Trevor Anderies - Drums
Alina Roitstein - Voice
Gregory Uhlmann - Guitar
Emilio Terranova - Bass
Andrew Conrad - Tenor Sax / Clarinet

"Where the other was a thoughtful expression of the place where hard bop and avant-garde meet, his newest sees him growing more nuanced and increasingly diverse with this mix of modern and classic jazz, folk, and pop." — Dave Sumner, Bird Is The Worm

"The creative winds of original music are once again blowing from Los Angeles. Composer..

Jon Armstrong - Tenor Sax, Electric Guitar
Sheela Bringi - Vocals, Harmonium, Harp, Bansuri Flute
Clinton Patterson - Trumpet
Ryan Dragon - Trombone
Stefan Kac - Tuba
Erin Armstrong - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute
Gavin Templeton - Alto Sax, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Baritone Sax
Brian Walsh - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet
Tina Raymond - Drum Set
Chris Payne - Kanjira, Krakebs, Frame Drum, Pandero, Bongos

"The melodies provoke a simple, crisp lyricism... a qualit

Samantha Boshnack – Trumpet; Compositions
Ryan Parrish – Tenor and Baritone Saxophones
Paris Hurley – Violin
Lauren Elizabeth Baba – Viola
Paul Cornish – Piano
Nashir Janmohamed – Double Bass
Dan Schnelle – Drums

Trumpeter and more importantly, composer (although she’s a fine trumpeter!) Sam is one of my very favorite up ‘n’ comers and if you haven’t already experienced her uniformly great body of work, this is a great place to start!

“The trumpeter and

Daniel Corral - Electronics

"On the surface of the single, 32-minute track, everything seems perfectly transparent, maybe even grid-like. Insistent, hopped-up Plinko polyrhythms braid together in a dense patchwork of minimalist activity, while oceanic noise waxes and wanes. Or it’s pop electronica, but more desperate, more worldly, shamelessly reverbed. Minimalist motivic transitions speed the texture through harmonic and registral shifts, while rhythm remains constant. Corral knows exactly what...

Very extraordinary, very modern big band featuring a large number of very skilled players, none of whom I have ever heard of! Recommended.

“Los Angeles composer/trombonist Nick DePinna releases Nexus Music, Vol. 1, a distinctly modern vision for the traditional big band ensemble, and the first in a series of releases on the forward-thinking and genre-defying label, Orenda Records.
This first EP release features three of DePinna’s compositions written over the past ten years amidst...

Daniel Rosenboom - trumpets
Gavin Templeton - woodwinds
Alex Noice - electric guitar and FX
Sam Minaie - electric bass and FX
Caleb Dolister - drums and FX

"If this isn’t where jazz is headed, then it’s probably going in the wrong direction."-S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews

"With Voices in the Void, DR.MiNT presents their futuristic approach to powerful rhythms, warped electronics, roaring horns, and infectious spontaneity with a sci-fi cinematic aesthetic that’

Max Kutner - Guitar
Stefan Kac - Tuba
Mike Lockwood - Drums

"Here at Orenda Records, we receive a lot of music to review for release consideration. But it's not every day that a tuba, guitar, drums trio crosses our desk - and it's even rarer to hear such a formation explode with the kind of commanding vigor and infectious levity that the LA/Brooklyn bicoastal band Evil Genius embodies. Steeped in genre bending, wry wit, and dazzling virtuosity, this trio’s impressive debut, Bitter Human

Alexander Noice - Voice, Guitar, All Extra Stuff
James Barry - Bass
Cory Beers - Drums, Glockenspiel

“Falsetto Teeth. A visceral reaction to the top 40 drone that plagues the current airwaves. Falsetto Teeth's mix of pop melody and intricate rhythm schemes makes them stand out like puppy love in the midst of a mannequin orgy.”

“When I first met Alexander Noice, I knew he was a special character and a brilliant musician, but when I first heard his brainchild, Falsetto Teeth, I...

