The Jazz Defenders · Meanderthal

After a great reception for their second album King Phoenix in autumn 2022, and 7" single "Rolling on a High" in 2023, The Jazz Defenders hit the road running in 2024 with a batch of new releases. The Bristol jazz outfit, led by pianist George Cooper (longtime member of UK funk kings The Haggis Horns), line up two singles as tasters for their third album Memory in Motion on Haggis Records. The first of these is "Meanderthal", a foot-stomping, toe-tapping groover that shows the band's continued love affair with the heavy backbeat-driven jazz of the 1960s in the USA, commonly called soul-jazz.

This music married the jazz improvisation of earlier eras, such as bebop and hard bop, to the straight eighths groove of rhythm & blues and soul music. Championed by musicians such as saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and pianist Ramsey Lewis, and especially artists recording for the legendary Blue Note Records label (people like pianist Horace Silver, trumpeter Lee Morgan, saxophonist Lou Donaldson and guitarist Grant Green), soul jazz became hugely popular outside of the niche jazz scene, even scoring top twenty pop single hits with tracks like "The Sidewinder" and "Watermelon Man".

"Meanderthal" comes in with a cracking snare drum beat married to a grooving piano/bass riff, all tied together with the brass punching out a blues-drenched theme. Topping off the composition is a funky Hammond organ, bringing in some good old gospel vibes (handclaps included), and embellishing the main theme and solos until finally cutting loose for a solo. As is the case with classic soul jazz, solos are short and sweet and the track is all about rhythm and the beat. A great introduction to the new music coming from one of the UK's finest jazz groups for 2024...The Jazz Defenders are well and truly back and ready to roll. More goodness coming soon but for now, kick back and enjoy the perfect marriage of soul and jazz that is "Meanderthal".

Antoine Knight · Step 2 Me Baby

After coming off his hit single in 2023, "The Drive on 285," Antoine Knight has done it again with his latest release, "Step 2 Me Baby." This hot new track is filled with a soulful groove that will get you moving out on the dance floor.

Antoine is a highly recognized recording artist who's climbing his way up the Smooth Jazz charts. "Step 2 Me Baby" will not disappoint you. The song is co-written by Antoine Knight and produced by multi-award-winning Smooth Jazz guitarist Adam Hawley.

If you like to party, "Step 2 Me Baby" is that tune for all you steppers.

Terry Wollman · Hipster ft. Najee

Terry Wollman is a Billboard charting American Jazz/Pop musician. He is a music director, guitarist, producer, arranger, and composer currently living in Los Angeles. Wollman has released nine albums including Bimini (1988), Say Yes (1998), Baila (2000), Sleep Suite (2004), Buddha's Ear (2011), A Joyful Noise (2012), Silver Collection (2014), Cassini's Last Dance (2020), and Surface (2023). His radio hit "What Is Hip?" (2022) debuted #1 Most Added on Billboard and spent four months on the charts.

"'Hipster' was inspired by a conversation I had with my friend Najee. We first performed together on TV in the early 90's and years later reunited on stage to perform my song 'Mandela,' leading us to decide to record together.

During the pandemic, I invited Najee to record remotely and play on my Surface album. To my surprise, he asked to play flute. Seizing the inspiration, I wrote "Hipster," which became one of my favorite cuts.

Gero and Évi · San Francisco Street ft. Stex (Peet Remix)

A laid-back, dreamy, and chic take on Sun Rai’s song about a metaphorical oasis where two lovers find each other and break away from the chaotic world–pure optimism encapsulated in seductive harmonies and a comforting, rich soundscape.

Co-produced by the Peet Project’s Peter “Peet” Ferencz, the track showcases the talents of prominent European jazz/lounge artists Gero and Évi, topped with an outstanding soprano sax solo by Tamás “Stex” Stencli.

GERO – keyboards
Évi Kolipka – lead vocals
Tamás “Stex” Stencli – soprano sax
Peter “Peet” Ferencz – keyboards, guitars, programming

Byron Miller · Stride (Granby Hills)

In 1966, Jazz legend Julian “Cannonball” Adderley famously stated, “Sometimes we are not prepared for adversity – Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” In 2002, Gospel great Donnie McClurkin added, “We Fall Down (But We Get Up).” Within that world class trajectory, modern electric bass master Byron Miller delivers the single “Stride (Granby Hills),” literally taking the trials of life into his phenomenal fingers, administering all the healing his music can bring then giving the rest to God so He can work The Master Plan.

“Stride (Granby Hills),” co-composed and co-produced by Miller and his current ace collaborator Chris “Big Dog” Davis, is the third single leading to the fourth chapter of Byron’s acclaimed PsychoBass series, PsychoBass 4: Motor City Love, slated for a summer of 2024 release.

“Stride (Granby Hills)” is a feel-good song with a breezy swing that is perfect for radio, created to bring a lift to people’s spirits when they hear it. Davis sent an early version if the song to Miller, expressing that he wrote it to inspire himself as he was battling cancer…an illness he triumphantly beat. Miller added his signature electric bass sound to the piece creating yet another winning instrumental from the duo for the world of Contemporary Jazz. Simplicity and space – via the elements of ambient flute and keyboard textures - are the keys to the song’s healing power of refreshed reviviscence in a state of divine gratitude. Miller’s bass adds the sanctified Hallelujah vibration. The parenthetical title, Granby Hills, alludes to the place in Connecticut where Davis lives and rehabilitated his health.

Miller already whetted the appetites of the masses with two earlier teaser singles: the lowdown low-end theory jam, “Say it Ain’t Good to Ya,” and the sun-kissed “To The Floor” - both collaborations with multi-instrumentalist Chris “Big Dog” Davis. The next courses will include a surprise cover of a female Soul-Pop icon’s super sexy song from the `90s as well as the title track, “Motor City Love,” showing unwavering support for Detroit as only PsychoBass can bring it.

Allison Au with the Migration Ensemble · Migrations

Migrations is a musical exploration of why people leave their homes to pursue life in a new land, and the reverberating impact it has on future generations. It is an acoustic tribute to the complex but universal human act of migration, weaving lush, mosaic-like dreamscapes with poignant, heartrending lyrics. A suite of music conceptualized by the JUNO award winning saxophonist and composer Allison Au (pronounced “ow”), Migrations draws emotion and depth from Au’s family history of immigration to Canada: from Southern China and Malaysia on her father’s side and war-torn Poland and Israel on her mother’s side. A biracial descendant of migrants, Au’s compositional process is also informed by her personal experience of reconciling displacement, cultural identity, family legacy and the notion of home.“Migrations is one of the most important pieces of music I have created because it is so personal. It speaks to my identity as a Canadian born to immigrant parents and delves into subject matter that I previously attempted to articulate, but never found the project through which to do so.” Commissioned by the Royal Conservatory of Music, Migrations premiered at the 21C Music Festival at Toronto’s Koerner Hall in January 2020. Her fourth studio recording and most ambitious compositional work to date, Migrations features the musicians of Au’s longstanding quartet as the core of an expanded ensemble that includes vibraphone, string quartet, and voice. As a testament to the sentiments of traumas and upheaval shared by migrants of different backgrounds and circumstances, the lyrics of Migrations feature the words of poets including Emma LaRocque, Ruth Padel, Rae Marie Taylor, Duncan Mercredi, Chief Dan George, Langston Hughes and Wanda Coleman.