Award winning saxophonist/songwriter Mike Casey's 4th album in 4 years (studio debut) showcases his longtime New York trio (rising Matt Dwonszyk & Corey Garcia) being joined by Grammy nominated Benito Gonzalez (pianist in Pharoah Sanders' band) alongside a slate of fiery, progressive, often funky original modern jazz. Recorded in notable bassist Omer Avital's Brooklyn NYC studio in July 2018 in 100 degree heat with no air condition, this recording captures Mike and his band at a pivotal moment of musical chemistry - right before Mike left to Spain for a yearlong master's at Berklee College of Music's Valencia campus. There is a sense of urgency in the music, a fiery longing in Mike's approach to document this period of their lives before a major life shift in moving overseas for a year. After all, art reflects life...
Upon returning from Spain and right before COVID19, Mike had just made his Kennedy Center debut and was getting ready to speak & showcase at SXSW. Singles from this album have already made waves internationally, with features from the likes of Huffington Post, BBC, Lyrical Lemonade, Dublab, Worldwide FM, Radio France, Jazziz, NTS, Live for Live Music, Jazz FM, Rinse FM, and JazzTimes - and passed half a million streams without a record label.
Ahead of the album's release, Mike Casey & his band were selected as one of five international finalists in the DC Jazz Festival's DCJazzPrix competition, the largest jazz competition in the world for jazz bands - not individual artists. They will compete September 27th via livestream in Washington, D.C.
This is surely a future collector's item and extremely limited in production. Don't miss your chance to get a copy while you can!