The Freedom Principle

09/21/2025

We are excited to be performing at the Cultivate festival on Saturday September 27 at the Haute Goat Farm, we will be there for a main stage performance and workshop. Cultivate Festival
Alpaca Stage 1:45 pm
Nightingale Stage 4:00 pm

09/19/2025

Aba Diop & the Yermande Family - (2025) Family - Dal Diam Fall
Aba Diop (AH-bah JOP), master sabar drummer from Dakar, Senegal, comes from an unbroken griot lineage where rhythm and story are inherited as sacred responsibilities. Now based in the U.S., he leads the Yermande Family — “yermande” in Wolof meaning compassion and community — alongside relatives, griot peers, and international collaborators. His work affirms sabar as more than accompaniment, presenting it as a lead voice that has shaped music across West Africa and the diaspora.
Family places sabar and tama at the centre, supported by kora, guitar, bass, keys, and griot vocals. Guests such as pianist John Medeski and drummer Yussef Dayes add their voices to the ensemble, blending jazz improvisation with griot spontaneity. By giving sabar a front line role, the album reframes percussion as source rather than support, offering both a living tradition and a message of unity rooted in rhythm.

Aba Ñew Na! - Single out now, available on all platforms! http://bit.ly/abanewnaAba Diop & the Yermande Family with special guest John MedeskiAba Diop—Percus...

09/19/2025

Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - (2025) The Original Influencers – ALJA
Arturo O’Farrill, Mexico City–born and New York–based pianist, leads the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in a live tribute to the “original influencers” of Afro-Cuban jazz—Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Chico O’Farrill—recorded at The Town Hall, NYC. The programme frames that lineage through new charts and extended improvisation under O’Farrill’s direction.
The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico (Live at Town Hall) features prominent guests Daymé Arocena, Jon Faddis, Pedrito Martinez, Melvis Santa, Donald Harrison, and Adam O’Farrill, whose appearances power moments like “La Rumba Me Llamo Yo,” “On the Corner of Malecón and Bourbon,” and the multi-movement “Manteca Suite.” The result is a concise hand-off between generations: classic Afro-Cuban vocabulary voiced by a modern New York orchestra with first-call soloists.

Provided to YouTube by ALJAManteca Suite, Mvmt. I (Live at Town Hall) · Arturo O'Farrill · Jon Faddis · Pedrito MartinezThe Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chan...

09/19/2025

Ivory - (2025) New Southern Vintage - Nola Blue Records
Bandcamp: https://candiceivory.bandcamp.com/album/new-southern-vintage
Candice Ivory, vocalist from Memphis, Tennessee, known as the “Queen of Avant Soul,” grounds her music in the city’s blues and gospel traditions while connecting to a family lineage that includes her great-uncle Will Roy Sanders of The Fieldstones. She carries these roots into a modern setting with theatrical presence and wide stylistic reach.
New Southern Vintage draws directly on that heritage, reworking songs by Memphis Minnie and Will Roy Sanders while also featuring a collaboration with Bentonia bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes on Catfish Blues. With organ, harmonica, and lap steel textures woven into the arrangements, the album bridges classic Southern blues with contemporary soul and jazz phrasing, offering a distinctly Memphis-born vision of tradition renewed.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesFoolish Pleasure · Candice Ivory · Robert Allen ParkerNew Southern Vintage℗ 2025 Candice Ivory under exclusive ...

09/19/2025

Christian McBride - (2025) Without Further Ado, Vol 1 - Mack Avenue Records
Christian McBride, bassist and bandleader from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been one of the most visible figures in modern jazz since the 1990s. His career also runs deep through Detroit, with close ties to Kenny Garrett and Geri Allen and frequent appearances at the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 pairs McBride’s bass leadership with a remarkable cast: Sting and Andy Summers (Murder by Numbers), Jeffrey Osborne (Back In Love Again), Samara Joy (Old Folks), José James (Moanin’), Cécile McLorin Salvant (All Through the Night), Dianne Reeves (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow), and Antoinette Henry (Come Rain or Come Shine). The program closes with McBride’s own Op. 49 – Cold Chicken Suite, 3rd Movement, showing his writing alongside his collaborative reach. The album highlights McBride’s place as both anchor and catalyst, linking generations and genres through the bass.

Recorded live at 2025 Newport Jazz Festival: https://newportjazz.orgVideo provided courtesy of Newport Festivals Foundation: https://newportfestivals.orgReco...

09/19/2025

Queens - (2025) Buya Buya; Come Back (South Africa) - Umsakazo Records
The Mahotella Queens, founded in Johannesburg in 1964, have carried South Africa’s mbaqanga tradition for six decades with joyous harmonies and jive-inspired energy. At the centre is Hilda Tloubatla, now 83 and the last surviving original member, whose resonant voice has led the group since its beginning.
Buya Buya; Come Back marks their first full album of new material in nearly 20 years, signalling a return to the world stage. Joined by younger singers Amanda Nkosi and Nonku Maseko, Tloubatla steers the Queens into a new chapter, affirming that the mbaqanga beat remains as indestructible today as it was sixty years ago.
QUEENS FANS

Provided to YouTube by CDBabyPhephezela · Mahotella Queens · Nick LotayBuya Buya℗ 2025 Umsakazo RecordsReleased on: 2025-07-25Auto-generated by YouTube.

