Scales, Flanagan, Grasso “Many Rivers” The First Single, “Spanish Joint,” is Available Now on All Digital Platforms
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, praised by The Boston Globe for offering “jazz that flies over nobody’s head — warm, tuneful, and swinging,” 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.
