New CD announced, tour dates, new articles!

Hi everyone, I hope you've been having a great summer.  I'm excited to announce that my record label, Irabbagast Records, is teaming up with Germany's Jazzwerkstatt and we are co-releasing my new trio CD in late October, featuring Barry Altschul and Mark Helias!!

Mark and Barry have been playing together for over thirty years, and it's been a dream of mine to get them together and play my music.  We recorded 8 of my new originals at the Peitz Jazz Festival in Germany back in June, and I cannot be happier with the way they turned out.  Stay tuned for more on that!

It's been a very busy year so far, with CD releases from the Dave Douglas Quintet, Mostly Other People do the Killing, Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys, the Barry Altschul 3Dom Factor and the Mary Halvorson Septet.  All the records have been receiving rave reviews from critics and fans alike, so pick up a copy!   There's also a new Mostly Other People do the Killing record coming out in late October, featuring the quartet along with Brandon Seabrook, Ron Stabinsky and Dave Taylor.

I just updated the tour schedule, so take a look, and hopefully I'll see you out there!  I'm traveling around a lot to end the year and doing shows with Dave Douglas, Mostly Other People, Barry Altschul and Mary Halvorson.

Thomas Conrad did a great write-up of my music at JazzTimes recently.  Thanks, Thomas!  Check out the link here:  http://jazztimes.com/articles/93416-jon-irabagon-eclectic-warrior

And finally, I was honored to be named Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist in this year's Downbeat Critics Poll.  Thanks to everyone that voted for me; I truly appreciate it.  I also finished runner up in the poll's Rising Star Jazz Artist category.   You can see the entire magazine here:  http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2013/DB201308/_art/DB201308.pdf

Thanks for reading, and hope to see you out and about!
Jon

Pop Matters Blog article

Happy 2013 everybody!  This is gearing up to be a pretty busy this year for me.  I'm doing tours with the Barry Altschul 3Dom Factor, Mostly Other People do the Killing, my trio with Mark Helias and Barry Altschul, the new Dave Douglas Quintet with Aoife O'Donovan, the Mary Halvorson Quintet and Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys.

I'm also on a bunch of new records coming out this year:  Barry's new record "The 3Dom Factor" just came out on Finland's TUM Records, Mostly Other People do the Killing's fifth studio album, "Slippery Rock" came out a week ago on Hot Cup Records, the new Dave Douglas Quintet record "Time Travel" is coming out in April, the new From Bacteria to Boys record "Birthing Days" is coming out in May, the new Mary Halvorson Septet record is coming out later in the year, as well as a new MOPDtK live record and an expanded MOPDtK with piano, banjo and bass trombone!

Whew.  

I'm also honored and humbled to have had this article written on my music by Will Layman at PopMatters.com.  Check it out!  Will really hits it out of the park, and nails exactly where I'm coming from with my music and different bands.  

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/167286-jon-irabagon-takes-us-by-storm/

Also, the new video from Mostly Other People do the Killing just came out.  Thanks to Yuan Liu for all she did to make this thing happen.  

http://vimeo.com/58001210

And finally, my recent releases on my own label, Irabbagast Records, have been getting some great reviews, and they've been selling!  Can't believe I have to order a 2nd batch of them!!  Downbeat recently gave Unhinged a rare 5 star rating, and it was pictured next to the recent Keith Jarrett record on the "5 Star Masterpiece" page of the January 2013 issue.  Unhinged also just received a CHOC rating in the big French magazine Jazzman/Jazzmagazine, which is the equivalent to a 5 star review.  Thanks everyone!  

I'll be writing again soon to put more reviews, articles and shows up.  Until then, feel free to drop me a line and say hello!

Jon