Evan Francis - Alto Saxophone & Flute
Michelle Amador - Vocals
Kenny Brooks - Tenor Saxophone
Matt Nelson - Tenor Saxophone
Kurt Kotheimer - Electric Bass
Tim Bulkley - Drums & Cymbals

"[The] Evan Francis Group comes off like a cross between a big band, a funk combo and an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble. The leader's vibrant compositions, brainy yet approachable, tie the eclectic mix together."-Time Out New York

“I can visualize the spirits of Rahsaan Roland Kirk & Eric.

Randy Gloss - all percussion, composition, and production

*****5 STARS*****from LA Weekly
"Gloss is a true master of almost anything that can be hand-struck, which he so eloquently demonstrates with sounds and textures that blend together in a delicious confectionary for the ear." —L.A. Weekly

*****5 STARS*****from Percussive Notes
"This album is an opportunity to hear one of America’s great percussion virtuosi in a solo context in which Randy Gloss quite literally brings you a..

****4 STARS**** from All About Jazz
"Sprawling. Massive. Unapologetically ambitious. All over the musical map. But, somehow, not excessive...It's really a super-diverse stylistic smorgasbord of sounds, all delivered with the sort of heat and light that suffused the large ensemble music of Sun Ra and Charles Mingus."—Dave Wayne, All About Jazz

Ellen Weller - soprano saxophone, Bb clarinet, flute, piccolo
David Borgo - soprano and tenor saxophone, alto flute
Adnan Marquez - alto ..

Peter Epstein – Alto Saxophone
Mitch Marcus – Tenor Saxophone
Mark Ferber – Drums
Sam Minaie – Acoustic Bass, Compositions

"Sam Minaie has quickly established himself as one of jazz's most exciting rising stars of both upright and electric bass. His compelling debut as a leader, Heyo!, features a band of heavyweight modern jazz innovators rollicking through mostly original compositions with fire, grit, and attitude, and a distinctive blend of jazz, rock, and world music that's as...

Jim Piela - Alto Saxophone
Joey Lamb - Trumpet
Bob Sabin - Bass
Josh Bailey - Drums

“As a young man, I came up musically in a small Midwestern scene, a town right on the Mississippi river. There was plenty of work so long as you could groove and play/write creative and compelling melodies, both of which became incredibly important to me. As I developed, though, I came to realize how my fear of what was unaccustomed had driven my life. It became increasingly important to me to..

Cathlene Pineda, piano, compositions
Kris Tiner, trumpet
Ivan Johnson, bass
Tina Raymond, drums

“With a lush and introspective approach to the jazz, Cathlene Pineda and her quartet effortlessly glide from group melodic improvisation to composed rhythmic motives, incorporating elements of song form and classical composition, tonality and color.”

“A Week’s Time was written after complications in my father’s surgery left us uncertain as to whether he would live or die. Hours

Vicki Ray: piano, prepared piano, stylophone, voice, Andes 25
Scot Ray: lap steel slide guitar, electronics, live-looping

“Generally speaking, there is nothing remarkable about the idea of a brother and sister playing together. Images of children involved in some privately invented game spring to mind. In the case of brother and sister Scot and Vicki Ray, included in the idea would have to be playing music together in their Great Falls, Montana, living room, Scot on brass instruments...

Jonathan Rowden - saxophones/electronics
Ryan Pryor - piano/rhodes
James Yoshizawa - drum set/percussion
Chris Hon - bass

“Los Angeles-based saxophonist and bandleader Jonathan Rowden is making some notable noise as a worthy player and conceptualist way out west, to quote Sonny Rollins. His group’s aptly named debut, Becoming, is a mix of unabashed emotionality, compositional breadth and occasional flights of free-ish fancy, adding up to an intriguing introductory mission statement..

