New Signings by Electric Chair

Kat Eaton: In a music scene that is rich with female singer songwriters, Kat’s unique voice stands out with its low soulful register and immense power and purpose.

Ellas Kapell: A shared enthusiasm for Ella Fitzgerald initially led the members of Ellas Kapell together, but the band soon exceeded this common denominator and took on its own shape and sound, fashioned by the four musicians.

Dimensions of Wayne Shorter (Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley): For the Dimensions of Wayne Shorter production, Lindgren and Beasley composed a new work for large orchestra and band especially for the Philharmonic. Last year, they still had the opportunity to personally exchange musical ideas with Wayne Shorter at his home.

Melanie Charles & MdCL & Shigeto new Album: „Hotel San Claudio“

Following Melanie Charles’ formidable Verve album debut Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women and MdCL’s last longplayer, Freedom – Celebrating the Music of Pharoah Sanders, released in 2022 featuring Dwight Trible and Teodross Avery, these three forward-thinking musicians unite for a nine-track sonic exploration and improvised artistic journey across jazz, hip-hop and soulful house.

Set against the backdrop of rolling hills, the Adriatic sea and picturesque Italian countryside, situated ninety minutes east of the buzzing Umbrian capital of Perugia, stands a hotel, cozy in nature and classic in design that for a moment, was transformed into the home away from home for an exciting collaboration close to three years in the making. Welcome to Hotel San Claudio.

The journey began in Detroit, USA, back in 2018. Billed as a special duo performance, the cross-disciplinary beats polymath and serial collaborator/remixer MdCL, was invited to perform alongside etroit native Zach Saginaw aka Shigeto, one of the city’s most distinct contemporary artist/producers at local venue MotorCity Wine – despite the two having never actually met.

Suffice to say, a serious session took place. Months later, halfway across the world in Italy, having caught wind of the MotorCity Wine throwdown, Fat Fat Fat Festival set their sights on featuring the two to open their 2019 programme, yet the duo felt a piece of the puzzle was missing. Enter the “triple threat”, Melanie Charles. Having first connected post-show at a festival in Brooklyn in Oct 2018 and later at a two-week studio residency in Kaga, Japan, MdCL knew Charles was the perfect fit.

Between writing and rehearsing material that would go on to become their headline set at Fat Fat Fat (and subsequently this new album), the trio spent much of the week hanging out, shooting the breeze, and sharing delicious Italian food/wine and musical favourites. One musician the group kept circling back to as a major influence was saxophone titan and cosmic sage, Pharoah Sanders. The trio’s absorbing 2-part versioning of Sanders’ 30m-long classic The Creator Has A Master Plan as well as the iconic Love Is Everywhere became the centrepiece of Hotel San Claudio’s spiritually-focused, reimagined jazz core.

The trio’s performance at Fat Fat Fat , was a memorable moment  as was their next show a few months later, following the Marshall Allen-directed Sun Ra Arkestra at NYC’s storied jazz venue, Nublu. The next day, the three hit the studio to capture the sounds to tape.

Strings speaks to the group’s love of hip-hop, with Shigeto’s Dilla-esque ‘hanging off the beat’ slap and Melanie Charles’ deft rhymes and MdCL’s sample-chops, whilst Kanazawa references a love of soulful house, with Charles’ 70s disco/fusion-tipping flute solo, leading into a euphoric and climactic club outro. The warrior-themed Bushido, first heard on MdCL’s album Heritage, leans even heavier on 70s jazz fusion as MdCL’s unruly synth impulsions and Donald Byrd-leaning soul-jazz production strides the line between atmospheric and experimental. MFT showcases Charles’ sublime vocals, treated here with big reverbs and delays, affording a vast, celestial quality that stands present throughout Hotel San Claudio.

With part two already top of mind, and tentative ideas to switch up countries and meet up in each of their respective cities one project at a time, the trio’s indisputable chemistry and penchant for breaking new ground, whatever the form, has no plans on slowing up here. From LA, Detroit and NYC, via Japan to Italy and back again, Hotel San Claudio is ready to take flight.

Listen The Creator Has a Master Plan Part II

Bandcamp

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Stream of the concert of Magnus Lindgren – Stockholm Underground

On November 25th Magnus delighted his fans with a great concert at the Cologne Philharmonic.

Now and until February 24th you can enjoy this amazing performance of Magnus Lindren, Henrik Janson, Lars Danielsson and Per Lidnvall hier.

 

Organized by KölnMusik

Recording location: Kölner Philharmonie

 

Myles Sanko is back and this time with his first ever live album!

Recorded and filmed live to a sold-out auditorium at the magnificent Philharmonie Luxembourg, accompanied by his trusted soul/jazz sextet (pianist Tom O’Grady, bassist Jon Mapp, drummer Rick Hudson, guitarist Phil Stevenson, saxophonist/flutist Gareth Lumbers, trumpeter Sam Ewens) and the 70-piece Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra led by Grammy Award winning conductor Gast Waltzing.

“To be able to release my first live album of such magnitude is a dream come true” says Myles Sanko. “Capturing what I do live has always been a goal of mine for some time now and I am over the moon that it has finally come to life. To do it this way exceeds my imagination and I am truly honoured to have created this with all these exceptional musicians”

“Live at Philharmonie Luxembourg” features ten songs with orchestral arrangements by Gast Waltzing and Peter Hinderthür. It includes all the favourites such as “Come On Home” or “High On You” and classics like “Just Being Me” and “Forever Dreaming”. It will be available on 12″ vinyl LP, compact CD and digital formats. After the release of his third full studio album “Memories Of Love” in 2021, “Live At Philharmonie Luxembourg” preserves the magic of Sanko’s concerts for home listening.

