CD Reviews (11563)
Find full CD and individual track reviews of your favorite jazz artists right here, and hopefully you also discover some new artists to add to your collection as well.
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Great musicians, truly great musicians, can play any style of music. That is true in any of the great recording cities in the United States. The wealth of fantastic musicians in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville almost boggles the mind. This CD is a compilation of different jazz artists currently working in Nashville. All the cuts, as is typically true with compilations, are great. When artists have the ability to put their best foot forward you're going to get their best. There are 11 different cuts on the disc led by 10 different artists.
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One of the constants in the music world is that saxophonist, composer and Philadelphia native Andy Snitzer will always be working. Even though he gave up his gig with the Rolling Stones to Tim Ries, Snitzer is not hurting for work. Since being discovered by Bob James when Snitzer was a student at the University of Miami, he eventually went on to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from New York University. Snitzer has worked steadily as a session musician and touring artist when not working for Wall Street investment firms. Whether touring with Paul Simon, playing his own gigs or sitting in with the David Letterman band, Snitzer is offered far more gigs than he can ever adequately accept.
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Chicago guitarist, composer and producer Vince Agwada has worked the Chicago music scene for over 25 years. This heavily blues and rock oriented musician has worked with artists like Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Magic Slim, Otis Rush, Syl Johnson and Sammy Lawhorn, to list but a few. Of his many…
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One of the more delightful bands to come out of Sweden in the most recent past is The Soup. This quartet of keyboards, guitar, bass and drums has a rockabilly type of backbeat that is incredibly infectious. With drummer Tom Steffensen's two-beat dance hall backbeats and Johan Bendrik's B3…
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Alto saxophonist and composer Libby Richman's abilities are easily seen in her winning two Meet The Composer grants and one New England Foundation On The Arts grant. Originally from Indiana, she earned her degree from the University of Massachusetts and now lives and works in the New York area. Among…
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Bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer Joseph Toliver is perhaps best known as being smooth jazz saxophonist Tom Braxton's bass player for the past five years. Dancing In The Window is Toliver's first release as a leader.
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Smooth jazz groups are, unfortunately, becoming a dime a dozen. Smooth jazz sounds, to most unsophisticated ears, as being remarkably easy to play. With no need to have to master tricky rhythms or complex harmonies, as in straight-ahead jazz, many musicians have turned to smooth jazz in hopes of cashing in on this lucrative music market. The truth is, however, that to play smooth jazz well, one has to truly feel the music. There have been a ton of musicians, including greats like Kenny Garrett, who tried their hand at smooth jazz, only to fail. The reason being they do not have a genuine love for the style.
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Nothing hurt the new age artists and their market more than the advent of smooth jazz. When smooth jazzers took the kind of music new agers had been creating and gave it a backbeat, along with obvious R&B sentimentality, sales of new age music dropped off the radar. A few…
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Smooth jazz guitarist, vocalist and composer Roger Chong, a graduate of York University in Toronto, works leading his own jazz group, playing in bands lead by others and teaching grade school students in Toronto. Love Me One More Time is his second release as a leader.
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Saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor, now a Brooklynite, came to the United States by way of both Israel and Switzerland. He has garnered not only rave reviews but also peer recognition having played in the Steve Swallow Trio, the Mass Transformation nonet, and with artists such as Jason Moran, Josh…
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Danish pianist, keyboardist, composer and arranger, Martin Lutz's third release with his own group, It's Swing – Not Rocket Science, is a collection of disparate compositions all connected by Lutz's rather uniquely slanted compositional concepts. Organized into five suites, all featuring a guest artist, the music is passive at some…
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There are far too many young musicians who think the way to achieving success is to release a recording as early as possible. This misguided method usually finds the musician displaying a lack of musicianship, technique and musical maturity. The problem is that even if the musician goes on to…
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Guitarist, singer, composer, teacher and poet Reynold David Philipsek has released a number recordings as a leader over the years. Among the artists he's worked with include Connie Evingson, Clint Hoover, The Wolverines Big Band, Glen Helgeson, and Patrick Harison. Philipsek also played with French Gypsy Jazz master Dorado Schmitt…
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Harmonica master Toots Thielemans deserves all the accolades and honors a giant in the jazz field has earned when they reach the level of old-guard master. His sound is just as distinctive, as pure, as vibrant and as alive as when he was a young firebrand playing an instrument more…
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Guitarist and Berkeley, California native Alex Skolnick was originally inspired to learn the guitar from listening to Kiss. His devotion, and lessons with people like Joe Satriani, to guitar excellence earned Skolnick a spot in the thrash metal band Testament. Interestingly enough, it was while with this band he discovered…
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If one plays the sitar, pygmy sitar, electric sitar, tanpura, as well as the guitar-zither, piano and Fender Rhodes, a career as a jazz musician is usually not the first thing an audience would expect to hear. That is, however, precisely the direction Jonathan Mayer has embarked on. Mayer is…
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Saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist and 2011 ASCAP Young Composers Award winner Joshua Kwassman studied at the New School in New York. He has also spent time studying with established jazz artists including keyboardist Rachel Z, saxophonist Mark Turner and bassist Reggie Workman. As a performer he has worked with artists like…
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Bassist, cellist and composer Buell Neidlinger, born in 1936, came up by playing with Herbie Nichols, Oran "Hot Lips" Page, and Vic Dickenson, among others. With his apprenticeships done, Neidlinger started working with artists like Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Rex Stewart and for seven years with pianist Cecil…
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Extraordinarily talented bassist and composer Jimmy Haslip is no stranger to jazz aficionados. Longtime bassist with the supergroup Yellowjackets, he has appeared on an almost limitless number of recordings. While Nightfall is only his fourth release as a leader, he has worked with countless other artists including Steely Dan, Tom…
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Nine years ago, I coined him as “The Impeccable Michel Camilo.” Impeccable still holds true today, but with the release of his 2011 Decca/EmArcy (Universal Music Group) CD, Mano a Mano, I hear so much more. There is a maturity of a road well-traveled, an elegance of soul, and majesty…
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