The team of Erin Rogers/ts, Jay Sorce/eg, Andrea Lodge/p and Chris Graham/perc put together a nifty little ep of ideas. The most intriguing is an 18 minute title tune, which is an ambitious collection of variations of John Coltrane’s hard…
Category: Reviews
Domenic Cicchetti: Candy Apple
Playing keyboards and synths, composer Domenic Cicchetti creates upbeat fusions of rock and jazz that reminds one of the vintage days of Steely Dan with dashes of Chick Corea. The snappy “Jump To It” is supplied by the Formula One…
THIS IS A HARD BOP QUINTET…Clifford Brown & Max Roach: Legendary Albums 1954-56
Sure, everyone loves Miles Davis’ “classic” quintet with John Coltrane, but to be perfectly frank, the 1950s albums that I play most often of the hard bop genre are these four featured from trumpeter Clifford Brown and Max Roach. Most…
Zoo Too Trio: Poetry Legroom
The team of Michael Cain/p-key, Keith Price/g and Pheeroan akLaff/dr-voc bring together a mix of tasty and unpretentious originals. Price’s guitar adds pastoral atmospheres to “O’Neill’s Bay” and paints pastels with akLaff’s brushes on “Song 1 Day 1”. Cain brings…
SOUNDS OF SILENCE…Thomas DeLio: Anti-Paysage, Christopher Clarino: Parlando
Two recent releases from Neuma Records use silence as a sound…listen carefully Composer Thomas DeLio puts together a double album of his compositions that focus on mixing soft electronics, space and almost undetectable acoustic instruments. The pieces range from single…
Alan Pasqua: New Hope
A fixture as a sideman in Los Angeles, pianist Alan Pasqua shows his talents on his own on this melodic solo recording. He mixes his own compositions with interpretations of standards, making for a rich mosaic of ideas. He gives…
Duo Aya: Cycles
The duo of Makan Jimbu on marimba and Rachel Woolf playing flute create a rich mix of clever originals in the enticing release. The two make a lot out of a little, with space having a place on Paul Millette’s…
Johnny O’Neal: Everybody Loves Johnny O’Neal
There’s a term called “working the room”, and singer/pianist Johnny O’Neal knows how to do it. He’s teamed up with Luke Sellick/b and Itay Morchi/dr for a git at Pyatt Hall in Vancouver, BC back in2018, and his mix of…
THREE HOT SINGLES…Ari Joshua: Blurry Face. Reversible Submersible
Guitarist and songwriter Ari Joshua is delivering a trio of singles, all with different flavors that promise to create a buffet of upcoming albums. Dig in! The first one, “Blurry Face”, is with famed groovmeisters John Medeski/key and Billy Martin/dr,…
****RINGERS OF THE WEEK***THESE ARE HARD BOP TRUMPETS BOTH HOT AND SWEET…Freddie Hubbard: On Fire, Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa In The Bronx
You say you don’t believe in God? How else can you explain this gift of above from Zev Feldman’s Resonance Records. If you’re a trumpet fan, or of hard bop in general, or even if you don’t understand what I’m…