New Music Monday — The Bad Plus; Dwayne Clemons; Danilo Pérez & Bohuslän Big Band

It’s New Music Monday! Join Arturo Gómez on Lunchtime! at noon on Monday, October 14 when he’ll share new music from The Bad Plus, Dwayne Clemons, and Danilo Pérez & Bohuslän Big Band.

The Bad Plus: “Complex Emotions”
Their successful career began as a trio in Minneapolis in 2000 then expanding to a quartet in 2021. After recording an indie-released album a few months after their formation, they played a live performance at the Village Vanguard in Manhattan where an executive of Colombia Records heard them and signed them to the label which released their first of four recordings for the prestigious major label. Combining elements from several genres and styles, the group garnered a strong following for their live shows. In 2017, founding pianist Ethan Iverson departed and was replaced with Orrin Evans who remained until 2021 when they became quartet-adding guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed.

For their new session, the 16th, all four members contributed original tunes to the nine-song playlist; the band continues its adventurous approach exploring new creativity to build their music.

Dwayne Clemons: “Center of Gravity: Live at Smalls”
During the pandemic of 2020, most jazz venues as well as musicians suffered financial hardships due to lack of audience and playing opportunities. An exception to the rule was the extremely popular cellar club of Lower Manhattan, Smalls. Pianist and Smalls manager Spike Wilner created the non-profit SmallsLIVE Foundation to raise funds for the clubs and musicians. It was an overwhelming success in gathering funds from fans around the world. After the pandemic ended the club resumed booking acts and its attendance returned to capacity, the foundation decided to use the remaining donations to establish a “SmallsLIVE Living Masters Series” of recordings made at the club and with the assistance of saxophonist and label owner, Cory Weeds have launched the recordings.

Trumpeter Dwayne Clemons, Los Angeles-born; Dallas-raised, and resident of Stockholm Sweden was mentored by Dizzy, Barry Harris, and Tommy Turrentine upon his arrival to New York City in 1985. A popular artist of Smalls, he continues to play in the club every time he returns to NYC. This album was recorded live at Smalls on September 7, 1963, in front of a sold-out enthusiastic audience that is now available for all to enjoy.

Danilo Pérez & Bohuslän Big Band: “Lumen”
Sweden’s leading big band has been playing for over twenty-five years at the Vara Concert Hall of Vara in western Sweden. They have also accompanied major jazz artists touring Sweden such as Gregory Porter, Maria Schneider, Joe Lovano, and others. Multi-Grammy® Award-winning Panamanian pianist-composer-educator was discovered and brought to the USA by Dizzy Gillespie and quickly established himself as a leading pianist proud of his Panamanian heritage. Danilo is the curator for the annual Panama Jazz Festival held in the capitol city of his native land.

Knowing the open-mindedness of the Bohuslän Big Band, Pérez approached them with the idea of combining their Nordic heritage with his Panamanian rhythms; they were excited by the proposal. This album symbolizes the power of music to bring cultures together, the accomplished Danilo considers this to be the milestone of his career because “Lumen” exudes the joyful spirit of collaboration.

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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