Phil Chester has a sweet and warm sound on soprano and alto sax, something rarely heard these days, and his tone on tenor is rich and cozy. He leads a joyful band of Bob Quaranta/p, Ian Froman/dr, Leo Huppert-Joe Fitzgerald/g…
Month: March 2015
The AfroRockerz: The AfroRockerz
A mix of James Brown soul, some African Funk and a dash of 70s disco soul w/ a hint of hip hop make up the music on this album by the band AfroRockerz. Consisting of Allonymous/voc, Emma Lamadji/voc, Sylvain Daniel/b-key-prog,…
Emilio Solla Y La Inestable De Brooklyn: Second Half
Pianist/composer Emilio Solla puts together a warm and fragrant mix of Latin and jazz with a simpatico team of Jorge Roeder/b, Tim Armacost/ts-ss-fl, Alex Norris/tp-fh, John Ellis/fl-ts-bc, Meg Okura/vi, Victor Prieto/acc and Eric Doob/dr. The music veers between in the…
Tom Trio: Radical Moves
Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski has a sweet tone akin to Kenny Dorham & Blue Mitchell, sounds you don’t run across these days. He uses it in a more of a free environment in this trio setting with Nils Bo Davidson/b…
ACOUSTIC STRINGS…New Latitude: Convergence, Yagull: Kai
Acoustic guitars dominate these two releases, with each one taking a different route. New Latitude consists of Dave Erickson and Jim Car, both of whom play guitar while Jim also tackles the bass. Guests Eduardo Bijoux barbosa/b, David Young/dr-perc and…
Sasha’s Bloc featuring Jane Monheit: Heart On Fire
I caught this band put together by bassist Alex Gershman about a year ago at Catalina’s and this past month, and was impressed by how they mixed jazz and vocals into what appeared like a nightclub theatre act. That was the…
AH! Curtis Nowosad: Dialectics
Everyone has a style of jazz that got them hooked on the music. Yes, I “got into” fusion, free, swing and traditional, but nothing hit home for me like those glorious albums from Blue Note, Riverside and Fantasy. Muscular and…
WE’RE TALKING FUSION! Simak Dialog: Live at Orion
Back in the 70s, the fusion of jazz with electronics, rock and world sounds was not only the most popular music in the jazz genre, but it was part of the pop mainstream, with groups like Return to Forever and…
Selassee & The Fafa Family: Time For Peace
In case you didn’t know, the origins of reggae music were musically from Jamaica, but the religious beginnings were due to the belief that Ethiopian leader Haile Selasse was the promised Messiah of the Rastafarians. Well, maybe that didn’t exactly…
Chick Corea & Herbie Hancock@Granada Theatre 03.22.15
“What you think we’re gonna do…we ain’t gonna do it!” So joked Herbie Hancock as he and fellow jazz icon Chick Corea conversed with the packed Santa Barbara crowd at the acoustically adroit Granada. The Chameleon wasn’t kidding, though, as he…