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Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Molly Johnson Announces New Album 'Talk to Me' Out June 26 #jazz #music


Featuring collaborations with Haviah Mighty and Jim Cuddy, alongside four new recordings including lead single “Holiday”

LISTEN TO “HOLIDAY” HERE | PRE-SAVE TALK TO ME HERE

Recognized as one of Canada’s greatest voices, Molly Johnson announces her new album Talk To Me, arriving June 26 via Universal Music Canada. The 10-track project combines music from Johnson’s recent All I See and Long Time Running EPs with four new recordings, including lead single “Holiday,” out now, further showcasing her unmistakable voice and continued artistic evolution.

Across the album, Johnson collaborates with artists from across generations of Canadian music, including JUNO Award-winning rapper Haviah Mighty, rising producer and artist CUBE, and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. The result is a deeply collaborative body of work that blends soul, jazz, R&B, and rock through Johnson’s singular artistic lens.

At the heart of the album is “Talk To Me,” a call-and-response collaboration with Haviah Mighty centred around listening, dialogue, and connection across generations. Pairing Molly’s signature vocal style with Haviah’s sharp lyricism, the track reflects a meaningful exchange between two distinct voices and perspectives.

“What does a 67-year-old woman and a 21-year-old kid have in common? A real love of great music,” says Johnson about working with producer and artist CUBE. “I really believe we need to listen to younger voices, and I feel so excited that I get to be part of this new generation of music. The future looks bright to me.”

The album also features Johnson’s stirring interpretation of The Tragically Hip’s “Long Time Running,” recorded with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. First released in 1991, the song remains a defining piece of the Canadian musical canon, here reimagined with a sense of intimacy and reverence that honours its enduring legacy.

“This has been a long time coming,” says Johnson. “I’ve always wanted to record a duet with Jim. We’ve been friends for years, so to finally collaborate on a song by our beloved The Tragically Hip feels like real magic.”

Across the album, Johnson is joined by her long-time collaborators, including Davide Di Renzo, Mike Downes and Robi Botos, whose enduring musical partnership remains central to her sound. New recordings including “Holiday,” “Happy,” “Sunday Morning,” and “Just As Bad As You” further expand the album’s rich and deeply collaborative musical world.

Talk To Me will be available June 26 via Universal Music Canada.


UPCOMING LIVE DATES:

June 17, 2026 – Winnipeg, MB – Desautels Concert Hall

June 26, 2026 – Montréal, QC – Gesù

July 1, 2026 – Vienne, FR – Théâtre Antique

FOLLOW MOLLY JOHNSON:

Website | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook

ABOUT MOLLY JOHNSON:

Recognized as one of Canada’s greatest voices, jazz vocalist Molly Johnson is a mother, singer-songwriter, artist, and philanthropist. Throughout her life-spanning career, she has captivated audiences in Canada and Europe with her original pieces and interpretations of jazz standards. Unsurprisingly, Molly is a laureate of multiple notable awards, including two JUNO Awards, the Governor General’s Award, the Order of Canada, and the Chevalier Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Outside her musical endeavors, Molly is also an avid supporter and patron of the arts. She launched the Kumbaya Festival in 1993 benefitting AIDS hospices and Canadians living with AIDS, contributing directly to the birth of Toronto’s Casey House. Kumbaya remains the largest music fundraiser in Canadian history. As the founding artistic director of Toronto’s Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Molly has introduced hundreds of performers and, in her own words, built a “local jazz festiv al that reflects the cultural depth” of the immediate music community.

Stay up to date with Molly Johnson by signing up to her mailing list HERE


Tuesday, June 02, 2026

Peabo Bryson, known for duets from Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ has died at 75 #jazz #music


Peabo Bryson, the two-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer best known as the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney film duets “Beauty and the Beast” with Regina Belle and “A Whole New World” with Celine Dion from “Aladin,” has died. He was 75.

His family said in a statement that Bryson died Tuesday, days after having a stroke.

“While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit,” the family’s statement said. “His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”

Born and raised in South Carolina, the singer, songwriter and balladeer launched his career with the group Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display in the 1970s. Shortly afterward, Atlanta label Bang Records signed him as a solo artist.

Bryson had a stroke in late May and was placed under medical care.

“At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together,” a statement from his representative read at the time. “The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated.”

In 2019, Bryson made a full recovery after having a heart attack.

Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown A SUPREME BLUE Two of the Greatest Albums Ever Made, as You've Never Heard Them #jazz #music

 


Out digitally July 24 and on vinyl August 14 via Concord Jazz
 
New single "Pursuance" available now: Listen / Watch
 
Album pre-order/save
 
See previously released performance video “All Blues” here

GRAMMY Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger Nicholas Payton teams up with Virginia-bred collective Butcher Brown for A Supreme Blue, a bold and deeply considered reimagining of two of the most revered albums in recorded music, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue (1959) and John Coltrane's A Love Supreme (1965). Created in honor of the centennial year of both Davis and Coltrane, the album arrives digitally July 24 on Concord Jazz with vinyl release to follow on August 14. The second track, "Pursuance," is available now.

