Antibalas Members & alums: New collaborations, works, tours

Trumpeter Jordan McLean's label System Dialing just released "New Vocabulary", a new album with saxophonist Ornette Coleman with McLean, drummer Amir Ziv and keyboardist Adam Holzman.

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Drummer Miles Arntzen is out on the road with Will Butler of Arcade Fire playing songs off the new album "Policy" on Merge Records. His band EMEFE just released a new video (WATCH) and released a new album on May 3.

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Antibalas horns Ray Mason, Martín Perna, Jordan McLean, and Jas Walton can be heard on Mark Ronson's new album "Uptown Special."

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The full Antibalas band is featured on two songs co-written by Martín Perna:  "Melagioco" and "Libera" on the new release "2015cc" by Lorenzo Cherubini aka Jovanotti. The horns are featured on a third tune, "Ragazza Magica."

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Ray Mason, Reinaldo de Jesus, and Martín Perna recorded on the Mark Ronson-produced soundtrack to the film "Mortdecai" starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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Antibalas founder / baritone saxophonist Martín Perna has entered the world of standup comedy. He has performed at the Comedy Cellar Village Underground, Eastville, and StandUp New York.

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Antibalas tenor sax emeritus Stuart Bogie is leading his band Superhuman Happiness (feat. longtime Antibalas trumpeter Eric Biondo) on a tour of the west coast with Marco Benevento.

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Nikhil Yerawadekar (bass) and Timothy Allen (guitar) are in California for two record release shows with the Sway Machinery. Nikhil and his group "Low Mentality have a new 45 rpm out called "Reel It In" on 3rd Generation Recordings. Here's the VIDEO.

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Trumpeter emeritus Todd Simon just won a Grammy in the category of Best Reggae Album for his performance and horn arranging work on Ziggy Marley's "Fly Rasta." His LA-based ensemble Ethio Cali has a new residency in LA at Acabar.

Three Questions with Jordan McLean

This is the first in a series of mini-interview pieces published weekly on Tuesday over the next three months. Three simple questions with a member of the band. First up is trumpeter Jordan McLean.

1) What creative things do you have going on right now

* breathtakingly beautiful songs from my dear friend Jeremiah Lockwood

 * new arrangements for brass of very old music, from a new band i am calling BREATH FOR 5 VOICES 

* the premier of a new band (with my System Dialing Records partner, the sui generous drummer Amir Ziv) DIRECTORS 

 * a first reading of about 1/2 of a piece commissioned by the incredible SIREN Baroque (and some Vivaldi selected by Co-Birthday Girl Anneke Schaul-Yoder!)

* a new song from my beloved PIANO MUSIC & SONG TRIO (featuring Anneke and the truly wonderful Derin Oge)

i am performing at BAM in the redic tribute to William Onyeabor on 5/2+3...

i will be in Europe for a couple of weeks with Antibalas early this summer and otherwise focusing on work in Brooklyn as music coordinator for a new art house venture and continuing to produce new releases for System Dialing Records, including Jeremiah Lockwood's phenomenal solo record LOCKWOOD, due out in early May (more on all of this soon).

yeah! the piece for SIREN, DIRECTORS with Amir, SDR and GSquare are the most burning in my mind...

2) What was your favorite Antibalas show/moment of the past few months

The New Years shows at SOBs were so special, because the band had time to settle into the music and meld with our hometown audience. Our work on the Paul Simon tribute will stand out for years to come!

3) What do you most worry about and what are you doing about it?

i don't worry as a rule, but what i concern myself with is forging lasting and loving relationships (all that really matters in this life) and creating a lasting body of artistic output (the key to immortality).

> links to your stuff.

• http://systemdialingrecords.com
• http://gsquare.org

Trumpeter Jordan McLean Launches Bold New Record Label

Antibalas trumpeter and founding member Jordan McLean along with virtuoso drum set player Amir Ziv have assembled a fantastic new record label called System Dialing Records. Not married to any one genre, they bring you music as varied and challenging as New York, the city System Dialing calls home.

Their motto: "Shifting the edges of the experimental frontier toward the center of mainstream discovery."

Their newest releases include Jordan's Piano Music & Song Trio's newest album "Despite and Still," and Amir Ziv's "Tympanum" and forthcoming solo by Jeremiah Lockwood mixed by Daptone Records guru Gabriel Roth.

INFO: http://www.systemdialingrecords.com