Ted Taforo - Saxophone, Keyboard
Anna Butterss - Upright Bass, Ukulele Bass
Jesse Quebbeman-Turley - Drums
Jake Sucher - Guitar, Laptop

"Snow Nerds has a bright, zippy sound and a warm sense of humor...[they] have an excellent rapport, and Sucher’s knotty melodies leave plenty of room for some excellent improvisation."-Lee Rice Epstein, Free Jazz Blog

“GUP LIFE, the vibrant and subversive debut of progressive jazz quartet SNOW NERDS, comes onto the Los Angeles improvised mus

Derrick Spiva Jr. - Composer/Arranger
Ian Smith - Piano/Arranger
Christine Tavolacci - Flute
Paul Sherman - Oboe, English Horn
Brian Walsh - Clarinet
Maciej Flis - Bassoon
Gavin Templeton - Alto, Soprano, Tenor Sax
Allen Fogle - Horn
Daniel Rosenboom - Trumpet
Steve Suminski - Trombone
Randy Gloss - Tabla, Drums
Marcel Camargo - Guitar
Dimitris Mahlis - Oud
Hannah Arista - Voice
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Violin/Viola

"Music, for m

Gavin Templeton - Alto Saxophone
Richard Giddens - Bass
Gene Coye - Drums

*****5 STARS***** from All About Jazz
"LA alto saxophonist Gavin Templeton's sophomore release as a leader, Some Spinning, Some At Rest represents the values of composition and free-improvising with equal fervor and expertise, and alongside double-bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Gene Coye, Mr. Templeton has documented one of the finest saxophone trio recordings in recent memory."—Robert Bush, All About Jazz

David Tranchina - Bass & Compositions
Gary Fukushima - Piano & Wurlitzer
Trevor Anderies - Drums
with
Argenta Walther - Voice

“Grey Sky, bassist and composer David Tranchina's debut album as a leader, is an impressionistic cycle of somnambulant movements that wander freely from a base in jazz to psychedelic ambience and beyond. An unmistakable sense of curiosity and exploration is prevalent throughout the seven pieces on the album and is shepherded by two wordless vocal...

Jake Vossler - Electric Guitar
Aaron McLendon - Drums

“Screaming harpies, preying mantises, and a needle drilling through the Earth's core? Sounds like metal to me! But what makes Jake Vossler and Aaron McLendon's guitar-drums duo opus Versus an incredible standout in the genre and beyond isn't its speed, brutality, or heaviness. It's the uncanny ESP on display, the immediacy of communication in improvisation, shared sense of imagination, and virtuosity not as instrumentalists, but as mind...

Walt Weiskopf - Tenor Saxophone
Carl Winther - Piano
Daniel Franck - Bass
Anders Mogensen – Drums

“A major talent...a monster tenor saxophonist as well as a prolific composer and accomplished arranger.” – Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes

"A consummate saxophonist, composer and arranger." – Zan Stewart, DownBeat

“Recorded at the conclusion of a two-week tour of Denmark, Norway, and Germany in January of 2016; U.S. tenor giant Walt Weiskopf has teamed up with three of Europe

Grant Calvin Weston - Drums
Jonathan Saxon - Congas, Mbira, Electric Mbira, Clave, Bells, Rainstick, Orchestral Bells, Bowed Cymbal, Cowbell, Berimbau, Shakers
Wayne Peet - Piano, Hammond B-3 Organ, Synthesizer, Clavinet
Steuart Liebig - Basses, Electronics, Loops

"An album that embraces familiar approaches, but doesn’t quite sound like anything else I’ve heard. Not exactly jazz, not exact rock, not exactly anything, Acceleration is a superb offering for anyone who is looking for

Matthew Yeakley - Guitar
Matt Politano - Piano/Rhodes
Cooper Appelt - Electric and Upright Bass
Aaron MacLendon - Drums
Mike Cottone - Trumpet
Gina Saputo - Vocals (Deanna)
Jesse Palter - Vocals (Sadhana)

"... jazz that grooves ("A Place to Call Home"), bops ("I Wish I Could've Known You Better") and takes chances ("Periculum N"). Yeakley's polished guitar style is what we've come to expect from the town that gave us Larry and Lee. It's a lot of music to drop on an...