# New musics from the Joshua Redman Quartet, Leni Stern, Harold López-Nussa, and Big Heart Machine: Photos, Videos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/05/13/new-musics-from-the-joshua-redman-quartet-leni-stern-harold-lopez-nussa-and-big-heart-machine-photos-videos/
- Published: 2020-05-13T07:37:24+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Hero Trio, “I’ll Remember April”**

_Hero Trio, _the forthcoming album by alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, was 
named in acknowledgment of musical heroes like Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins.
But at some point, Mahanthappa decided to have a little fun with the name — asking
his band mates, bassist François Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston, to join him in
a little superhero cosplay.

The resulting image is more than a little tongue-in-cheek, but the music could hardly
be more serious. Mahanthappa has deep history with both Royston and Moutin, and 
on the album he often urges them out on the ledge. The intensity of their cohesion
shines on “I’ll Remember April,” a standard associated with both Rollins and Parker,
and given a syncopated funk treatment here.

The arrangement on the album is also featured in this video, a WBGO premiere. And
just as on the studio version, that 9/8 funk vamp gives way to a swinging statement
of the theme. Mahanthappa’s solo also toggles between the two grooves, bobbing and
weaving, as the rhythm team thrashes behind him. Elsewhere on the album, Hero Trio
applies a similar lunging attack to Parker’s “Barbados,” Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed,”
even the June-Carter / Johnny Cash anthem “Ring of Fire.”

**Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade, “Father”**

Back in March, we helped break the news about _RoundAgain,_ a new album by Joshua
Redman’s celebrated _MoodSwing _quartet. That announcement came with footage filmed
at The Falcon, in New York’s Hudson Valley. Last Friday, Nonesuch Records posted
another video from the same show.

This time, the tune is “Father,” a lively waltz by pianist Brad Mehldau, who also
embarks on the first solo expedition. (Spoiler alert for observant fans: no, he 
still doesn’t pause to take a swig of the hot sauce. Maybe next time.) Redman’s 
soprano saxophone improv is bright and burbling, and the all-star rhythm team of
Christian McBride and Brian Blade, on bass and drums, does their thing as only they
can.

**Harold López Nussa, “Lila’s Mambo”**

The engaging Cuban pianist Harold López Nussa has been making steady inroads with
American jazz audiences, especially since signing to Mack Avenue Records. His third
album for the label will be titled _Te Lo Dije_, and it features trumpeter Mayquel
González, bassist Julio César González and drummer Ruy Adrián López-Nussa (Harold’s
younger brother). The first single from the album is “Lila’s Mambo,” which has its
premiere at WBGO.

“Lila’s Mambo is a song that I wrote to my younger daughter, Lila,” López-Nussa 
explains. “She is the most beautiful little devil, so this piece is inspired by 
her strong character and her love for dance. That’s why I wrote this irregular mambo
for her, and then I asked her to ‘present’ the song, so we can hear her voice at
the very beginning. I also dedicate this song to Emiliano Salvador, a great Cuban
piano player that inspired me a lot.”

**Leni Stern, “Habib (featuring Mike Stern)”**

West African music has been more than a passing preoccupation for guitarist Leni
Stern. Her working rhythm section for some time has featured bassist Mamadou Ba 
and percussionist Alioune Faye, both from Senegal; they appear on her forthcoming
album, _4, _alongside Argentine keyboardist Leo Genovese.

“Habib,” which premieres here, is named after the Senegalese bassist Habib Faye,
longtime musical director for Youssou N’dour’s Super Étoile de Dakar. Faye died 
in 2018, and Stern wrote this song in dedication. “In the chant,” she remarks, “
we sing ‘Habib we will miss you’ —  _Habib boulayi waitell nanyou_.”

**Big Heart Machine, “Pareidoliac”**

Composer-arranger Brian Krock earned accolades when he released the self-titled 
debut by his hypermodern large ensemble, Big Heart Machine, in 2018. Last fall the
band performed new music at The Jazz Gallery, recording for a live album. “Pareidoliac”
is the second single from that album, which will be released on Friday.

Pareidolia is the tendency toward perceiving patterns in random shapes, like someone
seeing animal shapes in the clouds. Krock explores this idea on “Pareidoliac” with
a succession of sonic events, some purely textural and others accreting into a groove.
The piece features a succession of extended techniques by trumpeter Kenny Warren,
and an Eastern-influenced flute solo by Anna Webber.

![Rudy Royston, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Francois Moutin are Hero Trio, which releases
its debut June 19.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/
public/202005/hero_trio.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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