TAO Forms

01/07/2025

NYC Winter Jazzfest 2025 Opening Night is this Thursday. FAY Fay Victor's rapturous Herbie Nichols SUNG project is a part of it! At (le) poisson rouge on a bill with Aja Monet & Sophye Soliveau...
Esteemed, astute, and long-time writer on The Music, Jim Macnie picked Fay's performance as one of the smart moves in a Fest teeming with options. Read his write below, and bookmark his Lament For A Straight Line blog (you'll be glad you did):
https://lamentforastraightline.wordpress.com/..
Full details on WJF here: https://www.winterjazzfest.com/

12/12/2024

We loved reading Will Layman's write on Darius Jones & Fay Victor's amazing releases this year (on AUM Fidelity & TAO Forms, respectively) – two of his picks in PopMatters "Best 18 Jazz Albums of 2024" – because of the abundant evidence of deep listenings and full appreciation of the careful craft & soul elocution at hand. Must Read! And dig Layman's additional picks as well:
https://www.popmatters.com/best-jazz-albums-of-2024/2

Whit Dickey Fully Altered Media

10/30/2024

LIVE ON STAGE TONIGHT > Fay Victor & Herbie Nichols SUNG ensemble at The Jazz Gallery NYC > 2 SETS > Livestream Also

TIX: https://jazzgallery.org/calendar/fay-victor-oct30-2024
and
READ this "Must See" PREVIEW BY Jim Macnie:
https://lamentforastraightline.wordpress.com/2024/10/29/must-see-three-jazz-in-nyc-this-week-45/

09/24/2024

Label: Tao Forms, 2024 Personnel - Jason Stein: bass clarinet; Joshua Abrams: bass; Gerald Cleaver: drums; Boon: guitar ( #1,7)

09/13/2024

Hello hello & Happy Friday the 13th !

Today is official release day of ANCHORS, the potent new album work from Chicago-based bass clarinetist-composer Jason Stein , together with bandmates Joshua Abrams (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums) and co-producer++ Boon.

And =Tomorrow Saturday the 14th= at 12:00pm EDT we're having a Bandcamp Listening Party to this great work. Jason will be in attendance from Chicago >> Please join us for the listen and live chat as we go deep. IT'S FREE, just have to RSVP here:
https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/merch/anchors-listening-party

"Jason Stein has made many very good records before but in reaching deep inside himself, he came forth with a truly great, holistic one." –S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!

"4 Stars: Jason Stein's transformational journey makes for an outstanding listening experience." –Mark Corroto, All About Jazz

"This is mindful music. Hear this next chapter in an uncompromising artist’s career." –Bret Saunders, Denver Post

BUY HERE:
https://aumfidelity.com/products/jason-stein-anchors
-or- at our Bandcamp:
https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/anchors

Whit Dickey Fully Altered Media

09/08/2024

! One Year Ago Today >> James Brandon Lewis & his Red Lily Quintet released the magnificent 'For Mahalia, With Love' [ https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/album/for-mahalia-with-love ] which went on to be voted #1 Album of the Year in the Frances Davis Critics Poll and #3 in the DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll.

A great new piece on James just posted in The Mercury News of the SF Bay [ https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/09/06/with-a-core-in-gospel-saxophonist-james-brandon-lewis-branches-out/ ] where he'll be performing with The Messthetics at Felton Music Hall tomorrow night.

On September 22, he'll join in Marc Ribot's 70th Birthday Celebration produced by SFJAZZ [ https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/24-25/marc-ribot-70th-birthday-celebration/ ].

AAAAAND on September 29th, the Red Lily Quintet will be performing at Monterey Jazz Festival ! [ https://montereyjazzfestival.org/blog/artistinfo/james-brandon-lewis-red-lily-quintet/ ]

YES.

09/04/2024

Focus [lotsa links!] on phenomenal bass clarinetist / composer Jason Stein >> over the past six years, many have heard Jason perform live on stage (& on record) as part of the heady, levitational assembly Natural Information Society. Perhaps not as many are aware of Stein's extensive work as leader in his own right. Six years since last such, that silence soon broken.

>> New single reveal -out "everywhere" now- is a pithy and gentle meditation – "Anchor I" serves as a frame of the total deep-dive new album, Anchors. Hear & pre-order the LP / CD / DL here: https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/anchors
Physical pre-s begin shipping this coming Monday >>

>> Tues, September 10 - Album release performance Hungry Brain in Chicago. The trio (w/ Joshua Abrams & Gerald Cleaver Gerald Cleaver ) which created this beautiful album (together w/ ) celebrate its release with exclusive hometown set. Yes, Jason will have LPs & CDs available, direct from his hands into yours. Details & advance tix >>
https://wl.seetickets.us/event/jason-stein-record-release-for-anchors-tao-forms-records/616772?afflky=HungryBrain

>> All About Jazz - wonderful Anchors album review by Mark Corroto just up >>
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/anchors-jason-stein-tao-forms
4 Stars - "Stein's transformational journey makes for an outstanding listening experience."

>> And Do Read the extensive & illuminating piece on/by Jason Stein in the Chicago Reader. A great preface/heralding of Anchors, wherein Stein goes deep on the essence of the album's creation, together with his studies/practice of myofascial trigger point therapy and the elemental intertwine of healing arts and music (be it playing or listening) >>
https://chicagoreader.com/music/chicagoans-of-note/jason-stein-bass-clarinetist-and-myofascial-trigger-point-therapist/

Enjoy!

[ photo by Ash Dye ; album cover portrait by Maren Celest ]

Fully Altered Media Whit Dickey

08/22/2024

! Shipp–Dickey–Lopez Trio IBeam Brooklyn This Sunday >>

This, toward a TAO Forms studio session happening a few days later. Great chance to check this distinctively potent trio communion in an intimate setting, yes indeed!

