Playscape Recordings Marks Five Years With Two New Releases

LONGMEADOW, MA -- Independent Massachusetts-based record label Playscape Recordings will celebrate its fifth anniversary this fall by launching a new Web site on August 16th and releasing debut recordings from the Michael Musillami Octet and Mario Pavone Quartet on September 7th. Named one of the five best record labels of 2003 by AllAboutJazz-New York, Playscape has quickly established its identity as a high-quality creative outlet for a core group of veteran composer/improvisers since being founded in October 1999.

Michael Musillami Octet
Spirits (PSR#J020104)

Michael Musillami, guitar/altered guitar; Peter Madsen, piano; Cameron Brown, bass; Tom Christensen, tenor and alto saxophones, alto and wood flutes, and English horn; Art Baron, trombone, bass recorder, didgeridoo; Tom Beckham, vibes and marimba; Satoshi Takeishi, percussion; Michael Sarin, drums

Guitarist and Playscape founder Michael Musillami has been called “one of the most imaginative guitarists in jazz" (Signal to Noise), “a distinctive, exemplary stylist," (JazzWeekly.com), and a “superb artisan" (AllAboutJazz.com). JazzTimes called his music “honest, frequently surprising and consistently exciting." His latest release is the debut of his all-star octet, created exclusively to play new arrangements of compositions by the late multi-instrumentalist/composer Thomas Chapin. Following a January live performance, the group headed to New York to record seven Chapin tracks arranged by Musillami, trombonist Art Baron, and reed/double reed-specialist Tom Christensen.

Mario Pavone Quartet
Boom (PSR#J090103)

Mario Pavone, bass/composer; Tony Malaby, tenor and soprano saxophones; Peter Madsen, piano; Matt Wilson, drums

Bassist/composer Mario Pavone's last two Playscape releases, Mythos and Orange, have both ended up on best of the year lists in publications like AllAboutJazz-New York and the Village Voice, inspiring critics like the New York Times' Ben Ratliff to write, “His music has never been less than compelling." His new release Boom features musicians from those recent releases in a new streamlined quartet that performs new original compositions, as well as previously unrecorded material from the late multi-instrumentalist/composer Thomas Chapin, whom he played with as part of the renowned Thomas Chapin Trio.