Month: June 2016

Phyllis Blanford: Edgewalker

Molasses toned vocalist Phyllis Blanford delivers a rich read of standards with a peppy team of Ted Brancato/key, Denny Davis/b, Winard Harper/dr, Don Braden/wwinds, Vic Juris/g, Mayra Casales/perc, James Gibbs/tp, Vincent Gardner/tb, Jason Jackson/tp and Stefon Harris/vib. She makes some…

Markus Stockhausen/Florian Weber: Alba

Here is a gorgeous collection of lyrical duets brought together by Florian Weber on the piano alongside Markus Stockhausen, who switches effortlessly between trumpet and flugelhorn. Romantic melodies predominate as Stockhausen’s rich toned flugelhorn glows on “Mondtraum” or his trumpet…

Masabumi Kikuchi: Black Orpheus

If you’re looking for something akin to Tom Jobim at the piano revisiting the songs from the ground breaking Brazilian movie, you’ll need to look somewhere else. Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi gives hints and tangential references to these themes at…

Taylor Cook: The Cook Book

Taylor cook prepares meals on alto sax, flute and clarinet here with a core group of chefs in Jack Bodkin/key, Brandon Wall/g Justin Gray/b and Robin Claxton for a full menu of accessible jazz. The team delivers an easy blue …