!!! NEW ALBUM nublues out since February 9, 2024 on Blue Note Redords !!!

On Feb. 9, Joel Ross released his remarkable fourth Blue Note album nublues, and the acclaimed vibraphonist has shared the new single “bach (God the Father in Eternity),” a stunning piece that injects the sound of the church and the rhythm of Black American music into a melodic fragment by J.S. Bach. nublues is a collection of ballads and blues as seen through the lens of one of the most creative modern jazz groups of our time featuring Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kano Mendenhall on bass, and Jeremy Dutton on drums, as well as special guest Gabrielle Garo on flute. The band moves seamlessly across the blues-imbued musical terrain of this 10-track set which includes 7 new Ross originals as well as pieces by John Coltrane (“equinox” and “central park west”) and Thelonious Monk (“evidence”).

The genesis of nublues dates back to 2020 when, during the Covid pandemic as live performances were shut down, Ross went back to the New School to finish his degree. One of his classes was taught by the alto saxophonist Darius Jones, who nudged students to dig into the history of the blues. That led Ross down a rabbit hole of what the blues can be; it isn’t just a 12-bar form. He realized it was a feeling. “Sort of a spirit or an energy,” Ross says. “It’s emotion, it’s expression. But I also want to stay true to the rhythmic ideations that we’ve already been developing. I don’t really tell the band how to play anything. What I do tell them is to stay connected and make everything we do related to each other. And play the blues, however that comes off.”

In that way, nublues is a vast record with various entry points, an invitation to choose your own adventure. When asked what he wants to convey with this LP, Ross hesitates. “I don't want my personal experience to be what people are thinking about when they're experiencing it,” he says. “I generally want people to be able to come in and hear the music and interpret it through their own lens.”

“I enjoyed the journey of diving into learning about the blues and understanding the history of the blues, really focusing on developing this band’s sound and band structure,” he says. “For me, it was just about the journey that came from getting into all of the information and figuring out what it was going to be. It’s a constant continuing. It's a snapshot into how we've continued to do the same thing we've been doing and how it's been shifting.”

Joel Ross, Bio:
Vibraphone master and songwriter Joel Ross has adopted an entire ethos dependent on truthful, ongoing communication. A Blue Note artist of critically acclaimed releases KingMaker (2019), Who Are You? (2020) and, most recently, The Parable of the Poet, he regularly tops the DownBeat and Jazz Journalists Association Critics Polls for his work in the broad lineage of Black music that pulls from jazz, hip hop, church and Chicago improvised music. Now based in Brooklyn, the Chicago-born artist performs across the globe, collaborating with Makaya McCraven, Maria Grand, Kassa Overall, Nicole Mitchell, Gerald Clayton, Melissa Aldana, Walter Smith III, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Wynton Marsalis, Rajna Swaminathan, Marcus Gilmore, Brandee Younger and Marquis Hill. As a leader, he has performed at Smalls Jazz Club, The Village Vanguard, The Kennedy Center, Umbria Jazz Festival, Winter Jazz Fest, Newport Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s Club, The Blue Whale, North Sea Jazz Festival and The Brubeck Institute. His recent tour included dates at Triennale di Milano, Teatro dell’Arte and Teatro Ariston in Italy; Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, small hall, LUX Nijmegen, Lantaren Venster, Bimhuis, Rockit Festival and De Oosterpoort in The Netherlands; Ronnie Scott’s in London; Le Duc des Lombards in Paris; and Jazzclub Unterfahrt and Halle 424 in Germany, among other international venues. Ross’ residencies include appearances at Roulette Intermedium for JazzFest Berlin and Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, and as a touring member of the Jazz Gallery All Stars ban.