Pi Recordings News

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Pi Recordings is happy to announce our annual end of the year sale. This year’s sale is on the entire Pi Recordings’ catalogue. For a limited time:

� Buy any two CDs for $12 each!

� Buy three or more CDs for $10 each!

� Double CDs are $18 if you buy two titles, and $16 if you buy three or more titles.

� Pay one flat price for shipping, regardless of quantity ordered.

� All tee shirts are discounted $2 each. (Please note if your shirt does not checkout at a discounted price we will refund the difference to you).

� Sale pricing will be reflected in your cart.

We hope you take advantage of this opportunity to discover more great and innovative music on Pi Recordings.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:01 GMT

As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to recognize some of the great press our newest releases have received:

Inana - Amir ElSaffar

“The music deftly combines jazz and Middle Eastern music in a unique way, finding common ground in improvisation… ElSaffar�s studies in both jazz and ethnic music have placed him in good stead to carve out a unique place in the current improvised music. His music and musicial concept is clearly evolving, and this is a very exciting development.” � Jazz and Blues

“Gracefully poised between two worlds, Inana builds upon ElSaffar’s previous accomplishments, establishing an impressive precedent for the creative possibilities of a new global jazz aesthetic.” � AllAboutJazz

Oblique-I - Tyshawn Sorrey

�One of five drummers whose time is Now�. A spectacular young drummer on jazz�s leading edge, Mr. Sorey has proved himself a serious new-music composer besides, sometimes to the point of cerebral severity. But �Oblique-I� just out on Pi, is a riveting album, with compositions custom designed for the same musicians found here.� � New York Times

�Oblique � I, is mostly the kind of rollicking band album you�d expect from a powerhouse drummer. His melodies are complex and full of surprises, but often light on their feet. Leading by example, Sorey is helping to heal an old rift in contemporary jazz, between musicians for whom swinging is everything and those also interested in other kinds of rhythmic subtleties and complications�. His quintet/quartet plays twisty, turny rhythms that surge ahead and then fall back, typical of jazz�s left flank. But under those zigzag lines, Sorey�s drums barrel along like a runaway tractor trailer. He makes those tricky patterns move.� � NPR

The Mancy of Sound - Steve Coleman

�A vivacious group effort brimming with intricate cross-hatched melodies, oblique harmonies and kaleidoscopic rhythms, The Mancy of Sound follows Harvesting Semblances and Affinities as the strongest albums of Coleman�s career, reinforcing his significance in the development of contemporary jazz.� � Point of Departure

�Of all the musicians who followed Coltrane, Ornette and the AACM, Coleman has done the most work and sustained the highest level of innovation and creativity of output and impact.� � Downbeat

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Tyshawn Sorey’s Oblique-I has been released to great acclaim. Fresh Air’s Kevin Whitehead reviewed it last week, describing it as “… mostly the kind of rollicking band album you’d expect from a powerhouse drummer. His melodies are complex and full of surprises, but often light on their feet.” Listen to the review HERE.

The Wall Street Journal’s Larry Blumenfeld interviewed Tyshawn for the Journal. Read the interview HERE. Larry says about Tyshawn, “…his strongest impact is as a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas.” and describes Oblique-I as “… more like jazz yet still utterly original.”.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Pi Recordings is profiled in today’s The New York Times!

“… But through a selective release schedule, a careful eye on the budget, a thoughtful approach to promotion and, crucially, a sense of cultivation and commitment to its artists, Pi has not only survived but has also managed to thrive. In the process its catalog has gradually influenced the sound of jazz over the past decade….”

Special thanks to Nate Chinen who wrote the article, and all of you who have supported us over the years.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Pi Recordings is proud to be curating the next two weeks at The Stone performance space in New York City. We kick off on Wednesday, August 17th with Fieldwork, which received a Star preview in the New York Times. We hope to see you.

★ Fieldwork - This collaborative threesome is rightly revered for its way with discursive melody and asymmetrical rhythmic forms; the heart of its sound is an ever-shifting rapport between the pianist Vijay Iyer, the saxophonist Steve Lehman and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey, all of whom compose material for the group.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:01 GMT

DownBeat’s Critics Poll Winners have been released and there is much to celebrate. We are very pleased to congratulate Rudresh Mahanthappa for being voted top Alto Saxophonist. Apex is in the top 5 Jazz Albums of the Year at #4. Other categories where Pi Recordings’ artists were recognized by the critics:

Jazz Artist - Vijay Iyer, Henry Threadgill & Rudresh Mahanthappa

Piano - Vijay Iyer

Rising Star Jazz Artist - Rudresh Mahanthappa & Vijay Iyer

Composer - Henry Threadgill & Vijay Iyer

Rising Star Piano - Vijay Iyer

Alto Saxophone - Henry Threadgill , Bunky Green & Steve Coleman

Jazz Group - Henry Threadgill Zooid

Flute - Henry Threadgill

Guitar - Marc Ribot

Rising Star Guitar - Liberty Ellman

Rising Star Composer - Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman & Rudresh Mahanthappa

Record Label - Pi Recordings

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:01 GMT

The July issue of DownBeat features Marc Ribot and Nels Cline on the cover. The guitarists discuss their approaches to the instrument as well as their most recent releases, Silent Movies and Dirty Baby.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Muhal’s latest, SoundDance, gets a nice write up in this weekend’s Art and Leisure section of the New York Times. Nate Chinen says “The album, on two CDs, is a bristling wonder.”

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:01 GMT

Read Steve Smith of the New York Times review of ICE’s performance of Steve Lehman’s Impossible Flow at Le Poisson Rouge.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:00:01 GMT

The end of 2010 found Pi Recordings releases featured on a number of year end lists.

