Johnny Cox playing a Godin ACS Slim

Happy September, everyone. Here’s a roundup of big-name, Canadian and Ottawa-based jazz releases that belong on your radar and which will begin dropping as of Friday. Please excuse the shamelessness of one of the local jazz releases. Sept. 4 Solo (Palmetto) Fred Hersch The unsurpassed solo jazz pianist’s latest record consists of music recorded last year at the 2014 Windham Chamber Music Festival. Among its tracks are versions of Tom Jobim’s Olha Maria and O Grande Amor, Thelonious Monk’s In Walked Bud and Juan Tizol’s Caravan. Sept. 9 Brinks (Fresh Sound New Talent) Daniel Fortin I’m curious to hear the music that the young Toronto bassist Dan Fortin releases under his own name. He’s been a staunch sideman and co-operative player with such peers as pianist Chris Donnelly, drummer Ernesto Cervini and guitarist Harley Card. Brinks features a quartet that includes saxophonist David French, vibraphonist Michael Davidson and drummer Fabio Ragnelli performing 10 Fortin compositions. Thegroup is launching the disc Sept. 9 at Burdock Musical Hall (1184 Bloor St. W.) in Toronto. Sept. 11 Sympathetic Frequencies (Multiple Chord Music) Mark Nelson I feel the same way about Mark Nelson’s new disc as I do about Dan Fortin’s. Nelson, the young Montreal drummer, has been on several strong peer-led albums from saxophonist Becky Noble, the Parc X Trio and the band Fieldtrip. His new disc finds him leading a group that includes saxophonist Mike Bjella, pianist Andrew Boudreau and bassist Nicolas Bédard. Nelson’s CD release concert is Sept. 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Café Resonance (5175 Av du Parc) in Montreal. Sept. 15 Behind the Sky (Irabbagast) Jon Irabagon Inaction is An Action (Irabbagast) Jon Irabagon The supremely versatile and accomplished saxophonist, well-known for his unfettered work with the notorious free jazz outfit Mostly Other People Do The Killing as well as his playing with Dave Douglas’s quintet, releases two starkly dissimilar albums. Behind the Sky is Irabagonindulging his love of mainstream, swinging jazz. He’s joined by trumpeter Tom Harrell, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Rudy Royston. The album takes as its theme grief and grieving. Inaction Is An Action is an album of music for solo sopranino saxophone CD. It’s Irabagon’s “most original and daring work yet,” the publicity material states, which is really saying something. Sept. 18 Children of the Light (Mack Avenue) Pérez Patitucci Blade After 15 years supporting saxophone legend Wayne Shorter, the unbeatable rhythm section of Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade needs no introduction. And yet, for all of the incredible rapport, pianist Pérez, bassist Patitucci and drummer Blade have not released an album as a trio. That changes once Children of the Light drops. It consists of compositions from each member of the trio, plus a take of Shorter’s composition Dolores. Here’s the trio in action. Live at the Village Vanguard (Mack Avenue)  ChristianMcBride The masterful 43-year-old bassist brought the two young monsters in his trio — Christian Sands on piano and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. — into the hallowed Greenwich Village jazz room for not only some ferocious swinging but also a bit of acoustic disco (the mid-’70s classic Car Wash). Here’s the trio playing that crowd-pleaser at the Newport Jazz Festival a month ago: Stretch Music (Stretch Music/Ropeadope Records) Christian Scott Thirty-one-year-old trumpeter Christian Scott has been mashing up genres for so long now that he’s coined the term “stretch music” for what he does and even applied the phrase his new disc, which is his eighth studio album. A forward-thinker in terms of technology as well as music, Scott is also releasing a Stretch Music App along with the album. Here’s a taste of its music: Act II (Independent) Act (Ben Wendel, Harish Raghavan, Nate Wood) The trio of Ben Wendel (tenor saxophone, melodica, bassoon), Harish Raghavan (bass), and Nate Wood (drums) hasone of the most distinctive and even innovative spins on the old-school tenor saxophone trio. Wendel’s singular composing voice, evident in his duo project and with the band Kneebody, is well expressed in this format, and Raghavan and Wood are just as prominent in the mix. Sept. 23 Portrait intime (Independent) Claude Brazeau‎ The last full week in September will see a crush of jazz CD release concerts in the Ottawa, area beginning with launch of vocalist Claude Brazeau’s album on Sept. 23 at the Pacini restaurant in Hull. Joining Brazeau are guitarist Tim Bedner, pianist Jean-Pierre Allain and bassist Normand Glaude. