Cuneiform Records JUNE 2025 Newsletter

CUNEIFORM RECORDS JUNE 2025 NEWSLETTER:  New Releases & Concerts   read this newsletter online   read email on LAPTOP/ COMPUTER:  navigate via colored links or scroll down MOBILE:  scroll email or read online if images don't open ~~~~~~     COMING OUT JUNE 27, 2025  HEAT ON – HEAT ON JAZZ Debut release of Chicago powerhouse instrumental jazz quartet Heat On, led by composer/drummer Lily Finnegan, with Fred Jackson Jr. & Edward Wilkerson Jr. on saxophones and Nick Macri on bass. [USA] ~~~~~~   OUT NOW! RELEASED MAY 30, 2025  SKULLCAP – SNAKES OF ALBUQUERQUE JAZZ / ROCK / BEYOND Instrumental jazz by DC / Baltimore-based trio Skullcap, featuring Janel Leppin (Ensemble Volcanic Ash, Janel & Anthony) on cello & minimoog; Anthony Pirog (Messthetics, Janel & Anthony) on guitar, and Mike Kuhl (Mike Kuhl Trio) on drums and percussion. [USA] – Additional albums w Janel Leppin and /or Anthony Pirog on Cuneiform Records ~~~~~~ OUT NOW! RELEASED APRIL 25, 2025 LUKE STEWART / SILT REMBRANCE ENSEMBLE – THE ORDER JAZZ New recording by jazz quintet ensemble featuring members of Luke Stewart's Silt Trio  – Luke Stewart (bass), Chad Taylor (drums), and Brian Settles (sax) – with Remembrance Quintet members Jamal Moore (sax & percusison) and Daniel Carter (sax & trumpet)) [USA] – Related albums on Cuneiform Records ~~~~~~ SNEAK PEEKS WITH SOUNDS COMING OUT JULY 25, 2025 BALLOONS FOR THE DOG – WICKED FORMS OF OLD SNOW ART ROCK / NEW WAVE Previously unreleased studio recordings from 1977-1981 by Balloons for the Dog, New Wave / Art Rock band from Washington DC's avant/art rock scene  [USA] ~~~ KRAKHOUSE – BASTARDS OF PROG ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL Debut release from Krakhouse, progressively conceptual  genre-defiant solo project of New York composer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Jesse Krakow (Time of Orchids, Shudder To Think, The Shaggs, Fast ‘n Bulbous, Dr. Nerve) [USA] ~~~ MIRIODOR – LIVE '97 ROCK / AVANT-PROGRESSIVE/ ROCK IN OPPOSITION Previously unreleased 1997 live recording of long-standing Quebecois ensemble Miriodor at Salle Multi de Méduse, performing tunes from their acclaimed album Elastic Juggling [CANADA] ~~~ ROSA ENSEMBLE – ODDMENTS NEW MUSIC / POST-CLASSICAL / POST-JAZZ Dutch group Rosa Ensemble, whose collaborations blur lines between artistic mediums, focus here on an album of new music that evolves and dissolves borders between musical genres, exploring vistas within and beyond classical and rock, jazz and pop. [THE NETHERLANDS] ~~~ SWRM – LIGHTS OFF ALT ROCK/ DARK FOLK/ MINIMALIST WAVE Newest release by the electronics / percussion / vocals duo SWRM, composed of Providence RI musical legends Alec K. Redfearn and Matt McLaren (both of Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores and Barnacled) [USA] ~~~ TINN PARROW & COMPANY  – MY GYMNASIUM MUSEUM NEW MUSIC / CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION Debut release by Tinn Parrow & Co., solo project of Ann Arbor-based multi-instrumentalist Lawrence Bond Miller (Fourth World Quartet, Miller Twins).  [USA] ~~~~~   SNEAK PEEKS OF WHAT'S COMING OUT LATER IN 2025 A LIST OF UPCOMING JAZZ , ROCK, & EXPERIMENTAL/ ELECTRONIC RELEASES ~~~~~ CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR: LIVE CONCERTS & TOURS   ~~~~~ ENJOY A WORLD OF MUSICAL ADVENTURE with  CUNEIFORM RECORDS ONLINE:   • EXPLORE Cuneiform Records'  SOCIAL MEDIA //  BANDCAMP PAGE // YOUTUBE CHANNEL //  SOUNDCLOUD PAGE ~~~~~ • Purchase music from 100s of labels at WAYSIDE MUSIC, our sister store, estab.1980 ~~~~~ • Missed seeing a CUNEIFORM NEWSLETTER? Access prior issues at cuneiformrecord.blogspot.com/    ~~~~~                                                                                                 read this newsletter online return to top COMING OUT   JUNE 27, 2025 ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS HEAT ON HEAT ON Bio information: HEAT ON Title: HEAT ON (Cuneiform Rune 542) Format: CD / DIGITAL Release date: JUNE 27, 2025 www.cuneiformrecords.com FILE UNDER: JAZZ  Chicago drummer, composer and curator Lily Finnegan’s introduces Heat On, her powerhouse multigenerational quartet, with a blisteringly hot, self-titled debut album, Heat On   listen to / share "RSJ" on Soundcloud from Heat On   In a jazz era that bristles with young talent, releasing an album that’s sure to be shortlisted for best debut recording of the year is impressive. But Chicago drummer and composer Lily Finnegan’s consistently enthralling project Heat On achieves something considerably more significant. Embraced by the Windy City scene in recent years, she’s returned and amplified the affection with her first album. Slated for release by Cuneiform Records in June, 2025, it introduces her powerhouse, multi-generational inside-out Heat On quartet featuring legendary Chicago tenor saxophonist Ed Wilkerson Jr., Chi-town alto sax great Fred Jackson Jr., and consummately versatile Nick Macri on upright and electric bass. “It is a love letter to Chicago,” Finnegan says. “I’m clearly inspired by the music, energy and ethos here. Chicago is about creating good music and art for itself. It’s about dealing with the whole spectrum of sound. Even the more angular, dissonant music comes back to deep grooves. The free things can still have a dance and melody.”     photo of Heat On by Leah Wendzinski A regular collaborator with Chicago heavyweight Ken Vandermark in Edition Redux with pianist Erez Dessel and Beth McDonald on tuba, Finnegan is also part of saxophonist Sarah Clausen’s trio, punk band Cucuy, and duo with violinist gabby fluke-mogul. Adding to those overlapping circles she’s collaborated with James Brandon Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Macie Stewart, Fay Victor, Sylvia Bolognesi, Shanta Nurullah, Dave Rempis, Katie Ernst, Jason Stein, Devon Gates, Lia Kohl and many others. Finnegan’s affirmation of freedom and groove, dissonance, dance and lyricism runs throughout Heat On, a project inspired by Chicago legend Jack DeJohnette and his quartet with David Murray and Arthur Blythe. She was introduced to his classic 1979 ECM album Special Edition by drummer Allison Miller, “which made me interested in drums, bass, alto and tenor configuration,” she said. “Jack’s playing is so multi-directional and his songs are journeys. I want to structure my music like that, with moments of pocket, swing and groove.”   photo of Edward Wilkerson Jr. by Leah Wendzinski Her freedom-in-swing approach is evident from the opening track “Green Milk,” a harmelodic blast that quickly pivots away from the angular Ornettish feel into an extended dialogue between Jackson and Wilkerson, who at 71 is at the peak of his powers. Best known as the founder and director of the cutting-edge octet 8 Bold Souls and the 25-member performance ensemble Shadow Vignettes, Wilkerson has been at the center of the Chicago scene for half a century. On Heat On he swoops, swaggers and croons with complete authority, adding an eloquent new chapter to his discography. Finnegan is out front on “RSJ,” initials that reveal its source of inspiration, the late, great drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. It’s a piece that showcases her potent connection with Macri, whose inventive, persistently bouncing lines provide a springboard for the horns as they phase in and out of sync. Rapidly shifting gears with “Inverted Spoon,” the music turns slow and oozy rising and falling as the saxophonists ease across each other (and the rumbling arco bass foundation). Like on the following track “Rimrock,” which simmers at medium tempo churn driven by Finnegan’s confident brush work, the structure emerges from the horns’ harmonies.   