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I Insist

by Kazemde George

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    4-panel digipak featuring artwork by HAMO and design by Lukas Frei.

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1.
2.
Coasts 07:12
3.
Balance 05:32
4.
Skylight 06:36 video
Skylight bird in the tree, come sing with me tickets are free, honeybee. we found a home of polychrome tonight; skylight, showing day and night. man in the moon, I'll sit with you. we'll sing a tune of mercy. through windowpanes, calling my name, distant love's refrain, my skylight.
5.
Haiti 04:24
6.
I Insist 09:00 video
7.
Happy Birthday said it was your birthday, but nobody called you on the phone; deleted. but you don't tell the truth, you're no Baby Ruth; you're striking out. but all those memories, that confusion, do you think you're good? so I'll say happy birthday, but you won't remember in a day. you're faded. ‘cause you had too much to drink of your own kool-aid. so take a shower, roll a big one, happy birthday, yeah. happy birthday, yeah.
8.
Parkside 10:06
9.
This Spring 06:59
10.

about

Liner Notes:

'I Insist' is a reflection of the experiences, circumstances, and people that have made me who I am. Through this music, I hope to express my identity: my blackness, my manhood, my youth, and my full Caribbean-American self, along with all of the histories and systems that brought me here and now. I also hope that these songs reflect my many musical influences. My goal is to channel great masters like John Coltrane, J Dilla, and João Gilberto, as well as the teachers who have guided me, and the peers who I have competed with, learned from, and those who have encouraged or inspired me.

This music also reflects a learning process that I could not have realized without my many musical collaborators. That includes the musicians who have recorded on this project: Sami, Isaac, Adam and Tyrone, but also my greater musical community. I have been pulling out these charts on unsuspecting band members almost every week, at the various jam sessions and events I have hosted around Brooklyn for the past several years. That is how this music was developed, and that is where this music lives for me, but I am excited to let it venture out in this new format. I hope it finds you well!

I Insist is dedicated to my mother, Katrina Scott-George.

- Kazemde George

credits

released October 22, 2021

Personnel:
Kazemde George, tenor saxophone
Sami Stevens, vocals
Isaac Wilson, Wurlitzer and piano
Tyrone Allen II, acoustic bass
Adam Arruda, drums

Production Credits:
Executive Producer: Dave Douglas
Produced by Kazemde George
Recorded at Big Orange Sheep in Brooklyn, NY on December 11-12, 2019
Engineered Christopher Benham
Mixed and mastered by Dave Darlington
Photography by Kirsten Noelle
Artwork by HAMO
Graphic design by Lukas Frei

All compositions by Kazemde George (Kazemde Reese Ayodele George / ASCAP) except:
“Skylight” and “Happy Birthday”, composed by Kazemde George with lyrics by Sami Stevens (Sami Stevens / ASCAP)

Special thanks: Dave Douglas, Miguel Zenón, Hampus Hedberg, Charles McNeal, Ian Willson, Sami Stevens, and Wallace George

Press:
“For the young, Brooklyn-based tenor saxophonist Kazemde George, to insist doesn’t necessarily mean raising the volume or pushing idiosyncrasy … Throughout, what George insists upon most — from himself and his bandmates — is clarity: Melody is never sacrificed to flair or crossfire, even as the momentum builds.”
- Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

"The music, often swinging even as it smolders, conveys something about George’s bond with the jazz tradition, as well as his firsthand research in Afro-Cuban traditions. And it introduces a smart young band with Sami Stevens on vocals, Isaac Wilson on piano and Wurlitzer, Tyrone Allen II on bass and Adam Arruda on drums.”
- Nate Chinen, WBGO Fall Preview

“Closely shadowing one another, voice, like-an-instrument, and tenor saxophone in a winning togetherness is the fresh and piquant combination that you hear on the lightly swinging ‘Things Line Up’ … The fine arrangement with its serpentine bebop-esque melody trajectory opens into a George solo timbrally akin to the style of Joshua Redman backed by a piano trio rhythm section.”
- Marlbank ★★★★

"Beautifully engineered, these mellow pieces form a crystal clear pond of dive-right-in ambiance. George is definitely a sax player to watch, as his terrific soloing attests, and vocalist Sami Stevens is a treasure, scatting and crooning her way around most elegantly and with an original, unstressed sound. I’d recommend this to anyone."
- Hippo Press, A+

“Kazemde George is a tenor saxophonist, composer and scholar presently poised for a breakthrough with the jazz public … His soulful new debut … combines an easy grasp of melody and a swinging foundation with some jostling ideas about cultural identity in the Black diaspora.”
- Nate Chinen, WBGO, Take Five

“George holds everything together through the consistency of his writing, the melodic flair of his improvisation, and his ability to execute a vision through a core group of musicians. An auspicious debut, I Insist deftly shifts George from the status of valued sideperson to confident leader.”
- Michael Toland, The Big Takeover

"[Despite] influences including John Coltrane and Max Roach ... it comes as a surpirse to note that George's playing is soft-toned, quite lyrical, his middle-of-the-range tenor sound eschewing the Coltran cry."
- Jazzwise

"What a pleasant surprise that the artist who also gives tribute to the wide ranging likes of John Coltrane and Joao Gilberto creates an album that is filled with a Lester Young-toned tenor and sublime modern sounding soulful themes. ... This is an album that is both timeless and modern."
- Jazz Weekly

"What is most successful about I Insist is an insistence of music as not simply technical proficiency, but as a spiritual plane to consider what is at stake in imagining and remembering who we are."
- Downbeat ★★★★

"This is a strong debut from a musician and composer who has a lot of potential."
- JazzTimes

"An extremely poised and assertive statement by the Brooklyn-based saxophonist ... an exceptionally well-crafted collection of contemporary jazz compositions and performances."
- Textura

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Kazemde George New York, New York

Kazemde George is a jazz saxophonist, composer, and beat-maker based in Brooklyn who exhibits a gift for streamlined, emotionally direct melodies, articulated with a warm tone and a certain guiding restraint. His debut album of original music is out on October 22 on Greenleaf Music. ... more

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