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PRESS RELEASES

AVAILABLE NOW: Cecile McLorin Salvant’s “Easy Come, Easy Go Blues” from “Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund

Available Now, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s

“Easy Come, Easy Go Blues,” the Third Single from

Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s

Musicians’ Emergency Fund (Listen/Share Here)

 

An Unprecedented, Star-Studded Collection from

America’s Top Jazz Labels in Support of Musicians Affected

by the Pandemic, Now Arrives on November 12

 

Listen to Joshua Redman’s “Facts” Premiere on NPR Music

and Jon Batiste’s “Sweet Lorraine” Premiere on Variety

2-LP Set, CD and Digital Album Features Herbie Hancock,

Wallace Roney, Buster Williams, Jimmy Heath, Albert “Tootie” Heath,

Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, IRMA and LEO (Esperanza Spalding

& Leo Genovese), Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charles Lloyd, Hiromi,

Kenny Garrett, Jon Batiste, and Other Jazz Greats

 

A consortium of major jazz labels – Concord Music Group, Mack Avenue Music Group, Nonesuch Records, Universal Music Group’s Verve Label Group and Blue Note Records, and Warner Music Group – has taken the unprecedented step of joining hands for Relief, an all-star compilation of previously unreleased music to be issued on LP, CD and digitally with an updated release date of November 12, continuing the non-profit Jazz Foundation of America’s (JFA) ongoing efforts to aid musicians affected by the international shutdown of venues and other performance opportunities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. LISTEN/SHARE second single from the album, Joshua Redman’s “Facts,” HERE.

All net proceeds from the package – comprising studio and live tracks by top-flight jazz artists – will benefit the JFA’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund, established in the spring of 2020 after the pandemic ground the music industry to a sudden, catastrophic halt.

JFA executive director Joe Petrucelli says, “The Jazz Foundation of America deeply appreciates the artists, songwriters and label teams who contributed to this project with such compassion and generosity. As pandemic restrictions continue to lift, we recognize that musicians will face a particularly lengthy recovery. They were among the first to be hit by the effects of the crisis and will be among the last to achieve a true sense of normalcy or stability. We and our partners are here for the long haul.”

Relief commences with a recording that exemplifies the extreme challenges faced by musicians in the depths of the 2020 health emergency: “back to who,” a track by vocalist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Leo Genovese, recording as IRMA and LEO, was created remotely at home studios in Hillsboro, OR and Brooklyn, NY.

The compilation concludes with a live quintet performance captured at the JFA’s 2014 “A Great Night in Harlem” benefit show at New York’s historic Apollo Theater. It features pianist Herbie Hancock, trumpeter Wallace Roney, who died after contracting the coronavirus, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, the composer of the number, who died at the age of 93 in January 2020, in a poignant version of “Gingerbread Boy.”

Offering a compact overview of jazz’s past, present and future, the album also presents fresh tracks from bassist Christian McBride, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonists Kenny Garrett, Joshua Redman and Charles Lloyd, pianist Hiromi Uehara, and pianist-vocalist Jon Batiste’s “Sweet Lorraine,” the collections first single is available to stream HERE.

The set is merely the latest pandemic relief effort mounted under the aegis of the JFA’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund. 2020 benefit events included the virtual concert #TheNewGig in May, an international “Gershwin Global” online performance led by Israeli pianist Guy Mintus in July, and the Charlie Parker-themed “Bird Calls” streaming fundraiser in December.

In his notes for the album, Rolling Stone senior music editor Hank Shteamer writes, “Even in a pandemic, the jazz ecosystem – not just its practitioners and facilitators but those who value the music as a lifelong sustenance – has managed to summon grace, dignity and unexpected joy. That spirit extends to Relief, a compilation which continues the relief efforts undertaken last year. This album reflects the duality at the heart of jazz: It’s a music of cooperation, of intuitive teamwork, that also leaves room for a broad array of personal idiosyncrasy. Differences of generation, heritage, methodology…strengthen the music’s vast collective mesh.”

Track Listing:

  1. IRMA and LEO| “back to who” feat. Esperanza Spalding and Leo Genovese | 4:41
  2. Christian McBride| “Brother Malcolm” | 4:47
  3. Cécile McLorin Salvant| “Easy Come, Easy Go Blues” | 2:32
  4. Kenny Garrett | “Joe Hen’s Waltz” | 8:07
  5. Jon Batiste | “Sweet Lorraine”| 3:52
  6. Hiromi| “Green Tea Farm” [2020 version] | 7:52
  7. Joshua Redman| “Facts” feat. Ron Miles, Scott Colley, Brian Blade | 3:39
  8. Charles Lloyd & Kindred Spirits| “Lift Every Voice and Sing” [live] | 8:26
  9. Herbie Hancock, Wallace Roney, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Albert “Tootie” Heath| “Gingerbread Boy” [live] | 6:54

Relief – A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund

Various Artists · Mack Avenue Records · Release Date: November 12, 2021

For more information on Jazz Foundation of America, please visit:

JazzFoundation.org | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

For media inquiries, please contact:

DL Media · 215-292-4032

Maureen McFadden · maureen@dlmediamusic.com

Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com

For press materials on Relief – A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians’

Emergency Fund, Mack Avenue Music Group’s artists or its family of imprints (including

album covers, promotional photos and logos), please visit media.mackavenue.com

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