I’m willing to bet that this will be the first recording you’ve bought of someone singing in Albanian. Vocalist Elina Duni has actually released a few albums before, but this one is the first to get any sort of American…
Month: January 2013
Coral Egan: The Year He Drove Me Crazy
Singer/songwriter Coral Egan fits into the indie/folk category with a hint of jazz inflection due to her voice sounding a bit like she grew up on the Norah Jones side of life. Here, she sings with simple guitar, piano, bass…
Pharez Whitted: For The People
I got weaned on jazz through classic hard bop quintets like Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Clifford Brown, and for my money, that’s just the essence of jazz, thank you. Trumpeter/composer Pharez Whitted must be a kindred spirit, as all…
Winard Harper & Jeli Posse: Coexist
Outside of a major worldwide spiritual renewal such as the one prophesied by Isaiah(In his book in the Bible at Chapter 19 and verse 23), I don’t know whether drummer Winard Harper’s vision of a peaceful worldwide coexistence can exist, but…
Monterey Jazz Festival All Stars@The Lobero Theatre 01.15.13
Celebrating 55 years of the finest in jazz, the touring Monterey Jazz Festivals All Stars rolled into Santa Barbara (or “Saint Babs,” as leader Christian McBride joked) and turned the upscale packed house into a its own. Before the entire band of Ambrose…
****RINGERS OF THE WEEK****REAL HORNS! The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods, Arnett Cobb: Party Time, More Party Time, Movin’ Right Along
These two releases are separated by a half century, but they both have that timeless quality that would have made a fan of either disc, at either session, a fan of the other. Read on… Greg Abate plays alto, soprano,…
Jesse Cook: The Blue Guitar Sessions
If you want to hear some beautiful guitar playing, look for this one. Jesse cook puts together 14 tracks with a rotating supporting team that includes Chendy Leon/dr, Maninho Costa/perc, Chris Church/violins, Amy Laing/cello, Pat Collins/b, Tom Szczesniak/p and Emma-Lee/voc…
Jason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry
This disc is inspired by the Greek soothsayer Tiresias, who was featured in plays and writings of Homer, Sophocles and Euripides (“Euripedes? Eu MEND edes!” a little Greek humor for you there). The music, a tad left of center features…
The Julian Bliss Septet: A Tribute To Benny Goodman
It’s hard to appreciate the fact nowadays, but at one time, this nerdy looking bespeckled Jewish kid changed the whole musical world by introducing this wildly exciting and progressive sounding music called “swing” to a generation of people growing up…
Harry Allen & Scott Hamilton: ‘Round Midnight
Two tenor battles have been around since the swing era: from Lester Young & Hershel Evans to the bop days of Wardell Grey & Dexter Gordon to Coltrane & Rollins to Zoot Sims & Al Cohn to Sonny Stitt and…