Here’s a lady that has bop in her bonnet. Alyssa Allgood has a rich, relaxed voice and delivery. With it and her team of Dan Chase/B3, Tim Fitzgerald/g, Matt Plaskota/dr and Alex Beltran/sax she sings lyrics and wordless melodies with…
Month: May 2015
Big Dave McLean: Faded But Not Gone
This is my kind of blueser. Out of Canada, Big Dave McLean has a gritty, world travelled voice and delivers a tune like he’s sitting next to you in his truck after having picked you up hitch-hiking. He teams up…
Sha Shaty: Brighter Day
Here’s a guy that puts a bit of joy into the smooth jazz field; Sha Shaty plays various saxes with a team of Steve Oliver/g-b-prog and Sonny B/dr along with in and out guests such as Will Donato/sax-section, Gary Stanionis/perc…
Daniel Bennett Group: The Mystery of Clown Castle
On the cover, leader Daniel Bennett strikes a serious pose with his swath of reeds and woodwinds along with his band of Nat Janoff/g, Eddy Khaimovich/b and Matthew Feick/dr. Inside, on the musical side, he seems to be having quite…
Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob@Vibrato 05.12.15
Vocalist Roberta Donnay turned the swank Bel Air nightclub into a Roaring 20s speakeasy as she brought back the music and moxie from the Golden Age of jazz with her Prohibition Mob of Danny Green/p, Justin Grinnell/b and Michael Barsimanto/dr.…
A DESERT ISLAND BOXED SET…Thelonious Monk: The Complete Riverside Recordings
Can someone REALLY make the claim that a 15 disc boxed set is on a Desert Island level? Yes, from my own testimony. Back when I was in college, and abandoning the negativity of rock, I took a 7 month…
Wolff & Clark Expedition: 2
Pianist Michael Wolff and drummer Mike Clark continue their expedition to find the Northwest Passage along with Christian McBride-Daryl Jones/b, Hailey Niswanger/sax and Wallace Roney/tp through a collection of impressive originals and clever covers. Brilliant choices of material abound: The…
Jazz Bakery’s “Moveable Feast” Presents: Aaron Goldberg’s Trio w/ Joshua Redman@Moss Theatre 05.09.15
It was fitting that pianist Aaron Goldberg chose the Mother’s Day weekend to bring his trio to Los Angeles, as his team, along with ex-employer Josh Redman, provided a mother of a show Saturday night at the cozy and hip…
Esperanza Spalding & Emily’s D+Evolution@The Ely Rey 04.06.15
The question keeps being raised, “If jazz is really so unpopular, is there anyone out there who can save it?” Well, just like Queen Deborah rescued Israel at its time of weakness, the young lioness Esperanza Spalding showed the filled…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Kevin Eubanks & Stanley Jordan: Duets
This seems to be the Year of the Guitar Duet Album! Here, we’ve got the summit meeting of Kevin Eubanks and Stanley Jordan, which bodes and delivers quite well. Because their styles are so different, you can easily delineate between…