Floratone, the instrumental project anchored by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, studio drum legend Matt Chamberlain, and producers Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend, are set to release their new effort Floratone II on March 6th via Savoy Jazz Records. The album also features trumpeter Ron Miles and violinist Eyvind Kang, collaborators from the first Floratone album, as well as additional contributions from producers Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, DMB) and Jon Brion (Brad Mehldau, Fiona Apple).

Floratone II builds upon the debut’s pastoral textures and adds a heavier emphasis on the beat. According to Chamberlain the album was recorded in much the same manner as the debut, “basically the same approach as [Miles Davis’s] Bitches Brew or the Critters Buggin records, we just recorded a bunch of stuff then had Tucker and Lee cut it all up…we just drank more coffee this time.”

In addition, rather than just simply adding atmosphere to Martine and Townsend’s arrangements, this time around the producers would also cut up long rhythmic phrases for Frisell to apply melodies to. This free-form approach led to “a lot of new ideas that wouldn’t have happened with more traditional compositions”, say Chamberlain. The album was entirely self-funded, and had actually been complete for over a year before being picked up for release by Savoy.

Floratone II is available for pre-order here.. Chamberlain says the music is too complicated to play live, but he expects he will do some performances with Frisell this year, and in the meantime has booked a residency at The Mint in LA for the month of May featuring guests such as David Torn, Marco Benevento and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), as well as his own Company 23 project.