New album:
Speculation Quartet:
“Live at LunÀtico.”
FEATURING:
Nate Radley - guitar
Brad Shepik - guitar
Arthur Kell - bass
Allan Mednard - drums
Origin Records release date: Nov. 17, 2023.
Speculation Quartet:
LIVE at lunatico
Arthur Kell's latest release, Speculation Quartet: Live at LunÀtico is a homecoming for the bassist/composer. The project merges the artist's disparate pursuits, bringing his music full circle. Through Bar LunÀtico, Kell (a co-founder) has contributed greatly to the nurturing and sustaining of a vibrant music scene in modern-day Brooklyn. In turn, Kell’s involvement in the scene has helped to inform and develop his latest musical explorations. However, long before Kell was a regular presence on LunÀtico's bandstand as a sideman for artists such as Kenny Wolleson, Roy Nathanson, Paul Bollenback, Matt Darriau, Eri Yamamoto or Avram Fefer, many of Kell's earliest gigs were in Bed-Stuy, playing at local bars and all-night joints such as Tiffany's, Brownie's, etc. Featuring two of the most revered guitarists on the scene, in NYC and beyond, Brad Shepik and Nate Radley and rising star Allan Mednard on drums, Speculation Quartet is about approaching, contemplating and interacting with the ever-present uncertainty and potential in life – hypothesizing about the inevitable risks we take with everything and everyone we encounter.
Credits:
Produced by Arthur Kell
Recorded by Rob Badenoch, live at Bar LunÀtico, Brooklyn, NY on February 15-16, 2022
Mixed & Edited by Rob Badenoch, South Orange, NJ
Mastered by Nate Wood at Kerseboom Mastering, Ridgewood, NY
Cover photo by Kyra Kverno, photo retouching by Katya Scarpulla
Interior photos by Luke Marantz (from video stills)
Cover design & layout by John Bishop
Live at LunÀtico
CD Release Celebration Tour
October 3 – Jimmy Glass, Valencia, Spain
October 4 – London Cockney Club, Padova, Italy
October 5 – Jazzon Aretoa, Bilbao, Spain
October 6 – Clarence Jazz Club, Malaga, Spain
October 7 – Donau 115, Berlin, Germany
October 8/9 – Rust, Copenhagen, Denmark
October 11 – Jazz Book, Bucharest, Romania
October 12 – Chamber Jazz at Transylvania University, Brasov, Romania
October 13 – Insomnia Café, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
October 14 – Jamboree, Barcelona, Spain
November 14 – Bar LunÀtico, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, NY
January 31 (2024) - Smalls, NYC
May 8 (2024) - Bar Bayeux, Brooklyn NY
June 11 - Bar LunÀtico, Brooklyn, NY Arthur Kell Quintet w/Alfredo Colón, Luke Marantz, Guilherme Monteiro, Allan Mednard
Press
"[A] terrific group...You can imagine that softly rocking line on a 60s Blue Note date...the same spiraling effect you used to get with the Bhundu Boys...Like his old friend and associate, Thomas Chapin, [Kell] keeps his ears and mind open for new sounds and experiences." —Downbeat Magazine (Four-Star Review, January 2024)
"Arthur Kell again proves his innovative skills as a bandleader. Intense musical conversations, which are driven from one climax to the next...highlight the quartet's intense, lucid and tight musical interplay. A varied, colorful, dynamic and all around exciting album! Musically the quartet is covering a broad spectrum. [Kell's] original compositions are swinging back and forth between Brazil and the Arabic world. The musical coherence is impressive. Two guitarists in top form. A rising star drum virtuoso." —Jazz'N'More Magazine (Five-Star Review, Jan/Feb 2024):
“Everything that modern jazz should be: vibrant, challenging music from a band so tight within its group dynamic and so confident in its individualistic chops that every movement is a lively step forward….retains all the energy of a kick-ass live event." — Jazz Improv Magazine
"The compositions are filled with melodic arrangements, spontaneous interaction, and vibrant individual performances. Booming bass lines, crisp drumming, and dynamic sax and guitar harmonies (and solos) are in abundance and every tune has elements of swing and discovery.…the music's lyrical bent and the quartet's collective talent for nuance is what brings this disc home...the sense that these are stories never wanes....the results are very, very good." — All About Jazz
“…pushing the lines and learning what lies beyond the norm by breaching boundaries of composition and volunteering a freer conversation. This is music beyond the chart; it is sentient art, challenging listeners with incongruent lines and exhilarating, exacting conversations. It is volatile, daring jazz…” — Blinded by Sound
"A group stupendously united, solid and modern with a sublime melodic qualities and a rhythmic confidence and inventiveness." — GARA (Spain)
"The music rings with sensitivity and beauty...." — Cadence Magazine
"...enormously confident mastering of instruments and style. Because the melody always remains at the core, rhythms develop their own lives...the musicians react to each other with great sensitivity, communicating with an alert understanding..." — Westdeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
Recordings as a leader
Loren Stillman - alto sax
Brad Shepik - guitar
Arthur Kell - bass
Mark Ferber - drums
Loren Stillman - alto sax
Brad Shepik - guitar
Arthur Kell - bass
Joe Smith - drums
Bill McHenry - tenor sax
Steve Cardenas - guitar
Arthur Kell - bass
Allison Miller - drums
Gorka Benitez - tenor sax and flute
Steve Cardenas - guitar
Arthur Kell - bass
Joe Smith - drums