photo of Nick Macri by Leah Wendzinski The album’s centerpiece is Finnegan’s three-part suite “Beltline,” which opens with Macri and Finnegan laying down a persuasive tide of funk over which Jackson and Wilkerson ride and glide. “Part 1” maintains relentless momentum, while “Part 2” turns brooding and introspective, trading forward motion for lapidary free-form disquisition. The wending “Part 3” gets back on the road, seeking and finding several intriguing paths. The album closes with “The Great,” a post-bop workout “influenced by some specific, hard hitting DeJohnette songs,” Finnegan says. “It’s high energy music with a groove, but the lines fall off the edges. The goal isn’t necessarily to be super clean.” Part of what makes Heat On such a revelatory project is the frisson created by the intertwined tandems of rhythm section and horns. Finnegan and Macri, who met through Vandermark, have often found that they share similar aesthetics, “connecting over their love of punk and rock and free improvised music,” she says.   photo of Fred Jackson Jr. by Leah Wendzinski Finnegan connected with Jackson on a gig with Chicago storyteller and sitar player Shanta Nurullah and was enamored with his big Texas sound. A protégé of clarinet great Alvin Batiste, he moved to Chicago in 1999 and has played a central role in the ACCM’s 21st century resurgence. Finnegan thought he’d make an ideal foil for Wilkerson, who’s also a longtime member of the AACM. “I was a big fan of 8 Bold Souls,” she says. “They’ve got different styles but blend really well.” photo of Jackson, Wilkerson & Macri by Leah Wendzinski  For this release, Finnegan's first album, she designed a spacious set of music based on brief motifs for bass and saxophones, looking to create an extended listening experience. Harmonies take shape via interaction between Jackson and Wilkerson as they create counterpoint lines. Song form and free improv, groove and thrash, “there’s room for a lot of different sounds,” she says. “From my punk background I write music in little pieces. I’m interested in through composed pieces, but with wide-open stretches for improvisation." In many ways the project embodies the intergenerational nature of the Chicago scene, and Finnegan is both proud and humbled to be joining that history and lineage. “Ed was open to doing the album and it was a huge honor to have him record my compositions,” she says. “He was really supportive and great to work with. Ed, Fred, and Nick are musicians playing as their life-long endeavor. This is what they’re here to do. I’m interested in making this a sustainable life-long endeavor for myself, and I hope to keep the excitement and curiosity as I go.”   photo of Lily Finnegan by Leah Wendzinski Born in Chicago and raised in nearby Evanston, Finnegan started playing drums as a tween. Drawn at first to punk and alternative rock, she started delving into jazz in high school, making connections between “Improvised, free music and punk at the end of high school,” she recalls. “I was drawn to music about liberation and bigger topics, and less concerned about fitting in to a genre box.” At the University of Wisconsin–Madison she started with sociology rather than music, but ended up spending as much time playing drums as with her books and graduated with a double major. During a summer in Boston she connected with drum star Terri Lyne Carrington, who recruited her to Berklee’s master’s program. She earned the degree in the thick of the pandemic via a full scholarship to the Global Jazz Institute, a 20 person cadre led by Danilo Perez. She was also part of the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, where she was mentored by Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, and Carrington (working on her “Music for Abolition” thesis, as well the Visualizing Abolition Exhibit at the University of California Santa Cruz).  “I’ve been blessed with great mentors, people who’ve supported me being curious about all these different styles and histories,” she says. “Allison Miller is another one.” Returning to Chicago in 2021 she connected with Vandermark through Kris Davis. He invited her to join a new band he was starting, Edition Redux, and she got a front row view into his compositional process. “There are so many different ways to write and organize music,” she says. “It’s been three years since I met him, and we’re working and playing a lot.” Building on her Berklee thesis project, “Music and Abolition: Creating a World Without Policing- Music’s Role in Imagination, Experimentation, and Collectivity,” Finnegan has continued to study and observe the way power structures, history, and social movements have shaped the Chicago scene. This is not a passive process. She’s one of the curators of the Option Series, a showcase of contemporary approaches to improvisation and composition held at Experimental Sound Studio. Finnegan is also a member of the cooperative Catalytic Sound, as well as a festival organizer.   photo of Heat On by Leah Wendzinski Clearly, Finnegan contains multitudes. From punk rock to free improv to post-bop jazz tunes, “the variety of projects help me connect with the different sides of myself,” she says. “I feel taken in many directions, and happy to be organizing events and shows. I did some touring with James Brandon Lewis in the fall, filling in for Chad Taylor. It feels like the beginning of everything.” With Heat On, Finnegan takes a major first step, celebrating the Chicago legacy that inspires and informs her bountiful music. ~~~ CREDITS: Edward Wilkerson Jr. - tenor saxophone Fred Jackson Jr. - alto saxophone Nick Macri - upright bass and electric bass Lily Finnegan - drums composed by Lily Finnegan photo by Leah Wendzinski   ~~~                                                                               Pre-Order /  listen on Bandcamp:                                                                                                     Pre-Order /  listen to HEAT ON in High Definition 24/96 on Bandcamp:       return to top !! OUT NOW !! RELEASED  MAY 30, 2025 ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS SKULLCAP SNAKES OF ALBUQUERQUE Bio information: SKULLCAP Title: SNAKES OF ALBUQUERQUE (Cuneiform Rune 539) Format: CD / LP / DIGITAL Release date: May 30, 2025 www.cuneiformrecords.com FILE UNDER: JAZZ / ROCK / BEYOND Skullcap’s cellist Janel Leppin, guitarist Anthony Pirog and percussionist Mike Kuhl promise a joyful and emotional escape just when we need it most!   listen to / share "Journey to the Sunset" on Soundcloud from Skullcap's' Snakes of Albuquerque   Snakes of Albuquerque is the debut recording from the rock and jazz, free improvising, classically informed, adventurously rhythmic, and memorably tuneful power cello trio Skullcap. Just as the bands' namesake is defined by indigenous medicine, Skullcap is an herb used to ease depression and anxiety. A kind of road movie soundtrack, it twists through wild emotions, and as the album artwork shows, the music navigates wildly different terrain from Tennessee to Monterey.   "We have something to fight for. We can’t abandon this place or the people living here for all of its conflicts and challenges.” Janel Leppin says as she reflects on the music being a voyage across the troubled United States. "This record is a way to step into our power as we meet this serious moment full on. We’ll need to access joy and courage moving forward and the music speaks to that."     photo by Peter McElhinney   As Americans find themselves under incredible stress, music can certainly be a way to navigate uncertain times. As Snakes of Albuquerque fully indicates this is not a band that is easy to pigeonhole. The song titles offer a kind of road map through its unpredictable terrain. '‘Journey to the Sunset'’, ‘'Snakes of Albuquerque': these suggest Gothy darkness, jumper cable skronk, and an internationalist mindset, all qualities apparent in Skullcap’s sound.   But tying those attributes to a single genre? Not going to happen.   “I’m sorry, but I cannot help you with that at all,” says Anthony Pirog, laughing. “I mean, when we’re writing, someone will initiate an idea and the piece would come together. We’re not trying to fit into any description or genre. We have this pool of influences and inspirations that we draw from, and it’s not limited by how we want to be seen. We’re just writing music that we want to play”.   The way the band writes holds a major key to figuring out Skullcap. Mike Kuhl says "Our writing process is as old as the hills. There are no lead sheets or scores. We write together, bringing in basic ideas - not much information is given. I bring in some sort of groove or vibe, and then I let Anthony and Janel do what they do. All of our material is composed together - there is 100% trust within this group.” Janel Leppin and Anthony Pirog, a married couple who have been playing together for over two decades, consider themselves to be somewhat telepathic while writing and when onstage.  "Being in bands with your life partner is special. We trust each other enough to write parts for one another. Anthony wrote my bass line and I wrote his melody for "Route 40" for example.” The trio primarily write in Leppin/Pirog’s basement rehearsal studio just North of D.C..   photo by Peter McElhinney   Janel and Anthony met Mike while working in the DMV (DC/MD/VA metro area) around fifteen years ago and have been working together in different contexts ever since. The three first met while being a part of Adam Hopkins' Out of Your Head Collective in 2010 where he put together random ensembles at monthly concerts in Baltimore. OOYH Collective included the likes of Susan Alcorn and jaimie branch. This is the environment where the three first became aware of one another’s skills as improvisers. Leppin recalls, “We always wanted to work with a drummer and thought of Mike as a powerhouse on drums. In fact, I’ve called him Mike "Hurricane" Kuhl for years. His style is so technically fluid and powerful. We were elated when he said he’d like to work with us."  