The project was born from a single unplanned moment at a Butcher Brown show, when Payton sat in over the band's House-inflected groove and began quoting the opening theme of Coltrane's "Acknowledgement." Something locked in. By that night's end, the text had gone out from Payton to drummer Corey Fonville: "Yo man, we gotta do a record." The Instagram clip from the evening was hashtagged #AHouseSupreme. The concept followed.

Payton and Fonville go back to 2010, when Fonville was a student at the Brubeck Institute and Payton was Artist-in-Residence. The New Orleans music master immediately recognized Fonville's rare dual fluency, swinging and groove-playing with equal authority. Their creative relationship deepened across years of collaboration, Payton serving as mentor, co-conspirator, and champion as Butcher Brown came into their own, making A Supreme Blue the natural culmination of that long arc. The Richmond-formed collective comprises Corey Fonville (drums, percussion) DJ Harrison (keyboards, piano, percussion), Marcus "Tennishu" Tenney (tenor saxophone, vocals), Morgan Burrs (guitar, MPC), and Andrew Randazzo a/k/a R4ND4ZZO (bass guitar, synth bass).

The centennial frame gave the project its purpose; the rhythmic argument gave it its architecture. Payton heard the connection immediately: both albums share a modal approach, a spiritual component, and a foundational African rhythmic conception, the percussive Mozambique groove threading through "Acknowledgement," Elvin Jones's drumming rooted in an African musical sensibility. Those elements, refracted through House music's pulse, became the album's engine.

Sessions at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond proceeded with minimal preparation and no rehearsal, by design. Tracks emerged organically from the room itself. 'Pursuance,' the single out today, is characteristic: R4ND4ZZO arrived at a bass line, the group fell in, and Payton, who arranged the track, called for tape. Tennishu took the tenor, and with no keyboards present, the track assumed a darker quality no one had anticipated thirty minutes before. The whole album unfolded this way.

Recording and mix engineer Alex de Jong proved integral to the album's identity, adding dub-influenced effects in real time during tracking, a process that shaped how the musicians played, not just how the record sounds. Listening back to the mixes, Fonville said simply: “King Tubby would be proud.”

Liner notes for A Supreme Blue are written by Ashley Kahn, author of both Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece and A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album, making him a rare voice capable of fully contextualizing what Payton and Butcher Brown have achieved here. The album was mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtletone Studios, with photography by Ryan Gary of The Sunroom and package design by Jamie Breiwick. The album will be available digitally and as a 2-LP limited edition of 1,500 worldwide in standard black vinyl.

A Supreme Blue is not a tribute record. It is an act of creative faith in the source material, in the musicians, and in the music's capacity to go where it wants to go. "This is fresh," Fonville says. "I think they would have appreciated hearing their music in this way, and not hearing it still being played the way they did it in 1959 or 1963. It's 2026."

 
TRACKLIST
1. So What (Miles Davis) 
2. Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis) 
3. Blue in Green (Miles Davis) 
4. All Blues (Miles Davis) 
5. Flamenco Sketches (Miles Davis) 
6. Acknowledgement (John Coltrane) 
7. Resolution (John Coltrane)
8. Pursuance (John Coltrane) 
9. Psalm (John Coltrane) 
 
 
TOUR DATES
June 29 — Montreal, QC | Le Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 
August 14 — Sardinia, Italy | Time In Jazz
 
 
PERSONNEL
Nicholas Payton: Trumpet, Rhodes, Piano, Vocoder, Vocals, Thumb Piano
Tennishu: Tenor Saxophone
Morgan Burrs: Guitar
DJ Harrison: Keyboards, Melodica, Guitar
R4ND4ZZO: Bass Guitar, Synth Bass
Corey Fonville: Drums, Percussion
 
Conceptualized by Nicholas Payton
Produced by Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown
 
About Nicholas Payton
Nicholas Payton is a New Orleans-born GRAMMY Award-winning trumpet virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger whose career spans more than three decades across swing, funk, R&B, and the avant-garde. A singular force in Black American music, Payton has consistently repositioned himself at the intersection of tradition and innovation across a catalog of acclaimed recordings and performances.
nicholaspayton.com
 
About Butcher Brown
Butcher Brown is a Richmond, Virginia-based collective formed in 2009 whose music draws on jazz, hip-hop, funk, and electronic music in equal measure. Comprising DJ Harrison, Marcus "Tennishu" Tenney, Morgan Burrs, R4ND4ZZO, and Corey Fonville, the band has built a devoted following through relentless touring and a series of critically lauded recordings, earning a reputation as one of the most creatively restless ensembles in contemporary music.
 



 
 
Butcher Brown Online
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Nicholas Payton Online
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Chart Room Media
brendan@chartroommedia.com  |  chartroommedia.com | 347-450-3048