Tyshawn Sorey

Composers drawing on visual arts or literary works for inspiration and guidance are nothing new. Think Mussorgsky’s “Picture at an Exhibition” or even Scott Fields’ Clean Feed release “Beckett.” This CD by trombonist Michael Dessen and his trio continues the tradition.

I’ve been waiting for some forward thinking musician to intelligently combine the music of M-Base (which is both cerebral and funky but not particularly emotional) with elements of John Coltrane’s classic period modal innovations. Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman takes an impressive step in that direction with On Meaning.

JazzTimes
"Fieldwork's rhythmic logic can be immensely involved, but the results are disarmingly concise ... dark yet uplifting, intellectually demanding yet effortlessly funky."

This exciting new trio release sees Drummer Tyshawn Sorey, pianist Kris Davis and reedist Ingrid Laubrock, all extremely thoughtful and engaging composer-improvisers, join forces. German 2009 SWR-Jazz Prize and winner Ingrid Laubrock has recently moved to NY from London.

Pi Recordings is proud to welcome the influential alto saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman to the label with Harvesting Semblances and Affinities, his first release on an American label in nine years and his first new release in almost four years.

Pi Recordings is pleased to announce the release of Travail, Transformation, and Flow, an important new recording from the Steve Lehman Octet that marks the first fully realized exploration of spectral harmony in the history of recorded jazz.

Mancy is defined as “Divination by a specified means: ex. “geomancy." This suits saxophonist and composer Steve Coleman perfectly, as he has long been interested in numbers, symbols and their relationship to music.

The fertile ground between hard bop and free jazz continues to attract the next generation of jazz artists, most notably trombonist Samuel Blaser. On Pieces of Old Sky, his new CD from Clean Feed, the Swiss-born and New York-developed brassman (now residing in Berlin—yes, he’s an inveterate globetrotter) shows off the fruits of his rapid development as a bandleader and instrumentalist.