New Music | Gorgeous!

Hailing from Miami, multi-instrumentalist Darren Hoffman grew up as a blues, rock and punk guitar player. While studying film in Florida he met jazz piano master, Marcus Roberts, and soon plans changed as he went off to New Orleans to study jazz percussion. Yet his love of the blues, as revisited by Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and The White Stripes persisted.

Morgan Guerin, the son of World-renowned bassist Roland Guerin, is that child prodigy who brings music forth from the source in any way he chooses. Growing up in the New Orleans area, his unique access and talent led him to sit in with Ellis Marsalis and The Astral Project as early as four years of age. He met Darren Hoffman when he was just six, sharing his drum skills with his elder.

Parker McAllister grew up studying classical piano on his mother’s insistence, also starting as a toddler, attending Manhattan School of Music while still in high school. As he fell in love with the bass, he kept his deal with his mother as long as he could, which meant he could play the bass as long as he continued to study piano. The only electric bass player admitted to the New England Conservatory of Music, Parker found opportunities right away, and soon was performing as a bassist with the renowned all female gospel a cappella group Sweet Honey In The Rock.

Darren Hoffman’s search for expression through sound is the driving force behind gorgeous!. That sound is raw, with a constant rock and blues edge on the guitar as the players bring all of their jazz inspired experimentation to create a landscape effect. The trio format demands honesty and muscle, as there is no extravagant arrangement to hide behind.

gorgeous! sounds like a post-punk jazz trio infused with the spirits of Albert King and Kurt Cobain. The album is titled “imperfection,” a nod to the true spirit of searching for the root of the human condition. Deep blues grooves give way to elements of laid back back-room swing, setting a mood that we all can feel. “imperfection” is a refreshing and courageous form of connection between historic sound and in the moment creativity.

New Music | Mark de Clive-Lowe

Day turns to night as Mark de Clive-Lowe’s Heritage II takes us from the meditative zen of Heritage into a world of jazz and Japanese roots culture fused with hip hop, drum’n’bass and broken-beat.

‘Heritage is a legacy we receive from our ancestors to pass on to future generations. It’s the thread that holds us together in lineage and cultural identity,’ posits jazz and electronic music pioneer Mark de Clive-Lowe. The half-Japanese half-New Zealander presents his new album Heritage II - the partner and second installment to his critically acclaimed album Heritage, a deeply personal exploration of his Japanese cultural and ancestral roots.  

“Heritage is what gives our relatively short lives context and meaning in the bigger picture of generations past and future. We are the new ancestors, and with that in mind, it’s important that we act - and contribute - accordingly. This is my identity search and journey to better understand where I’ve come from, what ancestry means to me and where I’m going to. ”

On Heritage II, de Clive-Lowe is joined by a cast of world-class musicians: Josh Johnson, Teodross Avery, Brandon Eugene Owens, Brandon Combs, Carlos Niño, and Tylana Enomoto - who all contribute stellar performances in support of de Clive-Lowe’s music.

‘These are not only my favorite musicians, but my friends, and that they were all able to be part of this project really means a lot to me. They’re all such incredible musicians, and no one brings any ego to the table - that’s one key thing that makes it possible to explore this music with a real sense of vulnerability and honesty.’

Heritage II is the partner album to Heritage. The album’s original artwork by Tokio Aoyama depicts Bon Odori - a summer festival dance under the night-time sky - surreally all happening inside de Clive-Lowe’s grand piano. Heritage II is available for preorder tomorrow, Friday March 1.

New Music | BT ALC Big Band

Since the their formation in 2011, the BT ALC Big Band, led by trombonist Brian Thomas and trumpeter Alex Lee-Clark, has gained a reputation for hard grooving original compositions featuring the most talented jazz and funk musicians in Boston. The BT ALC Big Band draws from the big band traditions of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Thad Jones and infuses music from funk legends like James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Meters, creating an undeniably unique sound, Big Band Funk.

We’ve seen Brian in the mix with Ropeadope alum Otis Grove and Akashic Record, and now we are stoked to welcome the BT ALC Big Band with their new release The Search For Peace, due out here on May 17th. Stay tuned for some selections coming out as singles so y’all can get a little taste of Big Band Funk.