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Ricardo Pinheiro Songs Of Longing (Fresh Sound 2025)

- Francois Leave a comment

NEW RELEASE – RICARDO PINHEIRO.

Personnel

Ricardo Pinheiro (guitar), Chris Cheek (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), Michael Formanek (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)

Recorded

in June  2024 at Timbuktu Studios, Lisbon

Released

as Fresh Sound 5139 in 2025

Track listing

Be Longing / I Hear A Rhapsody / Despedida de Lisboa / What If / Tenho Tantas Saudades / I’m All Smiles / Avô

I‘ve been happy to write liner notes to Songs Of Longing, a superb record by Portuguese guitarist Ricardo Pinheiro. Pinheiro is based in the beautific region of Sintra near Lisbon, Portugal – I was blessed to see the stunning surroundings this early summer, let’s hope that the damage done because of very recent forest fires won’t be too bad (and let’s have a minute of silence for the casualties up north.) Pinheiro is a versatile guitar player with an eclectic resume that includes fusion, ambient, jazz and poetry and Brazilian-Portuguese folk music.

But thoroughly schooled, and passionately engaged in, classic jazz, Pinheiro, also a writer of thoughtful essays and research assignments, loves to interpret standards and gives everything he plays (and composes) a melancholic ‘fado’ feeling.

This melancholic aspect of Pinheiro’s work is evident on Songs Of  Longing, a collaboration with stalwarts Chris Cheek on saxes, Michael Formanek on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums: ‘Saudade’, as the Portuguese call it, nostalgia and longing, which is ingrained in the soul of Portuguese people. It’s a great program of Pinheiro originals, and the odd evergreen like I Hear A Rhapsody thrown in. His poetic songs are vehicles for understated and lyrical playing by all concerned, all-for-one, one-for-all, so to speak: it’s pleasantly organic, featuring fellows that interact beautifully and leave egos at the door.

Recently, Pinheiro once again expressed his joy in having Cheek, Formanek and Rossy by his side: “It was amazing. These guys are so good, the real deal. I let them see the songs I wanted to do, they’re like, ‘okay, that’s fine, looks great’ and they get right down to business, give everything they’ve got and make a couple of studio days a cinch.”

Read my interview with Ricardo from 2023 here:

http://flophousemagazine.com/2024/07/02/ricardo-me/

Find Songs Of Longing on Fresh Sound here:

https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/ricardo-pinheiro-albums/57562-songs-of-longing.html

John the Baptist

- Francois Leave a comment

JOHN RUOCCO – RIP

American reed maestro John Ruocco sadly passed away on Wednesday, May 21 in The Hague. He was 72 years old. The New Haven, Connecticut-born saxophonist and clarinetist migrated to Europe in the early 1980’s, initially teaching at the Conservatory of Liėge in Belgium from 1981-85, then landing a spot at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in The Netherlands in 1987. He taught reeds and combo ever since and led the royal big band since the early 1990’s.

Ruocco was well-loved in the international jazz realm. The Hague jazz community mourns one of its most unique figureheads. It is not at a loss for words, crowding social media with bittersweet memories and homages. Ruocco was admired for his vast knowledge, uncompromising critical opinions, caustic wit and quirky wisdom. A mentor to myriad Dutch and international jazz artists.

Ruocco chose to live mainly out of the limelight, a humble touch of style that rather obscured his tremendous capabilities. Ruocco played with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, Barry Harris and many others. On clarinet, Ruocco was among the best of his generation. Not to mention an authority on stage.

Ruocco recorded sporadically, among others with Peter Herbolzheimer, Hein van der Geyn, Ricardo del Fra, John Abercrombie, Eric Ineke, David Liebman, Philippe Aerts and Richard Rousselet.

David Liebman Trio - Lieb Plays The Beatles
John Ruocco - Topics
John Ruocco - Quelque Part

Lieb Plays The Beatles is a particular favorite of Flophouse, a collaboration of rare sensitivity and creativity also featuring Marius Beets and Eric Ineke. John Ruocco will be sorely missed.

