No attitude. No on stage charisma. No light shows. No bimbo dancers. They don’t even sing in English!!! Yet, year after year, the Gipsy Kings ( just like on this 2 hour show at the comfortably air conditioned Nokia Center)…
Month: August 2012
Sara Gazarek@Vitello’s 08.19.12
It’s easy to see why singer Sara Gazarek chose the title of her latest release to be Blossom and Bee. Yes, it’s also the name of a famous song, and the disc is a tribute to vocalist Blossom Dearie. But,…
****ROTW****Chris Brubeck’s Triple Play: Live At Arthur Zankel Music Center
Ok, if you really must know, the ENTIRE title of this disc, AFTER what I’ve already written, includes (take a deep breath)“with Joel Brown and Peter Madcat Ruth and Special Guests Dave Brubeck and Frank Brown.” What you’ve got here…
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…
Sara Gazarek: Blossom & Bee
Where has this lady been? I think she got married, and has finally gotten out of her honeymoon suite. Last time I heard her was at The Vic, promoting her then just released Return To You, which charmed my socks…
Dirty Dozen Brass Band: Twenty Dozen
Few bands capture the essential joy and heart of jazz like the long reigning DDBA. They made a big sensation when they first hit the scene in 1984, and it’s easy to take them for granted. They’ve tried various themes…
Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here
This 85 minute documentary delivers an incisive insight into the background genesis and creation of the vastly popular progressive rock album that has sold over 13 million copies. There are contemporary interviews with the remaining members, Waters, Mason and Gilmore,as…
Nico Gori & Fred Hersch: Da Vinci, Magic Malik: Alternate Steps
Here are a couple of releases from a bit of an obscure label. One is from an old fav, the other one a bit more obscure. Fred Hersch is slowly becoming one of my favorite living pianists. He’s always…
Christian Scott: Christian aTunde Adjuah
A few years ago, trumpeter Christian Scott told me that he and his band made a covenant to commit 5 years together to work together and explore musical possibilities together. Since then, he released an impressive Yesterday You Said Tomorrow…
Keith Jarrett: Sleeper
AHHH! This is the ECM that I know and love! What we’ve got here is an archive recording of a Tokyo concert from 1979 with pianist Keith Jarrett accompanied by Jan Garbarek/ts-ss-fl-perc, Palle Danielsson/b and Jon Christensen/dr-perc, performing acoustic jazz…