Riley

“über hip, modern yet timeless…one of the best debut records to come out in a long, long time.”

— DownBeat Magazine

"One of the most intimate and emotionally expressive jazz releases of the year"

— Boston Globe (50 Best Albums of 2024)

Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar releases long-awaited debut album, Riley, with producers Rafiq Bhatia (Son Lux) and Chris Pattishall, using the studio as an instrument to present a pristine audio framework for the emotional core of Riley’s sound.

Riley Mulherkar is best known as a founding member of The Westerlies, a New York-based brass quartet of (as the name implies) West Coast expats who play a mix of jazz, modern classical and folk compositions, high on tunefulness.

This deep admiration for the American songbook can also be heard all over Riley, the solo debut by the 32 year-old Mulherkar. But love of song is only half of the album's primary pull. The other is the sonically modern setting for Mulherkar's vulnerable, melodious interpretation of this rich tradition, a sound design shaped by producers Rafiq Bhatia and Chris Pattishall.

Enveloping Mulherkar within a series of textured, intricately-crafted spaces, Bhatia and Pattishall train a cinematographer's lens on the continuum of great old songs, as well as new Mulherkar pieces which fit right in. It's a radically bold audio framework for the emotional pronouncements of Riley's horn.

“Our mantra,” says the trumpeter, “was to make a record that sounds how jazz makes me feel — even if it doesn't sound like jazz all the time. How, when I hear King Oliver, I feel the momentum shift, how hard the beat drops, and how hard Jelly Roll Morton's going on the piano. That's the emotion I get. We wanted to try to create a world that conveys this feeling in its own way.”

“his long-awaited solo debut beautifully balances a reverence for Louis Armstrong with the conviction that jazz can only move forward”

— NPR Music

"It's only March, but [Ride or Die] is my favorite jazz single of the year so far. And it's got staying power."

— DownBeat Magazine

"an adventurous tapestry pretty much unlike anything you've heard before."

— textura

"dreamy, collage-like...Mulherkar has carved out a distinctive niche on the musical landscape, one that combines a studied, song-based lyricism with a more avant-garde exploration of the sonic limits of the trumpet."

— AllMusic

"a strong and forward-thinking album"

— Big Takeover

Credits:

Riley Mulherkar - trumpet

Chris Pattishall - piano, programming, sound design Rafiq Bhatia - additional programming and sound design

Russell Hall - bass

Kyle Poole - drums

Vuyo Sotashe - vocals

Mixed by Rafiq Bhatia

Mastered by Steve Fallone & Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound NJ

Recording engineers: Chris Allen (Sear Sound) and Todd Carder (Bunker Studio)

Executive Produced by Bryan Gallace of Posthumous Prodigy Production. Made possible through the generosity of SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Booking: office@rileymulherkar.com

Press Requests: Fully Altered Media / matt@fullyaltered.com