Mack Avenue Expands Roster with Graves, Childs & DeFrancesco

  I  
Image

Billy Childs will release a new album for Mack Avenue Records on March 24.

(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

Mack Avenue Records has announced the addition of three major artists to its roster: keyboardist Cameron Graves, organist Joey DeFrancesco and composer/pianist Billy Childs, each of whom is scheduled to release an album in early 2017.

Graves—West Coast Get Down founding member and frequent Kamasi Washington collaborator—will launch his anticipated debut album, Planetary Prince, with Mack Avenue Records on Feb. 24. The album, an expansion of a four-song EP, features numerous West Coast Get Down regulars, including saxophonist Washington, trumpeter Philip Dizack, trombonist Ryan Porter, bassist Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, bassist Hadrien Feraud and drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr.

Organist Joey DeFrancesco, who also plays trumpet and sings, will debut his first-ever quartet, Joey DeFrancesco & The People, with the release of Project Freedom on March 10. The new ensemble features guitarist Dan Wilson, saxophonist Troy Roberts and drummer Jason Brown. A tour in support of the album is planned.

Four-time Grammy Award winner Billy Childs returns to his jazz roots with the March 24 release of Rebirth. Joined by saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Eric Harland—along with guests such as vocalists Alicia Olatuja and Claudia Acuna, trombonist Ido Meshulam and percussionist Rogerio Boccato—the album serves as a career retrospective and marks the 40th anniversary of Childs’ recording debut with trombone legend J.J. Johnson.

In April 2016 Mack Avenue Records acquired the St. Louis-based jazz imprint MAXJAZZ, expanding its roster to include such notable musicians as Mulgrew Miller, René Marie, Russell Malone and Geoffrey Keezer. For more information on the label’s website. DB



  • 23_Village_Vanguard_Joey_Baron_by_Michael_Jackson_copy.jpg

    “Bill Stewart has nothing to prove,” Baron says. “I aspire to that ethic.”

  • 23_Charles_Lloyd_1_by_Dorothy_Darr.jpg

    “At this point in my life I’m still looking for the note,” Lloyd says. “But I’m a little nearer.”

  • McBride__Kahn_copy.jpg

    ​Christian McBride and writer Ashley Kahn meet for a DownBeat Blindfold Test hosted by New York University’s Jazz Studies program.

  • Samara_Joy_%C2%A92023_Mark_Sheldon-4639.jpg

    Samara Joy brought fans to their feet in the middle of her Newport set!

  • Christian_McBride_by_Ebru_Yildiz.jpeg

    ’You can’t simply book a festival with things that you like,” Christian McBride says of the Newport Jazz Festival. “You have a responsibility to present up-and-coming artists who people don’t know yet. And you have to get people in the seats.”