A Sullivan Is A Something Thing

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SULLIVAN FORTNER – Star pianist plays in Porgy & Bess in Terneuzen on May 21.

Sullivan Fortner makes a special solo appearance at Porgy & Bess in Terneuzen on Wednesday, May 21. See below.

https://www.porgyenbess.nl/productie/sullivan-fortner/

38-year-old Sullivan Fortner grew up in Louisiana and New Orleans and made his mark in the jazz world as one of the new stars on piano, working with luminaries Cécile McLoren Salvant, Joe Farnsworth, Fred Hersh and Peter Bernstein. He’s a collaborator of hip contemporaries as trumpeter Theo Croker and hiphopper Kassa Overal.

He played in Roy Hargrove’s band for seven years. (three times in Porgy  Bess) His lively and angular playing style oozes Thelonious Monk and Jaki Byard. Jubilance, the Spanish tinge and a strong left hand piano groove might all be defined as typically New Orleans. Fortner displays those assets in convincing fashion, while subtly displaying a knowledge of classical composition.

I had the pleasure of seeing him perform two months ago at Bimhuis in Amsterdam. His versatility, deeply rooted style, and spontaneous creativity were striking.

In my interview with Fortner for Jazzism last year, he said that it is his desire to play with the innocence of a child. Fortner: “We do play games as adults. But these are often about money and competition. It is very intriguing to see how children play. I’ve been observing the children in my family for a long time. See how a toddler takes a pen and paper and manipulates those objects in various ways. In its mouth. On the wall. When it does draw, it dryly states that its mysterious scrawl is a portrait of momma. This is all a game, free and easy. It’s playing for the sake of fun.”

He also made a brutally honest confession. “I’m always very nervous. At every gig, at every moment in the studio. Will this be the day that I’ll fall flat on my face? That everybody realizes that I’m really not that very good? You might say that I’m quite a paranoid freak! After a performance or release, it’s waiting for the judges. I always immediately wonder what people think was good or bad about it.”

Buck him up a bit at Porgy & Bess!

Franck Amsallem The Summer Knows (un été 42) (Continuo 2025)

- Francois 2 Comments

NEW RELEASE – FRANCK AMSALLEM.

Personnel

Franck Amsallem (piano), David Wong (bass), Kush Abadey (drums)

Recorded

on June 18,  2024 at Samurai Studios, NYC

Released

as Continuo Jazz CC777.841 in 2025

Track listing

Blue Gardenia / La Chanson d’Helene / Unforgettable / You Won’t Forget Me / The Summer Knows (un été 42) / Agrigento / Cotton Trails / It Never Was You / Morning Star / Disclosure

If you feel like you’re listening to music that is similar to that of personalities like Hank Jones or Benny Green, you know you’re in for a treat. Immaculate taste. Logical architecture of lines. Space between those lines. Franck Amsallem, past associate of Gerry Mulligan, Joe Chambers, Gary Peacock and Roy Hargrove, is part of a respected legacy and has added his own flavor to jazz piano for decades, in New York, nowadays back in Paris. He makes little stories full of crisp, clear sentences at relaxed tempos, making you feel as if you’re the co-driver in his convertible, plenty time to take in the beautiful surroundings.

Intriguing repertoire of standards and originals and his warm-blooded band sound are further examples of Amsallem’s good taste. Amsallem not only digs up warhorses like Blue Gardenia, vehicle for Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole, but also obscurities like Morning Star, a sparkling melody by Rodgers Grant first released by flutist Hubert Laws in 1972. Amsallem’s Agrigento turns up the heat with modal tinges.