In 2013 Pirog’s sextet, which included Leppin and Kuhl, opened for a Capital Bop event presenting Peter Brotzmann and Joe McPhee at Union Arts. The speed with which they compose and learn the pieces together shows a band working on all five cylinders. Each player is at the top of their game technically and creatively. They mention an intuition that is undeniable in their improvisation and while writing. They also discuss a willingness to connect with all aspects of their musical knowledge; and could be a reason Skullcap’s music is so hard to categorize.    Snakes of Albuquerque happened from “pure instinct coming from decades of playing. We're not afraid to come full circle,” Kuhl says, "It could've been one of the first beats I learned but it was just right.” The drummer reflects that he didn’t feel the need to make the beat more complicated for the sake of showing off. Kuhl continues “We trust each other so much. It could almost sound happy go lucky but we’re not messin' around when we play something. It’s from the heart.”   A key instrument that sets the band apart as a trio is the inclusion of the cello. Leppin brings a solid foundation nimbly interweaving with Kuhl’s intricate drum work. The cello is rarely used like a bass and in this case she draws references to the music of Julius Hemphill and Dirty Three as inspiration. Leppin says “I almost always look to bass, guitar or saxophone players for inspiration. I am careful not to sound like other players of my instrument. I have a distinct voice and that is what is needed in this world: new sounds! I’m just doing my thing."   The music tells a powerful and diverse story. Moving from the doom-laden cello feature "Snakes of Albuquerque" into the calming and decidedly jazzy "Orange Sky" is not, for instance, an obvious segue. “It doesn’t make any sense to me conceptually,”  guitarist Pirog concurs. “But when you know the arc of the record, it does, because it takes you through a series of feelings or moods or vibes.”   photo by Pierre Toureille Some of those moods are abstract, like the clanging, mysterious "700 miles", in which Leppin bows almost singing in the highest end of her instrument, Pirog’s behind-the-bridge guitar fuses seamlessly with Kuhl’s bazaar-find percussion.  “That one happened solely in the studio,” the drummer says. “It’s improvised, and I used a 150-year-old strand of sleigh bells, combined with some camel bells. I was in Cairo one time and I went to this one little bazaar there and they had all this touristy stuff in the front, and I went up to the guy and was like ‘Where do you keep the good stuff?’ He looked at me, and then he took me in the back where I checked out all these incredible camel bells and all this stuff I’d never seen before. So it’s a big mass of all of these really old bells.”   Whether inspired by Leppin and Pirog’s cross-country zag or Kuhl’s global search for cool sounds, much of the music on Snakes of Albuquerque is linked by Skullcap’s penchant for forward and upward momentum, both sonically and on an emotional level. The group’s three members make music to please themselves, but they’re just as determined to offer their listeners relief and inspiration.   Opening with a whistle and funky groove, Kuhl kicks off "Journey to the Sunset". It feels like a wild dance party for a time that feels like the end of the world. Pirog plays a noisy, skronky guitar solo shifting to accompaniment while Leppin bows a chromatic staccato melody.   Leppin’s doomy cello progression on title track "Snakes of Albuquerque" moves into a heavily melodic lead recalling her affiliation with her time recording and working with various artists in Seattle’s doom and experimental world. Pirog’s fuzz pedal helps fill out the progression while Kuhl lays a heavy groove that leans into the floor tom and with driving eighth notes on the cymbals.   Leppin has an affinity for flipping the beat back in a subtle way and citing a Jeff Parker record she was particularly inspired by, the band listened to it and Kuhl recalled some of his Venezuelan merengue studies to help inform "Orange Sky". The rhythm section vibed on the groove and came up with a unique sound which audiences barely perceive but are meant to feel a slight shift throughout the piece to help drive it forward.   Snakes of Albuquerque is in a world all its own. The thing holding it all together is the trust each player has for each other’s abilities and creativity. "We believe in each other's ideas, interests and visions. This is a supportive environment.” says Leppin. The band hopes to take this same trip defined on the album artwork as a tour across the states in 2025-2026. "That would really complete our vision for this adventure of a record.”.   photo by Janel Leppin CREDITS: Janel Leppin - cello, Minimoog Anthony Pirog - electric guitar Mike Kuhl - drums, percussion All compositions by Skullcap. Recorded at The Brink Analog and Digital Studios in Richmond, VA on December 27–28, 2023. Engineering, mixing and mastering by Mike Reina. Produced by Mike Reina. Cover photography by Janel Leppin. Cover design by LA Johnson and Skullcap. ~~~                                                                               BUY /  listen on Bandcamp:                                                                                                     BUY /  listen to SNAKES OF ALBUQUERQUE  in High Definition 24/96 on Bandcamp:       return to top Listen to & buy additional releases with JANEL LEPPIN and/or ANTHONY PIROG on Cuneiform Records       JANEL & ANTHONY                                                                  NEW MOON IN THE EVIL AGE                                                             WHERE IS HOME               JANEL LEPPIN / ENSEMBLE VOLCANIC ASH TO MARCH IS TO LOVE                                                                                   ENSEMBLE VOLCANIC ASH         ANTHONY PIROG                               PALO COLORADO DREAM  POCKET POEM                                                                   (w/ MICHAEL FORMANEK & CHES SMITH)             LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION (ANTHONY PIROG / MICHAEL FORMANEK / MIKE PRIDE) DAMAGED GOODS   FIVE TIMES SURPRISE  (HENRY KAISER / ANTHONY PIROG / TRACY SILVERMAN / JEFF SIPE / ANDY WEST)         FIVE TIMES SURPRISE                                       THE SPELLCASTERS (JOEL HARRISON, ANTHONY PIROG, DAVE CHAPPELL, JOHN PREVITI, BARRY HART)                        MUSIC FROM THE ANACOSTIA DELTA                                                     return to top !! OUT NOW !!   RELEASED APRIL 25, 2025 ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS LUKE STEWART / SILT REMEMBRANCE ENSEMBLE THE ORDER Bio information: SILT REMEMBRANCE ENSEMBLE Title: THE ORDER (Cuneiform Rune 534) Format: CD / DIGITAL www.cuneiformrecords.com FILE UNDER: JAZZ New recording by a jazz quintet ensemble featuring members of Luke Stewart's Silt Trio  – Luke Stewart (bass), Chad Taylor (drums), and Brian Settles (sax) – with  Jamal Moore (sax & percusison) and Daniel Carter (sax & trumpet)) [USA]   Bassist LUKE STEWART isn’t afraid of blurring boundaries and blending bands, with astonishing results. An essential creative force in the fertile jazz and improvised music scenes of the East Coast and beyond for nearly two decades, he seized a promising moment to combine musicians from two volatile working combos.     listen to / share "Commandments" on Soundcloud from Luke Stewart/ Silt Remembrance Ensemble's The Order   As the name suggests, his new Cuneiform Records album credited to Silt Remembrance Ensemble, brings together two players from his Remembrance Quintet (introduced on an eponymous 2023 album on his own label) – Jamal Moore on reeds and percussion and veteran master Daniel Carter on alto sax and trumpet – and Silt Trio, featuring powerhouse tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and drum maestro Chad Taylor.    What had initially been planned as an album release concert for the Remembrance Quintet project Do You Remember? evolved into an entirely new situation. Stewart had an opportunity to perform at Tonal Park Studios in Takoma Park, MD, around the same time that Silt Trio was recording Unknown Rivers, “and I used the opportunity to gather this special mix of those two groups,” he says. The recording isn’t a document of the two-hour-plus concert. Rather, Stewart crafted the album after the fact, distilling and sequencing the music to create its own narrative arc, “editing and arranging the performance so that it would make sense in an album form,” he says.     