Painted On Water is the self-titled album project by the duo of Turkish pop stars and Eurovision Award winners Sertab Erener and composer/guitarist Demir Demirkan. Produced in LA and Istanbul by Painted on Water’s Demirkan and 9-time Grammy® winner Jay Newland (Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock), Painted On Water is named after the Turkish technique of marbled-paper art known as Ebru, created by floating dyes on the surface of water. The music moves fluidly and organically between jazz, modern rock, Turkish Anatolian classical, folk, and pop-flavored compositions featuring Erener’s sensual lead and Demirkan’s fusion-jazz instrumentals. English lyrics were written by Demirkan and veteran No. 1 songsmith Phil Galdston (Madonna, Celine Dion).

Download MP3: “Mad Love”

More info about Painted on Water
Purchase Painted On Water

Fearless jazz diva Alexis Cole, who makes her Motema debut this Christmas with The Greatest Gift recently accepted a position as the vocalist with the West Point Jazz Knights Big Band.  In order to take this posting, only one thing stands in her way.  She must complete 9 weeks of Basic Training! Alexis continues to update us on her life in the army…

This week, another transition.

I spent the holiday weekend at Reception Battalion basically eating, sleeping, sitting down and shutting up.  We did have a lot of down time in our barracks, which I spent reading Iris Murdoch’s The Italian Girl, with a symphony of girlie chatter, arguments and laughter around me.

Sunday, the first sergeant had a ‘talk’ with us, basically killing time between lunch and dinner chow.  At one point he asked if anyone could play the piano.  At first I didn’t get up, but then the girls from my barracks were egging me on.  I wanted to represent so I decided to play New York State of Mind.  I was shaking, more nervous than I’ve ever been before a performance.  I managed to get through the song and even cracked a joke.  My girls gave me a standing ovation.

Tuesday, the party was pretty much over.  After lunch at the Reception Battalion we got on a bus with our heavy duffle bags.  We had to hide our faces in our bags, crowded into the bus like I haven’t seen since I was in India. When we got off the bus it was like a scene from a movie.  They made us hold our huge duffle bags up above our heads and keep them there.  Luckily I packed my boots in my other bag!  It was really difficult and people who couldn’t do it were getting a lot of attention in the form of drill sergeants yelling in their face.  I had a lot of will, and thank God I’d been working out my arms prior to coming, so I pretty much kept it up.  Everyone who had a rank pin in their cap got their scalp all scratched up.

I can’t even remember what happened after that actually.  But now it’s Saturday night and I’ve only slept about 4 hours a night and had no personal time.  Basically we’ve been on the run from 4am until 10pm every night, and doing an hour of guard duty every other night.

For as much as it sucks, I lucked out.  I got the best 3 drill sergeants, a bottom bunk right across from the bathroom, a great bunk mate, important because your bunk mate is your “battle buddy”.  All the girls who were annoying me in the Reception Battalion are not in my group, and all the girls in my platoon are great.

They yell at us a lot, and yesterday I pretty much cried all day.  I couldn’t cry because I have to maintain “military bearing”, so I really experienced all the classic things, quavering lip, bulge in my throat..

We were in these really boring classes and I was fighting not to fall asleep, so I kept thinking about my Mom’s last words to me at the airport.  She said, “my money’s on you.”  I don’t know why it makes me cry so much, I think I just really needed a reprise from all the hell.  I can stay tough, but when I think about putting my head on someone’s shoulder and crying, it makes me get all soft.

I also thought a lot about my friend Jeff, who was very fatherly to me.In my effort to stay awake, I tried to make a list of all the nice leisurely meals we shared and the places we went.  I had to stop thinking about it because it was just killing me.  I really needed some freakin’ sleep.

We went to the PX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_exchange )to buy supplies and I put down my guard, I guess being in such a civilian place like a drug store made me forget myself, but then one drill sergeant started telling the other about me, because the night before we had to write a paragraph about ourselves and anything they should know.  I wrote about being a musician and asked the drill sergeant not to blow his whistle in my ear.  He blows it in the hallway in the morning and it’s deafening, but in my ear could really be permanently damaging.  In the PX the drill sergeant started asking me questions about where I was going to do my training and when I told him I’d be deploying directly to West Point he said “Oh, Private Cole’s gonna have the good life.”  And then I smiled and said “yes, drill sergeant.”  He yelled at me for smiling and followed it with “Oh, and I’ll be sure to blow that whistle in your face.”  I got out to formation and just cried.

