Source: Edgetone Records.
Markus Hunt & Thollem McDonas – Adobe
Presented by Markus Hunt and Thollem McDonas in the order it was performed, Adobe represents an intimate conversation between two musicians. Many of the musical concepts are based on mathematic forms (ex. dactylic hexameter); however, those forms were only frameworks to support spontaneous creations.
Heikki “Mike” Koskinen Northern Winds & Voices – Sisällä/Ulkona (Inside/Outside)
Inside / Outside was created by composer & multi-instrumentalist Heikki Koskinen for a project featuring new and old Finnish music arranged in innovative new ways, exploring the universal connections between immigrants and their motherlands.
E. Doctor Smith, Peter McKibben featuring Laura Austin Wiley – FutureJazz
Inspired by the music of iconic jazz fusion pioneers like Return to Forever, progressive rock groups like King Crimson, Jethro Tull and the 1970 classic tome “Future Shock” by author Alvin Toffler, E. Doctor Smith and Peter McKibben’s compositions are borne out of an appreciation for the those musical masters, and the shock that accompanies the reality today’s musicians face in our rapidly changing, ever-evolving, digital age.
Rent Romus‘ Life’s Blood Ensemble – Rising Colossus
For Rising Colossus, Romus brings his various musical worlds together. Focusing on original pieces he’s commissioned from younger Bay Area artists, the music offers an incisive and often exhilarating glimpse at a scene that Romus has played an essential role in shaping. The LBE dives headlong into a disparate array of compositions, opening and closing the album with very different works inspired by epic tales: pianist Brett Carson four-part suite that subdivides the band into smaller units and Romus’ shimmering “Empyrean City Rising” that keys on Mark Clifford’s vibes.
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