Stewart resides at the center of a tangled skein of relationships running between the four other players. They’re joined on several pieces by spoken word artists Janice Lowe and No Land, with verse that ties this music to the Remembrance Quintet album. They’d both collaborated with Stewart in the multi-disciplinary ensemble Heroes are Gang Leaders. Themes of ancestral recall, the flow of time and water, and the preciousness of shared moments run through the session, starting with the opening convocation “Memory.” A setting for text by No Land designed to feature Carter, it’s a trio piece with Stewart that prepares the audience for the “molten experience” to come.      The full band joins for “Remember,” a piece harkening to the first Remembrance Quintet album with multilayered percussion and a serpentine saxophone conversation between Carter, Settles and Moore that gathers momentum over the churning rhythm section. A very different sense of motion prevails on “River Road” as Stewart’s heartbeat pulse buoys Carter’s delicate trumpet work. It’s an extended piece that builds to a gale and then gently subsides, an enthralling sojourn intended to highlight Carter’s “unique tone,” Stewart says.   “It puts him in a context he hasn’t usually been in over the past few decades, bringing his sound into a different world and letting him shine. He’s the wind guiding the river down the road.”    In many ways, the session exists in a multiverse of musical possibilities. The spacious, well-aerated piece “Survive,” which opens with a bass drone and fluttery flute, references In Order to Survive, a band that Carter and bass legend William Parker led with various trumpeters. “All of the names are invitations for rumination as you listen, with multiple meanings,” Stewart says. In much the same way, he doesn’t describe his approach as free improvisation, as many pieces evolve out of specific lines or themes he introduces “but without telling the band what it is,” Stewart says. “I’m trying to anticipate and almost intuit in a focused way, how is this line going to survive in this situation? How will it move the spirit of the ensemble?”   The album’s themes surface explicitly again with Stewart’s recitation on the brief “Repeat,” text with multiple layers of meaning, including the incantatory musical device so often deployed during the session. The title track, a headlong tag-team sprint over broken ground, embodies the mind-meld of two ensembles becoming one, while the hand-percussion powered “Lion’s Den” welcomes the fearless Daniel Carter, who maintains the searing mid-tempo intensity without a scratch. The energy arcs on “Claimed,” a densely packed liberation that speaks to the possibilities of making unfettered choices and the obstacles to that path. It’s an ecstatic performance by all the horn players that bristles with shared purpose.      As if summoning the village after their communal outpouring, “Chain Gang” is an extended, percussion-forward piece that explores multiple approaches to rhythmic improvisation. The title’s obvious reference to forced hard-labor speaks to Jim Crow history and less explicit forms of coercion faced by musicians, though the music itself celebrates the act of self-liberation. With the closing track, “Commandments,” Stewart and his companions reconfirm the prime direction, “playing the spirit of the moment, the spirit of the ancestors,” he explains. “You receive the commandments on Mt. Sinai.” It’s a struggle to get there, but these musicians walk the walk, and The Order reflects their triumphant journey.    Stewart’s vision and music has increasingly reached far beyond any location. Last December, he presented a major multimedia work commissioned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the landmark exhibition “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt 1876–Now.” It was the first time the Met presented a new work in conjunction with an exhibition, and by expanding his Blacks’ Myths duo (with drummer Trae Cruddup) with special guests such as Silt Remembrance’s Jamal Moore, flutist extraordinaire Nicole Mitchell, poets Moor Mother and Thomas Stanley, he created an acclaimed hour-long production with video, dance, and costumes.    “I always try to bring worlds together,” he says. “At the Met, I was bringing together Blacks’ Myths and new collaborations. It’s the same thing with Silt Remembrance Ensemble. Daniel and I are always in talks about doing something, and there was this great opportunity to bringing together this multigenerational community.” A major force on the New York jazz scene since the early 1970s, Carter is a dauntingly prolific saxophonist and trumpeter who has collaborated with a dazzling constellation of improvisers and ensembles. Best known for his long, multi-faceted collaboration with pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, including the quartet Other Dimensions In Music with the late trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr. and drummer Rashid Bakr, he’s recorded more than four dozen albums as a co-leader. Sought after by many leading artists, he’s recorded with DJ Logic, Yoko Ono, The Negatones, Thurston Moore, Yo La Tengo, Soul-Junk, and Anne Waldman. As his 80th birthday approaches on Dec. 28, Carter’s status as a creative force with a singular fire-and-ice aesthetic remains undimmed.       The Order  represents another step in Carter’s relationship with Stewart. Born in Florida and raised in Mississippi, Stewart grew up in Ocean Springs, a small town on the coast just east of Biloxi. There was little access or exposure to jazz and improvised music in grade school, and he played alto sax in his junior high and high school concert and marching bands. Taking up electric bass at 13, he played in a punk band with high school friends while delving into electronic music and hip hop. He discovered jazz on his own and started a process of self-education, digging through record bins and sharing discoveries with similarly music-obsessed friends.    “The good part of growing up in Mississippi was not having any sort of big overriding cultural force telling you what to do, which gave us the freedom to explore whatever we wanted to do,” he says. “The group that I found myself in, we were all voraciously into checking out all different types of music.”    Attending the University of Mississippi on scholarship he majored in international studies and minored in music, but a summer internship in Washington DC turned into a new life path when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, including his hometown. He transferred to American University and ended up graduating with a double major in international studies and audio production. He arrived in town equally committed to the alto sax and electric bass, until his jazz band professor, Dr. Will Smith, encouraged him to take up double bass. “It was a transition for sure,” Stewart says. “I was fascinated and enamored by investigating this instrument and immediately felt the spirit of it.”     After some informal lessons with veteran players like Herman Burney he started going to jam sessions and connecting with established musicians. His creative development has been rooted in DC’s verdant and often overlooked legacy of Black music and culture. Since then, over nearly the past two decades he’s woven himself into a myriad of scenes and idioms. Stewart played bass and saxophone in the DC-based Afropunk band Laughing Man. As an electronic artist, he’s performed alongside legendary hip hop artist Grap Luva, and D.C. beatmaker Damu the Fudgemunk. He was also a member of the experimental electronic trio Mind Over Matter, Music Over Mind. On the jazz side, he is also a member of Trio OOO, a collaborative ensemble featuring saxophonist Aaron Martin and drummer Sam Lohman. He’s also presented numerous concert series and festivals both independently and via CapitalBop.com, a DC-based jazz website and 501c3 non-profit organization that he co-founded.    For many years, Stewart was the production coordinator for the Pacifica radio station WPFW (89.3 FM) and host of his own weekly eclectic jazz program. Through WPFW he collaborated with seminal figures in music and the fight for social justice, including Chuck Brown, Yusef Lateef, Randy Weston, Muhal Richard Abrams, Juma Sultan, and Amiri Baraka. He credits his work at WPFW and mentorship by veteran DJ Jamal Muhammad with connecting him to the jazz scenes in D.C. and Harlem dating back to the rise of bebop.     