One of the truly indisputable evidences for the existence of an all loving God is when he allowed Duke Ellington to form his orchestra, and let baritone saxist Harry Carney anchor the sax section for 50 years. Whether it was…
Month: August 2012
Booker T. and the M.G.s: Green Onions
Hard to believe that an instrumental group could get so popular in the 60s, but there were a number of them. BTATMGS was by far the best, as not only did they put out superior and funky stuff like this…
SAX LITTLE LEFT OF CENTER: Jure Pukl : Abstract Society: Featuring Vijay Iyer, Joe Sanders & Damion Reid, Ivo Perelman/Matt Shipp/Gerald Cleaver: The Foreign Legion, Ivo Perelman with Sirius Quartet: The Passion According to G.H., Rich Halley 4: Back From Beyond
There are some styles of music that I must confess, I just don’t get. Outside tenor sax players is a “type” that seems contradictory, as the whole reason the instrument was devised was to sound as “heavenly” as a cello,…
The Hot Club of Detroit: Junction
The Hot Club of Detroit is one of the few small groups out there that takes a genre (in this case, Django Reinhardts Hot Club of France) and use that as a starting point as opposed to an apotheosis. The…
Amina Figarova: Twelve
I love a record like this, when you can’t tell who the leader is. In this case, pianist/composer Amina Figarova puts together a wondrously cohesive sextet with Bart Platteau/flutes, Ernie Hammes/tp-fh, Marc Mommaas/ts-ss, Jerden Vierdag/b and Chris “Busckshot” Strik/dr through…
Carmen Intorre Jr: For The Soul
No wonder this disc by drummer/leader Carmen Intorre sounded so fresh, alive and cooking…most of the songs come from the last time jazz created some real original music. Intorre rides the reigns behind a hot little band that includes John…
Cory Wong: Quartet/Quintet
Guitarist Cory Wong releases an ambitious double cd set here, with the music being presented in two completely divergent formats and moods. The first disc has wood leading a band with Billy Peterson/b, Zach Schmidt/dr and either Dan Musselman or…
Romain Collin: The Calling
Here’s a 21st century pianist with a lot of ideas bouncing around. Romain Collin leads a trio with Luques Curtis/b and Kendrick Scott/dr for some wide ranging and far reaching material that keeps its hold onto the heart of jazz…
Cathy Segal-Garcia & Yoonseung Cho: Bohemian
Bohemian? Well, I guess so, but Rudolfo and Mimi it definitely ISN’T. Vocalist Cathy Segal-Garcia (CSG from here out) and pianist Yoonseung Cho collaborate for a mix of originals and jazz tunes to which CSG has added lyrics. There are…
Hot Jazz From Arbors-John Cocuzzi: Groove Merchant, Marty Grosz & The Hot Winds: The James P. Johnson Songbook
So rarely attempted these days, the two-beat rhythm was once the ubiquitous drive of what was called “hot jazz” back in the Golden Age of Jazz, circa Great Gatsby. These latest two sessions bring back that infectious groove that gets…