ObliqSound proudly presents…John Shannon’s Music Video debut! The video, for the song “Somewhere” is from the album American Mystic, and was directed by Carsten Fleck.
Join John on tour, starting tonight, Tuesday October 14, in New York at Canal Room’s excellent “Artists You Should Know” series, with Emily Zuzik and Joe Whyte also on the bill. (Show starts at 8, he’ll take the stage at 10 pm.)
Can’t make it to New York? John heads west for the rest of the week, opening for Velour Music vocalist Sonya Kitchell on tour in Colorado and Utah, and will then spend November touring with Hiromi across Europe and Japan.
Break out the champagne - or boxed wine (in the spirit of all the outdoor festival season)! Downbeat Magazine has just released the results of their 56th Annual Critics Poll, and some of our artists are on it. Congratulations to Gregoire Maret (#1 rising star, miscellaneous instrument), Gretchen Parlato (#4 rising star, female vocals), Gilfema’s own Lionel Loueke (#1 rising star, guitar), and Your Songs: The Music of Elton John quartet member Paul Motian (#3 , drums).
Other members of the ObliqSound family are also on the list, including past collaborators Herbie Hancock, Cyro Baptista, John Patitucci, Omer Avital, Lizz Wright, and Anat Cohen (appearing on Gilfema’s upcoming second album – news to follow!). Pick up your August edition of Downbeat to find out the full details.
ObliqSound is pleased to announce the signing of its newest artist, American vocalist Gretchen Parlato. Having appeared as a guest on three previous ObliqSound releases, the singer who Herbie Hancock describes as having a “deep, almost magical connection to the music” will release her debut ObliqSound album in 2009. The album will combine Parlato’s vocals in duo and ensemble, working with Lionel Loueke on guitar and vocals, Aaron Parks on piano and Fender Rhodes, Kendrick Scott on drums and Derrick Hodge on acoustic and electric bass. Parlato was just named one of the top rising star female vocalists in Downbeat Magazine’s 56th Annual Critics Poll, and is the first female vocalist signed to six-year-old independent label ObliqSound.
“Gretchen Parlato is one of the most distinctive vocalists in jazz today and is part of an incredible community of artists and friends that make up the ObliqSound family,” said Michele Locatelli, president and co-founder of ObliqSound. “She was outstanding on several tracks of Virgin Forest (including the Independent Music Award winning song “Kponnon Kpete,”) helped to make Andy Milne & Gregoire Maret’s rendition of “Moon River” instantly memorable on their album Scenarios, and just this spring, co-wrote the lyrics and sang as a guest on “Clouds” on Massimo Biolcati’s album Persona. I look forward to presenting this same inspiring and personal touch with her upcoming album.”
“I am thrilled to be working with ObliqSound,” added Parlato. “I respect the fact that they support and enhance their artists, without trying to place them within boundaries. Michele Locatelli has always been supportive of me and my musical vision, and I look forward to working together to create a beautiful album.”
Parlato was the first vocalist ever to be selected for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, chosen by none other than Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Terence Blanchard. She took first prize in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocals Competition in 2004. Since then, Parlato has toured internationally with her own band and as a guest for many others. Notable performances include La Villette in Paris with Wayne Shorter, the Hollywood Bowl with Oscar Castro-Neves, Gal Costa, Ivan Lins, and Dianne Reeves, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Her recording credits include Terence Blanchard’s 2005 Grammy-nominated album Flow and most recently, Esperanza Spalding’s 2008 self-titled album. In addition to her upcoming US, European and Australian tours, she can be heard this fall on Kenny Barron’s upcoming release The Traveler. For more information about Gretchen Parlato, please see www.gretchenparlato.com and www.myspace.com/gretchenparlato
About ObliqSound:
ObliqSound is an independent record label that provides a home for artists around the globe interested in creating music that crosses the boundaries of traditional music labeling. Dedicated to both an instrumental and vocal series, ObliqSound endeavors to create a body of timeless, genre-defying music. Recent releases include John Shannon’s understated vocal and guitar album American Mystic, Grand Pianoramax’s piano/drums/spoken word project on The Biggest Piano In Town, and pianist Alon Yavnai’s multicultural Travel Notes. The label will present its first evening at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 12, 2008. For more about ObliqSound, please see www.obliqsound.com and www.myspace.com/obliqsound
After an 8 city tour in the US opening for Maceo Parker at legendary venues including the Fillmore in San Francisco and the Roxy in West Hollywood, Grand Pianoramax has just finished a European tour with Mike Ladd, including shows in Paris, Berlin, London, Edinburgh, Zürich, Lisbon and the Cully Jazz Festival. After Europe, Grand Pianoramax played three memorable nights to full capacity crowds at the Blue Frog in Mumbai, India - which you can see for yourself in the Grand Pianoramax photo gallery on iLike.
This intense touring activity and new album The Biggest Piano In Town in stores now have received rave press reviews and profiles in many top US and Europe publications including BPM, Edinburgh Evening News and Metro London. Watch videos from recent in-studio sessions and concerts, plus read excerpts from the critics’ comments right here and read Downbeat Magazine’s June issue feature about Grand Pianoramax leader Leo Tardin below.