His ballads are gorgeous tastes of his French heritage, notably Michel Legrand’s The Summer Knows, a bittersweet gem from someone who with a sudden jolt in the gut distinctly remembers that little trace of her lipstick on his cheek and her faint odor of lilies of the valley. An experienced man at work, on his eleventh album since 1992, who doesn’t need flash to get his message across.

Find The Summer Knows (un été 42) on Bandcamp below:

https://amsallem.bandcamp.com/album/the-summer-knows-un-t-42

Joep van Rhijn Between Fact And Fiction (Poclanos 2025)

- Francois Leave a comment

NEW RELEASE – JOEP VAN RHIJN

Personnel

Joep Van Rhijn (flugelhorn), Yuonseung Cho (piano),

Recorded

in 2024 at Brickwall Studio, Seoul

Released

as Poclanos 25C00002 in 2025

Track listing

Vergane Glorie / Zweefmolen / Morgenrood / Vertier / Trust / Op Pad / A Lady / Wowuwowuwow

The further away one travels and the longer one stays abroad, the more intense one now and then is overwhelmed by feelings and thoughts about one’s roots. It’s a paradoxical phenomenon that most likely is familiar to trumpeter and flugelhorn player Joep van Rhijn, Dutchman who makes his living in South-Korea. His latest album is a duet with pianist Yuonseung Cho and (partly) uses Dutch titles as the starting point for melodies and improvisation.

Van Rhijn stately and melancholically ruminates on Vergane Glorie (faded glory, decay) and ponders about Morgenrood (think: the famous Dutch horizons that inspired the Great Dutch Painters) while happily reminisces about childhood pleasures in Zweefmolen (carrousel).

Van Rhijn says: “The discussion about fact and fiction in journalism is very serious and important, but in music, the tension between fact and fiction is what makes it magical. This album is a search for a balance between transparency and clarity in music while leaving space for the listener’s imagination.”

Van Rhijn’s flugelhorn sound is like whipped cream and bittersweet and he focuses on bright, lyrical lines, balladeering smoothly on A Lady, which also features a niftily constructed Bill Evans-ish solo by Cho. Van Rhijn and Cho interact emphatically throughout this album of sweet and sour and playful songs.

Check out Joep’s website https://joepvanrhijn.com/

Nick Hempton & Cory Weeds Horns Locked (Cellar 2025)

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NEW RELEASE – NICK HEMPTON & CORY WEEDS

Let your hair down baby and have a natural ball.

Personnel

Nick Hempton & Cory Weeds (tenor saxophone), Nick Peck (organ), Jesse Cahill (drums)

Recorded

on October 23, 2023 at Frankie’s Club, Vancouver and June 1, 2024 at Aero Studio, Vancouver

Released

as Cellar Music Group in 2025

Track listing

Last Train From Overbrook / Change For A Dollar / Soy Califa / Conn Menn / Polls Dots And Moonbeams / The One Before This / When You’re Smiling / Loose Ends

Blowin’ ain’t no rocket science. Then again, it isn’t as easy as it looks. To carry on the flame of classic hard bop and soul jazz, in order as not to make it sound superficial and forgettable, and as not to make it a financial disaster, you gotta know your stuff, you gotta have a no-guts-no-glory mentality, you gotta live and breathe the music.

Nick Hempton, Australia-born tenor saxophonist, and Cory Weeds, Canadian tenor saxophonist and owner of the hip Cellar label, live and breathe the music. Nick Hempton blows in from New York City, Cory Weeds from Vancouver, Canada.

They join forces on Horns Locked, a smokin’ exhibition of sassy tunes. An uninhibited reenactment of tenor battles, think: Gene Ammons-Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon-Wardell Gray, Johnny Griffin-Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis. A revival also of tenor-organ groups, featuring the sophisticated and greasy organ of Nick Peck and the in-the-pocket drums of Jesse Cahill.

How it came about was, Hempton was playing at Frankie’s Club in Vancouver and Weeds joined proceedings for a couple of tunes. Positively saucy, so they decided to release live material ánd record new tunes in the studio. Hence, Horns Locked. Don’t you love a friendly battle.

