SOMETHING ABOUT BELIEVING
Newest recording featuring Jazz legends, Tom Harrell, Gary Smulyan, John Patitucci and Al Foster.
Order your LP in 180 gram audiophile vinyl!
“Of course, the absence of a piano or guitar can get a little raw, so Armacost warms it up a bit with some cozy unison playing on the title track, a Duke Ellington obscurity. Walking bass and pattering high hat cushion a sensitive, atmospheric Harrell solo, more mellowing from the saxes and a short but sweet Foster feature punctuated with those horns. Like the whole session, it’s effortless, simple and great. Miles would approve.”
The Times (UK)
THE INEVITABLE NOTE
Listen to the first single, “Since Before We Met” (for free) at https://open.spotify.com/album/51dA1E3QFb80DK1tlHbVuM
KHARTOUM
During their visit to Sudan from December 9 through 16th, the New York based Jazz trio, Petrio, featuring Grammy nominated Tim Armacost on Saxophone, Michael Petrosino on drums, and Joseph Lepore on stand-up bass were thrilled to see how well audiences received their version of Ahaba Makan Watani Al-Sudan in Port Sudan and Khartoum, Petrio and the U.S. Embassy booked studio time to record the song, and asked Mr. Al-Tayeb Siddig, the exceptional Sudanese director, to shoot his video interpretation of the song.
The resulting video presents Petrio as the American musicians discover and embrace Sudanese culture through her food, clothing, music, dance, and location while their jazz version of Ahaba Makan Watani Al-Sudan — augmented by Sudanese musicians — plays throughout. The story in the video describes the mutual respect and strong future our two people are capable of building together.
To view the video, click here: Ahaba Makan
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LEADER RECORDINGS
TIME BEING
“A whirlwind of clever ideas and rhythmic games: the kind that stimulates and energizes the ears without becoming chaotic or overwhelming.”
★★★★1/2 All About Jazz
“Relaxed and thoughtful, yet spellbindingly exciting… one of the most richly rewarding albums this year. Repeated listening just adds to the enjoyment.”
★★★★★ UK Vibe
“Armacost the tenor joins Armacost the conceptualist in unearthing new ways to assemble and express a cherished jazz vocabulary.”
Jazz Times
“Blessed with a stunningly intuitive and complementary rhythm section… Armacost’s phrasing dazzlingly shifts at every turn.”
New York City Jazz Record
RHYTHM & TRANSFORMATION
“The main thing that I brought out of my experience (of his work) was that Armacost is truly a first-rate all-around musician. His sound is enormous. And while his facility around the horn is akin to modern technicians like Mark Turner and Michael Brecker, his harmonic approach taps into an idiosyncratic style all his own – doing the opposite of the expected.”
Matthew Merewitz
All About Jazz
Tim Armacost - Brightly Dark
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BRIGHTY DARK
“…Armacost’s solos are intense and display considerable intelligence and creativity. His work on soprano saxophone ‘ an instrument it is virtually impossible to play without invoking John Coltrane ‘ is impressive. The tenor is also used to great effect, particularly on the lovely original, ‘And Then There Were Four.’ The group is equally impressive on standards such as ‘May I Come In’ and ‘Old Devil Moon.’”
Alexander Stern
All About Jazz
Tim Armacost - The Wishing Well
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THE WISHING WELL
“In this romping follow-up to Live at Small’s (Double-Time), New York-based tenorist Tim Armacost broadens his palette to include inflections from Coltrane as well as Rollins. If one listens carefully, there also are echoes of the warm-toned tenor masters of the 1940s, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Gene Ammons. Indeed, Armacost is a modern romantic whose heart-on-sleeve declamations pulse with raw emotion.”
Chuck Berg
JazzTimes
Tim Armacost - Live at Smalls
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TIM ARMACOST LIVE AT SMALLS
“This is a burning set recorded live at one of New York’s hottest jazz clubs, Smalls. The presence of the great Tom Harrell on trumpet and flugelhorn ratchets up the intensity, but the lesser-known quintet members — Gerald Cannon on bass, Shingo Okudaira on drums, and the delightful Jonny King on piano — turn in excellent performances as well. Tim Armacost’s tenor sound is rich and his solos are steeped in classic post-bop vocabulary. He shines on the ballads “Whistling Away the Dark” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” ably handles the faster tempos of Gary Bartz’s “Libra” and Ornette Coleman’s “Invisible,” and plays a mean soprano sax on Hank Mobley’s “Hank’s Other Bag,” a 14-bar blues.”
David Adler
AllMusic.com
Tim Armacost - Fire
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FIRE
“Armacost entered the limelight in 1995 with his Concord Records debut, “Fire,” with pianist Kenny Barron and drummer Billy Hart, who also played on Armacost’s last two discs. Most saxophonists, following the model of John Coltrane, run up and down scales and arpeggios, carefully following the vertical patterns of a song’s harmony, the more challenging the better.
Armacost, by contrast, is more melodic, linear and unpredictable, much in the tradition of Joe Henderson and Stan Getz. With a big, soulful sound on tenor and a warm tone on soprano, the 40-year-old sax man plays gently away from the chords – what musicians call “outside” the harmony – but without ever sounding harsh or mechanical. Rhythmically, his playing is loose and fluid, as well. Mixing odd and even groupings of notes – without ever losing the feeling of swing – Armacost makes unexpected twists and turns, landing in unusual places.”
Paul De Barros
The Seattle Times
NYSQ
HEAVEN STEPS TO SEVEN
“Standards remain standards because bands like NYSQ keep finding new avenues of meaning within them. Heaven Steps To Seven is a reminder that standards don’t necessarily reside in museum cases; living musicians can set the music free.”
DownBeat Magazine
“Their constancy as a group is something of a latter day phenomenon… Eclectic choices maybe, but that’s how NYSQ sees things. Good for them.”
★★★★ Jazzwise magazine
“NYSQ don’t merely revive these standards, they breathe new life into them… Everything they touch turns to musical gold.”
★★★★1/2 All About Jazz
SLEIGHT OF HAND
“NYSQ approach these timeless classics plus the one original, with flair and vigour, breathing new life into them.”
★★★★ All About Jazz
“Deft, satisfyingly open, at times telepathic exchanges prove joyously and conclusively that there is life in the old standards yet.”
★★★★ The Irish Times
“A 9 carat gem… Armacost plays with a fluency that matches any of his historically better known predecessors… Can’t recommend this too highly!”
Bebop Spoken Here
“This record delivers exactly what you’d expect from a band titled ‘The New York Standards Quartet’, fully living up to the weighty expectations implicit in the title.”
Jazz Views
“NYSQ has worked together for over a decade and the communication and empathy honed over such a long period is on full display with this perceptive recording.”‘
The New York City Jazz Record
THE NEW STRAIGHT AHEAD
“This is swing with a distinctly contemporary feel… Each song re-voiced with today’s vocabulary very much in mind, the group interplay exhilarating throughout, each man giving their all in typically New York fashion.”
★★★★ Jazzwise Magazine (Album of the Year list)
“What starts out as something familiar ends up as a unique and exhilarating musical statement.”
The New York City Jazz Record
“Absorbing and perceptive music… A fresh perspective to a repertoire of standards and jazz classics.”
JazzTimes Magazine
“The music of NYSQ does more than cast old standards with new arrangements, they give old tunes new life, new meaning and a new reason for hearing them again.”
★★★★ All About Jazz
POWER OF 10
“Phenomenally bright and resourceful playing.”
The Observer
“A thrilling summation of where the group are currently at… fine interplay between members with the emphasis on melodic improvisation, ranging from the modal sounds of Berkman to the fiery tenor of Armacost.”
★★★★ UK Vibe
“Armacost and Berkman are clever players, each adept at prompting the other, always alert to the possibilities of a tune, stretching the harmonies and playing with the beat.”
★★★★ Jazzwise Magazine
“An attractive mix of heady originals, refreshing contrefacts and smartly arranged standards-all united by the group’s shared affinity for muscular groove and searing, thoughtful melody.”
DownBeat Magazine (Editor’s Pick)
“Exquisite musicality… One of the best modern mainstream bands around.”
