Tritone guitars by Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner along with tritone bassist Christian Kuntner and drummer Manuel Pasquinelli bring in guitarist and loopiest David Torn for a quartet of tunes that stretch from nine to almost thirteen minutes. The handful…
Month: August 2020
Tracye Eileen: It’s Time
This five song ep by vocalist Tracye Eileen is an impressive mix of soul, R&B and sleek jazz. The Kendall Duffie production has Eileen in a George Bensony mood, with a clean tone on “Somehow Someway” with some synth disco…
MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL…Denny Zeitlin: Live At Mezzrow
For the past 10+ years, I’ve had the privilege of voting in Downbeat Magazine in the Critic’s Poll for categories such as “Best Pianist” for the year. I’ll listen to Fred Hersch and think, “He’s the one” but then, I’ll…
A 40 YEAR TRADITION X 2: Soft Machine: Live At The Baked Potato
The 1970s gave us both a legendary jazz club in The Baked Potato as well as the fusion group Soft Machine (which actually formed in ’68), both re-uniting last year in the form guitarist John Etheridge, Theo Travis on saxes,…
JUMPIN’ THE BLUES…Big Mama Thornton: The Singles Collection 1951-61, Little Junior Parker: The Singles Collection 1952-62
The deep dark roots of the best of rock music are found on these two reissues by UK’s Acrobat Music label. They serve as a basis for both information and inspiration of how music did, and should sound. Willie Mae…
WEST COAST COOL…The Gerry Mulligan-Chet Baker Collection 1952-53
Back in the early 1950s, music fans were looking for something besides the torrid speed and oblique harmonies of bebop, originated and perpetuated by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. As anti-thesis to their thesis, the Hegelian team of…
BOP AND POP FROM AVID…Jimmy Heath: Four Classic Albums, Connie Francis: Five Classic Albums
Here are a pair of reissues from UK-based Avid Records, with both artists overcoming negative circumstances to create a stellar career. Jimmy Heath’s first recordings as a leader came after being released from his incarceration. He was one of the…
Susan Tobocman: Touch & Go
Susan Tobocman adroitly mixes her interpretation of standards with a handful of her own clever compositions on this album with top tier support from Joel Frahm/ts-ss, Dave Eggar/cel, Pete McCann/g, Henry Hey/p-key, Matt Pavolka/b and Michael Sarin/dr. Her voice is…
Tamir Hendelman@Streaming “Live” 08.01.20
While there are still no clubs in order to hear the great sounds of jazz artists, creative performers like pianist Tamir Hendelman provides us the best alternative with a series of solo “streaming” concerts in the privacy of his home.…
GERALD CLAYTON IS HAPPENING
DURING THIS TIME OF A NATION-WIDE LOCKDOWN, AND NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO A VENUE AND SEE JAZZ PERFORMED “LIVE”, PIANIST GERALD CLAYTON GIVES US THE NEXT BEST THING-A RECORDING OF HIS BAND PERFORMING AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD, COLLECTED…