{"title":"Brandi Disterheft","description":"\u003cp\u003eBassist-composer-singer Brandi Disterheft’s fifth album, Surfboard (October 30, 2020), is her most accomplished yet. Joined by two iconic octogenarian masters — virtuoso tenor saxophonist George Coleman and the definitive Brazilian drummer Portinho — and world-class pianist Klaus Mueller, Disterheft authoritatively and organically guides the flow on a varied program that reflects her capacious interests. Her kinetic, harmonically erudite basslines anchor ensemble interpretations of choice tunes culled from the blues, mainstem jazz, and the Great Brazilian and American Songbooks. She sings those Songbook numbers, and her own evocative lyrics, with an instantly recognizable voice that conveys vulnerability and emotional intelligence. And she matches the high bar set by her partners on a series of creative solos.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe project gestated in Disterheft’s decade-long musical relationship with Portinho, whom she met through Mueller soon after she moved to New York from Canada in 2010. Their simpatico developed during years as a working band, on numerous Canadian concerts led by Disterheft and Portinho’s four-sets-a-night weekend sinecure at a Brazilian restaurant in Manhattan.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“I wanted to record us,” she says. “Porto has a way of uplifting the beat. It’s so funky, with such an infectious groove, and he has so much dynamic range. He has strict rules, but once you learn them, he wants you to break away. He’s always anticipating, turning around the phrases. It’s so much fun.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eColeman plays characteristically compelling solos on the standards “My Foolish Heart” and “Speak Low” and the leader’s own evocative “Coup de Foudre.” Disterheft connected with him through his lifelong friend and bandstand partner, the late pianist Harold Mabern, who — with A-list New York drummer Joe Farnsworth — partnered with her on the hard-swinging 2016, CD, Blue Canvas, and several subsequent tours. Like Portinho, she remarks, Coleman “loves to keep people on their toes,” adding, “He’ll change harmony at the drop of a hat.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDisterheft’s harmonic erudition, soulfulness and intense individualism come through when she sings the jazz standard “Where or When” and the 60s pop hit “On Broadway.” “It depicts the reality of New York, a hard run where you don’t even have enough money to shine your shoes,” she comments on the latter tune. “I related to ‘they say I won’t last too long on Broadway; I’ll catch a Greyhound bus back home.’”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Vancouver native has first-hand experience with Greyhound buses, which Disterheft frequently rode to visit New York during a long residence in Toronto, where she attended Humber College and gigged with — among other luminaries — pianist David Virelles. “It puts the gutbucket in your playing,” Disterheft says. You hear her blend down-home grit and highbrow finesse on personalized interpretations of canonic pieces by bass heroes Oscar Pettiford (“The Pendulum at Falcon’s Lair”) and Sam Jones (“Del Sasser”), and in her propulsive beat articulation on two “obscure, wonderful Brazilian tunes” that Portinho brought to her attention — Moacir Santos’ “Nanã” and the polyrhythmic “Surfboard,” a less-traveled Jobim number that titles this superb, engaging album.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“It sounds like you’re trying to balance on a surfboard,” Disterheft says of the latter. “The audience lights up as soon as you play it.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.brandidisterheft.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-globe fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bdisterheft\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-facebook-square fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bdisterheft\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-twitter-square fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/brandidisterheft\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-instagram fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCnxrp4mHHDPvZLQsVN_Mt9w\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa fa-youtube-play fa-3x\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"blue-canvas-2","title":"Blue Canvas","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJuno Award winning bassist, composer, and vocalist, Brandi Disterheft unveils her fourth recording Blue Canvas, her third release with Montreal’s Justin Time Records. Like a savvy card player, she pulls out two aces from her deck in this new offering, joining forces with hard bop veteran pianist Harold Mabern and drummer Joe Farnsworth. The album was recorded in the summer of 2015 in Montreal after a successful club engagement at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn Blue Canvas Disterheft confidently backs Mabern, who at 80-years young is still tickling the ivories with soulful panache. Ever the gentlemen, he returns the favour thanks to his sensitive accompaniment to Brandi’s own solos, one of them a cappella “Prelude to Crippling Thrill”. On the following cut “Crippling Thrill”, and two other originals – the album's title track and “When the Mood is Right” – Brandi’s playing, as well as her singing of the self-penned lyrics, suggest a haunting yet unsentimental beauty. What's more, she marks her debut on cello in the latter piece, tipping her cap to the legendary Oscar Pettiford.