastion Of Sanity (2005) {Criss Cross Jazz CRISS1261CD rec 2004}
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© 2005 Criss Cross Jazz | CRISS 1261 CD
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

Kicking things off with Wayne Shorter's "Lester Left Town," Bastion of Sanity might seem a decidedly mainstream affair. And, with a cover of Duke Ellington's "Heaven" halfway through the 77-minute set, that intuition might be right. With his quartet of 20-somethings—pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Dan Weiss, augmented for this recording by long-time collaborator Chris Potter on tenor saxophone—alto saxophonist David Binney has been concentrating on honing a looser, more freely improvised group sound at his weekly Tuesday night sessions at the 55 Bar in New York's Greenwich Village for over a year-and-a-half.