About us
Not married to any one genre, we bring you music as varied as New York, the city System Dialing Records calls home. Artist-run since 2010
About System Dialing Records Founders:
Jordan McLean
In a 30 year career as a concert and recording artist, trumpeter/composer/bandleader/arranger and producer Jordan McLean has worked with musical artists from across the musical spectrum, including:
Charter member and featured soloist of the Grammy-nominated Antibalas, joining the band on the second show in May 1998. He has recorded 7 albums, numerous EPs and performed well over 1000 concerts with the band in 30 countries and 45 US states.
Performances with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and other chart-topping pop music stars include David Byrne, Steven Tyler, Paul Simon, Barry Gibb, Sinead O’Connor, Billy Gibbons, Michael MacDonald, Rod Stewart, Kelly Clarkson, Lady A, Judy Collins, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, and Sam Moore.
Hip-Hop/Soul/Funk icons The Roots, ?uestlove, Patti LaBelle, Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, DJ Spooky, Chic, Shaka Khan, Nona Hendryx, Anita Baker, Ledisi, Jill Scott, Aloe Blacc, Erykah Badu, Jamie Lidell, Sharon Jones and the Dapkings, The Soul Providers, The Whitefield Brothers, Charles Bradley and The Extraordinares Lee Fields, Binky Griptite, Victor Axelrod, Ocote Soul Sounds, Jose James, Jessie J, Thievery Corporation, Pretty Lights, Griz, iDa Hawk, Macy Gray, Zeshan B, and Bettye LaVette.
Indie heroes TV on the Radio, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Iron & Wine, The Hold Steady, Craig Finn, The Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket, Jim Jones, Blood Orange, Sinkane, Lux Prima, Santigold, Azealia Banks, Dr. Dog, Scott McMicken, Gomez, Spoon, Cage The Elephant, Deer Tick, Adrian Quesada, and Kaleo.
Treasures of the new Americana, Roots Rock and Jam Band Scene John Prine, Zach Bryan,Valerie June, Eric Krasno, Stanton Moore, Medeski Martin & Wood, My Morning Jacket, Nicole Atkins, Todd Rundgren, Dr. John, Dave Harrington, The Complete Last Waltz, The Lone Bellow, Phil Lesh, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, String Cheese Incident, Luther Dickinson, John Popper, Strand Of Oaks, and Amy Helm.
Global Music stars Jovanotti, Tony Allen, Amayo, Angelique Kidjo, Amadou & Mariam, Keziah Jones, Cyro Baptista, Davido, Nicola Conti, Gianluca Petrella, Jeremiah Lockwood, Rosita Kess, and Matisyahu.
Jazz icons Charles Llyod, Gary Bartz, Joshua Redman, Randy Brecker, Steven Bernstein, David Murray, Donny McCaslin, Branford Marsalis, Keyon Harold, Dennis Charles, Daniel Carter, Butch Morris, Stuart Bogie, Colin Stetson, and Michael Leonhart. McLean co-wrote, performed on and co-produced Ornette Coleman’s last studio album, the critically acclaimed New Vocabulary for System Dialing Records in 2014.
Jordan's work as a recording artist includes sessions with producers Gabe Roth, Mark Ronson, Wyclef Jean, Joel Hamilton, Marc Urselli, and Josh Kaufman, as well as record labels Daptone, Blue Note, Verve, Razor and Tie, Desco, Anti, Rope-a-Dope, Ninja Tune, and J-Dub Records.
Festival & Major Stage appearances include Newport Jazz, Newport Folk, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Festival au Desert, Roskilde, Montreal Jazz, Montreux Jazz, Jazz a Villette, The Barbican, Kaufman Center/NYC PAC, and numerous performances at Carnegie Hall.
His trumpet has been featured in horn sections and as a soloist in appearances on nearly every recent network late night show, including SNL, The Late Shows with David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien, multiple appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, VH1 Divas, and the Comedy Central Comedy Awards.
He has appeared on radio broadcasts across the country and world, and numerous times on WNYC and NPR affiliates across the country including Weekend Edition of All Things Considered.
As a member of Antibalas and Armo, McLean has performed and arranged music as a member of the house band for Michael Dorf Presents tributes to Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Bill Withers and Van Morrison at Carnegie Hall, and Billie Holiday at The Apollo.
Over the course of 5 years as an artistic director for Fotografiska New York Jordan curated and produced hundreds of cultural art activations and concerts with artistic and cultural luminaries such as Peter Gabriel, Philip Glass Ensemble, MATA Festival, Maya Beiser, Eighth Blackbird, Caroline Shaw, Joe Lovano, Andrew McGill, The Overlook, PUBLIQuartet, New Hollywood String Quartet, Jenny Lin, Jeff Beal, Mark Isham, Keyon Harold, Fritz Myers, Hila Plitmann, Danielle Eva Schwob, Sun Ra Arkestra, Brian Chase, Lucinda Williams, Nels Cline, Nas, Ghostface, Mass Appeal, Lyricist Lounge, Fantastic Negrito, Sex Mob, Dave Douglas, Festival of New Trumpet, ECM Records, Elektra Records, CNN, National Geographic, Marina Abromovic, Paul Rudd, David LaChappelle, Andres Serrano, and Ken Burns.
