New Music Monday — Benny Benack III, The Pacific Jazz Group, Altin Sencalar

New music on New Music Monday! Tune in with Arturo Gómez on Monday, June 26 at noon on Lunchtime! We will premiere music from the following albums. Enjoy!

Benny Benack III: Third Time’s the Charm
As his name implies, flugelhornist/vocalist Benny is a third-generation musician and as indicated by this album’s title, this is Benack’s 3^rd recording as a leader. Benny’s grandfather Ben is very well known in Pittsburgh, the family home, for writing both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers theme song—“Beat ‘Em Bucs” Ben “Peek” the 2^nd, Benny III’s father, as well as his mother, are Pittsburgh musicians of note. Benack’s latest has a formidable cast of accompanists, Emmet Cohen-piano, Bria Skonberg-trumpet/vocals, Peter Bernstein-guitar and other standouts. From the opening title track to the closer: “Pretty Eyed Baby”, Benny’s maturity and mission to spread joy through his music is evident and compelling!

The Pacific Jazz Group
The pianist and composer Dred Scott despite his youth, has already accumulated 11 recordings as a leader in his discography. For his 12^th, Scott decided to form a new ensemble whose name reflects 2 sides of Dred, one is due to living in the San Francisco Bay area for many years. Secondly, is that Scott is a passionate fan of the former Pacific Jazz label that from its inception in 1952 through the late 1960s was regarded as the leader of what was labeled “West Coast jazz” featuring a roster of some jazz giants from Los Angeles and San Francisco, Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, Chico Hamilton, Cal Tjader were just a few artists of the highly respected label. The Pacific Jazz Group’s debut is a quartet outing, Dred on piano, John Wiltala on bass, Smith Dobson on drums and the immensely talented SF Bay Are veteran saxophonist, Eric Crystal. This album is as a beautiful ride through the Redwoods or a drive into Big Sur country.

Altin Sencalar: In Good Standing
With the release of this album, trombonist Altin is sure to be catapulted to the national spotlight. He’s been heralded as the next rising star of the trombone by many accomplished and veteran musicians who have heard him play. Growing up in Texas Altin opted to attend Texas State University and then Butler’s School of Music at the University of Texas, Austin. Finally, Sencalar chose to get his Masters at the prestigious MSU of East Lansing, MI. His recording features several of his fellow MSU faculty members including Diego Rivera among others as well as having former Aurora resident, Rudy Royston on drums. The International Trombone Associations Journal praised his “virtuosity and melodic and harmonic mastery,” and now Altin Sencalar is in high demand across the country as a performer, educator, and composer.

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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