New ANTIBALAS album: Hourglass
Antibalas releases new single “La Ceiba” from 8th full length album “Hourglass” on Daptone Records 10/24/25
Finally, this album is done and making its way into the world. I will be doing a lot of press for the album so I won’t say too much here other than I am grateful to all the musicians who persevered to make this album come to life and played their hearts out. The musicianship and compositions are among our best yet, and that is saying a lot.
Our first single “La Ceiba” is out now on streaming platforms. The full album drops 10/24/25 on Daptone Records. PREORDER
Videos: Sulah Jordan “Museé Melancolique” & "Jasmine"
The Sulah Jordan “Ladybug” album came out a little while ago. I was invited to perform tenor saxophone and flutes on some songs. It was fun to record and a delight to listen to. Now there are videos. Enjoy.
Song collaboration: DJ Platurn : "Give a Damn"
I was honored to get loose with the flutes on this song by DJ Platurn from his latest album “Through Storm and Grief.” also available on Bandcamp.
Collab:: Sulah Jordan "The Sweetest Gift"
The second installation of some collaborations with my friend Sulah Jordan and company. This song is a rendition of Sade’s “The Sweetest Gift" I was invited to perform tenor saxophone solos. If you haven’t checked her first EP “Lady Bug”, you can find it on Spotify or at Bandcamp. Enjoy.
New album: Martez “Goodbyes”
“Goodbyes” is the sixth album in my series of grieving rituals called LAMENTOS. This year I lost my father, an aunt and an uncle, all while bearing witness to the intensifying barbarity around the world. Take time to grieve.
New album: Martez "RIVERS" out now on Bandcamp / Streaming 6/15/23
The sound of my life as my family and I experience displacement due to flooding and atmospheric rivers. Travels around the world - some rivers swell as some shrink. Meditations on rain, rivers, and love.
NEW ALBUM: Martez "DRONE POEMS" out 2/17/23
The Drone Poems series represents meditations, feelings and moods expressed through expansive breathy textures. These pieces reflect a radical aesthetic departure from the Lamentos series, which primarily features wind instruments (flutes, saxophones) as the primary engines of sound.
I composed and recorded Behind the Veil and the other pieces on Drone Poems over the summer of 2022 and early 2023 in Oakland and Berkeley, California during what we now call fire season, when a barbecue spark, a misguided bottle rocket, or a random lightning strike can set off a chain of ignitions to poison every breath with smoky air for days on end. Fortunately last year wasn’t that bad, but each day nonetheless began with the anxiety and dread and the question: “Is today gonna be the day?”
The daily news: Russia brutalizing Ukraine, government fuckery, ongoing plagues, colonization of space, schools shot up, cops gone wild, catastrophic storms and everyone stressing about money.
Drone Poems is the effort to bear witness to the world while remaining connected to the eternal.
New Music: Martez "Shattered" (Lamentos Vol. 3)
Over the past two years, I’ve continued a practice of sonic mourning rituals in a musical container called LAMENTOS. Here is the latest in the series called “Shattered”, a collection of melancholy, raw and plaintive pieces on woodwinds, piano and other assorted instruments. Recorded February-April 2022 in Oakland, California.
New song: Ocote Soul Sounds "Blues for Ukraine"
How to fully express the deep grief in watching the slow motion buildup of aggression, the growing carnage, the racism that seems to emerge even within crises that should unite? Sometimes peace feels like further away than ever. Yet we persist.