Jazz Trio Lauren Scales, Mike Flanagan, & Chris Grasso to Release New Album “Many Rivers” on August 8th, 2025 | WATCH & LISTEN!
Vocalist Lauren Scales, Saxophonist Mike Flanagan, and Pianist Chris Grasso Announce Many Rivers, a Fully Democratic Trio-Led Debut
Available August 8, 2025 via Truth Revolution Recording Collective, the Album Features Bassist Luques Curtis and Drummers Richie Barshay and Charles Haynes
Many Rivers is the effervescent trio debut from vocalist Lauren Scales, saxophonist Mike Flanagan, and pianist Chris Grasso — three acclaimed artists from divergent backgrounds united by creative chemistry. Due August 8 on Truth Revolution Recording Collective, the album features a soul-stirring program of seven covers and two originals by Scales, brought to life with support from Grammy-winning bassist Luques Curtis and first-call drummers Richie Barshay and Charles Haynes.
The project bridges geography and identity: Scales oscillates between New York and the Midwest, while Flanagan and Grasso are both rooted in Provincetown, MA — a longtime haven for LGBTQ+ creatives. Scales, a Detroit native and 2016 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition finalist, describes her mission as crafting music that’s “uplifting, poetic, emotionally honest — and accessible across genres and generations.”
Flanagan connected with Scales during their master’s studies at NYU. After relocating to Provincetown, he met Grasso — an esteemed performer lauded by 2024 NEA Jazz Master Willard Jenkins for having “carved out a niche that certainly qualifies him for the pantheon of great jazz vocal piano accompanists.” (Open Sky Jazz)
“Being both a jazz instrumentalist and a gay man, you don’t often meet others like you,” Flanagan reflects. “Meeting Chris in 2019, I was super excited — it was like, Wait, another one exists. Then we started playing together, and it was like, Oh, and he can PLAY!” Scales adds: “As a woman in the industry, you don’t always feel like you’re in the safest spaces — on or off the bandstand. But with these guys, it felt democratic, creative, safe. And I think being in P-town was a big part of that.”
“We do have a small population of people here who are really into jazz, but then we have a lot of people who just want to be entertained,” Grasso notes. “I think that influences how we approach things. It’s a little more diverse. We’re playing different kinds of repertoire, appealing to different kinds of people from different backgrounds.”
Many Rivers flowed from a U.S. tour by the three musicians in the winter of 2023, where they paid homage to classic albums led by vocalists and instrumentalists — 1955’s Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown, 1962’s Nancy Wilson / Cannonball Adderley. They expanded this template to include Carmen Sings Monk — Carmen McRae’s 1990 album of Thelonious Monk interpretations — and the extensive collaborations between D’Angelo and Questlove. The opening track and first single, “Spanish Joint,” from D’Angelo’s 2000 masterpiece Voodoo, reflects the latter — as well as the staggering impact of the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who performed on the original track.
“The thing about D’Angelo, who’s a hero to many of us — nobody really understands what he’s saying. The words aren’t clear,” Flanagan says, stressing this isn’t criticism in any way, shape or form. That said, when Scales sings it, “You can actually hear the lyrics. We really did give it our sound, and it really does sound like a jazz offering of it that is contemporary. I was very nervous, but also thrilled with the results.”
Neil Diamond may not be a typical touchstone in jazz, but Many Rivers leans into the unexpected with a revelatory take on “Play Me,” from his 1972 album Moods. The choice reflects the trio’s genre-fluid instincts and deep reverence for great storytelling—wherever it lives.
It was pianist Chris Grasso who brought the song to the table, crafting the arrangement. Lauren Scales’ vocal takes full advantage of that new harmonic palette to transform the song. “It felt like a song I could sink my teeth into, because it was so sincere,” she says. “I could feel how I could play around in it — it gave me space to breathe.”
Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, and Jon Hendricks’ “You Know Who (I Mean You)” stems from the aforementioned Carmen Sings Monk, as well as said 2023 tour. The track features the masterful trombonist Steve Davis — a Jazz Messenger at the very end of Art Blakey’s life who had been a featured performer with the group at The Club, the Provincetown jazz venue co-owned by Frank Christopher and Lea DeLaria. “We have a Jazz Messenger, we’re doing Monk. We’ve got to have Steve on this one,” Flanagan remembers thinking, and he delivers a robust feature.
As far as “But Beautiful”: “This Jimmy Van Heusen ballad is so gorgeous — one of our favorites,“ Grasso says. “The Great American Songbook still serves as common ground for jazz musicians, regardless of background and generation. I think we called this on one of our first gigs, and Lauren just killed it.” Flanagan adds: ““Lauren really knows her voice and she knows where the notes sit, what they feel like, what they’re supposed to feel like, and what they feel like that day. That is vocal mastery, in my opinion.”
Another beloved standard follows: Gene de Paul and Don Raye’s “Star Eyes,” a gem carried over from the trio’s 2023 tour. The track opens with Flanagan’s sly blend of two classic Charlie Parker intros, then builds toward a simmering close, with sax and drums stretching out over the signature ostinato. It’s also the album’s sole showcase for Scales’ vocalese — her lyricized take on an originally instrumental melody, delivered with crisp articulation and melodic flair.
While the lyrics of “Many Rivers to Cross” evoke the pain of a relationship ending, Jimmy Cliff originally wrote the song about his struggle to find success after emigrating from Jamaica to the U.K. The trio reimagines the classic by approaching it first as an instrumental, reserving the vocal for a poignant out chorus.
Frank Loesser’s “Never Will I Marry” — a touchstone from Nancy Wilson / Cannonball Adderley — is the only track to take a scat solo from Scales; all three members of the trio take a chorus. “I grew up loving Nancy and loving this album; my mom would play her all the time,” Scales relates. “It was just natural to want to do some Nancy.”
Many Rivers winds down with two inspired Scales originals: “Find a Way” and “Saving Grace.” She wrote the former when she and her boyfriend (now husband) were in a long-distance relationship; he had just accepted a dream job in Southern California, and she was in Michigan, about to make her way to New York. “The future was uncertain, but I was hopeful that love would help us find a way back to each other,” Scales says today. “And it did.”
She wrote the latter when she first moved to New York, unnerved by the harshness of the city. “I felt like I was missing the safe spaces I always knew growing up,” she says. “I just kept thinking, Where is the community? How can I help someone today? In this big, lonely city, who will help me?”
Yet on “Saving Grace,” the love and appreciation between Scales, Flanagan, and Grasso beautifully counterweights this feeling of unmoorment. With every tune, note and word, the underlying message of Many Rivers is crystal clear: I’ve got you.
Album Release Show
at 54 Below, NYC
Thursday, September 11
One Show at 9:30 PM
Doors at 9PM
254 West 54th Street, NYC
ABOUT THE LABEL: Truth Revolution Records Collective
Many Rivers will be released via Truth Revolution Records Collective, an artist-run independent label founded by brothers Zaccai and Luques Curtis. Known for cultivating a diverse roster of forward-thinking jazz musicians, Truth Revolution is home to critically acclaimed artists including Orrin Evans, Ray Vega, and Sheila del Bosque. The label recently celebrated a major milestone with their 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for Cubop Lives! by Zaccai Curtis, Luques Curtis, Camilo Molina-Gaetán, Willie Martinez, and Reynaldo de Jesús.
Scales, Flanagan & Grasso · Many Rivers
Truth Revolution Records Collective · Release Date: August 8, 2025
For more information on Lauren Scales, please visit:
For more information on Mike Flanagan, please visit:
www.mikemrf.com | Facebook | Instagram
For more information on Chris Grasso, please visit:
www.chrisgrassomusic.com | Facebook | Instagram
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