Sliding scale on the entrance fee..

Matt Shipp Whit Dickey Brandon Lopez

08/14/2024

High Worthy of its own spotlight post here. As mentioned in post below, a Great Read on & by Jason Stein heralding his forthcoming TAO Forms album, ANCHORS by Bill Meyer in the great Chicago Reader – the essential weekly newspaper of Chicago, long-standing-still-going-strong. Word.

“The idea of working in the healing arts and being a musician and improviser just makes complete intuitive sense to me," says Jason Stein.

08/14/2024

TAO Forms is supremely excited to announce ANCHORS, the luminous new work from Chicago-based composer & bass clarinetist JASON STEIN - to be released September 13!

((( LISTEN ))) to the first single "Crystalline" just out Today wherever streaming music is served, including our site & Bandcamp where you can also Pre-order this tremendous album. Direct inks below >>

With Anchors, Jason Stein arises from a six-year hiatus as bandleader with his most personal, nuanced, and expansive album to date. It was created together with bassist Joshua Abrams (Natural Information Society, of which Stein has been a member since 2017), drummer Gerald Cleaver (whose bona fides run deep & wide), and guest artist/co-producer Boon. Anchors is a suite of great beauty and potency, moving from meditative calms to lyrical buoyancy to gripping intensity and again to a transformative peace found in unity.

Recorded by Greg Norman at Electrical Audio, Chicago; masterfully mixed & mastered by Paul Wickliffe at Skyline Productions, South Orange.

A deep & deeply rewarding beauty true!

Pre-order LP / CD directly from our site (cheers!):
https://aumfidelity.com/products/jason-stein-anchors
Or on Bandcamp:
https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/album/anchors

/// and >>
DO READ this just-published great piece on/by Jason Stein in the great Chicago Reader. A fantastic preface/heralding of Anchors, wherein Stein goes deep on the album, the essence of its creation, and his studies / practice of myofascial trigger point therapy, and the crucial intertwine of healing arts and music (be it playing or listening!). Great Read:
https://chicagoreader.com/music/chicagoans-of-note/jason-stein-bass-clarinetist-and-myofascial-trigger-point-therapist

07/22/2024

TUNE IN !! 93.9fm here in NYC; WNYC.org to the world >>

Fay Victor & Herbie Nichols SUNG band to be LIVE ON Air during today's broadcast >>

https://www.wnyc.org/

07/20/2024

!! Congratulations to James Brandon Lewis!!

-Rising Star Artist Of The Year
-Rising Star Composer Of The Year
in the 72nd Annual DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll

And his majestic 'For Mahalia, With Love' album with Red Lily Quintet voted #3 Album Of The Year.
Great Company in a year of outstanding releases!

Many cheers to all involved in this gorgeous work:
Kirk Knuffke Chad Tayor William Parker Chris Hoffman Bill Mazza Paul Wickliffe Whit Dickey Fully Altered Media

The exquisite 2LP edition of For Mahalia on special sale on our site through month of July >> https://aumfidelity.com/collections/new-releases/products/james-brandon-lewis-red-lily-quintet-for-mahalia-with-love

06/15/2024

LIVE RIGHT NOW -- Fay Victor on Dave Sewelson's Music For A Free World program on WFMU's Give The Drummer Stream.
2:00pm-5pm >> Nice!

Learn more about Fay Victor at https://www.fayvictor.com/ Follow Fay Victor on IG, FB and Twitter. | Audio & playlist from June 15, 2024

05/28/2024

Another outstanding review of this tremendous work by Fay Victor and incredible band. Fully felt/written by Jerome Wilson at All About Jazz.

"There are several fine Herbie Nichols tributes around, but this one has a unique soul and earthiness created by Fay Victor's otherworldly singing and the adventurous spirit of her band. This is a superb album, one of the most delightful releases of the year so far."

Whit Dickey Bill Mazza Deneka Pen*ston Fully Altered Media

Fay Victor / Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way album review by Jerome Wilson, published on May 25, 2024. Find thousands jazz reviews at All About Jazz!

05/22/2024

A tremendous work indeed. Built to last by Fay Victor & band:
Michaël Attias Tom Rainey Ratzo Harris Anthony Coleman
9/10 -PopMatters / 4 Stars -Jazzwise
4 Stars -MOJO / 4 Stars -DownBeat Magazine

w/ Andrew Taub engineering Kevin Whitehead liner notes
Deneka Pen*ston cover portrait Bill Mazza design
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Own Now >> https://fayvictor.bandcamp.com/album/life-is-funny-that-way

05/14/2024

Tremendous long-form review of this impeccable work of Fay Victor & her devoted Herbie Nichols SUNG band: Michaël Attias Anthony Coleman Tom Rainey Ratzo Harris. Respect to writer Will Layman for elucidating the magnitude & PopMatters for publishing it.

Fully Altered Media Andrew Taub Bill Mazza Deneka Pen*ston Whit Dickey

This is Fay Victor's best recording to date because it looks at a past great composer and reimagines that tradition as part of jazz music's daring vanguard.

05/09/2024

FAY VICTOR / Herbie Nichols SUNG stunning 2LP
=Best Jazz on Bandcamp, April 2024=

"This is old-school music made for the present day. This is new-school music that would’ve been loved back in the day."

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-jazz/the-best-jazz-on-bandcamp-april-2024?utm_source=notification

Fay Victor Anthony Coleman Tom Rainey Michaël Attias Bill Mazza Andrew Taub Whit Dickey Fully Altered Media

Our guide to the month’s crucial jazz LPs.