Since the mid aughts Stewart has been a presence on the New York scene, engaging in a number of activities and scenes. Based in Red Hook, Brooklyn for the past six years, he has taken part in a community of musicians and organizers while deepening musical relationships. After earning a Master’s degree from the New School, he has worked as an adjunct professor there, teaching “Socially Engaged Artistry” and private lessons in bass, improvisation, and music history.    Each artist in Silt Remembrance Ensemble has burrowed into a similarly rich local scene. A Washington D.C. native, Brian Settles performs regularly with some of modern jazz's leading groups, including Tomas Fujiwara and The Hook Up, Michael Formanek's Cheating Heart and Big Band Kolossus, and bands led by Jonathan Finlayson. A protégé of Stanley Turrentine, he released two albums as a leader focusing on his buoyant, pithy compositions. On 2011’s award-winning Secret Handshake (Engine) he featured the quintet Central Union, and followed up with 2013’s trio album Folk (Engine).   A force on the vibrant Baltimore music scene, Jamal Moore forged a distinctive vision doing graduate work at Cal Arts, studying and playing with Wadada Leo Smith, Michael Session and Jesse Sharp in the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and the late Calvin Gantt and Nicole Mitchell in the Calvin Gantt Ensemble. A member of the politically charged Konjur Collective, Moore has turned his studio in the roiling Baltimore performance space Le Mondo into a bustling creative hub.   It’s hard to overstate Chad Taylor’s contributions to improvised music over the past three decades. A composer, scholar and educator as well as a capaciously inventive percussionist now living in Philadelphia, Taylor is probably best known as co-founder of the Chicago Underground Duo with trumpeter Rob Mazurek (and the numerous Underground iterations that have spun off of that original partnership). A professional on the Chicago scene from the age of 16, he became a rhythmic muse for many of the most celebrated artists in improvised music, including Fred Anderson, Pharoah Sanders, Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Ken Vandermark, Darius Jones, James Brandon Lewis, Derek Bailey, Marc Ribot, and Peter Brötzmann. He’s also led numerous acclaimed ensembles of his own, including the trio with Settles and pianist Neil Podgurski he documented on the acclaimed 2020 Cuneiform album The Daily Biological.    Together, these players share a depth of knowledge and spirit of adventure that makes The Order a milestone collaboration that excavates and honors the past while embracing the unknown.    ~~~   Buy /  listen to THE ORDER on Bandcamp: Buy /  listen to THE ORDER  in High Definition 24/96 on Bandcamp:     CREDITS: Daniel Carter – alto saxophone, trumpet Brian Settles – tenor saxophone Jamal Moore – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, woodwinds, percussion Luke Stewart – bass Chad Taylor – drums, percussion return to top OTHER JAZZ GROUPS LED BY SILT REMEMBRANCE ENSEMBLE MEMBERS  ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS LUKE STEWART'S SILT TRIO THE BOTTOM LUKE STEWART – Bass BRIAN SETTLES – Tenor Sax CHAD TAYLOR – Drums, Mbira   "New York / Washington D.C. via Mississippi bassist Luke Stewart seems to be everywhere these days, not just as a musician working in Irreversible Entanglements, Black Hosts, Heroes Are Gang Leaders, among others, but also presenting concerts, giving lectures, and writing. He’s nominally led some bands, but none as convincing as this trio with tenor saxophonist Brian Settles and percussionist Chad Taylor... This meticulously pitched effort was designed to mirror the flow of a concise live set ---- a gripping album that largely relies of subtlety and insinuation to register its uncanny power. " – Peter Margasak, The Quietus CHAD TAYLOR TRIO  THE DAILY BIOLOGICAL CREDITS: CHAD TAYLOR – Drums BRIAN SETTLES – Saxophone NEIL PODGURSKI – Piano   "The album, composed of all originals pieces by the trio members, is startling, music that verges on "free" yet there are times when the beat is so powerful it feels as if the drums could knock you off your feet... if you listen deeply, will change your idea of "power trios." No over-amped guitars, fuzzy bass lines, no ponderous drums; instead, this is music teeming with ideas, interactions, inventive solos, intelligent writing, and more. Such an auspicious recorded debut for the Chad Taylor Trio...There is so much to enjoy in the hour+ recording." – Steptempest  return to top ! SNEAK PEEKS WITH SOUNDS! SIX DIGITAL RELEASES COMING OUT JULY 25, 2025 ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS GENRE: NEW MUSIC /  CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITION COUNTRY: USA [ANN ARBOR]  FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING)   TINN PARROW & COMPANY – MY GYMNASIUM MUSEUM Debut release by Tinn Parrow & Co., the solo project of Ann Arbor-based multi-instrumentalist Lawrence Bond Miller (Fourth World Quartet, Miller Twins).  Featuring new works and re-envisioned compositions from across Miller's lengthy musical multi-media career.  listen to / share "Lunge & Reel" on Soundcloud, from Tinn Parrow & Co.'s My Gymnasium Museum credits: Laurence Bond Miller: Vocals, Clarinets (Bb, Alto, Bass, Contrabass), Accordion, Spinet Piano, Air Organ, Electric Organ, Synth Keyboard (variety of patches), Electric Archtop Guitar, Electric Ebow Guitar, Wholetone four-stringed Electric Mosquito Guitar, Theremin, Bagpipe Chanter, Bass, Drums, Maracas. return to top GENRE: ALT ROCK / MINIMAL WAVE / DARK FOLK / POST-PUNK / PSYCH /  COUNTRY: USA [PROVIDENCE]  FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING)   SWRM – LIGHTS OUT SWRM is the duo of reknown Providence musicians Alec  K. Redfearn (analog synthesizers, vocals) and Matt McLaren (drums), best known from their releases and performances in long standing bands Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores and Barnacled . In Lights Out, they forge an alchemical blend of psych, space rock, minimal wave, and more. Synth-songs with a twst. Includes a booklet with Redfearn's dark and piercing folk lyrics. listen to / share "The Hunt" on Soundcloud  from SWRM's Lights Out credits: Alec K. Redfearn – Vocals, Moog Matriarch, Sequential Circuits Trigon 6, Korg ms20, Eurorack modular synth and field recordings Matt McLaren – Drum kit, percussion, harmonica and neyanban return to top GENRE: NEW MUSIC / POST-CLASSICAL / POST-JAZZ COUNTRY: THE NETHERLANDS FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING)   ROSA ENSEMBLE – ODDMENTS New release by the Rosa Ensemble, an ever-evolving Dutch group known for blurring lines between musical genres (classical, rock, jazz, pop) and artistic mediums (music, theatre, visual art). In Oddments, the group – a five-piece ensemble that includes Jeroen Kimman of Brown vs. Brown – focuses their energy on creating music purely for an album instead of a multi-media collaboration. listen to/ share "Nachtmuziek" on Soundcloud, from Rosa Ensemble's Oddments credits: John Dikeman [soprano, tenor and bass saxophone] Koen Kaptijn [trombone] Mei Yi Lee [percussion] Peter Jessen [double bass] Jeroen Kimman [electric guitar and 19tet baritone guitar] return to top GENRE: ROCK / AVANT PROGRESSIVE/ ROCK IN OPPOSITION COUNTRY: CANADA [QUEBEC] FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING) MIRIODOR – LIVE '97 Previously unreleased live concert recording made by long-standing avant progressive ensemble Miriodor at Quebec City's Salle Multi de Méduse. Performing during Quebec's 1997 "Soirées de Musique Fraiche," Miriodor play tunes from their album Elastic Juggling, then newly-released by Cuneiform to immediate global acclaim. listen to/ share "Le Dresseur de Chenilles" on Soundcloud, from Live '97 Bernard Falaise : Guitare Pascal Globensky : Claviers Rémi Leclerc : Batterie, Percussions Nicolas Masino : Basse, Claviers Stéphanie Simard : Violon return to top GENRE: ROCK / ART ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL  COUNTRY: USA [NYC] FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING) KRAKHOUSE – BASTARDS OF PROG Debut release from Krakhouse, the genre-defying solo project of New York composer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Jesse Krakow (Time of Orchids, Shudder To Think, The Shaggs, Fast ‘n Bulbous, Dr. Nerve).  