The Village Voice Poll had four Pi Recordings releases in the top 20; Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green’s Apex was #2, Henry Threadgill Zooid’s This Brings Us To, vol. 2 was #5, Steve Coleman & Five Elements Harvesting Semblances and Affinities was #7 and Marc Ribot’s Silent Movies was #18.

Chris barton of the LA Times included both Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green’s Apex and Marc Ribot’s Silent Movies on his year end best of list.

Fred Kaplan of Slate.com included Henry Threadgill Zooid’s This Brings Us To, vol. 2 on his on his year end best of list.

Howard Reich of Chicago Tribune included Henry Threadgill Zooid’s This Brings Us To, vol. 2 on his on his year end best of list.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Ben Ratliff of the New York Times has listed Steve Coleman and Five Elements Harvesting Semblances and Affinities his #1 release of the year for 2010.

You can also listen to Ben and the rest of the NYTimes music writers discuss their picks on the Times Music PodCast where Ben says “…(Steve) is a high concept Ninja, but a great record comes down to a great band, and this band is playing incredibly well on this record. Rhythmically this record is as bewitching as anything I’ve ever heard. There’s an aura around him and his music of difficulty… but this record is not difficult to listen to; it’s just gorgeous. And he hasn’t made a record this good in I think about ten years so it feels like “the return of.”

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:01 GMT

We are pleased to announce that we have added 4 items to our store for the holiday season:

Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green’s Apex Tee Shirt
Vijay Iyer Quartet’s Panoptic Modes
Steve Lehman Quartet’s Manifold
Rudresh Mahanthappa and Steve Lehman’s Dual Identity

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Check out the recent Bunky Green interview with Patrick Jarenwattananon @ NPR: Part I & Part II

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Shaun Brady of JazzTimes writes a review on Apex. Read the review HERE

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Find out what interests the ever-fascinating Steve Coleman in these interviews with Josh Jackson on WBGO’s The Checkout and Jason Crane’s The Jazz Session.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Out September 28th: Apex, the two-alto saxophone conclave of Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green! The CD features Jason Moran, Francois Moutin, Damion Reid and the legendary Jack DeJohnette! Check out the preview HERE.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:01 GMT

The new release from Steve Coleman: Harvesting Semblances and Affinities has been receiving some incredible press. The Wall Street Journal’s Larry Blumenfeld calls the CD “dazzling” in his fine profile on Steve.

In a great review of the Undead Jazz Festival in The New York Times, Ben Ratliff wrote of Steve Coleman: “But it was hard for anything to top Mr. Coleman’s set… Whatever this festival represents, he’s one of the regents of it; his recombinant ideas about rhythm and form and his eagerness to mentor musicians and …build a new vernacular have had a profound effect on American jazz. Playing new music from a fascinating new record, �Harvesting Semblances and Affinities� (Pi), his sextet made Sullivan Hall, unbearably hot, a kind of pure-art pressure chamber… Above all, the band was an amazing system. Sweating through my clothes, I heard couple of good musicians behind me � there was almost always one within arm�s reach � reacting with kind of sickened wonder. �What is going on up there?� one asked, sounding almost worried. Exactly.”

Finally, the June issue of Jazz Times asks on the cover “Steve Coleman: The most influential figure since Coltrane?” Well, we certainly think so.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:00:01 GMT

We’re proud to welcome the incredibly influential saxophonist/composer Steve Coleman to the Pi Recordings family with his release Harvesting Semblances and Affinities. Steve serves as the logical link between the original AACM masters on the label such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill and Roscoe Mitchell and the new generation of ace musician/composers Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman. The New York Times has already called the CD “bracing” and The Wall Street Journal calls it “dazzling.” Please check it out!

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Some recent interesting Henry Threadgill stuff on the Internet: A nice interview with Jason Crane on The Jazz Session and a great VIDEO of Zooid performing at Roulette.

Also, Elliot Humberto Kavee, Zooid’s drummer and also erstwhile member of both the Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet and Fieldwork, gets a great feature in Modern Drummer magazine. Check the stuff out!

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote a fantastic review of Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green’s Apex premier show at the Jazz Standard in NYC. The band is in the studio today and tomorrow recording for Pi Recordings. Look for the release, featuring Jason Moran and Jack DeJohnette, in the fall.

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 00:00:01 GMT

A must read article by Amir ElSaffar in All About Jazz about what he and Hafez Modirzadeh are trying to achieve musically on Radif Suite. Check it out!

yulun@pirecordings.com (Yulun Wang) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh’s Radif Suite was selected by Nate Chinen as part of his New York Times critic’s Playlist column! Chinen writes: “The two leaders pursue the sort of brash polyphony once synonymous with Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman, and now open for sharply rigorous adaptation.”

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Check out the really fascinating article by Amir Elsaffar in the most recent issue of All About Jazz New York (on page 13) discussing the theories behind his new CD Radif Suite. There is also a review of the CD in the same issue.

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

Pi Recordings is proud to announce the new release from Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh: Radif Suite. The release has already been praised as:

“A rewarding collection thick with ideas and inspiration”
LA Times
“A new grammar for composition and improvisation”
Dusted Magazine

The CD is available for purchase from the website.

seth@pirecordings.com (Seth Rosner) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:01 GMT

We are excited to tell you about a new publication that we think you will enjoy. Burning Ambulance is a quarterly journal of the arts. The writers who contribute have chosen an in-depth approach in opposition to the glib, superficial treatment commonly afforded popular culture in mainstream, advertising-dependent magazines. Contributing writers include: Matt Cibula, Philip Freeman, Kurt Gottschalk, Stephen Haynes, and Phil Nugent. We would like to thank Burning Ambulance for featuring an insightfully written 8000 word piece on Henry Threadgill and his music in its premier issue. Please take a moment to learn more about Burning Ambulance and enjoy.