It’s quite refreshing to hear a pianist that has a voice on the ivories that sounds unique without descending into cacophony. I’ve never heard a session by Markus Burger before, but this album along with LA studs Joe LaBarbera/dr and…
Month: January 2013
Kurt Elling: 1619 Broadway
One thing you can definitely say about vocalist Kurt Elling; he keeps trying something new, which keeps his audience base both guessing and loyal for his devotion to the art form. Last year’s release The Gate raised a few eyebrows…
Lee Ritenour: Rhythm Sessions
Ya know, Metheny gets all the accolades, Benson reels in the bucks and Frisell seems to be the critics’ darling, but for my money, Lee Ritenour is consistently the most satisfying guy around the frets. His Six String Theory last year…
Jeff Holmes Quartet: Of One’s Own
Pianist Jeff Holmes leads an erudite team here on a mix of originals and standards with Adam Kolker/ss-ts-bcl, James Cammack/b, and Steve Johns/dr. The thing that hits you about this session is that the sound seems bigger than the sum…
Tori Amos: Gold Dust
I guess Tori Amos is proving that you CAN go back home again, as this disc has her revisiting her most famous release, the 20 year old Little Earthquakes. This time around, she performs the whole thing during a concert…
Foggy Mountain Special: A Bluegrass Tribute to Earl Scruggs
I know everyone is “into” Bill Frisell because he puts out these oh-so-cool “roots” releases that take you to the back roads of Tennessee, but for my money, I want the real thing, and this disc rye’chere is about as…
AND THE REASON YOU MADE THIS RECORD IS…Eric Salzman: The Nude Paper Sermon/Wiretap, Naked Truth: Ouroboros, Frank Macchia: Fried Zombie Stew
Sometimes I don’t know whether to listen to these cds, or just hang them from my fruit trees and use them to scare the birds away. Eric Salzman’s The Nude paper Sermon was supposedly a seminal recording back in the…
Andy Hunter: Think Like a Mountain
Trombonist Andy Hunter leads a cooking little post bop sextet with some interesting front line sounds with Alex Sipiagin/tp, Jason Marshall/bs, Dave Kikoski/Rhodes, Boris Kozlov/b and Danny Fischer/dr. Except for a couple standards, all of the material is penned by…
Jean-Marie Machado & Danzas: La Fete A Boby, Rusconi: Revolution
Is this jazz? Is it potpourri? Is it a world gone mad? I’m not sure, but it’s definitely European! Is this the future of the Euro as well? Pianist/arranger Jean-Marie Machado leads a unique-sounding band that includes Andre Minvielle’s…
MODERN POST MODERN…Outer Bridge Ensemble: Determined, Ricardo Grilli: If On A Winter’s Night a Traveler, Adam Rongo: Tell Your Story
Here are three bands that are keeping the tradition of the post bop small group intact. Outer Bridge consists of Mark DeJong/sax, Steve Hudson/key, David F reeman/perc and Jerome Jennings/dr and all of the material here is written by band…