The idea that 1) he didn’t like me because I had a job he found to be elitist, and 2) that he could blow the whistle in my ear, plus 3) the sense of betrayal I felt because I was honest in my paragraph and he stabbed me in the back with the very thing I requested he not do, and 4) there was nothing I could do about that or anything else in my current environment:  it was overwhelming.

My friend Lyncly, a trumpet player about to enter the file and drum corps in DC was there and maybe that’s part of why I was so gay.  He asked me how it was going and I said I was having a hard day, but overall O.K.  He gave me a totally knowing look, in which I could see the suffering he’d also been going through (plus the deep scratches on his forehead from the hat pins).  He looked me in the eye with assurance and said “It’s tough, but it’ll all be worth it.”

Today I woke up from a beautiful dream about drums and gongs. I dreamt about my hippie friend Sanders from Koinonia, his daughter sharing a ceremonial peace pipe, the smoke and the sounds of the drums and gongs circling heaven ward.  I sat with them and played ancient tones in a place of perfect calm.

More boring classes today during which I again fought to stay awake, but in the middle they needed some entertainment, and called on me to sing.  I sang the National Anthem, and then they asked me to sing a jazz song, since I told them I sing jazz.  I really didn’t want them to have me sing, only to use it as a way to cut me down (that’s their M.O.) but they didn’t make fun of me, and after I sang they even said I could sing the National Anthem IF I make it to graduation. When I chose my jazz song to sing, I knew it had to be something with a lyric appropriate to my feelings about the situation we’re in here.

The opening words came to me:

“I took a trip on a train,”

I tell you, of all my adventures, this is the weirdest by a long shot.  I wish I didn’t have to be here, but I know when it’s over I’ll be glad I did it.

I may actually get a chance to work on some things here too, my upper body strength for one, but also my absent mindedness and constant lateness.

They keep saying “Basic training isn’t difficult, just do what we tell you to do when we tell you to do it, and you’ll be fine.”  The problem is, the timeframe and amount of details to remember are too short and too many for my untrained civilian mind.  I have no intention of ever becoming a warrior, but to have a warrior mind would really help me.  Displaying more confidence in my countenance would be great too.

Tonight is another great opportunity to sleep and dream.  I’ve been counting down the hours to lights out since 6am.

Tomorrow is Pentecost and we have half a day “off” to go to church and clean the barracks.  Thank God!

It’s been a really tough week.  I wouldn’t mind if you prayed for me.  I could really use the extra help.  Feel free to send me a letter, (but no packages please):
PVT-SPC Alexis Cole
A-1-48 Inf Regt  1ST Plt
495 Iowa Ave, Unit 13
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO  65473
**On the back of the envelope, write “1ST” and under that “PLT” and draw a circle around what you’ve written.**

“I took a trip on a train and I thought about You (Lord),
I passed a shadowing lane (shadowy indeed), and I thought about You,
I peeked through the crack and looked down the track, the one leading back to you,
and what I did do, I thought about You.”

Much Love, from Hell,

xo
Alexis

In the above photo, L-R: Makane Kouyate, Oran Etkin, Joe Sanders, Balla Kouyate

The Oran Etkin CD release party at the Knitting Factory was a huge success! Special guests Lionel Loueke, Abdoulaye Diabate, and Bobby Sanabria joined Oran, Balla Kouyate (balafon), Joe Sanders (bass), and Makane Kouyate (calabash and vocals) onstage for an unforgettable evening filled with high-energy performances from the band’s self-titled June 9th release, Kelenia.

Throughout their set, Group Kelenia epitomized the meaning of synchronicity: every sound, breath, and movement seemed to occur in tandem. The musicians were so clear in their sense of purpose that their faces displayed looks of pure joy, and their melodies danced with unharnessed creativity. Etkin effortlessly lead his group through complex rhythmic patterns and a wide range of stylistic modes.

Jazz sensation Lionel Loueke integrated seamlessly into Group Kelenia’s rhythm section. The packed audience was spellbound by Abdoulaye Diabate’s otherwordly vocals, and cheered enthusiastically for Afro-Cuban legend Bobby Sanabria’s contribution to “Yekeke”.

Above, L-R: Lionel Loueke, Oran Etkin, Balla Kouyate, Bobby Sanabria, Jana Herzen

If you missed your chance to see Group Kelenia’s June 3rd release show, be sure to catch the next one at Barbés on June 12th in Brooklyn. Oran will also be guest-starring with virtuosic bassist Charnett Moffett in Santa Rosa at the Harmony Festival on June 13th & 14th, will be appearing in LA at Gallery 2023 on June 19th, and will have a his final release party in Boston on June 28th at Johnny D’s.