Conceptually progressive,  Bastards of Prog  is a fun-filled, evocative musical collage containing  a THREE ACT treatise on PROG ROCK – and, unbelievably, more...  listen to / share "WE GO BLAM BLAM" on Soundcloud from KRAKHOUSE' BASTARDS OF PROG credits: All songs performed & produced by Jesse Krakow, except: Track 13 – all instruments by The Gregory Elementary School Jazz Band Tracks 36, 81 + 84 – drums by Eric Slick Track 45 – vocals, guitar, percussion + pillow by The Crazy Muchachos Track 50 – all instruments by l’ensemble de fromages Track 72 – lead vocals + acoustic guitar by Kevin Gomber Track 76 – saxophone + drum programming by Jacob + Shane Krakow Track 84 – disapproval by Yoel Rekts All songs written by Jesse Krakow, except: Track 11 by Don Van Vliet Track 13 by Alan Smithee Tracks 22 + 23 by Dot Wiggin-Semprini + Jesse Krakow Track 45 by Cheeko Snukums + Francis Nickleberry Track 49 by Mark Andrews/ Tim Kelley/ Bob Robinson/ Desmond Child/ Draco Rosa/ Jesse Krakow (It also features a sample from “Parade of Seasons” by Chuck Stern/ Jesse Krakow/ Eric Fitzgerald/ Bodie, from the Time of Orchids album Namesake Caution, released in 2007 (on Cuneiform) Track 72 by Kevin Gomber Track 76 by Shane Krakow/ Jacob Krakow return to top GENRE: ART ROCK / NEW WAVE COUNTRY: USA [WASHINGTON DC / MARYLAND] FORMAT: DIGITAL (DOWNLOAD / STREAMING) BALLOONS FOR THE DOG – WICKED FORMS OF OLD SNOW Previously unreleased studio recordings from 1977-1981 by Balloons for the Dog,  a widely acclaimed New Wave / Art Rock band active in the Washington DC area from the late 70s/early 80s. "Balloons for the Dog is surely one of the finest rock groups in Washington, and its music has the potential for breaking into the commercial mainstream" – The Washington Post, Nov. 18, 1979 listen to / share "Peaches & Dogma on Soundcloud from Balloons for the Dog's BASTARDS OF PROG credits: Bill ‘Kitsoulis’ Longhorse (BL) : Guitars, background vocals George ‘Georgy Jet’ Liebensfeld (GL) : Lead & background vocals Eric Bindman (EB) : Violins (electric & acoustic) Henry Cross (HC) : Bass Don ‘DXR Mavro’ Fontaine (DXR) : Drums return to top SNEAK PEEKS OF DISTANT TREASURES   COMING OUT IN 2025 & BEYOND ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS (Listed in alphabetical order. Sound samples to come out in future newsletters) ~~~~~ JAZZ ~~~~~ GHOST RHYTHMS – MISSING TIMES  (New studio album by young French avant progressive ensemble [FRANCE] ~~~~~ LED BIB – HOTEL PUPIK (New studio album from these award-winning UK stalwarts; now a quartet) [UK] ~~~~~ REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE – SERPENTINE (Ken Field's long-running New Orleans-influenced jazz party combo return for a new album filled with fun.) [USA] ~~~~~~     ROCK ~~~~~~ CHEER-ACCIDENT – TBC (A new studio album and a DVD of live performances by Chicago's fave longstanding alt-rock / post-pop group) [USA] ~~~~~~ FRENCH TV – TBC (A double album by French TV: one album of new compositions, and one of covers of '60s and '70s "deep-cuts" that had influenced the band. This double feature will be the band's 16th & 17th album(s)! ) [USA] ~~~~~~ MIKE JOHNSON – GARDEN OF LOSS (Mike Johnson, leader/ composer/ guitarist of Thinking Plague, releases an album under his own name featuring orchestration - strings, brass reeds, etc - combined with rock instrumentation.) [USA] ~~~~~~ GILLES LAVAL – 100 GUITARS SUR UN BATEAU IVRE  [100 GUITARS ON A DRUNKEN BOAT] (100 electric guitars, conducted by Gilles Laval. Designed for public performances) [FRANCE] ~~~~~~ NEBELNEST – LIVE AT PROGDAY 1999 (Hard hitting, French instrumental, zeuhl / dark symphonic rock ensemble)  [FRANCE] ~~~~~~ NEBELNEST – unreleased fourth album  (Previously unreleased 4th album by this hard hitting, French instrumental, zeuhl / dark symphonic rock ensemble) [FRANCE] ~~~~~~ TRINARY SYSTEM – TBC (Roger Clark Miller's (Mission of Burma, Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble) current rock band) [USA] ~~~~~~ return to top CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR 2025 CALENDAR IMPORTANT REMINDER: In an evolving (and now endemic) COVID-19 world, and with adverse weather "events" happening in increasing frequency, these dates are ALL tentative. Please check with venues, close to the concert date, to confirm. We're ecstatic that live concerts are happening worldwide, but we remain aware that emergent variants - as well as severe weather - can unexpectedly affect schedules. See also the Tours Page at Cuneiform Records.   GILLES LAVAL'S  100 GUITARES SUR UN BATEAU IVRE 100 electric guitars, conducted by French guitarist  and experimental musician Gilles Laval. Designed for public performances [FRANCE]   New release out on CUNEIFORM in late 2025 _______________________________ July 12 - Pouillat, France       CHEER–ACCIDENT Cheer-Accident celebrate Vacate,  released in Cuneiform Records 40th Anniversary year.                  "...one of the most impressive concerts I saw was the Dragon Drop/Cheer Accident/Free Salamander Exhibit show in Indianapolis. ...Cheer Accident blew me away... The music was innovative and powerful and brave and everything I’d hoped it would be."- Proglodytes "Cheer-Accident are the quintessential Chicago post-rock band... They've been exploring head-scratching, creatively fucked-up time signatures and sideways guitar shenanigans for 20 years now, leaving a pronounced influence on the Windy City's art-rock scene. Their playful musical approach is a ripe aesthetic of absurdist humor." – Pitchfork _______________________________ June 28 - Platypus - 4501 Manchester Ave - Saint Louis, MO July 18 - The Credit Union - Muskegon, MI July 19 - Cafe Bourbon Street - Colombus, OH July 20 - Poetry Lounge - Pittsburgh, PA July 21 - tba July 22 - Avalon - Catskill, NY July 23 - tba July 24 - The Rotunda - Philadelphia, PA July 25 - Rhizome DC - 6950 Maple St., NW - Washington, DC July 26 - tba July 27 - tba - Columbia, SC July 28 - tba July 29 - The Pilot Light - Knoxville, TN July 30 - Woodward Theater - Cincinnati, OH July 31 - Whirling Tiger - Louisville, KY August 1 - The Healer - Indianapolis, IN August 2 - Martyrs - Chicago, IL   Listen to & buy Vacate  Chicago XX, Putting Off Death,          No Ifs, Ands or Dogs, Fear Draws Misfortune      "Tons of weird rock records have streamed out of Chicago over the past two decades, but none have blended pop smarts and avant-garde impulses as skillfully as this marvelous brainteaser..." – Time Out New York HEAT ON HEAT ON is a Chicago powerhouse, multigenerational jazz quartet led by drummer and composer LILY Finnegan featuring saxophonists Ed Wilkerson Jr. & Fred Jackson Jr. and bassist Nick Macri. Cuneiform's latest signing! Release out in June. July 6 - The Hungry Brain - Chicago, IL July 8 - The Jazz Gallery - Milwaukee, WI July 19 - Trinosophes - Detroit, MI September 27 - Hyde Park Jazz Festival - Chicago, IL HENRY KAISER Grammy winner Henry Kaiser is widely recognized as one of the most creative and innovative guitarists, improvisers, and producers in the fields of rock, jazz, world, and contemporary experimental musics. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– THE HENRY KAISER MONTHLY SOLO SERIES, presented exclusively on the CUNEIFORM RECORDS YouTube Channel  When Covid pandemic lockdowns began in 2020, Henry Kaiser began curating & presenting a weekly series of pre-recorded music videos exclusively on Cuneiform's YouTube Channel for music lovers isolating at home. These "live" concerts are taped beforehand and not streamed - Henry discusses the process in a Guitar Moderne interview, "The New "Live"".  Many videos in the series depict duets and larger bands, despite the program being called the "Henry Kaiser Weekly Solo Series".  While many depict new or recent performances, other videos in this series are vintage footage of performances not available elsewhere (The Valentines' 1994 concert in the Fukuoka Dome). Over time, the series converted to monthly and currently, a quarterly release schedule.  All 52 videos from the Henry Kaiser's Weekly Series, the entire two year Monthly Series and all current quarterly videos are archived & available on Cuneiform's YouTube Channel.  We invite you to visit and follow Cuneiform Record's YouTube Channel to see the videos that Henry regularly presents. A must see: the WINTER 2024 video is HENRY KAISER QUARTERLY #4: BARITONE GUITAR SPECIAL, featuring Henry's awesome guitar work along with Special Guests: Luciana Bass, Jim Clark, Janet Feder, Sandy Ewen, Vanessa Gould, Sandor Nagyszalancy, Anthony Pirog, Gregory Stephen, Sid Stephen, & Carl Weingarten. Just released, the SUMMER 2024 video , HENRY KAISER QUARTERLY SHOW #6 : You Can't Get There From Here, features Morgan Ågren  Jennifer Burnes,  Jaya Drats, Trey Gunn, Killick Hinds, Michael Manring,  Ed Petterson, Damon Smith, Jim Thomas, and Bill Walker. In addition to his video series, Kaiser occasionally presents special videos:  some focusing on current events and guitar legends, and some providing free guitar lessons, focusing on tunes associated with legendary guitarists. For instance, his September 2022 guitar lesson video, focusing on the whole tone scale and Sonny Sharrock, is titled The Whole Tone Scale! Sonny Sharrock’s DICK DOGS lesson with Henry Kaiser.  