Is the world ready for yet another tribute to Charlie Parker? Fear not! Alto saxist Rudresh Mahanthappa does some original, clever and fascinating wonders with Bird’s Wirks. Along with Adam O’Farrill/tp, Matt Mitchell/p, Francois Moutin/b and Rudy Royston/dr he uses…
Month: April 2015
George Colligan: Risky Notion
Drummer George Colligan composes as well as leads from behind the traps with his band called Theoretical Planets on this collection of post-bop tunes. Colligan creates some intriguing patterns as foundations for the pianoless team of Nicole Glover/ts-ss, Joe Manis/ts-as…
Gene Argel: Luminescent
There’s truth in labeling here as pianist Gene Argel has a touch that glows in the dark on this quartet session with Jay Thomas/ts-as-tp, Chuck Deardrof/b and Mark Ivester/dr. Lots of elegance and pretty sounds grace along on the lovely…
Chamber 3: Grassroots
The quartet (!) of Chamber 3 consists of Christian Eckert/g, Steffen Weber/sax and Matt Jorgensen/dr along with “guest” Phil Sparks/b (as if he really weren’t needed). Sparks sounds like he deserves have the band re-named to “Chamber 4” as he…
Pascal Bokar: Guitar Balafonics
Guitarist Pascal Bokar makes an intriguing use of his guitar in that he uses it as a percussive instrument almost like a marimba a good percentage of the time. It is reminiscent of the popping percussive affects that Tal Farlow…
TWO SLAMMERS…Paolo Porta: Beginner’s State of Mind, Han-earl Park Quartet, Anomic Aphasia
Still releasing exciting and explorative music, Slam Records exhibits freedom of musical expression like few other labels. Here are the latest two: Paolo Porta leads the usually fiendishly difficult tenor sax trio with aplomb and style. He’s got a warm…
Tinsley Ellis: Tough Love
Here’s some good old fashioned rocking’ blues for you. Tinsley Ellis sings like he’s been on a CB for 20 years, picks like he was weaned on Albert King and leads a stomping team of Kevin McKEndree/key, Lynn Williams/d and…
Ernesto Cervini: Turboprop
Drummer Ernesto Cervini puts together a warm post bop band on this collection of rich originals. The sextet of Tara Davidson/as-ss, Joel Frahm/ts, William Carn/tb, Adrean Farrugia/p and Dan Loomis/b mix with Cervini to create a lyrical mix and sounds.…
LEADING FROM BEHIND…Jerry Kalaf: Welcome to Earth
Drummer Jerry Kalaf switches between a lithe sextet and a couple different trios on this lovely and gently swinging session. the three tunes with Doug Walter/as-ss, Barry Coates/g, Jeff Colella/p, Gabe Davis/b and Scott Breadman/perc includes a subtle flow on…
MUSIC FOR HISTORY MAJORS
I hope that all of you appreciate what a GOLDEN ERA we are living in regarding reissues and newly undiscovered historical recordings. When I first got into jazz, there were just records albums and a few labels that reissued anything…