(click image to read the full article)
Do you think the new disc is really the biggest in town? Leave a comment and let us know…
We are pleased to announce that Alon Yavnai’s album Travel Notes is now in stores! The album is ObliqSound’s 10th release in our instrumental series and we couldn’t be prouder.
Travel Notes is now available nationwide in the USA and Canada, and worldwide on iTunes (with a digital exclusive bonus track). CD release in Europe and other territories is set for September.
Travel Notes is a musical diary of pianist Yavnai’s life as a touring musician with a multi-national upbringing, including influences from his culture from Israel, travels in Cape Verde, Angola, and Brazil. Melding solo piano with a trio combination featuring stand-out members Omer Avital on bass and oud and Jamey Haddad on percussion, the album is an intimate and personal songbook with international flavors.
If you were discovering new music on iLike, you could listen to streaming tracks from John Shannon’s new disc American Mystic, read his personal tour blog, and even get free music (like the free MP3 of “Forgiveness). You could also get a world-premiere listen of Max Wild’s new song “Teerera (featuring Oliver Mtukudzi)” and watch “The Making of Teerera” video, which features, Max, Oliver and Oliver’s son Sam, also featured on the track.
So, what are you waiting for? Click here for John Shannon and here for Max Wild. We like it!
This just in…ObliqSound and our family of artists have been nominated for not one, but three spots for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards!
Among the potentially award-winning songs and albums:
Guitarist Lionel Loueke’s debut solo album on ObliqSound, Virgin Forest (OS 104), was nominated as a Finalist for Best World Fusion Album;
The song ‘Kponnon Kpete,’ a beautiful track from Loueke’s Virgin Forest album was also nominated as a Finalist for Best World Traditional Song;
Drummer Ferenc Nemeth’s debut solo CD Night Songs, featuring Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Lionel Loueke, Aaron Parks and John Patitucci as a jazz sextet, is also a Finalist for Best Jazz Album!
Loueke’s Virgin Forest album features Nemeth’s exceptional drumming (along with bassist Massimo Biolcati, who makes up the rest of the Gilfema (Lionel Loueke Trio) group - plus appearances by the great Herbie Hancock, Cyro Baptista, Gregoire Maret, Gretchen Parlato and more. Loueke returns the favor by appearing in fantastic form on guitar on Night Songs, Nemeth’s first album as a band leader. (Night Songs was released on Dreamers Collective Records, but is distributed in partnership with ObliqSound in North America)
Clearly, we’re thrilled that our ObliqSound artists are doing something right - and we hope you’ll agree and tell the world. The official judges results and winners of the IMAs will be announced in December 2007, but the people can vote until 2008 for the “Vox Populi” popular vote online.
Show your support by clicking the links above on each finalist announcement and vote for our nominees. Log in and vote early and often for our IMA Finalists, since it’s although it’s “an honor just to be nominated,” it’s also not bad to win, too!
Attention Grand Pianoramax fans! After rave reviews from the 2005 self-titled album Grand Pianoramax (OS 009) ran in Billboard, BPM, iTunes and more press outlets around the globe, the evolution continues with the group’s second album The Biggest Piano In Town (OS 018) and an advance three-country mini-tour in Portugal, Switzerland and Germany!
A blend of phuture funk, hip-hop, spoken word and the music of one of the most creative pianists on the scene today, this album will release October 22, 2007 exclusively in Switzerland, followed by worldwide release in winter 2008.
Guests on the album include drummers Deantoni Parks (Kudu, Me’shell Ndegéocello) and Adam Deitch (John Scofield), American MCs Mike Ladd, Celena Glenn (Coco Rosie), Invincible (Platinum Pied Pipers), and French folk/rap artist Spleen. For sound clips, more info and to pre-order the album, read our release page. (Or check out the Geneva Tribune’s Sonotone blog entry about the album, with a full stream of The Hook, featuring Celena Glenn.
The all-live keyboards/drums duo will take the show on the road from November 1 through November 11 on a special three-country tour, as Leo Tardin & Grand Pianoramax tour with MC Mike Ladd! Check our tour page for more info about the dates in Portugal, Germany and Switzerland (plus three special radio shows on Radio Suisse Romande).
Stay tuned for press reviews, news from the tour and more!
Are you a closet Facebook addict? Looking for the latest tunes and music recommendations? If so, come join ObliqSound’s new Facebook group.
We’ll share the latest press, artist news and offer special ObliqSound/Facebook group-member discounts from our online store - and sometimes even give away FREE things. Really! Come join us and we’ll prove it.
ObliqSound and JazzThing Magazine are pleased to present a selection featuring staples from the ObliqSound catalogue like Lionel Loueke and Grand Pianoramax, as well as the rising stars from the label’s upcoming releases. Andy Milne & Gregoire Maret, as well as Pietro Tonolo, Gil Goldstein, Steve Swallow, and Paul Motian’s upcoming Your Songs – The Music of Elton John are just a few of the ObliqSound releases sure to make waves in 2007.
Details on JazzThing….or details on ObliqSound…Read it in every language and it still sounds great!
Available at German retailers starting April, 2007
We are pleased to announce that 
