Hudson Supergroup Premieres Debut Album

Motéma Music will issue the self-titled debut album by jazz supergroup Hudson on June 9. NPR Music’s First Listen series has made the record available to stream in advance of its release next week.

Made up of residents of New York’s Hudson River Valley – guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Larry Grenadier – the talented quartet first came together in 2014 at the Woodstock Jazz Festival and will tour together this month and in October. The 11-track Hudson was inspired by the musicians’ shared surroundings and recorded at Scott Petito’s Hudson River Valley-based NRS Recording Studios.

“This area has been a place for musicians to come to retreat,” Medeski said in a statement. “There’s performing, but there’s also writing and practicing and growing and going deeper. Traditionally people have come to this environment to search and grow. To woodshed.”

Along with collaborative and solo originals by the four band members, the debut full-length also features covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and The Band’s Robbie Robertson.

“All of us built our careers in the city and then moved out to the Hudson Valley to raise our kids and have a home,” Scofield stated. “One thing that we all have in common is that although we’re urban musicians, we left the city to live in nature.”

Stream Hudson via NPR Music below:

Hudson Tracklist

1. Hudson
2. El Swing
3. Lay Lady Lay
4. Woodstock
5. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
6. Wait Until Tomorrow
7. Song for World Forgiveness
8. Dirty Ground
9. Tony Then Jack
10. Up on Cripple Creek
11. Great Spirit Peace Chant