At the end of 2015, New Orleans drumming authority Stanton Moore was preparing to record a new album with his longtime musical partners David Torkanowsky and James singleton. Weeks before the trio was set to record, they received the unfortunate news that Allen Touissant had suddenly passed away while on tour in Spain. “I instantly felt a need to pay tribute to his indelible musical legacy-“ said Moore, realizing that an entire group of artists had just lost the soundtrack to their beloved home of New Orleans. 

Moore wasn’t exactly sure how the collection of songs would turn out once they had started recording at Parlor Studios- fortunately one of the great things about working in New Orleans is the vast pool of talented musicians to pull from. Moore first recruited special guests NIcholas Payton, Donald Harrison Jr. and Trombone Shorty to play together. Once the foundation for the songs was set, vocalists Cyril Neville, Kiki Phillips and Erica Falls were called upon to deliver a voice to the album. As everything developed he added Eric “Benny” Bloom, Skerik, Mark Mullins, Aaron Fletcher on horns and Mike Dillon on percussion as well. The end result is a special record that pays tribute to a musical legend in Allen Toussaint- one that Stanton Moore is ready to share with the world. 

Music is the universal language and we are the interpreter of sound, a message that has been lost in transcription. Under Jazz Is Dead, younger artists are elaborating upon conversations started decades ago; jazz icons are utilizing vintage equipment to create new masters with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad; the same equipment that recorded their coveted catalogs. The vitality embedded in the new masters epitomizes our quest for new life in music:  Jazz Is Dead.

Soft-spoken with the look of a slightly disaffected 1950s matinee idol, Aaron Frazer possesses a unique voice that’s both contemporary and timeless. The Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-raised songwriter first came into the international spotlight as co-lead vocalist and drummer of Durand Jones & The Indications, and recently released his solo debut, Introducing..., produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, out now via Easy Eye Sound and Dead Oceans.

mr. boosh is following