Paula Jeanine Bennett & Richard X Bennett

Richard X Bennett and Paula Jeanine Bennett are the kinds of people that one would truly notice in a big city (New York in this case). Eclectic, whimsical, and completely authentic representations of their character, personalities, and art. The kind of people that make life on Earth surprising and worthwhile. Richard’s compositions are matched with his playing style, always carrying a certain depth of feeling. While his solo albums have a range, everything opens up as he composes and performs with Paula Jeanine. The result is an intimate, tender album with mystery and comfort wrapped in.

Amaryllis 2 is the musical child of composer/performer couple Paula Jeanine Bennett and Richard X Bennett. Their new art songs are primarily about love, pain and the natural world.

Richard’s three years of profound illness created a chasm in the Brooklyn couple’s life. As a remedy, they played music together, returning to the roots of how they first met. In 2025 they started playing duo at a beat basement club in the East Village called “Caravan of Dreams”. Paula Jeanine sang and drummed while choking in a garlic cloud as Richard plunked away at the sixty available good notes on a distressed piano. More importantly, the couple re-connected.

Soon after, Richard played for a post-modern dance class at Juilliard

where he was paid to improvise as dancers morphed and intertwined on the floor.

Eventually these improvisations turned into melodies which obviously called for lyrics. The accomplished wordsmith Paula Jeanine complied and Amaryllis 2 emerged.

Amaryllis 2 is available everywhere today. drop in here.

Alberto N. A. Turra | Ropeadope SUR

From Ropeadope SUR by way of MIlan come a new album from Guitarist and Composer Alberto N. A. Turra. Described by Musica Jazz as ‘ a guitarist with a visceral passion, a perfect synthesis of heart and mind”, Turra takes us on a new journey with The TAAN Trio walks the Major Arcana walk, due to be unveiled on September 25th. The album’s 22 tracks move through a range of human emotions - sadness, trepidation, anger, and joy - as it demands complete attention. Joining Alberto are Filippo Rinaldo on keys, Stefano Grasso on drums and percussion, with Laura Safadi on viola, Angelica Pierri on violin, and Pietro Procopio on Double Bass.

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Jacob Wick | ropeadope SUR

Internationally-acclaimed trumpet player, composer and improviser Jacob Wick brings us a new album via ropeadope SUR. His work is dedicated to and informed by queer feelings and queer politics. 2025 marked his first release with ropeadope SUR (Wick has resided in Mexico City since 2014), titled a veces me veo en el espejo y pienso en ti. If you get the sense from the title that Wick has a different take on music, you are correct. The Wire titled a review ‘The rolling longform performances of trumpeter Jacob Wick deflate the pretentions and conventions of improvisation’ in which Wick states:

‘You don’t understand improvised music. You feel it. Improvisation is not about forcing a narrative on somebody’

The next album from Jacob Wick - I'll make you coffee while you still sleep - is set for release on September 18, 2026. The music, along with his poignant and direct statements about music, caused us to stop and say ‘Huh, I never really thought about it like that’. A powerful, narrative defying moment of enlightenment.

Introducing Dimitri Hanafin Reyes

Dimitri Hanafin Reyes was born and raised in the Bay Area, set on a musical path as his parents met at an electronic music concert and were therefore fully aware of the power of music to shape lives. Reyes found his own footing with instrumental music, with major influences including Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, and contemporary artists like Robert Glasper. An avid listener, Dimitri would dig through discographies with an ear on both style and composition.

Moving to New Orleans, Reyes earned dual degrees in Black American Music and Legal Studies in Business from Tulane University and developed a disciplined approach to both musical tradition and professional practice. From there, he hit the street, performing with many local musicians and circulating within the community.

‘The community aspect of New Orleans has had a profound effect on my playing. Music is an oral tradition, all about providing the next generation with the right steps’

Welcomed in the New Orleans community, Hanafin Reyes performed four times at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the French Quarter Festival, and multiple appearances at JazzAscona festival in Switzerland. His performance experience has been complemented by focused cultural study. He traveled to Cuba twice to study Cuban music and rhythm, deepening his understanding of the Afro-Caribbean influence on Black American Music.

At an early stage in his career, Dimitri Hanafin Reyes has carefully absorbed the tradition, the feeling, and the contemporary vibrancy of Jazz. His debut album draws from compositions written from his teenage years to the present, reflecting a personal and evolving artistic voice

Hanafin Reyes handpicked the band for the recording  – both young and seasoned

players from the New Orleans scene: Jackson Shaeffer on Drums, Max Moran on Bass,

Diego Benjamin Delgado on trumpet, Arnold Little III on Guitar, Samuel Korn on Sax,

and Michael Sze on Violin

Dimitri has a satisfied and mischievous grin as he speaks of the album. Each song is a story, a time of deep feeling in his life, and the music carries the depth he was seeking. As he continues to speak of the album, it is quite clear that each song is precious and delightful for him.

‘Bambino is all about youth – that childlike quality of wonder where everything is fresh’

Dimitri refers to the album as ‘Contemporary Instrumental Music’ rather than a Jazz record. He sees the music as a living, breathing tradition where one can express their feelings and perspectives, and still have a good time. He wants the songs to shape-shift as different people perform them, and acknowledges he will most likely never play the songs on the album the same way again.

The debut album from Dimitri Hanafin Reyes is titled The Shape Of Return, with each track corresponding to an event in his life. Hanafin Reyes’ hope is that the record can speak to similar experiences within others, as music is therapy to him, bringing introspective reflection as a method.

‘I want the songs to serve as a vessel of understanding life, a way to navigate the emotions that come with challenging experiences” (Dimitri Hanafin Reyes)

As the needle hit the record, I was expecting to hear Dimitri show his chops, as is often the case with a debut record. Instead I was immediately drawn into the story; context dissolved and I drifted along on a journey with the composer and performers. The spirits are there – Monk, Herbie, McCoy and more. An exquisite homage to the cool, to the moment, and to the enduring spirit of improvisation. The Shape Of Return is one of only a handful of top debut albums in ropeadope’s history’

(Louis Marks, Ropeadope)

The Shape Of Return is a powerful start to the recording career of Dimitri Hanafin Reyes. 

Eric Gershenow | Modern Icon Recordings

Guitarist and Composer Eric Nelson Gershenow creates soundscapes that take listeners on a journey, and the next journey begins with Unrequited Admiration Society, scheduled for release via Modern Icon Recordings on September 4, 2026. Featuring Stephen Wise on sax and co-produced by Adrian Harpham, each track tells a story through guitar-rich harmonies and syncopated rhythms.

We’ll take a moment to acknowledge here that there is a through-line of sound evident on each and every Modern Icon release. Adrian Harpham is clearly a collaborative producer, letting the artist stretch out in their own style, while keeping true to a certain style of production.

Both the artist and the label are authentic and unique; together they create a rare body of work in today’s commercial deluge of similarities.