The Countdown 2017 | Michon Young

Under the guidance of Brian Hurst from SoulandJazz.com, Atlanta Records continues to shine with sizzling new talent that meet at the intersection of Soul and Jazz. This time it's Michon Young, hailing from Detroit (by way of Gary, Indiana) and delivering a deep gospel-tinged vocal on her debut. Love,Life,Experiences is at once a meditation and a groove as Michon writes and sings from the heart. In her words:

I have always believed that music is love. It is universal. It can soothe the soul, bring tears to your eyes or simply just place you in a reflective state. Either way, music has the ability to penetrate the heart and invoke many genuine, real emotions. Each song on this project is taken from a personal experience. Each song represents a part of my life that most can relate to e.g. the joy and excitement of love, the hurt that love can sometimes bring and the encouragement that you sometimes must give yourself when you’re left facing life alone. This project takes you on a journey from beginning to end. For me, this musical journey was written from experiencing the pain of lost love but also the joy of finding new love again. It also lyrically expresses the concerns about the divisive world we’re living in today and the importance of uniting as one. Many songs on this project are filled with Live instrumentation. I’ve always been a fan of old school great musical composition and the way it merged with sound lyrical content. “Love, Life, Experiences”, tells a story similar to the stories told in years past by songwriters and musicians alike. This is my story. My hope is that at least one song from this project will touch a heart, involve a raw emotion, soothe the soul, uplift and inspire. I hope many will enjoy the journey and musical ride of “Love,Life,Experiences”.                                                                                                                                                                          - Michon

The Countdown 2017 | Jared Sims

Jared Sims taught jazz and classical saxophone at the University of Rhode Island from 2005 to 2016. As assistant director of jazz studies, he directed the school’s big band at the Newport Jazz Festival four times. He co-founded the Newport Jazz Camp, a summer program for high school musicians. He also has taught at the University of New Hampshire and Southern New Hampshire University.

We first met Jared when he brought the power funk Akashic Record to Ropeadope, and four years later we find Jared quite a distance from Boston , in the great state of West Virginia. Putting down new roots and reconnecting with old ones find led Sims to his next project - Change Of Address. All About Jazz frames the story:

'Jared Sims isn't a purist, that's for sure. On Change Of Address, an album that marks his return to life in West Virginia after two decades spent in New England, he wields his baritone saxophone on a set of slick tunes that speaks to jazz's soul and funk extensions. Sims places his weighty horn squarely in the middle of an organ outfit, but he's not trying to take on the legacy of Ronnie Cuber or looking to juxtapose his bari against some form of a classic Blue Note sound. The fact that this date is on Ropeadope should be an obvious hint, to those familiar with that label, that there's a strong groove and pocket element at the center of this music.'

The Countdown 2017 | ollie howell

Described by the great Quincy Jones as “an unbelievable drummer. So creative I couldn’t believe it … he really is a 360-degree beautiful young cat”, Ollie Howell simply caught our attention with his expressive compositions. What stood out the most was that the drums did not stand out the most!

Self Identity is Ollie's second album, written post-surgery like a cosmic reminder to find the joy in life. The band -  Duncan Eagles on Tenor Saxophone, Ant Law on Electric Guitar, Henry Spencer on Trumpet, Matt Robinson on Piano, and Max Luthert on Double Bass - seem to intimately understand the mission. Of course, you cannot help but turn your attention back to the drummer, whose delicate style is gently leading the way, coaxing the travelers ion the path. Head over here to join Ollie on his journey. 

Featured Artist | David Cieri

David Cieri is a master composer, capable of the most subtle turns of phrase, and sensitive to every nuance of image and sound. His work ranges from the emotionally sublime to the rhythmically hypnotic, from the joyous to the foreboding. In this remarkable collection of work that he has composed for us over ten years, one can hear all of these feelings come together. From the spiraling ascendance of Meditation 9 to the ethereal breath of Into Another Life, Dave proves his gifts on each track. (Ken Burns)

"Collaborating with Florentine Films over the course of the last ten years has yielded music that I am very grateful and excited to share. To remove these compositions from their visual counterparts—from the bath that the images have been swimming in—and present them as expressions in their own right has its advantages. Working with these remarkable human beings has taught me a great deal about the potentials inherent in stitching together sound and image—the compositions are true co-conspirators in helping to have mutual influence over the film watcher and, in a sense, this music has “changed” the images as much as the images have framed the music.  

My first assignment for the Florentine gang—the stately “Leola” by Scott Joplin—works to accentuate the freedom and accessibility of our national treasures in The National Parks, while the swag in “Prohibition Ramble” was built to dance with a newly emerging sense of inner freedom, as exemplified in 'Prohibition'. After traveling to Vietnam to ready myself for writing and performing music for 'The Vietnam War', the music that eventually was tempted forth worked to etch out the mystery and the horror of our darkest potentials as humans, while never losing sight of our redeeming qualities.

This collection surveys the landscape of music I have made for these documentaries over the last ten years. I hope you imagine the films these compositions were made for, but I also hope you hear the love and friendship that I have steadily and increasingly been feeling for this gang of collaborators. Now that these compositions are “detached” from their original homes, I also hope they open you up to your own “scenes” and imaginings because, above and beyond anything else, I feel as Roger Ebert did about the movies: my wish is that this music activates our finer feelings and broadest sense of humanity as only art—empathy machines—can do."