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24 Alpha Moment (Independent) Peter Hum Ahem. I have a new CD, which includes eight of my tunes, this time for sextet. Joining me are saxophonists Kenji Omae and Nathan Cepelinski, guitarist Mike Rud, bassist Alec Walkington and drummer Ted Warren. All of us except for Nathan will play a little run of gigs, namely Upstairs Jazz Bar andGrill in Montreal on Sept. 23, the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage on Sept. 24, the Jazz Room in Waterloo on Sept. 26 and the Rex Jazz and Blues Bar in Toronto on Sept. 27. Sept. 25 The Next Chapter (Independent) Mark Ferguson At long last, Ottawa pianist Mark Ferguson releases his first album that’s solely under his name. It’s called The Next Chapter, and it features him playing original compositions supported by bassist John Geggie, drummer Jeff Asselin and, on selected tracks, Scott Latham’s vibraphone. Ferguson and company launch The Next Chapter with back-to-back shows at GigSpace on Gladstone Avenue, Friday Sept. 25 and 26. We Are The Drum (Blue Note) Kendrick Scott Oracle The 35-year-old drummer, best known for his work with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, leads a band that includes some of the most striking players of his generation, including guitarist Mike Moreno, pianist Taylor Eigsti, saxophonist John Ellis and bassist Joe Sanders. Scott’s latest disc includes six of histunes, plus songs from each of his musicians, plus a cover of the Flying Lotus song Never Catch Me. Oct. 2 Brazen Heart (Greenleaf) Dave Douglas Quintet This year’s second album from trumpeter Dave Douglas (after his heady, electric High Risk disc), Brazen Heart  reconvenes the quintet that made the excellent records Time Travel and Be Still. Saxophonist Jon Irabagon, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Rudy Royston join Douglas for a set of original compositions plus two spirituals Deep River and There Is A Balm In Gilead. Aria (Impulse!) Sullivan Fortner I remember being knocked out by pianist Sullivan Fortner when he appeared as a sideman with trumpeter Etienne Charles at the 2010 Ottawa International Jazz Festival. I didn’t realize then that despite all of his orchestrational wizardry and go-for-it spirit, Fortner was just 23. Gigs with Christian Scott, Roy Hargrove and Stefon Harris have followed. Earlier this year, Fortner, was named the 2015 American PianoAssociation Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz. Now Fortner, a New Orleans native, is releasing his debut disc, Aria, supported by saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, bassist Aidan Carroll and drummer Joe Dyson Jr. Are you excited? I’m excited. Oct. 6 Pivot: Live at the 55 Bar (Independent) Noah Preminger The exceptional young saxophonist Noah Preminger goes out on a limb with his fourth album, which consists of two half-hour renditions of blues songs for a chordal instrument free quartet that includes trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Kim Cass and Ottawa-raised drummer Ian Froman. This sounds like a stretch on paper, but I wouldn’t put anything past Preminger, who is one of his generation’s finest hornmen. The music shouldn’t be too far removed from what you hear in this clip: Oct. 16 10 Years Solo Live (Nonesuch) Brad Mehldau If you buy only one eight-LP boxed set of solo jazz piano this fall, let it be Brad Mehlau’s 10 Years Solo Live. From the Nonesuch label’s website: “The set is culled from 19live recordings made over a decade of the pianist’s European solo concerts and is divided into four thematic subsets of four sides each: Dark/Light, The Concert, Intermezzo/Rückblick, and E Minor/E Major…. 10 Years Solo Live will be released digitally and on CD the following month. Vinyl pre-orders are available now in the with an instant download of the album track Waltz for J. B., which you can hear below. As Mehldau explains in his liner note for the album, “Although it totals around 300 minutes, the order of songs is not arbitrary, and I have tried to tell a story from beginning to end in the way I’ve sequenced it.” He continues, “There is a theme and character given to each four-side set.” Here’s one track from the set, Waltz for J.B. Nov. 3 Selective Amnesia (Inner Circle Music) Adam Larson Quintet The up-and-coming saxophonist Adam Larson has assembled a very impressive band — the heavyweights Matthew Stevens (guitar), Fabian Alamazan (piano) and bassist Matt Penman plusLarson’s fellow 20-something jazz whiz drummer Jimmy Macbride — for the album promo’d in this clip.