Hurricane tenors sweep away the Last Train From Overbrook, James Moody’s unforgettable melody, close to the vest of the great Don Patterson/Houston Person rendition. The Latin touch of Dexter Gordon’s classic Soy Califa is laced with plenty groove and grease.

Hempton and Weeds fervently bop the blues on Gene Ammons’ The One Before This. Same sources, different stylings: it’s really nice to hear two simpatico approaches mingle, Hempton’s big sound, husky sermonizing, bossy bopping, and Weeds’ sinuous lines, middle-weight-champion-Mobley-ish. Another reference: David “Fathead” Newman and James Clay, the strong sounds of the wide open spaces. All good.

When You’re Smiling is like sitting in momma’s lap in a rocking chair on the porch, you’re lightly being moved back and forth, you’re feeling swell, happy, full of expectations. Polka Dots And Moonbeams is a meaty ballad feature for Hempton. Change For A Dollar is a hip cooker penned by Hempton, Loose Ends a blues-drenched shuffle also written by Hempton, both finding the quartet in fiery mode, and Nick Peck at his sizzling best. Weeds’ sprightly Conn Men (great pun) is all about Horace Silver-ish blues, convincingly so.

Nuff said, except that you can’t have enough of the lilt and swagger of the good-time high-quality jazz that these tenacious tenor sparring partners provide in generous doses.

Find Horns Locked on Bandcamp here: https://nickhemptoncoryweeds.bandcamp.com/album/horns-locked

Tomer Cohen Story Of A Traveler (Hypnote 2025)

- Francois Leave a comment

NEW RELEASE – TOMER COHEN

Israeli New Yorker Tomer Cohen hits his stride, refining his folkish, Middle-Eastern-flavored brand of contemporary jazz.

Personnel

Tomer Cohen (piano), Shai Maestro (piano), Cyrille Obermüller (bass), Gert-Jan Dreessen (drums)

Recorded

in 2024 at Dada Studios, Brussels

Released

as Hypnote 038 in 2025

Track listing

Moving Pictures / Falafel / A View / Oreo (Crow) / Story Of A Traveler / Pastures 2.0 / Bait (Home)

Cohen’s sophomore effort builds on the promise of his debut album Not The Same River, adding a level of intensity to his sensitive sense of serenity. Cohen developed an ingenious style of finger pickin’, enabling him to combine melodic patterns with harmonies, the result of which, coupled with the interactive crew of pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Cyrille Obermüller, drummer Gert-Jan Dreessen, is an evocative palette of songs, mysterious and crystal clear at once.

His is a universal story of heritage, exile, bonding, longing. Carried away by Cohen’s nicely flowing narrative, one can’t help but imagine hills half-covered in fuzzy fog, goats munching on hill-side grass, stoically, the gatekeepers of God’s little acre… Mothers stomping on wood board floors, their sweet breath mingling with the scent of sourdough bread, a boy on the porch, overlooking the river Jordan… And a torrent of manna sweeping over Manhattan, the great equalizer, covering cabs, streets, skyscrapers, a smog of joy.

One can’t help but like the epic Story Of A Traveler, a strummed melody that segues into a lively encounter with Obermüller’s bass, into uproar, into subtle tempo changes, a chapter of adventurous traveling; the lively Moving Pictures and Maestro’s meandering lines answering the questions of Cohen’s lyrical phrases; the Nick Drake-ish, moody A View; the bittersweet Bait (Home), with its tender guitar patterns that conjure up mama’s warm embrace.

He’s not laying it on thick, Cohen’s internalizing of lineage is subtle, intense but still pleasant to the ear.

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Check out Tomer’s website here: https://www.tomercohenmusic.com/

Find Story Of A Traveler on Hypnote Records here: https://www.hypnoterecords.com/hr038-en.html 

Listen to Story Of A Traveler on YouTube below: