Announcing Charles Sharp 6 (C#6) Debut LP, EXITS

We are proud to announce the debut LP by Charles Sharp 6 (C#6), Exits. This is NEW Jazz from California, the second in Empty Cellar’s Jazz series after Sword + Sandals’ (John Dwyer, Randy Lee Sutherland, Shaun O’Dell) debut LP. In a similar vein as Henry Threadgill, Dave Douglas, Ornette Coleman’s large ensembles, and Sun Ra, the Charles Sharp 6 braid together jazz tradition with experimentalist and popular music threads. Exits captures a spectrum of sounds held together by Sharp’s direction, as the ensemble of six musicians blaze through compositional structures and freely improvised responses.

The collection of musicians Sharp gathered for an evening have collaborated with artists as diverse as Mike Watt, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Burrell, Nels Cline, Tito Puente, Fat and Fucked Up and Vinny Golia, and includes two percussionists; two upright bassists, at odds–panned left and right; and a chamber-punk veteran on cello. Confident direction among the players creates an inspiring momentum as Sharp (saxophones) directs through sketches, gestures, and example, all of which fuels their conversation. This music is in dialogue with its times (as good free jazz is). It is music to stroll through crowded spaces, and to develop something outside the oppressive banality of the mainstream broadcast. In stores May 8th and available now for presale at the Endless Nest Store. Limited to a single pressing of 250 copies.

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Introducing: Sword + Sandals on Empty Cellar

John Dwyer
traps.flute.bass string

Randy Lee Sutherland
alto.bass clarinet.traps

Shaun O’Dell
tenor.alto.keys

Sword and Sandals emerged through the vision of founders John Dwyer and Randy Lee Sutherland. Within the intense interplay of Dwyer’s blurred wrists and strobe-like fills caressing the cry of Sutherland’s horn, the possessed pair incorporated second horn Shaun O’Dell and initiated a trail composed of both conjured soundscapes of euphoric beauty and signifying shrieks of postmodern existence (thus far). As an improvisational trio—with guests sitting in occasionally—Sword and Sandals provide an existential outlet for those seeking connections beyond peripherally materialist arrangements and toward closer, more cerebral intimacies. Their sound envisions the metaphor of their Ben Hur-esque name: while wearing sandals into combat enables a graceful interplay with one’s adversaries, the sword (let alone the opponents) remains razor sharp, reminding the participant of the thin line between achieving transcendence and triumph and the brutal reality of second guessed timing, and unfocused adherence or intent as one waltzes through moments and situations—improvising for survival and renewal. Trust forms the blue print for Sword and Sandals, sealing their execution, empathy, and a progressive existence within the interplay of their music. As economist Jacque Attali once noted, music is, “by its very presence, a mode of communication between man and his environment, a mode of social expression, and duration itself. It is therapeutic, purifying, enveloping, liberation; it is rooted in a comprehensive conception of knowledge about the body, in a pursuit of exorcism through noise and dance.”

Empty Cellar’s upcoming release for Sword + Sandals stemmed from one all-day 16-microphone recording session, with Anthony Petrovic sitting in on synth, captured on 1-inch tape.

Coming September 28th:

SWORD + SANDALS – GOOD & PLENTY

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