Sunnyside Records

06/06/2025

New Release: For generations, the music of Richard Rodgers has been capturing listeners’ ears and imaginations. The legendary composer’s songs have become a part of the musical zeitgeist, many outlasting the musicals or films they were created for. It is no surprise that Denny Zeitlin chose to spotlight Rodgers and his exemplary work on the pianist’s new solo recording, With a Song In My Heart: Exploring The Music of Richard Rodgers. Available to purchase/stream today (6/6)! https://buff.ly/8HVNKXu

30/05/2025

New Release: There are moments when musicians need to escape artifice and the weight of metaphor in music creation. Sometimes it is best to scale down and just play with a group that makes music for pleasure or escape. Woodwind master Marty Ehrlich brought together bassist John Hébert and drummer Nasheet Waits a decade ago to create the Trio Exaltation. Together, they return to present a collection of further explorations of sound and camaraderie on their new release, This Time. https://buff.ly/f7kK9EL

23/05/2025

New Release: The magical world of the great Cuban-American woodwind master Paquito D’Rivera continues to expand. Over his seven decades in music, D’Rivera has become engaged with musicians hailing from locations all throughout the world. His most recent release, La Fleur de Cayenne, highlights his work with an ensemble of Cuban expatriates and a Colombian vibraphonist who call Madrid, Spain home with a group they call the Madrid-New York Connection Band. Available Digital today (5/23)! https://buff.ly/gIEEFLN

16/05/2025

New Release: Across cultures the world over, the word echo, well, echoes. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the mountain nymph Echo’s voice was cursed so that she could only repeat the words of others. In Arabic, صَدَى (ṣadā) — meaning “echo,” “ring,” “resonance” — deeply connotes longing, memory. Brooklyn-based composer, vocalist, shamisen player, and educator Emi Makabe was drawn to her native language’s unique iteration: ekō.

“It shares the English pronunciation, but it means praying for people who have passed away,” Makabe explains. Which resonated deeply with her, as her father passed away in 2021. “It was during the pandemic, so nobody could visit,” Makabe says. “I watched him as he was taken to the hospital in a wheelchair, and I was praying that he might turn around just once. He didn’t turn back — and that was the last time I saw him.”

Yet a soul refraction still transpired — one poignantly documented on Echo, Makabe’s second album, due May 16 via Sunnyside. Featuring a masterful band in bassist and backing vocalist Thomas Morgan; pianist, accordionist and Wurlitzer organist Vitor Gonçalves; and drummer, percussionist, vibraphonist, and electronicist Kenny Wollesen, Echo also features the estimable talents of guitarist Bill Frisell, MC Meshell Ndegeocello, and pianist Jason Moran.

Available to purchase/stream today (5/16/25)! https://buff.ly/rQ1Lw0a

09/05/2025

New Release: Introspection can be born from any number of events. Losing a valued mentor is a moment that would give anyone pause. Esthesis Quartet members Dawn Clement and Elsa Nilsson searched deep inside to come to terms with the loss of their mentor, Ron Miles. Along with bandmates Emma Dayhuff and Tina Raymond, the quartet creates a program of music inspired by self-reflection, contemplation and self-discovery on their new album, Sound & Fury, that features the fantastic Bill Frisell on guitar. Available to purchase/stream today (5/9). https://buff.ly/FSpQaJK

02/05/2025

New Release: It has been over four years since the passing of Frank Kimbrough, an incredible pianist, composer and educator. His loss left an unfillable void in the jazz scene of New York City and throughout the world. Fortunately, his lessons and music still live on in his students, peers and recordings. So, it is with great pleasure and pride that Sunnyside Records presents The Call, a collection of solo performances that were captured and later rediscovered by recording engineer Matt Balitsaris. Available to purchase/stream today (5/2)!

Angelica - 6:14 Tin Tin Deo - 8:36 The Call - 4:01 I Loves You Porgy - 7:25 From California With Love - 7:23 November - 7:05 Reflections in D - 6:16 Night in Tunisia - 5:54 In a Sentimental Mood - 12:55 Improvisation - 4:00

02/05/2025

It is Bandcamp Friday! Take 20% off your entire purchase with code bcmay2025 at checkout! https://buff.ly/HwkeeoO

18/04/2025

New Release: Musical self-expression manifests itself in many ways. Songwriting and live performance have been the most direct methods of creation and dissemination of music. But for generations, the art of capturing music in the recording studio has allowed for profound and unique musical creations. In 1986, Jess Roden, Steve Dwire, and Michael MacDonald released a recording achieved through creative collaboration in the studio. Seven Windows was originally issued on Friends Records in the Netherlands. It will be reissued for the first time, remastered with four additional unheard tracks, by Sunnyside Records on April 18, 2025. https://buff.ly/XfXsRM2

11/04/2025

New Release: The infectious spirit of Brazilian music in all its incredible forms is impossible to deny. Musicians from around the world succumb to the elements of samba, forro and bossa nova. For Brazilian musicians, the essence of these sounds and rhythms is tied up in all the music they create. The new collective ensemble Unity Quartet, featuring Hélio Alves, Guilherme Monteiro, Gili Lopes and Alex Kautz, weave their Brazilian influences into their own forward-thinking version of jazz, as can be heard on their new recording, Samba of Sorts. Available to purchase/stream today (4/11)! https://buff.ly/yQ5Zpcb

04/04/2025

New Release: When writer-producer David Hajdu was growing up, he was drawn to a mystical book on his mother’s shelf entitled Lives of the Saints. This was a collection of tales of Catholic saints and their heroic martyrdom. Later in life, Hajdu began to collect his own stories of ordinary individuals who, through their deeds, attained exalted status in his mind, essentially created his own canon of secular saints.

For his new recording, which borrows the same title, Lives of the Saints, Hajdu enlists an assemblage of first-tier composers and performers to tell the stories of ten remarkable people from history, all of whom happen to be women. Women who did extraordinary things but suffered in some ways for what did or what they believed. Ft. Aubrey Johnson, Helen Sung, Dave Douglas, Renee Rosnes, Chet Doxas, Marika Hughes, Simón Willson & Rudy Royston!

Available to purchase/stream today (4/4)!

https://buff.ly/ejE48US

28/03/2025

New Release: Internationally acclaimed saxophonist and woodwindist Sharel Cassity’s new release, Gratitude, out March 28th on Sunnyside Records, shares with audiences and listeners a conversation of joy, hope, and celebration. Joining Cassity on the release are eight-time Grammy-award-winning bassist and composer Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut as well as Terrell Stafford and Michael Dease, a longtime collaborator of Cassity’s. With its persistently effervescent and positivity-focused spirit, the ebullient Gratitude offers something new from the multi-instrumentalist and iconic rhythm trio. Available to purchase/stream today! https://buff.ly/jkYDhH0

27/03/2025

Eugenia Choe (piano), Sara Serpa (voice) and Yuhan Su (vibraphone) at The Jazz Gallery in NYC