His video for 2025's 1st quarter, HENRY KAISER QUARTERLY SHOW #8 : The Backwards Guitar Solos Lesson, is both instructional for players and highly entertaining for non-musicians. Besides his work as a musician, Kaiser is also a scientific diver and underwater videographer in the U.S. Antarctic program. Several of his Solo Series videos on the Cuneiform channel feature Henry's stunning underwater videography in addition to his guitar playing, as in this stunning video from May 2020:  HENRY KAISER : Cuneiform Weekly Solo #2 : Under The Ice Again . Because all videos are archived on the Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel, you can watch anything in the series at any time.   Listen to & buy: Albums by Henry Kaiser & Friends  on Cuneiform A Love Supreme Electric [Vinny Golia / John Hanrahan / Henry Kaiser / Wayne Peet / Mike Watt]: A Love Supreme Electric: A Love Supreme and Meditations  Yo Miles!: Henry Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith: Sky Garden & Upriver     Five Times Surprise [Henry Kaiser / Anthony Pirog / Tracy Silverman / Jeff Sipe / Andy West]:  Five Times Surprise Henry Kaiser & Ray Russell:  The Celestial Squid Henry Kaiser: Lemon Fish Tweezer; Fred Frith & Henry Kaiser: Friends & Enemies     Healing Force [Vinny Golia • Aurora Josephson • Henry Kaiser • Mike Keneally • Joe Morris • Damon Smith • Weasel Walter]: Healing Force:  The Songs of Albert Ayler                       V.A.: 156 Strings: Nineteen Totally Original Acoustic Guitarists LED BIB “This is the sound of a band having fun… like a hot chainsaw through butter." — The Wire "You’ll be hard pressed to keep the lid on this explosive tour de force of ensemble intelligence" – The Independent "One of the UK’s most adventurous groups" – Jazzwise Described as “a lean, mean, improv-rocking jazz machine” by Time Out, Led Bib’s ability to blend groove, improvisation, thrash and everything in-between means that live shows by these UK 2014 Mercury Prize nominees have become renowned for carrying along their audiences with an infectious energy.   June 8-9 - Moers Festival - Moers, Germany September 15 - Puzzle Hall Inn - Halifax, UK September 16 - The Cube - Bristol, UK September 17 - Peggy's Skylight - Nottingham, UK September 18 - Hare & Hounds - Birmingham, UK September 19 - Moth Club - London, UK September 20 - Rose Hill - Brighton, UK October 4 - Freakshow Festival - Würzburg, Germany     Listen to & buy: The Good Egg, The People in Your Neighbourhood      Bring Your Own,  Sensible Shoes      JANEL LEPPIN A composer and cellist who’s honed a singular synthesis of composition, orchestration and improvisation, Janel Leppin is an avant-jazz luminary. Besides performing as half of the experimental duo Janel and Anthony, which she co-leads with her husband guitarist Anthony Pirog, she leads the seven-piece chamber-jazz Ensemble Volcanic Ash, as well as performing and recording with other jazz, rock, and experimental  groups. In June 2024, Cuneiform released Ensemble Volcanic Ash's second album, To March Is To Love "An Absolute Virtuoso - 4 Stars" - Downbeat Magazine, reviewing the first EVA album "Leppin is a rarity..ahhh-vant garde at its finest." - Capital   JANEL LEPPIN with ENSEMBLE VOLCANIC ASH May 31 - Milton New Music and Wind Festival - Federal St. Field at the Milton Trail crosswalk - Milton, DE [rain date - June 1]   JANEL LEPPIN RESIDENCY May 19, 2027 - The Stone - Stone Residency - 55 West 13th St - NYC, NY May 20, 2027 - The Stone - Stone Residency - 55 West 13th St - NYC, NY May 21, 2027 - The Stone - Stone Residency - 55 West 13th St - NYC, NY May 22, 2027 - The Stone - Stone Residency - 55 West 13th St - NYC, NY   Listen to & buy: Janel Leppin Ensemble Volcanic Ash  To March Is To Love                 Ensemble Volcanic Ash Janel & Anthony New Moon In the Evil Age,   Where Is Home          ROGER CLARK MILLER Roger Clark Miller is a guitarist, pianist, bassist, composer, singer, percussionist and occasional cornet player. His career officially began in 1979 when he co-founded the influential post-punk band Mission of Burma on guitar and vocals. He formed Birdsongs of the Mesozoic on piano in 1981, and from 1983-1989 he began his Maximum Electric Piano work. Miller joined the Alloy Orchestra in 1998 - "the best [orchestra] in the world at accompanying silent film" says Roger Ebert – which continues today as The Anvil Orchestra. In February 2025, he releases his second album of solo looping-based music structured on dreams on Cuneiform - Curiosity for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble. Boston Globe: "Less a recital than a musical minefield... Miller is a man in constant motion, a one-man symphony."     Roger Clark Miller performing Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble June 1 - House Concert - Hamden, CT July 25 - Brattleboro Art Museum - Brattleboro, VT August 29 - Dromedary Festival - Catskill, NY September 6 - tba - Newfane, VT October 9 - Revolution Gallery - Buffalo, NY October 10 - Concert House - Toledo, OH October 11 - Elastic Arts - Chicago, IL October 12 - LoLoBees - Bay City, MI October 15 - Ziggy's - Ypsilanti, MI October 16 - Trinosophes - Detroit, MI October 17 - Fuse Factory - Columbus, OH October 18 - Government Center - Pittsburgh, PA   Roger Clark Miller performing with The Anvil Orchestra [new music for silent films] September 13 - Hamilton College - Clinton, NY September 14 - Hamilton College - Clinton, NY October 3 - BAMM - Bethel, ME October 24 - AFI Silver Theater - Silver Spring, MD October 30 - The Ross Theater - Lincoln, NE October 31 - The Ross Theater - Lincoln, NE   Listen to & buy: Roger Clark Miller Curiosity for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble   Eight Dream Interpretations for Electric Guitar Ensemble           --------- The Fourth World Quartet, 1975 ---------- Birdsongs of the Mesozoic Dawn of the Cycads // The Fossil Record       THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND "Twenty-first century big-band music doesn’t get more exciting and impressive than this." – Jazz Times An astounding 18 piece jazz ensemble of five woodwind players, four trumpeters, three trombonists, two keyboardists, guitar, violin, bass and drums, led by arranger, composer & saxophonist Ed Palermo, one of America's most singular arrangers who draws on jazz, pop and rock tunes for his top-notch band. There are a number of ensembles performing the music of Frank Zappa, one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century, but no one does it with the ease, skill and originality that Ed and his band do! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Don't miss seeing the ED PALERMO BIG BAND live!  THEIR SHOWS SELL OUT, so buy your tickets well in advance. ~~~~ June 28 - The Falcon - 1348 Rte 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 July 28 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway (corner of 51st and Broadway) - New York, NY 10019 August 23 - The Falcon - 1348 Rte 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 October 25 - The Falcon - 1348 Rte 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 December 20 - The Falcon - 1348 Rte 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542     Listen to & buy Ed Palermo Big Band albums on Cuneiform: The Adventures of Zoyd Zundgren // The Great Un-American Songbook Vols. 1&2  // One Child Left Behind // Oh No! Not Jazz!!  // Eddy Loves Frank. //  Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance                             RICHARD PINHAS One of France's major experimental musicians, guitarist/ electronic musician / writer Richard Pinhas is a key figure in the global development of electronic rock via his group Heldon and solo projects. In 2025, he'll tour in England and beyond. __________________________ May 30 - Punctum - Krásova 27 - Praha 3, Czech Republic   Listen to & buy releases by Richard Pinhas & friends on Cuneiform: Richard Pinhas: Process and Reality, Desolation Row, Metatron, Metal/Crystal, Tranzition, Event & Repetitions                      Richard Pinhas & Oren Ambarchi: Tikkun    Richard Pinhas & Merzbow:  Keio Line, Rhizome, Paris 2008        Richard Pinhas & Yoshida Tatsuya: Welcome in the Void    Schizotrope (Richard Pinhas & Maurice Dantec): The Life & Death of Marie Zorn   ANTHONY PIROG "[Palo Colorado Dream] covers a sprawling musical terrain–avant jazz, atmospheric soundscapes, earthy Americana, math-rock...with an arsenal of effects hardware and studio production techniques..." – JazzTimes "One of jazz’s most reliable conduits to a living, breathing audience is electric-guitar heroism, and Anthony Pirog, from Washington...seems poised to become a hero of the instrument." – The New York Times ________________________________ Anthony Pirog [featured with  The Messthetics]   May 31 [rain date June 1] - Milton New Music and Wind Festival - Federal St. Field at the Milton Trail crosswalk - Milton, CT June 19 - Malcolm X Park - Washington, DC [free show] June 28 - Atlantis Club - Washington, DC July 3 - Different Sounds Festival - Lublin, Poland July 4 - tba - Warsaw, Poland July 7 - Cafe Oto - London, UK July 8 - Cafe Oto  - London, UK July 9 - tba - Cambridge, UK July 11 - Festival Cruilla - Barcelona, Spain July 12 - Siren Festival - Arena in Fiera - Cagliari, Italy July 16 - Kino Siska - Ljubljana, Slovenia July 17 - Community Center Rojc - Pula, Croatia July 18 - Inntöne Jazz am Bauernhof - Diersbach, Austria September 14 - Union Craft Brewing - 1700 West 41st St - Baltimore, MD Listen to & buy: Anthony Pirog: Pocket Poem; Palo Colorado Dream .       