Grammy related work includes trumpet credits on Antibalas’ Fu Chronicles (Daptone Records 2021), Angelique Kidjo’s 2008 Grammy winning album Djin Djin (produced by Tony Visconti), as well as the 2012 Grammy nominated Amadou and Mariam album Folila, and Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings’ 2014 nominated album Give The People What They Want.
In addition to his featured trumpet work on the show, McLean composed and arranged music for the Tony Award winning musical Fela! The Musical whose Original Broadway Cast Recording showcased McLean’s arrangements, and was nominated for a Grammy in 2011 for Best Musical Show Album.
From 2007-2011 Jordan was Associate Music Director and contributing composer for Fela!. His work on the Off-Broadway production earned him a Lucile Lortell Award when the show was named Outstanding Musical in 2009.
As a bandleader, Jordan has released two albums of original music with his nine-piece group, Fire Of Space. The title track of their album Handbasket is featured in the film Sleepwalk With Me. This group has performed in venues throughout NY and Chicago, including as an opening act for Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings.
The first two albums with his Piano Music & Song Trio (with performances at John Zorn's Stone, the New York Anthroposophical Society, City Winery, FONT at Cornelia Street Cafe, The Roerich Museum and The Museum of Jewish Heritage) features original music, and orchestrations of the music of Frederico Mompou, Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, Bernard Ventadorn, and Siberian folk music. The trio’s repertoire is expanded to include songs by Viennese composers Brahms, Mahler and Webern.
In 2010 along with drummer/percussionist/composer Amir Ziv, he co-founded the artist-run record label System Dialing Records. Its catalogue of over one dozen albums represents the work of world class artists from across the stylistic spectrum, from Carolina Blues to large ensembles of voices and percussion. He continues his work today as a producer and Chief of Operations for SDR. Notable among the catalogue are McLean and Ziv’s solo releases, that of their band Droid, and a collaboration with Ornette Coleman from 2014, New Vocabulary.
The electroacoustic improvisational group Droid was formed in 1999 with rhythmic innovator Amir Ziv and features former Miles Davis music director Adan Holzman on keyboards and a rotating cast of Tim LeFebvre, Shahzad Imailey, and Matthew Garrison on bass. the band’s 2000 Shadow Records release NYC DNB helped define the live Drum n Bass scene in New York.
For over 20 years Jordan has been a member of seminal composer, singer and guitarist Jeremiah Lockwoods band New York-based group The Sway Machinery (with whom he has recorded 5 albums and performed all over North America, as well as Europe, Australia, and Africa).
In 2024 Jordan served as arranger and music director for the Italian fashion label Marni’s GQ Creativity Award performance of a new composition by Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange).
He studied theory at Brooklyn College, orchestration at the Juilliard School, holds an artist diploma in Jazz Trumpet Studies from the Mannes College of Music, a BMA in Classical Composition (summa cum laude), and a MMA in Studio Composition, having been awarded the 2020 Outstanding Graduate Award for Music and Technology from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College.
Jordan’s working bands are Armo and JMMR:
Afrobeat supergroup Armo, co-founded with other members of Antibalas in 2017, whose EP McLean produced for System Dialing Records. Armo’s intimate and energetic sound focuses on classic and contemporary Afrobeat as well as original music by members of the band.
JMMR (Jordan McLean’s Musical Resistance), a tempo- based alternative electro-jazz invention, whose debut album Resistance is Fertile is to be released in 2025. At the band’s core lies a fusion of synthetic and natural elements, where machines enhance human expression. Both familiar and unrecognizable, traditional musical techniques undergo electronic synthesis yielding unforeseen outcomes.
Jordan in a native New Yorker and lives in Queens with his family.
Amir Ziv - Artist Statement
My journey as a drummer and composer has led me to investigate the nature of rhythm for the greater part of my life. Everywhere I look I see rhythm, harmony, melody, texture, patterns, dynamics, form, coordination, phrasing, and orchestration. I see these building blocks most clearly in nature. I explore fundamental phenomena of our environment such as motion, gravity, electricity, and resonance. And I study ethnic cultures to understand how they so naturally develop their distinct styles and accents. I am also drawn to expression that is beyond words and reason.
My work is simultaneously compositional and improvisational; mirroring my life experiences, interests, and imagination. It is a natural growth out of my feeling. When I’m performing, I have the clearest notion of what I am about.
I use acoustic percussion, analog synthesizers, and voice. I invent and build many of my instruments, and collaborate with artisans and companies to engineer, and produce one-of-a-kind tools that I need. I incorporate exotic instruments that I collected from around the world, and I repurpose found objects into new musical instruments. Sometimes the instrument choice is an artistic statement in itself, such as when I use artillery shells.
My compositions are based on an intuitive and intellectual understanding of how rhythm works in nature. It can be described as “Harmonic Rhythm” - Many rhythms at once. The melodies I hear are evoked by ethnic cultures and by our modern industrial world.
I control the flow of the rhythm, and guide the audience through multidimensional perspective shifts by shifting my point of view of the rhythm, thereby altering its gravitational pull, allowing new natural accents and melodies to emerge. Sometimes a greater energy takes over. During those times I see myself from above. Regardless, there is no accident.