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Finally got the percussion setup up and going.

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Mad Season - Above

Did I need a 30th anniversary edition of an album I already own in multiple other ways? Probably not. But goddamn if I'm not enjoying myself right now.

Here's to one of the greatest albums ever made and my favorite guitar album of all time.

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My latest at Substack: https://caspianseal.substack.com/p/was-design-better-through-the-eighties

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Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band’s Walk A Mile In My Shoe has been nominated for Record of the Year at the 2025 JJA Jazz Awards!

Huge thanks to the Jazz Journalists Association for this incredible honor.

All of us at Imani Records are deeply grateful and humbled to be recognized alongside such outstanding musicians and artists. Let’s keep walking the walk—through music, unity, and jazz.

So proud to have worked on the design for this album with photographer extraordinaire, Christopher Kayfield. This album deserves all the acclaim it’s gotten and all the awards it’s been nominated for.

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Bright Dog Red at ShapeShifter Lab, BK|NYC • 04/25/2025

I had the pleasure of seeing my friend, Joe Pignato’s band, Bright Dog Red (Ropeadope) at Matt Garrison’s club, ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn this past Friday night. I’ve known Joey for a only a few years now despite our parents having known each other for years and the two of us having studied drums under North Jersey based drummer and instructor, Sal LaRocca (Junior Mace and Teddy Wilson) when we were younger. But, the musical and spiritual bonds were made immediately. “We’re Sons of Sal”, as Joey always says.

The Albany based free-jazz/nu-jazz collective has been creating music for at least a decade and they are absolutely among the best doing it right now. They have some fantastic albums that feature frequent collaborators, Tim Lefebvre (bass) and Eric Person (saxes). Definitely check them out.

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o mariñeiro / the fisherman

© Manoel T, 2025

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Arrival, SpY

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Dazzling Killmen - Blown (Face Down)

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Dazzling Killmen reuniting just made everything so much better

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Sonny Rollins

(English / Español / Italiano)

"I will try to explain it as simply as possible: in those days when jazz was the undisputed king in the cities, there was a musician who stood out for his elegance and who elevated the tenor saxophone to a level of refinement and stylisation never seen before. I am referring to Sonny Rollins".

Haruki Murakami, 'Jazz Portraits'.

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"Trataré de explicarlo de la manera más sencilla posible: en aquellos tiempos en que el jazz era el rey indiscutible en las ciudades, hubo un músico que destacó por su elegancia y que elevó el saxo tenor a unos niveles de refinamiento y de estilización inéditos hasta la fecha. Me estoy refiriendo a Sonny Rollins".

Haruki Murakami, ``Retratos de jazz´´.

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"Cercherò di spiegarlo nel modo più semplice possibile: all'epoca in cui il jazz era il re incontrastato nelle città, c'era un musicista che si distingueva per la sua eleganza e che elevava il sassofono tenore a un livello di raffinatezza e di stilizzazione inaudito fino ad allora. Mi riferisco a Sonny Rollins".

Haruki Murakami, ``Ritratti in jazz''.

Source: Pasión por el Jazz y Blues.

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Auditorium, Paris cinema, Rex House, 4-12 Lower Regent Street

1939

Robert Cromie

Image from RIBApix

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Tishan Hsu, Double Absence, 2016

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Of all the jazz musicians who wrought definitive, revolutionary changes, Cecil Taylor’s advances went further than anyone else’s to expand the very notion of musical form.

photo: Frans Schellekens/Redferns/Getty

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St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, by Blake Ellis (1967).

Jacksonville Beach, Florida - USA.

© Roberto Conte (2023)

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Noriyuki Haraguchi / Fergus McCaffrey / Oil Pool / Installation / 2015

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Lester Young in New York, 1948

by Herman Leonard