Don’t forget we have a free download of “Nama” available (right click on the link and select “save as”) and a video up on YouTube of Oran’s live recording for NYC’s WKCR radio that was featured on Flavorpill’s Daily Dose on June 4th! To view it, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUkyhZWEeXo

Peace & Love, Melissa

The music that Oran Etkin creates with his Group Kelenia is an aural reflection of the new global landscape, painted by a young clarinetist and saxophonist born in a small town in Israel, now living in New York and leading a band comprised of Malian and American musicians.  Etkin’s distinctive sound is honest and unforced, infused with the constant presence of ancient influences – reverberations from the Malian Empire and the ages-old cry of the Jewish prayer.  At the same time it resonates with an urban vibe and the energy of the modern New York jazz scene.   “I love the contrast of old and new: of a tradition that has evolved over centuries and the creative individual expression of one man playing his own approach, in his own way, against that tradition and toward it,” states Etkin.

Kelenia is Etkin’s debut recording for Motema Music as well as the name of his working band, comprised of Balla Kouyate on balafon, Makane Kouyate on calabash and vocals and bassist Joe Sanders. The CD also features guest appearances by vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate, percussionist Mohamed ‘Joh’ Sidi Camara, a string section on one track, and Grammy™ Award winning artists Lionel Loueke and John Benitez.  The resulting collection of eleven tracks pays true testament to the essence of “kelenia,” which is the Bambara word for love between people who are different from each other.

Download MP3: “Nama”

More info about Kelenia
Pre-Order Kelenia

Motema recording artist Alexis Cole, who will be releasing an amazing and inspirational Christmas album this year,  has just accepted a wonderful position as the vocalist with the West Point Jazz Knights Big Band.  In order to take this posting, only one thing stands in her way.  She must complete 9 weeks of Basic Training!

This is the second installment of her blog which will chronicle her adventures in basic training.

What a full and interesting week of transition!

Last Thursday night, I was at the office of Motema Records where Jana, the company’s owner and I signed the contract for the release of my Christmas CD The Greatest Gift.  We didn’t have time for a champagne toast, because we had to rush off to the Apollo Theater for the Jazz Foundation gala and show.  I stayed for awhile, but then left, as I was meeting some friends at a costume party.

All dressed in crazy clothes we danced and drank.  I made friends with the cute bartender and drank for free until last call.

Four hours later I was on the metro-north going up to Riverdale to do the photo shoot for the Romantic Disney Songs CD I just recorded for Venus Records.

They did my hair and makeup, a kind of gothic look, then I put on my wedding dress, which I hadn’t seen since I had it cleaned and preserved in 1998.  How I came to have a wedding dress is an irrelevant story involving nuns, a high school dance and an out of business gown shop.  The shoot went great, and then I tore downtown to meet Alan Silverman from Arf! to master the Christmas CD.  I thought I wouldn’t have any opinions, as I’m not much of an audiophile, but sure enough, I did.  It was such a great learning experience, being able to hear things, suggest them and have Alan validate my opinions and make changes that I could hear that we both agreed were better.

Hours later I arrived at Gana’s, the commune in Staten Island I’ve been staying at since I got back from Tokyo a few months ago.  I stopped in a coffee shop, heard some nice singer-songwriter, had a bagel and hummus and some organic fair trade coffee.  I headed uphill to the houses to finish getting everything ready for my big day.

Going to Basic Training was a pretty “Big day,” but what I am referring to is the “Handing my Computer Over to Hilary Day” (and therefore, my “life”).

I was up until 6:00 a.m. organizing stuff for her, tying up loose ends, making sure she had all the necessary passwords to equip her to handle my life for the next three months. Read the rest of this entry »

Oran Etkin’s new album on Motema Music, Kelenia, features his working band with Malian Griot musicians Balla and Makane Kouyate, bassist Joe Sanders and Grammy Award winning guests Lionel Loueke and John Benitez as well as other special guests. This footage is from a live recording for WKCR radio in New York.

Clarinetist and saxophonist Oran Etkin, whose Motéma Music debut, Kelenia, will be released on June 9th, will perform at several venues to celebrate the CD’s release.

