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The MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur Fellowship, commonly but unofficially known as a “Genius Grant“, is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 individuals, working in any field, who have shown “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction” and are citizens or residents of the United States. Mary Halvorson is a new recipient of this prestigious fellowship and is the only musician named in 2019. Our hearty congrats to Mary for this well deserved recognition!

Thirsty Ear Recordings congratulates The Matthew Shipp Trio with Michael Bisio and Newman T. Baker and special guest Roscoe Mitchell for their sold out show at the storied venue Carnegie Hall on January 27, 2018. The NY Times heralded this performance by saying, “Matthew Shipp… is one of the more influential members of the New York jazz scene over the past 30 years.”

Do not take our word for it, see what Downbeat Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker and more are saying about The Jazz Passengers musical feast ” Still Life with Trouble” www.jazzpassengers.com/press/

It is rare for a recording to receive such universal praise and rarer still that the nature of the praise elevates a release to a status of unequal parallel.  We, at Thirsty Ear Recordings, would like to congratulate Matthew Shipp for his new trio cd “Piano Song’ whose critical consensus proclaims it is one of the great masterpieces of modern jazz- a once in a generation type album. To truly appreciate the level of exemplary language used to describe “Piano Song” we thought it would helpful to give you some of the highlights from the reviews this record has received.

In short, Matthew clearly has emerged as a force for modern times.

1. New York City Jazz Record

• “ ‘Piano Song’ represents a singular achievement in the piano trio pantheon—and channels directly into a stream of higher consciousness.’’

2. All About Jazz [compiled from 5 review they did on this cd]

• “ ‘Piano Song’ is a special album—a stunning aural painting—piano song feels like am entirely fresh take on the piano trio—secures Shipp a position in the upper echelons of jazz—the experience of listening to Matthew Shipp’s music will eternally transcend prose attempting to define it—unparalleled music.’’

4.Popmatters

• The delightful piano song-a Beethoven quotation in action ‘’art demands of us that we shall not stand still’’

4. All Music

• “While far from a straight ahead recording, piano song isn’t an avant garde set either. Those are polls and Shipp’s best work-as evidenced here-exits outside those contrasts— a revelatory chapter from one of the most fascinating musicians.’’

5.Pitchfork

• “ ‘Piano Song’ will reward listening for a long time’’

6. The Village Voice

• “ ‘Piano Song is by turns lyrical, nervy, percussive. Ominous, tempestuous and still.’’

The JAZZ PASSENGERS are a fantastical fusion of post-bop and musical comedy, once called a perverse mainstream hard-bop group as imagined by Frank Zappa. (Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe, 1989). Their name, a take-off on Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, reveals the musicians wild ride along the eccentric currents in modern American music.

The Jazz Passengers will be releasing their 13th album, ‘Still Life With Trouble’ in March 2017. Besides Nathanson and Fowlkes the original band members included Bill Ware on vibraphone, E.J. Rodriguez on percussion, Brad Jones on bass, Jim Nolet on violin and Marc Ribot on guitar. They are now a seve -piece band without guitar and with Sam Bardfeld on violin and Ben Perowsky on drums.

Piano Song is to be released Jan 27 2017 and is the work of a man at the centre of a great and shifting constellation of relationships, some of them actively present in the sound, some of them more indirectly responsible for its safe registration and preservation, some of them implicit in its language, but all of them part of the conversation. No excluded middle here.

Piano Song, with Michael Bisio and Newman Taylor Baker, will be his last for Thirsty Ear, though he will continue to curate the “Blue Series”

Brian Morton

Welcome to the new Thirsty Ear website!  Its been a long time coming. We hope you enjoy browsing and discovering the fantastic artists who grace our label with their extraordinary talents and musical revelations. We deeply appreciate your continued support and look forward climbing new musical heights with you in the years to come.