The Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) June Festival returns to the Benedict Music Tent with a line-up including new faces and old favorites, an expanded JAS Café Downstairs at the Nell series, and the addition of a nightly pre-concert Lawn Party prior to the headline concerts.

The JAS Festival kicks off on Friday, June 22 with three of the biggest names in jazz-rock and soul, The Dukes of September, featuring Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs.  Saturday, June 23 brings the iconic blues-rocker, Joe Cocker, to the stage, who last played JAS in June 2003.  The first weekend concludes on Sunday, June 24 with pop/country singer/songwriter k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang in her first ever JAS appearance.   

The following two weeks will feature an array of eclectic performances at the JAS Café Downstairs at the Little Nell: on Friday, June 29 the French/Brazilian magic of vocalist Cyrille Aimee and guitar virtuoso Diego Figueiredo returns after wowing audiences with their January performances; Saturday, June 30 will feature the Gypsy Jazz of the Hot Club of Detroit; Thursday, July 5 the 14-piece Cuban Band Wil Campa Y su Gran Union takes the stage; and on Friday, July 6 New Orleans trombonist, and 21-year head horn playing in Harry Connick's Big Band, Lucien Barbarin and the New Orleans Rhythm Revue will close out the Nell shows.  On August 10-11 singer/songwriter/guitarist Raul Midon will be featured at the JAS Café with more summer acts still to be announced.  Each evening will feature performances at 7:30 and 9:15pm.  Tickets are $32/each in advance, $40 at the door.

Toronto Jazz Festival 2012 will feature the music of Natalie Cole, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Pizzarelli, Karrin Allyson, 
Spectrum Road, Roy Hargrove and many more!

With less than four months to go, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival is already swingin' to the sounds of jazz as it announces its next wave of confirmed artists performing this summer. Featuring some of the jazz world's top artists, the 26th edition of the summer's largest music festival gets underway from June 22 - July 1, 2012. Tickets are on sale now.

Natalie Cole - Monday, June 25, Sony Centre: Spend an unforgettable night with one of music's finest when singer, songwriter Natalie Cole returns to Toronto for a very special performance. The nine-time Grammy award winner will perform standards from the Great American Songbook, selections made immortal by her father, Nat King Cole, and music from her award winning releases.

Spectrum Road - Wednesday, June 27, Sound Academy: Featuring Jack Bruce (bassist for Cream), Vernon Reid (guitarist for Living Color), John Medeski (keyboardist for Medeski Martin & Wood) and Cindy Blackman-Santana (former drummer for Lenny Kravitz), this band was originally formed as a tribute group to the groundbreaking work of Tony Williams. A jazz fusion super-group comprised of the most prolific players on the music scene today, Spectrum Road is a heavyweight line-up that is inspired by the work by Williams, a drummer for Miles Davis who charted the course for jazz-rock.

Esperanza Spalding, Diana Krall & Trombone Shorty to Perform at The 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, June 30 & July 1

ESPERANZA SPALDING - Just one year after taking home a GRAMMY® Award in the Best New Artist category, the bassist/vocalist performed a beautiful rendition of "What a Wonderful World" alongside the Southern California Children's Choir at the 2012 84th Oscar Academy Awards in Los Angeles on February 26.

DIANA KRALL - The world renowned artist and and one of the best selling jazz vocalists of all time recently appeared with Paul McCartney on the 2012 GRAMMY® Awards telecast in Los Angeles on February 12.

TROMBONE SHORTY - The New Orleans native trombone/trumpet phenomenon recently participated in a PBS televised performance at The White House as a part of the Black History Month celebration in Washington D.C. on February 21.

All three artists will perform at the 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival which will take place on Saturday, June 30 & Sunday, July 1 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center located at 108 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Tickets are available at $55 per day. For more information on the 35th Annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, please visit: spac.org

BOSSABRASIL Festival 2012 takes place at Birdland on Saturday April 24 through 28 at 8:30 & 11 pm. This year Marcos Valle (composer, keyboards, vocals), Paula Morelenbaum (vocals) with Patricia Alvi (vocals) Jesse Sadoc (trumpet) Sergio Brandau (bass), Renato "Massa" Calmon (drums), Jorge Continentino (sax and flute) and Paul Meyers (guitar) are scheduled performers.