Janel & Anthony,     New Moon in the Evil Age,     Where Is Home            in other groupings: Location Location Location: Damaged Goods Five Times Surprise: Five Times Surprise The Spellcasters, Music from the Anacostia Delta   Janel Leppin/ Ensemble Volcanic Ash To March Is to Love,  Ensemble Volcanic Ash            TOMEKA REID QUARTET 2022 MacArthur Award winning cellist Tomeka Reid's all-star Quartet  (Jason Roebke-bass,Tomas Fujiwara-drums, 2019 MacArthur Award recipient Mary Halvorson-guitar, Reid-cello) plays material on tour from 3+3, its 2024 release on Cuneiform Records and Old New (2019). Both releases have been prolifically reviewed and featured on Best of Year jazz lists worldwide. In 2025, they tour northern Europe. Reid was recently named THE top Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (cellist) in Downbeats' 2024 Jazz Critics Poll.   "as transportingly good as jazz gets." – All About Jazz The Wire - July 2024, Issue 485 TOMEKA REID QUARTET June 16 - Rhizome DC - 6950 Maple St., NW - Washington, DC June 17 - Reveler - Richmond, VA September 30 -  Jazzclub Unterfahrt - München, Germany   Listen to & buy: 3+3 //  Old New         REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE Since 1990, Boston's fun & fantastic Revolutionary Snake Ensemble has expanded the parameters of brass band with influences ranging from free jazz to New Orleans second line to contemporary funk to experimental.     June 18 - Maynard Jazzfest - Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center - 82 Main Street, Maynard, MA 01754 September 13 - Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival - 100 Oak St - Harwich Center, MA 02645 October 4 - Regattabar - 1 Bennett St - Cambridge, MA 02138 [new release show for 'Serpentine'] February 21 - Scullers [Mardi Gras show] - 400 Soldiers Field Road - Boston, MA 0213   Listen to & buy: Forked Tongue   SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER ""The Best Music of 2015: A Banner Year for the Bold: …here are a dozen albums...that I savored repeatedly for their musicality, clarity of statement and courage. …“X” by Schnellertollermeier marries brutality to avant-garde rock and jazz. A classic power trio from Switzerland, the band plays with punk fury and dazzling technical dexterity to create booming, bone-rattling music that stalks, confronts and astonishes." – The Wall Street Journal Brutal-jazz power trio Schnellertollermeier doesn't compromise. Their fresh and uncompromising mix of jazz, punk, rock, sound and free improvised music, combined with great musicianship, interplay and intense energy, has awed audiences at festivals of jazz, rock, pop and experimental music worldwide.    [We’ve been working on new music. We’re excited and are very much looking forward to this!] August 29 - Konzerthaus Schüür - Tribschenstrasse 1 - Lucerne, Switzerland   Listen to & buy: 5                                     Rights             X   SKULLCAP Skullcap features Janel Leppin (Ensemble Volcanic Ash, Janel & Anthony) on cello & minimoog; Anthony Pirog (Messthetics, Janel & Anthony) on guitar, and Mike Kuhl (Mike Kuhl Trio) on drums and percussion. On May 30, the DC / Baltimore Rock & beyond trio  releases  their debut album on Cuneiform, Snakes of Albuquerque.     May 30 - Current Space - 421 North Howard St - Baltimore, MD 21201 June 12 - Rhizome DC - 6950 Maple St., NW - Washington, DC June 20 - Belmont Arts Collaborative - Charlottesville, VA To set up press and radio interviews with Cuneiform Artists while on tour or at home, please contact: promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top SPEND 2025 WITH MUSIC & VIDEOS ONLINE !     CUNEIFORM RECORDS has a treasure chest of interesting music to serve as soundtrack, inspiration and solace during these evolving and challenging times. Our mammoth catalogue of over 500 releases by artists from around the world includes many of avant music's most esteemed icons as well as young rising stars, and is available for purchase in digital and physical formats at the CUNEIFORM RECORDS BANDCAMP store, and in physical formats at one of our sister companies, WAYSIDE MUSIC as well as in RECORD SHOPS worldwide (see our DISTRIBUTORS).  Your purchases of our CDs, LPs, and digital downloads supports or indie musicians, indie labels, and small businesses.    • VISIT the official CUNEIFORM RECORDS WEBSITE  for extensive information on the artists and recordings on our label,  upcoming concerts & much more.   • WATCH VIDEOS on Cuneiform Records' YOUTUBE CHANNEL Cuneiform Records has an extremely active YouTube Channel which you should bookmark as a favorite:  free music videos, videos of live shows, & samples from 500+ adventurous releases!   And we began expanding our video content during the pandemic, most notably with an ongoing video series curated  and produced by guitarist Henry Kaiser.  • PURCHASE & LISTEN to releases on CUNEIFORM RECORDS BANDCAMP PAGE  Discover new music on our Bandcamp Page, and support artists & our indie label by purchasing music.   • PURCHASE music from100s of LABELS from around the world at  WAYSIDE MUSIC, our sister store.  At our internet store, WaysideMusic.com (established in 1980!), you can purchase hard-to-find CDs and LPs from ALL your favorite labels!  • ENJOY and SHARE SAMPLES of music by releases of countless Cuneiform artists on the Cuneiform Records' SoundCloud Site. • VISIT, LIKE & FOLLOW  Cuneiform Records' Official FACEBOOK PAGE.  • JOIN the Cuneiform Records FACEBOOK GROUP:  FANS Of Cuneiform Records.  • FOLLOW @CuneiformRecord on TWITTER (now X) • LICENSE music from Cuneiform for movies, ads etc via our sister site TheMusicOutpost.com. • SIGN UP for the CUNEIFORM RECORDS NEWSLETTER if you're not already one of our subscribers, and  get BOTH this monthly newsletter in your email box AND receive notices for Cuneiform's weekly "$5 Friday" offers – Cuneiform selects a special album from its archive each weekend,  to be sold in download format via Bandcamp, that weekend only,  for half price. • VISIT our TOURS PAGE for upcoming concerts WORLDWIDE by our artists.   • ACCESS PRIOR ISSUES of the CUNEIFORM RECORDS MONTHLY NEWSLETTER at cuneiformrecord.blogspot.com/     Cuneiform Records' Monthly Newsletter announces and gives in-depth info on ALL of the label's NEW RELEASES - both physical and digital formats - and also provides TOUR / CONCERT info from its artists.   ~ ~ ~   PHOTOS OF AMERICAN FLAG FLOWN UPSIDE-DOWN AT SUMMIT OF EL CAPITAN, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA Left: Photo of upside-down flag on summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park by Brittany Colt, February 23 2025 The American flag flown upside down is an official / US flag code signal of dire distress or extreme danger for the country and/or person flying it.  On February 23, 2025, a group of rock climbers from the thousands of National Park Service & federal/public land employees fired by the Trump administration & DOGE mounted an upside-down flag at the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Our nation – long respected for its devotion to democracy & the rule of law – and our national parks & public lands – America's national treasures – are in danger. return to top CUNEIFORM RECORDS SOCIAL ONLINE Cuneiform YouTube Cuneiform Website Facebook FanGroup Facebook Page Cuneiform Twitter Cuneiform SoundCloud Cuneiform Bandcamp Instagram Email Cuneiform return to top Cuneiform Records' Monthly Newsletter is compiled by Joyce (Joy) [Nalewajk] Feigenbaum, DIRECTOR OF THE MUSIC OUTPOST – PUBLICITY FACEBOOK PAGE: MusicOutpostPublicityAndLicensing TWITTER: @TheMusicOutpost     STOP WARS           return to top Copyright © 2025 Cuneiform Records, All rights reserved.   Washington, DC // Silver Spring, MD Our mailing address is: Cuneiform Records P.O. Box 8427 Silver Spring, MD 20907 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Was this email forwarded to you from a friend? Subscribe to the Cuneiform Records Newsletter. Read this email online   return to top