New Music | Free Form Funky Freqs

Three well seasoned musicians who are each eternally curious and rebellious.

G. Calvin Weston. Jazz Drummer with the blues in his heart. Credits include John Lurie, James Blood Ulmer, John Medeski. Weston drives the vehicle wherever it will go.

Vernon Reid. Punk and Funk at the root, with numerous credits in music and film. Named one of the top 100 guitarists of all time. Up from with Living Colour tearing through our collective psyche with nothing but the truth. One half of The Yohimbe Brothers w DJ Logic.

Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Composure is his way. On the bass with Ornette Coleman and many more, always restless at the intersection of music and culture. A man with his eye on the future, rooted firmly in the present.

Free Form Funky Freqs

The birth of the trio intertwined with the untimely death of Tonic, the legendary underground center for jazz, rock performance and experimental music in lower Manhattan. In its waning days a number of performances were commissioned from artists associated with the venue. Enter Weston, who called two long time friends to share the stage. Due to traveling and production circumstances, the trio had not played a single note together. The success of this spontaneous performance at Tonic came as a surprise and revelation to the members of the trio. What started as an impromptu gig, now begged further consideration. Shortly thereafter, Weston invited Reid and Tacuma to come to the rhythm section’s native Philadelphia, playing the underground haven, Tritone. Once again with no prior planning, the three took the stage and had yet another remarkable evening.s it the reinvention of the power trio, or is it a peak into the future or perhaps it’s the present being fast-forwarded? That is for you to decide, but either way, it’s a journey worth taking. Willing to take a risk, Reid booked time at a little known but professionally appointed studio near his home in Staten Island. These three musical innovators went into the studio wanting to explore the organic energy and excitement they felt from the live performances with the first studio album Urban Mythology . Since then they have recorded a second album Bon Vivant produced by Jamaaladeen Tacuma and taking advantage of the ‘downtime’ created during the closing of music venues worldwide G. Calvin Weston produced the third recording session during the 2020-21 Covid 19 pandemic . Since their inception Free Form Funky Freqs have performed 72 concerts worldwide, thrilling audiences with a once in a lifetime chance to hear something that was never heard before and will never be heard again. Performance number 73 is the recording session for Hymn of the Third Galaxy. Where will number 74 be? Stay tuned to find out . ” (Todd Horton)

New Music | TRIAD

TRIAD is a new project featuring Dominick Farinacci on trumpet, Michael Ward-Bergeman on accordion, and Christian Tamburr on marimba: a musical trio that came together in London to workshop a new show for the West End. Despite the physical distance between their instruments, the musicians immediately felt a strong sense of camaraderie and shared humor.

TRIAD's members draw from a wide range of influences but find common ground in their appreciation for melodic compositions. While rooted in a classical approach, TRIAD infuses their music with various styles from South America, Argentina, Brazil, and New Orleans, presenting them in a fresh and innovative manner. Their repertoire spans from Kurt Weill to Screaming Jay Hawkins to John Mayer, with each song chosen for its melodic content and integrated into the overarching TRIAD concept. The result is a musical journey that tells a story of the world, taking listeners on a captivating ride from beginning to end.

‘To define the TRIAD sound, I think of how we build these beautiful and lyrical melodies and a sound around them - a new environment for them to live in.’ (Dominick Farinacci)

Throughout their performances, TRIAD embraces humor and joy, allowing their music to disarm critical faculties and transport the audience to a place of healing. These three friends have discovered happiness, laughter, and excitement in  a world of constant challenge. By simply having fun and inviting others to share in the joy of music, TRIAD creates a memorable and uplifting experience for all.

New Music | Obed Calvaire

Renowned jazz drummer Obed Calvaire named his new album 150 Million Gold Francs, he explains, “to engage curiosity. People definitely know Haiti has been struggling — but how many people actually know the history behind how that struggle started?

“So if you see that title,” he continues, “what does that mean?”

Photo Courtesy J. Ortiz

The answer to that question has intrigued, and haunted, Calvaire for many years. Born of Haitian parentage in Miami, he became interested in the tragic deal that shaped his ancestry as a college student: how, after Black slaves fought for and won their independence in the Haitian Revolution, their free nation was extorted by the defeated French colonizers, who used warships to demand an impossible sum of 150 million gold francs in reparations.

The album’s striking cover art, by Jasmin Ortiz, depicts Calvaire bare-chested with his eyes closed, his outstretched hands shackled in front of that stolen bounty. “It symbolizes how we have nothing else to give,” Calvaire says, “how we are still locked into this slave mentality.”

In essence, the Haitian people, who’d achieved a glorious and unprecedented act of liberation, were made to suffer for it — shunned in global trade for their bravery, and forced to handle a debt whose aftereffects continue to shape the country’s immeasurable hardships. “We’re still paying for the fact that we were the first Black republic to gain our independence,” Calvaire says.

But 150 Million Gold Francs is by no means an album-length lament. Rather, it’s a spirited celebration of the profound richness of the land and the culture — an elegy for Haiti’s dire past as well as a hopeful vision for the country’s future, and an homage to its unstoppably optimistic people.

It is also a deeply personal project undertaken by one of the finest drummers of his generation, whose current credits include Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dave Holland, Sean Jones and other luminaries. Joining Calvaire on his journey is a unique assemblage of mostly Haitian and Haitian-American musicians — alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, keyboardists Harold St. Louis and Sullivan Fortner, guitarist Dener Ceide, and bassists Addi Lafosse and Jonathan Michel.

Experience 150 Million Gold Francs on Vinyl or CD

New Music | McCoy Mrubata

Continuing our powerful collaboration with AfricArise, we welcome one of South Africa’s most influential figures in shaping the sound and direction of post-apartheid South African Jazz, McCoy Mrubata. Originally hailing from Cape Town’s Langa township, Mrubata grew up immersed in the many sounds of South African music, from traditional Xhosa works, to the sounds of the church, to the jam sessions of Cape Town’s Jazz master musicians. Dropping out of school in 1976 following the country’s youth uprising against apartheid, Mrubata began studying music with some of Langa’s icons like Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Ezra and Duke Ngcukana, and more. Having released 12 albums as a bandleader, and seven as co-leader in collaborative projects, Mrubata stands to this day as one of the most influential figures in South African Jazz, a veritable living legend whose work is widely admired and imitated by subsequent generations of artists.

With a growing international profile, including appearing as a featured soloist alongside Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Mrubata now prepares to release his first album with AfricArise and Ropeadope. Lullaby for Khayoyo unites American and South African artists for one of the most thoughtful, swinging, and profound albums of his already storied career.

Lullaby for Khayoyo will be unveiled on April 5, 2024. Start here to experience the music.