09/19/2025

Miguel Zenon - (2025) Vanguardia Subterránea; Live at The Village Vanguard (Live) - Miel Music
Miguel Zenón (meh-GEL SEH-non), alto saxophonist and composer from San Juan, Puerto Rico, has become one of the leading voices in modern jazz, known for fusing advanced harmonic language with Puerto Rican folkloric traditions. His music consistently bridges Caribbean identity with cutting-edge improvisation.
Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard features Zenón’s long-standing quartet with Luis Perdomo (piano), Hans Glawischnig (bass), and Henry Cole (drums). The live setting expands their interplay, balancing rhythmic drive and lyricism, and affirms Zenón’s role in carrying Puerto Rican traditions into the centre of the contemporary jazz repertoire.

Radio Jazz Cafè FM Presenta"Lo Nuevo De..." (Jazz Internacional)Miguel Zenon Quartet - "Vanguardia Subterranea-Live At The Village Vanguard"Junio 2025 - De 2...

09/19/2025

Momo Ryuk, Wahabi - (2025) Ardi Afrika - Cafe De Anatolia
Momo Ryuk, Moroccan producer and multi-instrumentalist, joins guitarist and composer Othman Wahabi, also from Morocco and long active in Canada, for Ardi Afrika. Both artists draw on North African traditions while engaging with electronic and global fusion scenes.
The album’s title, Ardi Afrika (“My Land Africa” in Arabic), signals its theme of grounding electronic textures in Maghrebi rhythm and melody. Wahabi, who has released earlier work combining Delta and Chicago blues with gnawa-tinged African rhythms, brings that sensibility to this collaboration. Guitar lines and hand percussion are woven into downtempo and house-inflected frameworks, showing how Moroccan artists position their heritage within a contemporary global club sound.

Hello friends, please check out our new song "Savanna" and don't forget to stream it and to pre-save the full album "Ardi Afrika" on Spotify.Produced by ...

09/19/2025

Neville Marcano - (2025) The Growling Tiger of Calypso - Lomax Archives
Neville Marcano, known as the Growling Tiger, was born in Siparia, Trinidad, and rose to fame in the 1930s as one of the leading calypsonians of his generation. A boxer-turned-singer, his gravelly voice and sharp wit made him both entertainer and commentator during the formative years of recorded calypso.
The Growling Tiger of Calypso, reissued from Lomax Archive recordings, captures his blend of sly humour and social critique. In Money Is King (1935), he observed how “if you have money to buy a motor car / you can make the police your chauffeur,” a lyric that resonated under colonial Trinidad’s inequality. The album highlights how Tiger used calypso to entertain while giving sharp voice to the everyday struggles of his audience.

Provided to YouTube by BWSCD IncMoney is King · Neville MarcanoThe Growling Tiger of Calypso℗ 2025 Lomax ArchiveReleased on: 2025-08-29Main Artist: Neville M...

09/19/2025

Nicholas Payton - (2025) Triune - Smoke Sessions Records
Nicholas Payton, trumpeter, pianist, and composer from New Orleans, continues to expand his concept of Black American Music (BAM) on Triune. He plays trumpet, flugelhorn, keyboards, and vocals, joined by esperanza spalding on bass and voice and Karriem Riggins, drummer from Detroit known for bridging jazz and hip hop as both player and producer. Together the trio balances improvisation with groove, linking New Orleans tradition to contemporary currents in Black music.
The album unfolds across seven tracks, from the expansive Unconditional Love to the pointed Jazz Is a Four-Letter Word and the socially charged . Guest voices — Nikki Glaspie (Ultraviolet), Ivan Neville, Erica Falls, and Otis McDonald ( ) — broaden the sound, weaving funk, soul, and spoken cadence into the trio’s foundation. The result is both a celebration of collective creativity and a direct statement of Payton’s BAM philosophy.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises · Nicholas Payton · Esperanza Spalding · Karriem Riggins · Ivan Neville · Erica Falls · Ot...

09/19/2025

Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical - Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Sonido amazónico – Distrolux
Ranil (rah-NEEL) y Su Conjunto Tropical, led by singer-guitarist Raúl Llerena Vásquez from Iquitos, Peru, helped shape the sound known as sonido amazónico — a psychedelic variant of cumbia that grew from the Amazon basin in the 1970s. Their recordings blended Colombian cumbia rhythms with fuzzed-out electric guitar, Farfisa organ, and echoes of local Amazonian folklore.
Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical – Sonido amazónico, originally recorded in the early 1970s and now reissued, spotlights how Amazonian cumbia forged a regional identity distinct from coastal Peruvian styles. The album highlights the creativity of Iquitos’s music scene and its place within the wider Afro-Indigenous and mestizo continuum of cumbia across South America.

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard EnterprisesMi Guitarra Llora Por Ti · Ranil · Betto GaviriaArriba las Mujeres℗ 1977 Producciones LlerenaReleased on: 1977-...

09/19/2025

Riot Jazz Brass Band - (2025) Ginja – SR
Riot Jazz Brass Band, from Manchester, England, emerged in the late 2000s with a sound that mixes New Orleans brass-band traditions with funk, hip hop, and electronic textures. Their lineup of horns, sousaphone, and drums emphasises raw energy shaped for both clubs and festival stages.
Ginja (JIN-jah) keeps that approach front and centre, combining brass riffs with syncopated beats and playful vocals. The album shows how brass-band music, rooted in New Orleans and the African diaspora, continues to evolve when refracted through Manchester’s experimental scene.