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDisterheft, who is a prolific composer, claims she specifically wrote the originals of the album with the trio in mind. Between her original pieces and jazz classics like Bobby Timmons' “Dis Here”, Tadd Dameron's “Our Delight”, and rarely heard Clifford Brown’s “George's Dilemma”, the music paints itself over a canvas of luminous colours. The band smartly varies the moods and tempos, sparked throughout by Farnsworth’s nimble grooves. Additional album highlights include an unusual rhapsodic treatment of Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud”, a decidedly fresh take on the standard “Willow Weep for Me”, and a fine romp over Mabern's own “Beehive”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn her eloquent liner notes, the multi-talented musician reminds us of the Muses of Ancient Greece, and how these Gods and Goddesses would lead the artist into a state of ecstasy. Such are the feelings that lead her to reveal, “This album tells a story about that escape to freedom and the unyielding feeling of coming alive.”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBrandi Disterheft has toured throughout North America and abroad. She has studied with Don Thompson, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Rufus Reid and Ron Carter.  A native of North Vancouver Brandi is now based in New York.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brandi Disterheft","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39470694793376,"sku":"0068944025558","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39472998121632,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/f07824b0-3362-4ae1-b5a9-4d370315991610915517454208691311-LARGE_27a536c7-35f0-4b98-9fb1-827a15601de3.jpg?v=1615770022"},{"product_id":"gratitude-2","title":"Gratitude","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEven before Brandi had left the rainy mountains of North Vancouver, the young bassist had spent many afternoons listening and dancing to her mother's vinyl LP's in the piano room of the family home including the sounds of Oscar Peterson, Bird and Duke Ellington.   Brandi's breathtaking new album \"Gratitude\" takes the listener back to the roots of jazz, or according to the bassist, back to Brandi's family's music room.  With the New Orleans influenced horn arrangements such as the reflective, celebration of her cousin's life, title track Gratitude, to the up-tempo, swinging and fiery Portrait of Duke, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBrandi features an all-star band including Renee Rosnes, piano, Gregory Hutchinson (Ray Brown's drummer), drums, Sean Jones (former member of Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Orchestra), trumpet, Vincent Herring, (Cedar Walton's saxophonist) alto saxophone, and Anne Drummond (Kenny Barron's flautist), bass and alto flute.   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBlues for Nelson Mandela features Brandi utilizing a moaning Arco melody emulating the years Mr. Mandela spent dedicated to his fight for freedom. Brandi brings out the \"Mingus soul\" in her bass playing while her ambient and dreamy voice takes the listener down the path of lover's lane.  Singing in both English and French, \"Le Regarder La Rencontrer Encore (Rendez-vous Indésirable)\" is the pivotal, epic love ballad featured on the album where Brandi weaves her mourning vocal style reminiscent of Billie Holiday with the lyrical elegance of Leonard Cohen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brandi Disterheft","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39470724972704,"sku":"0068944024759","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39473018405024,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/57107542-154f-4a8a-82f1-b8717c47a76014582926118225220037-LARGE_b5d7b95a-0930-42a8-abcf-f20f9eb7def7.jpg?v=1615770297"},{"product_id":"second-side-1","title":"Second Side","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBassist Brandi Disterheft follows up Juno-winning Debut with another debut: Second Side is first recording in new Justin Time deal. Adventurous work features standout production by Delirium's Rhys Fulber and guest vocalists Holly Cole and Ranee Lee Sept 15th sees the release of Second Side, Brandi Disterheft's label debut for Justin Time. The Juno Award-winning bassist and composer has delivered an adventurous, joyful work, full of surprises, that's also a heartfelt paean to love. Second Side is a refreshingly bold and beautiful work that successfully marries Brandi's taste for adventure, her unconventionality, and her desire to entertain both herself and her burgeoning fan base. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFrom the album opener, \"Sketches of Belief,\" with its film noir ambience, to the last track, featuring guest vocalist Ranee Lee (\"This Time the Dream's On Me\"), Second Side is a rewarding listen, revealing the many-layered work of producer Rhys Fulber. \"Brandi is a unique artist,\" adds Fulber. \"She's willing to both pay respect to her chosen genre and to take risks.  She has a firm knowledge of jazz, yet is always looking forward.