★★★★ All About Jazz
Tim Armacost - Live at Lifetime
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LIVE AT LIFETIME
For the recording Live at Lifetime NYSQ returns to their home club in Shizuoka Japan. It’s in clubs like these that the band has developed and matured, the individual personalities of the members blending into a group that is more than the sum of its considerable parts. This club is one of the group’s favorite spots in Japan (their tours usually begin and end there) and this live recording conveys the excitement of the audience of friends and supporters who push the players to new energetic and emotional heights. Release Date: 2013 (Limited Edition)
UNSTANDARD
“With “Unstandard”, The New York Standards Quartet have delivered a well focused document that expands on the main elements of the “standard” in a fun and entertaining manner all the while maintaining a sense kinship with the original. It’s a wonderful group playing a straight ahead songbook that the general music fan can easily gravitate to with no fear. The listener gets an education by a senior class of players. The jazz community gets another stellar record to talk about for the rest of the year. Highly Recommended.”
Stephan Moore
Jazzwrap
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LIVE IN TOKYO
Live in Tokyo is one of the only recordings NHK – the Japanese national radio network – has ever allowed to be used as an album. The disc captures a riveting concert to a packed house in the famed Studio 505 in the summer of 2007, and became NYSQ’s debut recording. Featuring Tim Armacost on saxophone, David Berkman on piano, Yosuke Inoue on bass, and Gene Jackson on drums, the concert and album was met with critical and popular acclaim. Release date: 2008
BROOKLYN BIG BAND
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LIVE AT SWEET RHYTHM
“In the BBB’s ranks are fine players who should be better known: Bailey and Mark Gross on altos; Armacost and Keith Loftis on tenors; Charlie Evans on baritone; Jason Jackson, Dion Tucker, Tim Albright and Johannes Pfannkuch on bones, Jamal Monteilh, James Zollar and Matt Shulman on trumpets; Kelvin Shollar on piano; Phil Palombi on bass and Lieven Venken on drums. Armacost stepped up for a feature (and a sharp-witted cadenza) on his ballad “Animated,” which was followed by Jason Jackson’s bright “Brazilian Bop;” then an Al Cohn arrangement of “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” featuring Gillespie on flugelhorn, and finally the uptempo “40-Pound Limit”, a showcase for Bailey and Gross’ duelling altos. Merging a seamless ensemble attack with the flexibility of a combo, the BBB can compete with any of its peers on Manhattan isle.”
David Adler
All About Jazz
IN TRIO
DEFINING MOMENT
“Harvie S’s “Truth And Beauty” gives Armacost a chance to charm on soprano, Finger’s propulsive drumming keeps things cooking on “My Shining Hour,” and all three men come together in the service of beauty on “My Ship.” Armacost really rules the roost on that last one, but there’s no questioning the chemistry of these three men when Finger paints with cymbals and Harvie S delivers arco lines that blend with saxophone. The album closes out with two different-as-can-be numbers that show the range of this group—Kenny Barron’s bouncing-and-swinging “The Only One” and Finger’s brief-and-barren “Endlessness.” These parting gifts point to a level of contrast that shows how inventive the IN Trio can be.”
Dan Bilawsky
All About Jazz
INTERCONTINENTAL JAZZ TRIO
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EVIDENCE
Intercontinental Jazz Trio formed in 1994 at a small cafe on the upper west side of Manhattan. We were all recent arrivals in New York, and we became the house band for a weekly Tuesday jam session – one of the staples of New York jazz life. We enjoyed working together so much that we decided to take our compact little band on the road, which we did for the first time in 1995, in Europe. On our second tour, the following year, we recorded our first CD, “Live at the Bimhuis.”
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LIVE AT THE BIMHUIS
The Intercontinental Jazz Trio has been touring since 1995. The inaugural tour was in Europe, with concerts all over the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Switching drummers in 1997, the group played 23 concerts in 21 days in Holland. The group has continued with the same personnel: Tim Armacost, Joris Teepe, and Shingo Okudaira, since then, and made its second trip to Japan in the fall of 2012.
DON FRIEDMAN QUARTET
FRIDAY AM
This Quartet was features the last regular quartet of the legendary pianist Don Friedman. It was the second-to-last recording of the piano master, before his death in June of 2016.
HASTINGS JAZZ COLLECTIVE
SHADOW DANCES
This is the debut recording of the Hastings Jazz Collective. Made up of NYC veteran jazz musicians, Tim Armacost, Harvie S, Jay Azzolina, David Janeway and Ron Vincent, they offer an exciting mix of original and mainstream latin/jazz compositions.
YUTAKA SHIINA
Yutaka Shiina - Future Swing
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FUTURE SWING
Recorded at Samurai Recording Studio in NY, on June 11&12, 2015
Yutaka Shiina - Future Swing
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WALKIN’ IN THE CLOUDS