AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2017 MARC COPLAND AND “ZENITH”MARC COPLAND – RALPH ALESSI – DREW GRESS – JOEY BARON

“We keep on sayingit...what a magnificenttouch,what mysteriousbeauty in his harmonic

choices, what freshsurprises from thissubtle lord of themodern piano.”

--Jazzman/France (2012)

Perhaps the mostprolific pianist of themillenium, Copland

has recorded some 30cds as a leader duringthe last fifteen years.

From 2004 to 2012, herecorded exclusivelywith Pirouet records.The beautiful trio CD“Some Love Songs”

(Drew Gress andJochen Rueckert) was

followed by theacclaimed “New YorkTrio Series,” which

solidified his positionas an innovator on hisinstrument. Volume III

of the series, “NightWhispers,” was hailedby Down Beat as “the

strongest top to

"Drop-dead trumpetchops...as clean and

airy and sophisticatedand disciplined as

post-modernprogressive jazz gets.”

---Jazz Times (USA)

Ralph Alessi was bornin San Francisco,CA,the son of classical

trumpeter Joe Alessiand opera singer Maria

Leone. After takingdegrees in jazz

trumpet and bass—hestudied under thelegendary Charlie

Haden at CalArts—hemoved to New York,

where he swiftlybecame an ubiquitous

presence on thedowntown scene. He's

been a frequentcollaborator with suchnotable musicians asSteve Coleman, Jason

Moran, Don Byron,Ravi Coltrane, Fred

Hersch, Uri Caine andDafnis Prieto. Alessi

"Relentlessly creative..---NY Times “A gifted

bassist--reminiscent ofLaFaro yet altogether

personal...his ownmusic and bands are

as remarkable as thoseof the heavyweights heplays with. "---All About

Jazz (USA)

Bassist/composer DrewGress performs

extensively with artistson the cutting edge of

contemporaryimprovised music. Hemay not be the busiestbassist ever ("I don'tthink so, man. What

about Ron Carter?”, thebassist commentswryly), but he'sprobably playing

somewhere tonight.

His project 7 BlackButterflies

(Premonition Records),featured 9 of Drew¹soriginal compositionsand was released inMAY 2005. This was

the follow up to 2001's

“Combining technicalacuity with a deep

sense of groove, JoeyBaron drums with

playful exuberance.”---allaboutjazz.com

Joey Baron, born in1955 in

Richmond,Virginia,started playing at age9. Over the years, he

has developed a uniqueapproach to makingmusic with the drumset , evident in his

extended tenures withjazz icons Jim Hall,Steve Kuhn, John

Abercrombie, and GaryPeacock. His long-termcollaboration with BillFrisell was recentlydocumented and

released "JUST LISTEN"on relative pitchrecords in 2013.

Presently, Mr. Baron'sactivities include soloconcerts, workshops,master classes, drum

bottom and mostpoetic album I've

heard in a while,” andin a later issue waslisted as one of the

best cds of the decade.More followed:another solo CD,

“Alone;” a duet CDwith longtime partnerGary Peacock; the all-star quintet Contact's

“Five on One;” areunion with partnerGreg Osby in quartetwith Doug Weiss and

Victor Lewis(“Crosstalk”;) a duo

recording with hislongtime partner

Abercrombie (“Speakto Me,”); and finally,Copland returned tothe trio format with

Drew Gress and JochenRueckert in “SomeMore Love Songs.”

His recordings from2000 to 2004 had

brought him to a wideraudience, including the

breakout trio disc“Haunted Heart” and

two beautiful soloexcursions, “Poetic

Motion” (Sketch) and“Time Within Time,”(Hatology). In both

CDs poetry, instead ofordinary liner notes,

accompanied themusic.

Since 2013 Coplandhas concentrated ontwo projects, both for

ECM records: as amember of the

Abercrombie quartet(“39 Steps”), and as a

member of the trio“Now This,” with Gary

Peacock and JoeyBaron.

has recorded ninealbums of original

compositions whichdraw on everything

from post-bop to neoclassical music. JazzTimes named his

debut CD “This AgainstThat”' one of the tenbest recordings of

2002. In 2010, Alessireleased “CognitiveDissonance” whichreceived a 4 star

review from Downbeatmagazine and was

included in The NewRepublic’s top ten listof records of 2011. In2013, Ralph released“Baida”, a quartet CDon ECM records and“Only Many”, a duo

recording with pianistFred Hersch on

CAMJazz.

As an educator, Alessihas been a member of

the faculty of theEastman School of

Music and is currentlythe founder and

director of the Schoolfor Improvisational

Music(www.schoolforimprov.

org), a non-profitentity currently holdingimprovisational musicworkshops in New YorkCity and abroad. Since2002, he has been onthe jazz faculties ofNew York Universityand the New England

Conservatory.

Spin and Drift, whichreceived widespreadcritical acclaim and

also featured Drew'spedal-steel guitar

playing. He also leadsthe quartet JaggedSky; their debut

recording, Heyday(Soul Note) was

released in 1998 and isnow consideredsomewhat of an

underground classic.Previously, he was afounding member of

the cooperative quartetJoint Venture,

producing threealbums in the early

1990s for Enja: JointVenture, Ways, and

Mirrors.

Gress has been amember of Marc

Copland's trios for overa decade, lending his

stunning sense ofaccompaniment andprodigious soloistictechnique to the

pianist's recordingsand concerts.

Drew can be heard onrecordings of Ralph

Alessi, Tim Berne, UriCaine, Bill Carrothers,Gerald Cleaver, Ravi

Coltrane, Fred Hersch,John Hollenbeck, Tony

Malaby, and MatManeri.

He has received grantsfrom the National

Endowment for theArts, Meet theComposer, andChamber Music

America.

music collaborationswith percussionist

Robyn Schulkowsky(Dinosaur Dances CD),plus ongoing projectswith John Zorn, duoconcerts with Lee

Konitz, Joe Lovano /Dave Douglas-led

"Sound Prints" quintet,and the new trio “Now

This” with Gary Peacockand Marc Copland

(ECM).

Joey's also known forhis work with Ron

Carter, David Bowie,Tony Bennett, Carmen

McRae, LaurieAnderson, John

Scofield, Al Jarreau,Jim Hall, Dizzy

Gillespie, Art Pepper,Tim Berne, Chet Baker,Jay McShann, Big JoeTurner, Philip Glass,Pat Martino, Sweets

Edison, David Sanborn,Al Jarreau, Randy

Brecker, and MarianMcPartland.

As a leader, Joey'srecording Down Homefinds him joined by anall star band of RonCarter, Arthur Blythe

and Bill Frisell. He ledthe trio "Barondown",

with Ellery Eskelin(tenor) and Steve Swell(trombone), recording- Crackshot (Avant),Raised Pleasure Dot

(New World) andTongue in Groove

(JMT). He collaborateswith percussionist

Robyn Schulkowsky(Dinosaur Dances CD).