The official CD release event in Manhattan will be held on June 3rd at the Knitting Factory in NYC. Joining Etkin will be the four members of his Group Kelenia - Balla Kouyate (balafon), Makane Kouyate (calabash/djembe/vocals) and bassist Joe Sanders, along with possible special guests. The Knitting Factory show will begin at 7 PM, and is part of a three day Afrobeat Festival.

Click here to reserve tickets for this event!

ABOUT ORAN
The music that Oran Etkin creates with his Group Kelenia is an aural reflection of the new global landscape, painted by a young clarinetist and saxophonist born in a small town in Israel, now living in New York and leading a band comprised of Malian and American musicians.  Etkin’s distinctive sound is honest and unforced, infused with the constant presence of ancient influences - reverberations from the Malian Empire and the ages-old cry of the Jewish prayer.  At the same time it resonates with an urban vibe and the energy of the modern New York jazz scene.  “I love the contrast of old and new: of a tradition that has evolved over centuries and the creative individual expression of one man playing his own approach, in his own way, against that tradition and toward it,” states Etkin.

Kelenia is Etkin’s debut recording for Motéma Music as well as the name of his working band, comprised of Balla Kouyate on balafon, Makane Kouyate on calabash and vocals, and bassist Joe Sanders. The CD also features guest appearances by vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate, percussionist Mohamed ‘Joh’ Sidi Camara, a string section on one track, and Grammy® award winning artists Lionel Loueke and John Benitez.  The resulting collection of eleven tracks pays true testament to the essence of “kelenia,” which is the Bambara word for love between people who are different from each other.

Be one of the first to get your copy of Kelenia. Pre-order your copy now!

Guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, whose lyrical style and impeccable swing has earned him critical and popular acclaim through a series of six CDs, has most recently been performing with guitar legend Gene Bertoncini in support of the duo’s most recent Motéma Music CD, Smile.  On June 4th & 5th, the virtuoso guitarist, composer and educator will return to the trio format for a performance at the Kitano, where he will be joined by bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Victor Lewis.

Also a Motema recording artist, Reid is a recent Guggenheim Award winner. The first-call bassist’s Motéma debut, Live at the Kennedy Center, was lauded by Bass Player magazine as “simply wonderful… a classic recording.”

The internationally acclaimed drummer Victor Lewis has performed as a leader and has provided strong rhythmic support for a wide array of artists including Kenny Barron, Art Farmer, Mike Stern, John Stubblefield, Grover Washington Jr., Bobby Hutcherson and Bobby Watson.

The trio will perform two shows, at 8 and 10 PM. The Kitano is located at 37 St. & Park Avenue in NYC.  For more information, visit www.kitano.com.

Motema artist David Weiss recently performed at the Freddie Hubbard Memorial Service at St John the Divine.
Shown in the above picture are, L to R: Steve Davis, Myron Walden, David Weiss, partially obstructed Dwayne Burno, special guest James Spaulding.

David’s most recent release is The Turning Gate, with the New Jazz Composers Octet. The album has received wide critical acclaim:

“The Turning Gate, the ensemble’s third album, is another intelligent post-modern gem that swings effortlessly as it incites with smart compositions, thoughtful arrangements, and dazzling solos.” - Playback Magazine by Bill Milkowski

Read more of the great press and learn more about the album here.

Charnett Mofett’s The Art of Improvisation is receiving wonderful responses from the press:

“On The Art Of Improvisation, Moffett showcases his extraordinary virtuosity on the upright bass - creating his own universe of singular sounds through innovative bowing techniques and electronic manipulation - while seamlessly switch hitting to fretless electric bass and electric piccolo bass, both of which he plays to beautiful melodic and rhythmic effect.”  -The Urban Music Scene

“‘The Art of Improvisation’ is a wildly eclectic (often electric) bass display disc by Moffett that seems to have a little bit of everything on jazz bass playing, especially pyrotechnics on whichever bass he chooses to play (not to mention Middle Eastern music…”)” - Buffalo News

“I went from the play to Yoshi’s to catch the closing night of the Charnett Moffett Trio with Will Calhoun and Stephen Scott.  They were awesome. What a stellar performance. Moffett’s Art of Improvisation tour featured the bassist on multiple instruments, two electricand the upright also connected to technology. The synergy between the three men, Stephen Scott on synthesizer and acoustic piano, often playing both simultaneously, and Will Calhoun, explosive on drums, was wonderful to witness. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced and I am a bass connoisseur-bass and drums, my thing.” - wandaspicks.com

Sample The Art of Improvisation for yourself with this free download, and find out more about the album at Charnett’s Motema page.

Charnett is on tour - see where you can catch him.