Launched in 2007, the annual BOSSABRASIL Festival brings together top Brazilian artists for a celebration of Bossa Nova and other musical sounds from Brazil. For over 50 years Bossa Nova has seduced musicians and listeners with its innate sensuality, melding samba with jazz sensibilities. Festival producers Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta, have produced hit Brazilian music concerts in venues from Rio to New York City.

This year they are presenting the very talented composer/keyboardist/vocalist Marcos Valle and guest vocalist Paula Morelenbaum in their first engagement together in the US. Marcos Valle is without a doubt one of the major songwriters of Brazilian Popular Music. Having written over 300 songs recorded by artists Sarah Vaughn, Chicago, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Ramsey Lewis, Dave Brubeck, Toots Thielemans, Joe Pass, Johnny Mathis, Bebel Gilberto, Joe Williams, Eliane Elias, Eumir Deodato, Joao Donato, and so many more, he is among Brazil's most important talents. He has toured the world at major Festivals and concert halls from England to Japan to China, to Australia to packed houses and received numerous awards for his songwriting. His latest CD “Farout,” considered one of the best of his career, has been released in Japan and Europe and will soon be released in Brazil. Paula Morelenbaum is one of Brazil’s most celebrated singers. After 10 years with Antonio Carlos Jobim's band she continued to explore the Bossa legacy with numerous recordings, including one with her husband, critically acclaimed cellist Jacques Morelenbaum, Jobim’s son Paulo and his grandson Daniel. She received international acclaim in the Trio Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto which featured the prominent composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto. 

Acoustic bass giant Eddie Gomez ensures his place as one of the truly great musicians working today with his newest recording – "Per Sempre."

Recorded in Bologna, Italy while on tour in winter 2009, "Per Sempre" is a luminous jazz disc destined to stand the test of time, showcasing an amazing ensemble. Gomez brings originals—by himself and members of his quintet—to the table, along with one evergreen, “Stella by Starlight.” One of "Per Sempre’s" haunting melodies, “Arianna,” is a stunning ballad “exemplified by the gorgeous, plucked Gomez solo at its center” — Jazz Times.

Coming off his recent triumph "Further Explorations" (with Chick Corea and the late Paul Motian) in which Gomez celebrated the 50th anniversary of legendary pianist Bill Evans’ classic album "Explorations," "Per Sempre" furthers Gomez’ stature as consummate bassist, inspirational leader, composer and cultivator of musicianship.

Eddie Gomez’s career kicked into gear in the early 1960s and there are more than twenty albums under his rubric. "Per Sempre" features a host of talent and original composition. Gomez’s conception is like his career, spanning the mainstream (Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Benny Goodman, McCoy Tyner, Hank Jones, Freddie Hubbard) to fusion (Steps Ahead, The Gadd Gang) to classical (Tashi, The Kronos Quartet, Richard Stoltzman). His recent recording Duets, co-led with Carlos Franzetti on piano, won Best Instrumental Album at the 2010 GRAMMY® Awards.

"Per Sempre" is rich with breezes wafting from the Mediterranean and the Caribbean; exquisite chamber jazz – soulful and swinging. Gomez’s bass is, as usual, resolute as a heartbeat and delicate as a raindrop.

The Quintet Members are: Marco Pignataro, saxophone Matt Marvuglio, flute Teo Ciavarella, piano Massimo Manzi, drums.

GRAMMY®-winning, legendary bassist EDDIE GOMEZ has been on the cutting edge of music for over four decades. His impressive resumé includes performances with jazz giants such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Benny Goodman. Eddie’s distinctive sound and style can be heard on hundreds of recordings spanning the worlds of jazz, classical, Latin jazz, rhythm & blues, popular and contemporary music. At age 21, Eddie became the bassist with the Bill Evans Trio – and rose quickly to prominence. For 11 years, he played an integral role in the Trio’s sound and evolution, and played on many recordings including two GRAMMY®-winning albums.

A sought-after educator, Eddie is Artistic Director of the Jazz Program at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, and is frequently artist in residence at schools across the U.S. and throughout Europe. As a composer, many of Eddie’s compositions are featured on his recordings as well as on those of his contemporaries. Today, Eddie tours and records with his own group, and performs around the world in collaboration with some of the great musicians of our time. His recent recording “Duets,” co-led with Carlos Franzetti on piano, won Best Instrumental Album at the 2010 GRAMMY® Awards.

Robert Hurst is a killin' bass player who has recorded and toured extensively with Chris Botti and Diana Krall. Hurst has scored music for "The Blue Lobster," "The Wood," "Brown Sugar," "Blues and Swing," and "Without a Pass." He has composed music for film and video including: "Clockers," "Mo Better Blues" "Do the Right Thing," and "Roused About." For seven years, he served as the bassist for the NBC Tonight Show (1992 - 1999).

For the last ten years, bassist/composer Robert Hurst's commitments and accomplishments as in-demand sideman, film composer, and university educator have left the music world anticipating new recordings from him as a leader. He delivers this month with the simultaneous release, on January 25, of two new and very different CDs on his Bebob imprint -- Bob Ya Head, an intriguing foray into world music and electronica (with Darryl "Munyungo" Jackson, Marcus Belgrave, and Karriem Riggins), and Unrehurst Vol. 2, a 2007 all-acoustic trio date recorded at Smoke in New York City (with Robert Glasper and Chris "Daddy" Dave).

"It is so rewarding to finally be releasing this new music," says the bassist. "It's been quite a magical journey becoming the man and musician my audience has come to know. The majority of my fans identify me as a 'straight-ahead' jazz bass sideman, and while I love playing jazz and will always do so, I found it necessary as an artist to express my many other musical influences. I believe the one constant in jazz is 'change.' Each generation has broken the mold of the previous. With so much more of my music already written and even recorded, I look forward to all of my upcoming projects further addressing the notion of change and the evolution of our music."

A prolific composer, Grammy-winner and founding member of the contemporary jazz supergroup Fourplay, pianist Bob James explores the classically influenced side of his immense musicality on Altair & Vega. A duet project recorded with fellow piano virtuoso Keiko Matsui, it's a modern take on the four-hands piano tradition established in the 18th and 19th centuries by the likes of such classical composers as Haydn, Brahms and Schubert. Named for a Japanese folkloric tale about the seventh day of the seventh month (July 7th - an annual celebration known as Tanabata), Altair and Vega are two stars in the galaxy that pass by each other only once a year. "So this kind of rare meeting of these two fictional characters seemed to be a good title because it also described my eventual hookup with Keiko on this project," says James.

 "Originally this story came from China," adds Matsui. "Later it was combined with Japanese tradition. We write one's wish and prayer on origami (Japanese traditional color paper) and hang it from bambondero grass. We decorate bamboo with origami under the sky for an evening.For us, July 7th is a special day with romantic feeling."

San Francisco-based jazz guitarist Alex Pinto has a sound and concept unlike any other  player on the scene. On his debut CD, Inner State, which features his working quartet, Pinto makes a powerful first impression with his fluid phrasing, bright tone, and a program of seven original compositions marked by engaging melodies and unorthodox harmonic forms.

"What I like about Alex is that he is a true artist," says Jaz Sawyer, whose Pursuance Records will release Inner State on March 22. "He puts so much time, effort, and concentration into the music. He plans for longevity in the arts. I share that focus."

Sawyer plays on the CD, as do tenor saxophonist Jon Armstrong and bassist Dave Tranchina, colleagues of Alex's from their days at CalArts (where he earned his MFA).

The son of an Indian father who works for the World Bank and an American mother from Wisconsin who is a professor of anthropology, Alex Pinto was born in the Washington, DC area in 1985 and lived in Poland and Russia for years at a stretch when his dad was posted there. (He began playing guitar at five while living in Warsaw.)

"Wes Montgomery and Jimi Hendrix were my initial guitar heroes," Pinto says. "I got enamored with John Coltrane, and I still listen to recordings that span his career. And Hindustani music has been huge for me, masters like Ali Akbar Khan and Nikhil Banerjee, who makes me feel the same as Hendrix and Coltrane."

When you think great male jazz vocalists names like Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Hartman, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, John Pizzarrelli, Billy Eckstine, Fats Waller, Al Jarreau, and Frank Sinatra come to mind. Another heavy hitter to add to that list is Sachal Vasandani, an Indian American artist who has an impeccable sound.   

His recent release, "HI-FLY", a mix of standards, originals and pop, is Vasandani’s third CD on Mack Avenue Records which includes a stellar line up of talent:  Jeb Patton on piano, Kendrick Scott on drums, David Wong on bass, Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, John Ellis on tenor and Jon Hendrick on vocals.

On "HI-FLY", Vasandani displays great musicianship. On Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game,” he toots a rich voice with broad stylistic range that allows the listener to get lost in the music.

Vasandani states, “Everyone has their own perceptions of what the voice should be... The most challenging part is getting into your own sound. The hardest part is getting comfortable with that sound."

The 2010 Downbeat Rising Star poll winner continues, "When I was in high school I studied classical music and realized that I was not going to become a Charlie Parker. The voice was not going to turn into a saxophone or something. Anyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Frank Sinatra to Billie Holiday did not have trained voices, but were quiet special.”

Vasandani is a virtuosic singer with a velvet voice who can handle anything from gentle ballads to humorous scats with ease.

His rendition of “One Mint Julep” sways an upbeat tempo that tells the fantastic tale of a rendez-vous between a man and a woman who were forced to marry after drinking “one” mint julep. Vasandani’s version is fun. What is particularly joyous is the added texture provided by Jon Hendrick. Together they create an array of colorful scats.

The twelve-tack CD, produced by John Clayton and Al Pryor, is a swinging sensational hit!

Upcoming Sachal Vasandani Concerts:

6/22  Scullers Jazz Club

Jazz Standard

6/28: Gerald Clayton, piano; John Ellis, sax; Josh Ginsburg, bass;
and Quincy Davis, drums.

Jazz Standard

6/29: Jeb Patton, piano; John Ellis, sax; David Wong, bass;
and Quincy Davis, drums.

Photo credit: Raj Naik

With Blake's The Aquarian Suite, recently released on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records, you have a recipe for a wildly successful jazz recording; eight new jazz compositions for "chordless quartet" that stretch the boundaries of modern jazz while staying true to the forms set by the masters; a "Mingus meets Monk" quality of blues-inflection, compositional unity, and ever-present melodicism; and an incredible band comprised of Blake on tenor saxophone, Jason Palmer (Greg Osby, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roy Haynes, Ravi Coltrane, etc) on trumpet, Jorge Roeder (Gary Burton, Julian Lage, Alex Acuna, Maria Schneider) on bass, and the ubiquitous Richie Barshay (Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spaulding, Lee Konitz, Chick Corea, etc) on drums and percussion.

While Blake's previous recording, The Party Suite, represents his own personal revelation that the history of early jazz is in fact a raucous celebration of life and the endless possibilities to experience joy in its many facets, The Aquarian Suite, "connects to the tumultuous and fertile energy of the bebop revolution, in an effort to further expand my understanding of tradition and how it relates to my life as a musician. By connecting to a rich musical heritage and claiming it as my own, The Aquarian Suite is for me a 'water bearer'; a sonic body through which a hopeful transition between tradition and the potential for a greater future can flow easefully and with great joy", states Blake.