The Captain Black Big Band, led by pianist Orrin Evans, is a high-intensity, swinging affair featuring a number of top soloists from the jazz scenes of New York and Philadelphia. Recorded during three different live performances in 2010, the group features a rotating cast of thirty-eight musicians over seven tracks. Despite the lack of a cohesive unit, the disc maintains stunning consistency with undeniable spirit and musical drive. From the opening "Art of War," a blistering, boppish piece feat
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All Things Must Converge is a memorable listening experience, and the orginal jazz compositions are well-conceived, lively, and enjoyable listening. Al Garcia plays guitars, and other instruments, and these songs are his creation.Al Garcia has a big, lovely talent, and it is much in evidence with this collection. The CD features eight songs. They include "Labyrinth," "The Eternal Cycle," the memorable "Lingua Franca" with its intriguing harmony, "A Distant Mirror," "Two Shakes," "As Luck Would H
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A pivotal jazz luminary in New York City’s progressive downtown scene, alto saxophonist Tim Berne has notched his name into the record books as an innovator and stylist. His discography and collaborations are well-documented. However, Berne’s a global artiste who recurrently investigates nouveau spins on jazz and improvisation. This release extends metrics and concepts previously exercised with longtime affiliates performing here. Essentially, jazz as a whole reinvents itself as Berne looms
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Acclaimed vocalist Gretchen Parlato presents an ambitious follow-up to 2009's In a Dream with The Lost and Found, a smorgasbord of vocal jazz styling over a diverse set of tracks. Along with associate producer Robert Glasper, Parlato reaches far and wide with the aid of a first rate band. Pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist Derrick Hodge and drummer Kendrick Scott create ultra-hip grooves while maintaining a sensitive rapport with Parlato's soft-spoken approach. Bassist Alan Hampton—who does a convin
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This is Walter Beasley's fifteenth album which was released on October twenty-six of 2010. This album was produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis and Phil Davis. Walter Beasley is a best-selling contemporary jazz artist of today. He is a recording artist, performer, full professor at Berklee College of Music, performance consultant, and music entrepreneur (founder and CEO of Affable Publishing and Affable Records) who hit number one on the contemporary jazz charts. He plays the soprano/alto saxophone
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Adventurous has always been the word for the music of Matthew Shipp, and Art of the Improviser his new two-CD set is no exception. At first glance, the purple-and-black cover, with its solid-set lettering, appears to be two disks of Matt solo, but it turns out to be two dates: one in a trio with drummer Whit Dickey and bassist Mike Bisio (recorded in Troy, New York) and a second solo at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. Both contain reworkings of previously recorded tunes, and there are two lov
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San Francisco vocalist Margie Baker’s assembled five musician friends with the idea of playing African-American music from the 1930s and ‘40s, which was then known as “race music.” Their three-hour sets would be tribute to the music that Baker heard as a young girl growing up in the city’s Fillmore District, the scene of several nightclubs that housed black entertainers on the “chitlin circuit” when they came through the city. She was too young to be allowed inside these clubs, but the music was
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These veteran Italian improvisers convey freedom of expression with a musical panorama that scales rather well. One of the compelling factors on this live recording pertains to the band’s ability to expand themes and subplots without concentrating on one mode of action. With capacious and unrestricting dialogues to complement a myriad of asymmetrical rhythmic variations, the musicians inject dainty contrasts and temperate flows into the grand schema.Saxophonist Edoardo Marraffa’s raspy voicing
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Educated at the Academy of Music in Malmö, Sweden, Kristian Lind is a young bassist beginning his contributions to the global corpus of recorded jazz with the release of his first record, Wintergames. Like the Sonny Rollins piano-less trios that inspired him, he is joined only by drums (Peter Danemo) and tenor saxophone (Karl-Martin Almqvist). Paradoxically this setting both draws attention to Lind as he is driving the harmonic progression of the tunes, and detracts from him because the focus i
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The Massachusetts-based Mill City Trio stirs up a quiet brand of intensity on Looking Up, with the somewhat unusual instrumentation of drums and two guitars. Drummer Anthony D'Anna provides a delicate, yet driving foundation for guitarists Jamie Dunphy and Greg Passler who display a like-minded approach to jazz guitar. Exchanging solo lines full of quick wit and swinging exuberance, the two revive the spirit of celebrated guitar duo outings with the likes Herb Ellis and Joe Pass on original piec
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Sending My Love is the fitting title of the splendidly captivating contemporary jazz release on Peak Records & Concord Music Group from accomplished guitarist Norman Brown. Although Brown is indeed most prominently a superlative guitarist, he also expertly excels at songwriting and from time to time bestows his urban rooted silky-smooth vocals to provide spice and variation to his music. Norman Brown is not a newcomer to making pleasing smooth contemporary jazz recordings saturated with rh
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Holly Hofmann (www.hollyhofmann.com) is one of the premier flutists in jazz, "Along with Hubert Laws. . . the best jazz flute player today" according to Phil Woods. Bill Cunliffe (www.billcunliffe.com) is an outstanding pianist--1989 winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Award--and an award-winning arranger--he won a Grammy in 2010, with three other nominations, including another one this year. Together they provide one of the finest examples of the art of the jazz duo. This is
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Approximately 23 years ago, Harvie S received a telephone call asking if he would be willing to play bass for a new, young musician performing at the JVC. Harvie has always been in demand both here and abroad, and he accepted the offer. The festival went off without a hitch and over the following months, that young musician, pianist Bill Charlap, and Harvie S became friends. And as friends and musicians, they did what came naturally, played their instruments, jammed together and explored mutu
