New Music Monday — Andy Wheelock Whee3Trio; Brian Lynch; King Llama

New Music Monday on Monday, October 21 at noon debuts new music from Andy Wheelock Whee3Trio, Brian Lynch, and King Llama.

Andy Wheelock Whee3Trio: “In the Wheelhouse”
The talented drummer, percussionist, and educator Andy Wheelock returns with his sophomore recording as a leader, a provocative blend of jazz with Afro-Latin and West African rhythms. Wheelock is based out of the University of Wyoming-Laramie where he is the director of jazz studies and percussion. Andy directs several school ensembles and plays with many groups along the Front Range. Nine of the ten tracks on this new album were written and arranged by Wheelock, the sole exception was composed by the bassist for this project, the immensely gifted Gonzalo Teppa. Rounding out the trio is pianist Walter Gorra, a former “Thirty Under Thirty” artist from KUVO Jazz’s 30th Anniversary. The guest guitarist is Gilad Hekselman.

Andy plays the Ghanaian gyil instrument, a wooden xylophone with fourteen keys and gourd resonators along with drums and other percussion. His compositions are inspired by his parents, wife, children, and friends. One in particular stands out, “Finn” which is based on Andy’s young son humming a catchy melody around the house which Wheelock took and turned into one of the highlights of this splendid session.

Brian Lynch: “7x7By7”
Seven is a special number, part myth, magic, and legend. All of us live by the number seven in different ways, there are seven days in a week, seven seas, lucky seven etc. and for musicians there are seven degrees of the diatonic scale. All seven of the songs on this new album were composed during the pandemic to be played by seven musicians, each seven minutes long. Finally, all seven tracks represent seven years in trumpeter Brian Lynch’s life, from twenty-one (seven x three) to sixty-three (seven x nine).

The musicians compromising the septet are Craig Hand-tenor sax, Alex Wintz-guitar, Luis Perdomo-piano, Boris Kozlov-bass, Kyle Swan-drums, Murph Aucamp-percussion with the leader Brian who is considered one of the greatest active trumpeters who was a long time educator at the University of Miami Frost School of Miami and recently returned to his home town of Milwaukee. I am confident that this will wind up as one of the seven wonders of jazz recordings of 2024.

King Llama: “Fata Implexis”
A Los Angeles based progressive jazz fusion jam band made up of musicians from the popular bands, Snarky Puppy, Brand X, and Ghost Note. Their new recording has been produced by multi-Grammy® winner and multi-Platinum winner, Dennis Edwards who produced and engineered albums by David Bowie, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever, and Stanley Clarke, among others. King Llama’s new session features cello, violin, and stand-up bass to go along with electric guitar and bass, keyboards, and percussion creating a unique sound bound to captivate listeners of many generations.

Now in its 21st year of debuting the latest arrivals to the KUVO Jazz library, many of them are played ahead of their official release date. In addition to the music comments, I’ll provide a few tidbits about the artist, if it’s a new or an up-and-coming artist. It all begins at Noon every Monday.

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