Creative drive demands new sounds and techniques. With so many terrific jazz pianists recording nowadays, it's tough to satisfy that drive—tough even to be noticed, unless you are the second coming of Art Tatum. It’s tempting to try a new approach—maybe a piano and percussion duo? Dave Anderson and Mike Wingo have given it a shot.Wingo produces a spectrum of colors not often heard accompanying a piano. His exotic set includes bongos, many cymbal sizes, and a few percussive rarities. Bongos push
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Vocalist/pianist Peter Eldridge, perhaps best known for his work with the Grammy winning New York Voices, delivers a Latin-inspired collection of sleek songwriting with Mad Heaven, his first venture for Palmetto Records. Following in the footsteps of his critically acclaimed, self-produced 2005 release Decorum, Eldridge offers up sophisticated arrangements and clever, personalized lyrics, accompanied by a top notch crew of jazz sidemen. Eldridge's music finds comfort in a variety of Brazilian gr
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On The Prairie Prophet, saxophonist Ernest Dawkins and his New Horizon Ensemble pay tribute to friend and mentor Fred Anderson, saxophonist and owner of the Velvet Lounge in Chicago who passed away on June 24, 2010. Dawkins and company traverse a diverse landscape of musical moods, from jubilant buoyancy ("Hymn for a Hip King"), to intense spontaneity ("Sketches"), to lyrical ensemble statements ("Balladesque," "Shades of the Prairie Prophet"). Standout soloing is in abundance throughout with st
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Spohie Berkal-Sarbit opens matters on her latest CD, Young and Foolish, with a driving, swinging rendition of "I'm Gonna Live 'til I die." Sperandei's trumpet captures the essence of this arrangement as he twists and turns this tune upside down brilliantly with his rapid fire offerings. This number is a portent of things to come, as it is an ear-catcher from the opening note to the last.With the title song, "Young And Foolish," the ballad side of this seductive vocalist is captured most enchanti
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A dog is a man’s best friend, indeed. And on this 2010 release, improvising sax great Lol Coxhill and eminent drummer/percussionist Roger Turner pay a bit of abstract homage to our much beloved canines. The improvisation is at times minimalist in scope, yet the continually moving parts equate into a polytonal feast for one’s psyche.Coxhill performs on his customary soprano saxophone and counters Turner’s bells hits, rim-shots, tom tom patterns and colorific integration of small percussion impl
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Lauren Hooker delivers a bold album full of interesting twists and turns. The surprises start early. She opens the album with a cool original that she kicks off but then turns over to poet Jeanette Curtis Rideau, who delivers a spoken-word performance. The track conjures up the feel and sounds of a 1950s nightclub inhabited by hip beatniks. “I ride your music—feel your story and smile,” says Rideau as a horn wails behind her. “Because your music brings out the poetry in me.” Life Of The Music co
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If you are like me, the last thing you are looking for in a modern jazz album is another run-out cut of “All The Things You Are.” During my first listen of Hiroe Sekine’s debut album A-mé, I found myself stopped in the middle of the street (I was walking the dog at the time), fumbling for my i-Pod, trying to find the name of the track I was listening. It sounded so familiar, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. As it progressed, the ostinato of the piano with a subtle Latin groove gently undernea
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Toronto-area businessman Mario Romano studied music formally in the 1970s before being lured into the more lucrative world of cement and construction. Without ever losing his passion for jazz piano, Romano has managed to maintain a healthy dose of chops and a keen sense of arranging. Valentina, his debut recording for the Canadian label Alma Records, features a familiar set of standards and a couple of original pieces in an acoustic quartet setting. Top-notch Toronto musicians Pat LaBarbera (ten
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Back-when, there was a TV preview-trailer for the science-fiction movie The Blob (the original, not the 1980s remake) that scared the living [fill in blank] out of me. “The monster that can’t be killed,” screamed the icy voice-over. The Blob was this formless, massive organism that basically absorbed anything living that it touched, growing ever larger in the process. Around the same time (we're talking late 1950s), the scary monsters of free jazz and rock & roll were threatening the world,
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Power Play is a disc of hard-driving, intense, full-throttle, straight-ahead jazz. It's not that saxophonist Ralph Bowen isn't capable of subdued tender moments—such moments are certainly present throughout this disc—, it's just that the renowned veteran of the East Coast scene, in both his playing and composing, happily leans to the aggressive side of modern, progressive jazz. From his days in the 1980s with young-lion super group Out of The Blue, to his more recent stints with pianists Horace
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1999 Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition award winner Thomas Marriott has worked in Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau band, and with artists like Rosemary Clooney, Ritchie Cole, Charlie Hunter, Kenny Kirkland, Joe Locke, The Chico O’Farrill Orchestra, and The Tito Puente Orchestra, among others. Overall Marriott has appeared on over 100 recordings and his previous release, East-West Trumpet Summit, with Ray Vega, was feature on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”Marriott is joined w
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Seattle-based trumpeter and composer, Chad McCullough, teams up with Slovakian and currently The Hague-based pianist, Michal Vanoucek, as leaders for a straight-ahead jazz quintet recording of ten original compositions. McCullough, who has earned degrees from the University of Idaho and the University of Washington, has worked in the Disneyland bands, and played piano and trumpet with the Glenn Miller ghost orchestra. Others he has worked with include Wynonna Judd, Claudio Roditi and Michael W
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Ever since Dexter Gordon won an Oscar for his work in Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight, the story of American jazz musicians finding rejuvenation under European stage lights has been a mainstream one. A lot of what those musicians actually played over there, however, has been hard to find Stateside, instead trickling in across the decades through traded tapes, bootlegs and shoddy releases (with a few notable exceptions). So, it is with some interest that this grab-bag of live dates, o