This new offering will instantly remind fans of the unique combination of raw talent and sophistication with which he captures his audience so effortlessly.

 

„Live at Philharmonie Luxembourg“ will be released on 3rd March 2023

 

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PHILIPPE COHEN SOLAL & GUSTAVO BEYTELMANN

„The Human Seasons” is an album of musical improvisation by the Argentinian pianist Gustavo Beytelmann, produced with Philippe Cohen Solal. The title comes from a poem by John Keats and is a metaphor for the four seasons of our existence. It is also about the life that we improvise from day to day.

Here the acoustics and electronics interact in a unique musical ping-pong. The 2 musicians cross over between the human seasons, between “field recording” and “spoken word”, to deliver an instrumental performance that is sometimes serene and sometimes powerful.Philippe Cohen Solal started collaborating with Gustavo Beytelmann in 1999. He is the pianist that features in Gotan Project. The maestro also accompanied the group on their world tour of “La Revancha del Tango”, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. One evening, in the middle of a concert, the two computers with all the rhythmic sequences broke down. But the show must go on: Gustavo and Philippe then start to improvise, in a long suspended and magical moment. From this technical incident a beautiful artistic surprise was born.

It took almost 20 years for them to find themselves, both in the studio, with the firm intention of putting themselves in danger and recreating that magic.Sound landscapes, pianistic melodies, poetic interventions and solid rhythms are summoned to take us, during 45 minutes of electro and acoustic improvisation, to an incredible musical elsewhere.”

Summer – Official Video

New album from Emanuel Harrold

We are excited to announce the new album titled „We Da People“ from the multi-GRAMMY Award nominated and winning drummer, producer and educator Emanuel Harrold.

The album folows his recent EP „Funk La Soul“

 

℗ 2022 Gearbox Records

 

Video – We Da People

 

NEW SINGLE RELEASE FROM CHIARA CIVELLO

We are excited to bring you an exciting new single from internationally acclaimed Italian singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Chiara Civello. Co-produced with Dario Bassolino and featuring lyrics by Civello and Sicilian artist Kaballà, „Sono Come Sono“ is the first Italian adaptation of the Brazilian song „Olhos Coloridos,“ a celebration of diversity, mixed roots and inclusion written by Macao and made famous by singer Sandra de Sa. To respect the spirit of the original and its soul-funk sound, Civello decided to produce the song in Naples, a city with many similarities to Rio de Janeiro, including its multicultural history. The result is an irresistible 80s-inspired boogie-funk track that exudes positivity and joy.

Produced by Four Flies Records.

Video – Sono Come Sono

 

 

HERE IT IS: TRIBUTE TO LEONARD COHEN

The late Leonard Cohen could certainly be a formidable performer, but he endures primarily because of his songs – richly poetic, nuanced and evocative pieces of aural literature composed with enough considered space to leave them open for eclectic interpretations. His „Tower of Song“ came with flexible blueprints, which is why Cohen has been the subject of so many often excellent tribute albums, both during his lifetime and since his 2016 death.

Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen is a worthwhile entry in the large pile of salutes and serves as a complement to 2022’s illuminating documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song and the companion compilation Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah & Songs From His Albums. It hosts a crew of top-shelf artists taking on a dozen Cohen pieces, many established favorites but also a few deep digs, with producer Larry Klein’s jazz-tinged arrangements providing the sonic thread to sew them all together.

Gregory Porter, one of the great jazz vocalists of the moment, delivers a soulful version of Suzanne that hews to its original melodies but allows the jazz artists accompanying him to interpolate and offer their own flights.

 

Suzanne – Video

 

MAGNUS LINDGREN NOMINATED FOR TWO GRAMMYS ADWARD

We are very happy to announce that Magnus Lindgren together with John Beasley and the SWR Bigband have been nominated for two (John even for three) Grammys with their album „BIRD LIVES“!

They are nominated in the categories:

Category Best Large Jazz Ensemle Album  

„Bird Lives“   Video

Category  Best Arrangemet, Instrumental or A Capella

„Scrapple From The Apple“  Video

 

The 2023 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 65th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on Sunday, Feb. 5, from Los Angeles‘ Crypto.com Arena, and it will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET / 5-8:30 p.m. PT+.

NEW ARTIST IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR FAMILY

Anne Paceo was born in 1984 and spent her childhood in Daloa, Ivory Coast, where she heard the rhythm of the great drum masters who practiced next to her family’s house. Anne Paceo chose the drums. The choice forces admiration, because the number of female drummers can still be counted on the fingers of one hand. But Anne Paceo has that certain something. And a damn good technique, which she acquired at the Paris National Conservatory.

At the age of 19, she begins a career as an accompanist with an amazing array of artists, from Archie Shepp to Philippe Catherine, through John Mc Laughlin, Charlie Haden, Rhoda Scott, Michel Legrand, Christian Escoudé, Rick Margitza, Henri Texier, China Moses, Leyla McCalla, Andy Sheppard, …. Maybe that’s where she develops her taste for world sound. At twenty-four years old.

Today Anne Paceo slips into the role of a healer with S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S, an album released in 2022 inspired by the sacred chants of the world. The album is number 1 on the French jazz charts for several weeks and journalists agree that „S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S seems to be an achievement, perhaps an apotheosis“. Télérama „Anne Paceo has established herself as one of the most important figures of the French music scene“ Libération