New Music Monday — Etienne Charles; Avery Sharpe/Double Quartet; Sean Hong Wei & Jeremy Monteiro

Join host Arturo Gomez on Monday, May 27 at noon on Lunchtime! as he debuts new music from Etienne Charles, Avery Sharpe Double Quartet, and Sean Hong Wei & Jeremy Monteriro.

Etienne Charles: “Creole Orchestra”
A most beloved trumpeter by both jazz fans and musicians who hails from Trinidad-Tobago in the southern Caribbean, he’s Etienne Charles! His charismatic personality shines through his playing and songwriting. Since Etienne emerged on the jazz scene about twenty years ago amassing numerous awards and accolades for his music and compositions that reflect the happiness of his Trinidadian upbringing. He has always wanted to record a big band of his own and his new project is as he states in his liner notes, “a dream come true.”  Charles carefully selected the musicians, a Pan-American ensemble with players from throughout the Caribbean and the Americas that included vocalist René Marie as his special guest on four of the thirteen tracks. The playlist includes originals by Etienne as well as some jazz canon and vintage tunes all arranged and orchestrated by Mr. Charles who is currently an instructor at the prestigious University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. With summer approaching, this recording will serve as the perfect soundtrack for all the pleasant adventures associated with the season!

Avery Sharpe/Double Quartet: “I Am My Neighbors Keeper”
Never one to shy away from writing music about societal issues, bassist-composer-arranger-bandleader-educator Avery Sharpe continues his quest for social justice through music in his latest release. As a remedy for the age of greed the world is in or as Avery calls it, the “I got mine” syndrome, he attempts to share his take on the values we should strive for to help one another. In the eleven songs of this project. Sharpe played with Dizzy Gillespie where he learned the love of humanity from, he also accompanied McCoy Tyner for over twenty years on tour and recording twenty-five albums. The double quartet is Avery’s way of dividing his octet, his quartet consisting of his bass with piano, drums, and balafon/percussion with a string quartet featuring two violins, a viola, and a cello. While the band was recording live, Sharpe invited his friend Kabisko Kabo from Guinea Conakry, West Africa to dance in the studio to the music to inspire the musicians and to translate the title of the song “World Love” to his Susu language, “Dounouyha Hanunteya” which is exactly what we need more of.

Sean Hong Wei & Jeremy Monteiro: “The New Jersey Sessions”
To record together these two Singaporeans traveled over 9,200 miles from Singapore City to New Jersey! Once in the studio, they were accompanied by the outstanding veterans, Jay Anderson-bass, and Evan Sherman-drums. They also invited guest trumpeter Alex Sipiagin to share his talents on two tracks and the amazing saxophonist of the highest caliber, Houston Person who adds his special sauce on two great standards. To ensure all the pieces of the puzzle were put together seamlessly, long-time bassist for Dizzy Gillespie turned record label owner and producer, John Lee supervised the session. Jermey Montiero is Singapore’s leading pianist playing with all the touring artists traveling to Singapore, he has also recorded several successful albums released in the USA. Sean Hong Wei is a young tenor saxophonist rapidly becoming the leading player of his generation in part due to his mentoring with Jeremy. I have a hunch that after being in Metropolitan New York, Sean will soon return to the capital of jazz, New York City to continue his career that has a bright future.

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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