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Freedom Suite is both different and unique and traditional and common at the same. Mixing hip-hop elements first done well, in a jazz vein, by Miles Davis on Boo-Dop, expanded in many ways with mixed results by Greg Osby on his 3-D Lifestyles, and made accessible and popish by Quincy Jones, this recording incorporates all of these influences as well as throwing in a few of its own. This music presented here is pop, R&B, hip-hop and jazzy, with the inclusion of straight-up interviews with a
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These are tough times for jazz vocalists. Most have recorded all the life out of the American Songbook repertoire, beating standards into an early death. Yet, recordings of standards by jazz singers keep coming out and coming out, and coming out. Thank goodness there are a few vocalists, like Norma Winstone, who have uncompromising taste and are willing to step out on a ledge, usually with great results. Cassandra Wilson has always been one of these kinds of jazz singers. Sure, she’s covere
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Probably the last thing anyone would ever expect to come from cutting edge jazz label Origin Records, would be a traditionally-oriented jazz Christmas album, but that is exactly what we get in this release from vocalist Greta Matassa, and bassist and vocalist Clipper Anderson. If there is anything cutting edge about this release, it’s in the fact so many of these Christmas songs are rarities. For example, “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle” comes from the Tijuana Brass Christmas recording, and “Th
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Chicago native, composer and vocalist Paula Prophet studied classical guitar as a child, but credits her musical training to listening to the Motown and classic jazz singers as a child. She credits her work of 20 years as a licensed therapist in providing the inspiration for compositional/lyricist abilities. Her previous work includes time spent performing with Dr. Feelgood and the Interns of Love, on tour throughout the United States and internationally. This short 23-minute demo/introductory
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Boston native, New England perennial jazz award winner and vocalist, Paul Broadnax spent time in the service before working as an arranger for the Sabby Lewis Band. Later, he worked with bands led by Tom Kennedy and Buster Daniels. In the 1970s, he worked in the Paul Champ Three before forming a trio with bassist Dave Trefethen and drummer Les Harris, Jr. Broadnax currently works in trio with Dave, now on guitar, and Peter Kontrimas on bass. Among the artists Broadnax has worked with include
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Doing something unique with the vibraphone is a tough road to walk, especially if one is a serious musician. Notoriously difficult to play with respect to the instrument’s lack of emotional variety, it’s no surprise its best practitioners have been those of the swing world like Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson and Terry Gibbs, or more modern ensemble-tied visionaries like Mike Mainieri, Steve Nelson or Stefon Harris. Truly original voices, such as Gary Burton’s, are very rare in this world.BR
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Pianist and composer Adam Bodine, who originally hails from the Chicagoland area, now lives in Colorado. Classically trained, Bodine formed his current trio in 2008 to showcase his developing book of original compositions. Blue Mud is Bodine’s second self-released recording. Here Bodine is joined by Kalin Capra on bass, and Roswell, Georgia native and Berklee College of Music graduate Luke Emig on drums. Eleven original Bodine compositions are featured on this album. If there is one thing un
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There are so many potential pitfalls that can occur when one tries to record a live date, it’s obvious why so few jazz recordings are done in this situation. Unfortunately, a few of those potential hazards rear their ugly head and diminish the work done by the Steve Elmer Trio on this recording. Recorded on June 10, 2010 at Cleopatra’s Needle in New York, a restaurant and no-cover jazz club named after the famed monument in New York’s Central Park, the piano used for this recording is a bit ou
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Like a delightful summer barbecue and the camaraderie of friends and family, renowned jazz saxophonist, Bobby Watson, actually recaptures it all on his CD The Gates BBQ Suite, featuring the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance Concert Jazz Orchestra. The CD is a tribute to the famous Gates BBQ in Kansas City and on the liner notes, Bobby expressed his appreciation for barbecue describing it as food that always represented a “celebration in my life." “Smoking meat remains near and dear to me," s
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Joel Harrison is an illustrious guitarist and composer in the jazz circles and not to mention a great bandleader and he has put his many talents on his latest compilation called String Choir – The Music of Paul Motian which was released on January 23. Recapturing the music of straight-ahead jazz musician Paul Motian is no easy feat especially when the interpretation is within another genre; in this case classical. But Joel has pulled it off on this fully-stringed compilation that offers music on
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Marcus Miller performing live is indeed a very euphoric experience, and those who have never been so fortunate might as well grab a copy of his latest CD “A Night in Monte-Carlo,” which is due for a February 1st release. The CD is a live audio documentation of one of Marcus’ treasured performances in Monaco back in 2008. Marcus is backed up by the L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and is also joined by trumpeter Roy Hargrove and guitarist Raul Midon. Out of the box, the first track on th
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Cote D'Azur is a fascinating collection of jazz music that will light up your listening time with much joy, entertainment, and fun. The musicians are very imaginative in both their solo work and group work.What makes this an outstanding jazz CD is its unusual blend of jazz motifs, world music motifs, and the influence of contemporary French jazz. There are ten great original songs in the collection. Among them are found "Cote D'Azur," Le Calypso," "Bandol," "Sainte Maxime," "Postcard From Cannes
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