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Harlem-Based Label Makes Waves on International Sales, Radio and Tastemaker Charts and Polls
Celebrations planned at Monterey, Exit 0 & London Jazz Festivals, As Well As at Events in Detroit, NYC and Paris
Motéma Music's tenth anniversary year is in full swing, and as the summer heats up, the Harlem-based label has much cause for celebration. The month of July kicked off with vibraphonist Joe Locke's May release, Lay Down My Heart, spending two weeks in the #1 slot on the Jazz Week chart. In fact, for the week of July 1, Motéma held the distinction of having the most albums of any label on Jazz Week's chart, with six of the top 50 albums receiving the most airplay on jazz radio around the US.
Locke's Lay Down My Heart led the pack, joined by five additional Motéma releases,an assembly of music that's fully representative of the label's eclectic roster: Grammy-nominee
Celebrations planned at Monterey, Exit 0 & London Jazz Festivals, As Well As at Events in Detroit, NYC and Paris
Motéma Music's tenth anniversary year is in full swing, and as the summer heats up, the Harlem-based label has much cause for celebration. The month of July kicked off with vibraphonist Joe Locke's May release, Lay Down My Heart, spending two weeks in the #1 slot on the Jazz Week chart. In fact, for the week of July 1, Motéma held the distinction of having the most albums of any label on Jazz Week's chart, with six of the top 50 albums receiving the most airplay on jazz radio around the US.
Locke's Lay Down My Heart led the pack, joined by five additional Motéma releases,an assembly of music that's fully representative of the label's eclectic roster: Grammy-nominee
Eldar Djangirov
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 and Motéma friend Gary Smulyan's Pepper Adams Tribute that developed out of Motéma's Complete Works of Pepper Adams project of 2012). At November's 'Exit 0' Jazz Festival in Cape May, New Jersey, six Motéma acts will perform: Jaimeo Brown's international sensation, Transcendence; Joe Locke's Blues & Ballads Band; Lakecia Benjamin's Soul Squad; Marc Cary Focus Trio;Jana Herzen withCharnett Moffett; and the Brazilian/Bluegrass sensation Matuto.<br /><br />Overseas celebrations happen in Paris, at Duc des Lombards where René Marie, the Pedrito Martinez Group, Marc Cary's Focus Trio and Jaimeo Brown's Transcendence will perform at a series of Tenth Anniversary shows from November 12 through 17, after which Motéma will hop the channel to The London Jazz Fest where a bevy of Motéma artists including Jaimeo Brown's Transcendence with JD Allen and Chris Sholar at XOYO Club and Rene Marie at Pizza Express.<br /><br />Not bad for the 'little label that could,' which started up in San Francisco and now makes its home out of a brownstone in Harlem. “I'm really pleased with how the label has grown and I'm humbled by the depth of the amazing music that the artists have been turning out, and by the dedication and talents of our staff and associates)
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