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Featuring a stellar cast of Brooklyn-based musicians, G.R.A.S.S.—the Gowanus Reggae and Ska Society—take on the challenge of reworking the classic sounds of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Their self produced release, G.R.A.S.S. on Fire brings an instrumental, jazz leaning perspective to Marley's 1973 major label debut Catch a Fire. Although void of lyrical content, the ensemble, led by electric bassist J.A. Granelli and keyboardist Nate Shaw, captures the essence of Marley's politically charged mes
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Jane Stuart has all the attributes of a real jazz singer and she utilizes them all in this fine album. The musicians are all first class, and that's as it should be on a recording of this calibre."I Just Found Out About Love" A happy tempo and some hip scatting from La Belle Stuart gets this album off the ground in a hurry. In the immortal words of Jerry Lewis, "I Like It, I Like It""Let It Come To You" Is an original by Stuart. This track is an introspective look into the soul of Jane Stuart. T
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New York saxophonist Benjamin Drazen doesn't waste any time letting a listener know what his musical intent is all about. From the opening moments of Inner Flights, his debut release as a leader, the fiery alto and soprano saxophonist swings unrepentantly with blistering lines and a bold, Jackie McLean-inspired sounds. Along with a high-energy rhythm section, Drazen delivers a sturdy set of his straight-ahead originals and a couple of standards. At ease with fast tempos, Drazen careens effortles
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Benn Clatworthy is a superb tenor saxophone player (in this era of non-compliance to the jazz idiom). His worthy constituents, Joe Bagg at the Hammond B3 and Don Littleton on drums, round out a first-class jazz group. In the title tune "Three Wise Monkeys," a Clatworthy original, the tenor solo is pure magic. His ideation is not only creative, but carries a message on that horn in a most definitive way. Joe Bagg lays down some great lines, adding a Bird riff most discreetly. Littleton's timing i
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It's a bold endeavor to believe you can invoke freshness and vitality into thinly worn standards like "Body and Soul," "All the Things You Are" and "My Funny Valentine." Trumpeter Cuong Vu meets the challenge head-on with imaginative results on Leaps of Faith, a quartet outing with wide-open improvisatory exploration, melding consonant lyricism with chaotic tumult. Vu, a Seattle-based musician who has worked with a host of renowned musical personalities, such as guitarist Pat Metheny, stands out
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Artist:Tony AdamoTitle:What Is Hip?Genre:JazzLabel:IndependentRelease Date:2011Product Link:http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tonyadamo3/from/muzikmanWebsite:http://www.myspace.com/tonyrocadamoSource Link:http://www.muzikreviews.com/reviews.php?ID=1448Tony Adamo has a voice that sounds like what you would get if you put Dr. John, Lou Rawls, and Mark Murphy into a bomb shelter with Dr. Joesph Mengele and presented him the challenge of harmonizing their voices into one. After a
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Sean Sullivan wants to do it all and wants to give listeners everything in his musical arsenal on Square One. The New York-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist delivers no fewer than 21 songs (17 on the disc and four bonus downloads) that showcase his considerable talents. A two-time winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Sullivan brings five original numbers to the album, ranging from the catchy jazz-funk title song to the soft island-flavored “Summer Rain.” Sullivan then swings loos
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The Fred Hess Big Band has a winner on its hands with the innovative big band CD collection, Into The Open. The collection shines with its intricate approaches and right-on performances.With the exception of the Jean Bardy/Denny Goodhew song, "See You" (Illuma Soma), all other songs are by composer Fred Hess. There are eight songs with a total playing time of 65:27 minutes. The imaginative song list contains such big band gems as "Sooz Blooz," "Home Bass," "See You" (Illuma Soma), "Norman's Gold
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Julian Waterfall Pollack is a keeper. Though in his early 20s, he already has enough technique and imagination to hold attention, and he swings with the best. The opening, "Summertime," demonstrates all of the above. After a slow bluesy statement of the melody, there's a repeat in double-time with insistent single-note harmony in the left hand. Double-time prevails. Runs flash by. The left hand challenges the right in a fugal pattern with cross rhythms. Your foot needs to tap, but may not be abl
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Janet Planet has been a jazz musician for over twenty-five years. Words taken from her pres kit, "She is a productive recording artist, performer, teacher and clinician. She has been self-produced and managed for the majority or her career. Jazziz Magazine hailed her as a 'Voice of the New Jazz Culture...amazingly powerful with seemingly limitless expression'." In her biography it states that she has performed with legends such as Jackie and Roy, George Benson, and her mentor Nancy King, and sha
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Point of No Return is truly an exceptional journey in jazz listening with its original compositions by pianist Michel Reis. Listening to Michel Reis is akin to listening to a most perfect combination of jazz stylings by such pianists as Danilo Perez, Andre Previn, and Bill Evans, topped by the special creative touch of Michel Reis. Michel Reis has an unique jazz piano sound, and his place in the realm of jazz pianists is assured, as heard in this fine collection. This CD collection will discover
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The first cut here, "Espelho de tua força," has the expectant vibe of great things to come. What does follow is Brazilian-tinged jazz driven by consistently precise and colorful percussion--friendly but not exceptional. The flute is light and fluffy, the keyboard electronically mellow, the bass plump and springy. Alexandre Cunha provides the main excitement. He's a wonderful percussionist, fluent in the idioms of both American jazz and Latin rhythms, and active, but careful to fit in as he prod
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