Edward Ratliff Those Moments Before strudelmedia CD011 Coming soon, a new recording featuring diverse groupings from piano solo to a large ensemble, featuring the fine musicians Doug Wieselman (clarinet), Michaël Attias and Beth Schenck (saxophones), Nate Radley (guitar), Sean Conly (bass), Take Toriyama (drums) and Wes Matthews (piano and B3). Please join the mailing list to be notified of its release.
			Andy Biskin Trio Tragico strudelmedia CD010 The beautifully crafted miniature compositions on this album fuse jazz, classical, and social music into highly personal hybrid forms. Biskin's composing for Trio Tragico emphasizes ensemble balance and its overall sound, rather than individual soloists. Joining Biskin are two virtuosos of modern improvised music, Dave Ballou (trumpet) and Drew Gress (bass). "If today's fragmented jazz community resembled the fraternity it was during the classic periods of labels such as Blue Note and Contemporary, clarinetist Andy Biskin's compositions might be showing up on many albums besides his own.... Trio Tragico is at once relaxed, ambitious and deceptive. It's a chamber-jazz record in the most veracious sense.        K. Leander Williams, Time Out New York [more reviews]
			Andy Biskin Quartet Early American: The Melodies of Stephen Foster strudelmedia CD009 This CD features songs by Stephen Foster, as well as six Biskin originals. Although Biskin takes liberties with Foster's tunes, he preserves the beauty and sentiment of the songs while casting them in a new light. Biskin's own pieces for the quartet are equally melodious and varied in form, uniting elements from early and modern jazz with dance and classical music. The quartet features some of New York's most searching and genre-defying musicians, including John Hollenbeck (percussion), Pete McCann (guitar/banjo), and Chris Washburne (trombone/tuba). "Mixing mania and melancholy in a rather uncanny way, the clarinet player brings a new vibe to Stephen Foster's nuggets on the recent Early American. A gleeful modernist, his arrangements have no problem giving the material a hotfoot while still allowing their melodies and sentiment to radiate."        Jim Macnie, The Village Voice [more reviews]
			Edward Ratliff with Rhapsodalia and friends Barcelona in 48 Hours strudelmedia CD008 Travel, dislocation, empty train stations and the cultural mix of Barcelona all influence the wide-ranging music on this CD, the soundtrack to the film Barcelona in 48 Hours. Sounds from North Africa and Latin America to electronica and the night-time wail of a surf guitar all find their way in this musical journey. Featuring a cast of stellar New York City musicians including Kevin Norton, Doug Wieselman, Charlie Giordano, Sam Bardfeld, Seido Salifoski and Michaël Attias. "An intriguing tone poem that repays repeated listening"        The Guardian "Fetching, globe-trotting, and insatiably romantic, [this is] a record that entrances within seconds, begs you to get involved, and ages with grace."        AllAboutJazz.com [more reviews]
			Edward Ratliff's Rhapsodalia Wong Fei-Hong Meets Little Strudel strudelmedia CD007 An urbane, groovy mix of avant-jazz and world musics, from Kung Fu movies to cha cha. Featuring "The Wong Fei-Hong Theme" and a tribute to Hong Kong martial arts actor Hung Yan-Yan. With Michaël Attias (saxophones), Sam Bardfeld (violin), John Hebert (bass), Kevin Norton (drums and vibraphone) and Edward Ratliff (compositions, trumpet, cornet, trombone, euphonium, accordion). "This ensemble achieves a wonderfully large sound for a quintet, in the manner of the grand old Mingus groups where the whole was always greater than the sum of the parts.... A great disc."        Robert Spencer, Cadence "...composer-brassmeister-accordionist Ratliff has fashioned a little quintet that sustains its tenderness and agility while still blowing like Vesuvius. Factor in the gypsy strain that arrives via the Far East and you've got singularity, too."        Jim Macnie, Village Voice [more reviews]