Origin Records announces the release of CASCADIA, the new album by the Dmitri Matheny Group, “an all-star jazz band featuring some of the most accomplished musicians in the western United States” (All About Jazz).

Available June 17, 2022 through all physical and online retailers, Matheny’s Origin debut, his 12th album as bandleader, offers inspired performances of timeless classics and original jazz from the Pacific Northwest.  

Together with stellar bandmates saxophonist Charles McNeal, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Phil Sparks, and drummer Mark Ivester, Matheny shines on After The Rain (John Coltrane), On A Misty Night (Tadd Dameron), Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb), and Humble Origins (Bill Anschell).  

The album also showcases six new Dmitri Matheny originals: Perfect Peaches, a lyrical bossa nova, Dark Eyes, a seductive noir ballad, Evergreen Girl, a soul-jazz shuffle, Bourdain, a memorial elegy for a great man, The Lonesome Road, a weary traveler’s lament, and Cascadia, the evocative title track.

“I’m so proud of this band,” Matheny said, “and so grateful for their brilliant work on this project. We set out to celebrate the sound and spirit of our beloved home region, its luminous wonders, enchanted forests, healing waters, and vibrant creative community. There’s an aspirational sense-of-place here in the upper left. I believe our music reflects this life-affirming ethos.”

Flugelhornist/composer Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as “one of the most emotionally expressive improvisers of his generation” (International Review of Music) and “one of the jazz world’s most talented horn players” (San Francisco Chronicle). An honors graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and the Berklee College of Music, Matheny vaulted onto the jazz scene in the 1990s as the protégé of jazz legend Art Farmer. Since then he has garnered critical acclaim and a loyal international following, touring extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, traveling to 19 countries. He has appeared on 120 recordings and has released twelve albums as a leader. 

Matheny has been active in the Pacific Northwest jazz scene since 1995, when he first began touring the region from his home base in San Francisco. Upon relocating to Washington in 2016, Matheny was voted “Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year” in Seattle's Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards. 

The Dmitri Matheny Group performs over 100 concerts on tour each year. “Their music is a fertile landscape without boundaries,” writes the Oakland Tribune, “earning Matheny and his cohorts a reputation as one of the most eclectic and daring ensembles on today’s jazz scene.” All About Jazz agrees: “An all-star jazz band featuring some of the most accomplished musicians in the western United States, the Dmitri Matheny Group is a cohesive and seamless unit, serving up equal parts soulful expression, caressing phrases, imaginative asides, and dedicated lyricism.”

1 Cascadia (4:26) Dmitri Matheny
2 On A Misty Night (6:23) Tadd Dameron
3 Evergreen Girl (6:33) Dmitri Matheny
4 Dark Eyes (6:36) Dmitri Matheny
5 Perfect Peaches (6:49) Dmitri Matheny
6 The Lonesome Road (7:53) Dmitri Matheny
7 Bourdain (4:07) Dmitri Matheny
8 Wichita Lineman (4:54) Jimmy Webb
9 Humble Origins (8:49) Bill Anschell
10 After The Rain (4:16) John Coltrane

Dmitri Matheny flugelhorn
Charles McNeal saxophones
Bill Anschell piano
Phil Sparks bass
Mark Ivester drums

“Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny and his quintet play perfectly on CASCADIA. The theme—aside from Matheny's home in the Northwest—seems to be pure beauty. His flugelhorn sound is warm and round, with a glow like pure gold, no alloys allowed. 4-Stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️”—Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“Timeless and exciting — a stirring cinematic quality. Matheny and company flesh out a soulful and absorbing body of work here.” —Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews

“What does Dmitri Matheny do? He takes the dangerous path: he embraces the softness of his instrument, but puts it to work delivering sharp, serious music. And almost as if daring us to underestimate him, he even performs an arrangement of Glen Campbell’s 1970s pop-country classic ’Wichita Lineman’ — and makes it emotionally powerful.” —Rick Anderson, CD HotList

“Matheny uses his gorgeous tone and remarkable lyricism to paint exquisite portraits in sound … a master of his chosen horn.” —Jack Bowers, All About Jazz

“West Coast Jazz filled with fresh ideas and beautiful playing. The music is quietly creative, subtle, and always swings.” —Scott Yanow, LA Jazz Scene

“All of the tracks on CASCADIA are really quite magical…supremely wonderful music to enjoy.” —Allen Scott, All That's Jazz

“You don’t get much smoother than the sound of a flugelhorn, particularly when it’s in the hands of a master like Dmitri Matheny…a remarkable clarity of expression reminiscent of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. This is jazz at its most listenable.”—Matthew Adkins, Earshot Jazz

“His own compositions, including the title track CASCADIA, indicate that Matheny is not only a master of warm-sounding and emotional playing, but is also an excellent composer.” —Rudolf Radnai, Lemezek Zenék Budapest

“Stylishly restrained and discreet, a well-executed update on post-bop that swings in that relaxing way as jazz is intended. CASCADIA confirms Dmitri Matheny’s rightful place as the heir to the flugelhorn giant and his old mentor, the late great Art Farmer.” —S. Victor Aaron, Something Else! Reviews

“Bourdain is a tribute to a great man who took his life in 2018. The track is at once profoundly evocative and sad and also contains such vibrancy; its improvised, warping, mismatched keys and tones, make a sense of anger and non comprehension also apparent. When the drums emerge with defiant energy, they nearly blow your head off before they fade and the theme re-enters—a standout track.” —Sammy Stein, Jazz Views

“CASCADIA itself opens up to worlds of luminescent wonder, enchanting, organic synapses, and healing transmutations, unapologetically melodic and soft around the edges, reveling in what makes a song memorable, and sometimes, a bonafide hit: beautiful, touching lyricism, expressive melodies that dance around a charcuterie of tasty harmonies…evocative movement that goes somewhere special, and finishes with purposeful flourish. Umami jazz.” —Carol Banks Weber, Substack

“Rare is the artist these days that plays only the flugelhorn, but Dmitri Matheny makes it work elegantly with his team of Charles McNeal, Bill Anschell, Phil Sparks and Mark Ivester. Lyricism and taste are exuded here.”—George Harris, Jazz Weekly

“An incredibly lyrical player, Matheny and his flugelhorn guide a crew of Seattle pals through a set of grace and dignity that seems almost classical in its elegance. This is the kind of enchanting recording that was made for weekends.”—Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“I really enjoyed this album, as it was the perfect setting for my walk through historic Pioneer Square in Seattle. I couldn’t help but think of all the legendary players that have passed through, and how artists like Dmitri continue to push forward the genre of jazz while honoring the past.”—Terae Stefon, Jazz24

10/12/22 Take Effect
8/1/22 CD HotList
7/27/22 Hardly Raining
7/25/22 The Chronicle
7/17/22 Jazz Northwest
7/14/22 PT Leader
7/11/22 All About Jazz
7/9/22 LA Jazz Scene
7/8/22 All That's Jazz
7/5/22 Earshot Jazz
6/28/22 KNKX
6/20/22 Lemezek Zenék
6/15/22 Something Else!
6/14/22 Jazz Views
6/14/22 News Guard
6/11/22 Substack
6/9/22 Jazz Weekly
6/7/22 All About Jazz
6/4/22 Jazz Profiles
6/3/22 Midwest Record
5/31/22 Jazz24 
5/27/22 Last Row Music
5/25/22 EJazzNews
5/18/22 Interlochen Crescendo
5/17/22 Jazziz Magazine