Think all Latin music is salsas and polkas? Here are three ways the “tinge” adds spice to jazz. Bassist Nilson Matta mixes passionate straightahead jazz with sensuous sambas and salsas here. He teams up with Romero Lubamba/g, Craig Handy/ts, Anne…
Category: It Doesn’t Go Anywhere
Yann Tiersen: Infinity
Composer/arranger Yann Tiersen is a throwback to the days of concept albums a la Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells: thickly arranged, melodic with moments of drama and panoramic thrills. Here, he mixes strings, percussion, vocals and other various instruments in an…
The Harder They Come: Restored, Remastered in HD
One of the all time important movies about modern music has been cleaned up and available on itunes and VHX. The 1973 film about a Jamaican singer not only catapulted Jimmy Cliff onto the pop stage, but introduced reggae to…
Peter Kerlin Octet: Salamander
Bassist/composer Peter Kerlin leads a rotating octet consisting of vibes (Sam Sowyrda, Cesare Patetti), Viola (Amy Cimini, Jessica Pavone, Karen Waltuch), bass (Taylor Bergren-Chrisman, Brent Cordero), Organ/Wurlitzter (Emily Manzo) and drums/percussion (Mike Pride, Charles Burst). The songs themselves lean towards…
Bill O’Connell & The Latin Jazz All-Stars: Zocalo
Pianist/composer Bill O’Connell leads an excitingly percussive and assertive team of Steve Slagle/sax, Conrad Herwig/tb, Richie Flores/congas, Luques Curtis/b and Adam Cruz/dr through some exciting originals and covers. Of the latter, Slagle’s soprano hovers over the viscerally excitement between the…
Quartango: El Fuego
The original team of Quartango lasted 25 solid years together before the recent and sad demise of founding member and pianist Richard Hunt last year. This disc is then their last foray together, and the team of Rene Gosselin/b, Stephane…
SOUL! Etta James: Live At Montreux 1975-1993, Gregory Generet: (re)generet-ion
Not every female singer sounds like Norah Jones, and not every male singer is a clone of Michael Buble’. Here are a pair of vocalists, one gone, one new, that show how it’s done. OK, will both of you…
UNDERAPPRECIATED LIVING PIANISTS Ya know, everyone is hip to guys like Jarrett, Hancock, Tyner and even Brad Mehldau as being among the most influential and “important” (whatever that means) pianists of our day. But the fact remains that…
Hristo Vitchev/Weber Iago :Heartmony
Sometimes, you forget that there’s such a thing as simple as beautiful music. Here, guitarist Hristo Vitchev writes and arranges 11 pieces of music designed for himself and pianist Weber Iago, and the result is a collection of music that…
THE HARD BOP QUINTET-THE ESSENCE OF JAZZ
You can argue this point until doomsday, but for my money, nothing captures the mixture of melody, form, spontaneity and improvisation like the jazz quintet. Usually comprised of two horn (trumpet and sax-usually a tenor, but you can slum it…