\" Canada has long been fertile ground for great musicians, not least in the jazz genre, yet Brandi's intriguing ideas seem to have struck a chord with audiences wanting more than conventional jazz, and more than the pretense associated with part of the indie scene. Second Side satisfies, with its atmospheres that alternate between genres. Second Side draws in the listener from its first strains. \"Sketches of Belief,\" inspired by Miles Davis' \"Sketches of Spain,\" is a lush soundscape, cinematic and expansive. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNote the wonderful playing of trumpeter of William Sperandei and saxophonist Chris Gale, whose strong contributions also figure elsewhere. \"Combien de Chances\" is one of two tracks that feature Brandi on lead vocals, and this first one is in French. Despite its serious, somewhat political message, it's also sonically rich and highly entertaining, with its surf guitar (conjuring John Lennon's playing on Yoko's \"Walking on Thin Ice\"), its relentless rhythms, and its mariachi horns.   \"Second Dawn\" features a dialogue between kalimba and double bass, which is then joined by Sly Juhas' drum patterns, almost industrial sounding. Incredibly, it all works, and it's the first of several brief instrumentals (along with \"Second Dawn\" and \"A Night In Haiti\") that are no less interesting than the vocal tracks, and that expertly wind throughout the album's recurring themes of love, loss, redemption and transcendence.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Twilight Curtain\" showcases a standout vocal from Brandi and shimmering production from Fulber, who co-wrote the track. \"My Only Friends Are the Pigeons\" features the passionate saxophone of Chris Gale, in the tradition of such great, grooving horn players as David \"Fathead\" Newman and Johnny Griffin. \"He's Walkin'\" is a co-write with singer Holly Cole, and is one of the album's finest moments. The song chronicles the end of a relationship, with the protagonist emerging triumphant, wizened, but also nostalgic. Yet the song is also enjoyable as a joyous, raucous romp, and Cole's performance evokes early rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson at her best, circa \"Fujiyama Mama.\" \"Liege\" is a lullaby, named for the city in Belgium, and features a lovely complicity between Brandi's bass and pianist Stacie McGregor, whose playing is excellent throughout the album. This charming composition evokes Satie, in its understated yet deceptive simplicity. \"Let Her Shine\" does just that - it's Brandi alone, solo bass (at first), and shows just why Oscar Peterson said \"she is what we call serious.\" Big, bold and authoritative, this track puts to rest any doubts on whether Brandi can play her instrument. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIt's not surprising that this album of almost entirely original songs should end with a standard, as that's part of who Brandi Disterheft is, a player with great respect for the past, who nonetheless enjoys a healthy taste for adventure, with one foot firmly planted in the future. Adds Brandi, \"I grew up listening to Ranee Lee, so I was happy she could be part of this. Her singing is great on this track!\" The choice of song is a propos as well, as it closes a superb album that's also a meditation on love, in all its \"states of belief.\" Not one to rest on her laurels, Brandi Disterheft has produced an impressive follow-up toa strong debut, yet it's clear that her restless creative spirit is only beginning to show its full potential. Second Side is a bold work that literally leaves one wondering what she'll think of next. We can hardly wait! .  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brandi Disterheft","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39473189519520,"sku":"0068944854455","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39476690157728,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/aa675fb3-bdf6-43cf-b2b6-5edae2d6d8a82282158087551113381-LARGE_19df7905-adc1-4c5a-8b68-aa931d0850fa.jpg?v=1615789511"},{"product_id":"surfboard-2","title":"Surfboard","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFeaturing the legendary saxophonist George Coleman, \"Surfboard\" is a Brazilian Jazz album showcasing Brandi's inventive writing, power-socket bass playing, and sweet ethereal vocals.  With Portinho on drums who is now in his eighties having performed with Tania Maria, Airto Moreira, Herbie Mann, Charlie Rouse, Nancy Wilson, Harry Belafonte and, Paquito De Rivera to name more than a few, and the pearly genius of pianist Klaus Mueller, this trio shines with slick vignette arrangements paying homage to composers from Carlos Jobim to bassist Sam Jones.  \u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Brandi Disterheft","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":39535941877920,"sku":"0068944862658","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":39535974318240,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/products\/e0937181-f9d2-4eef-a3cd-1c287941194d4053126791713120910-LARGE_7f04e558-dc20-4463-8f6b-dfadce1bbf72.jpg?v=1616427810"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0537\/8477\/2768\/collections\/BrandiDisterheft.jpg?v=1615924334","url":"https:\/\/justin-time-records.myshopify.com\/collections\/brandi-disterheft.oembed","provider":"Justin Time Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}