Lisa Hilton displays what’s possibly her strongest release date both as performer and composer. For the first time in years, she’s without her usual teammates of Larry Grenadier/b and Nasheet Watts/dr, with Gregg August/b and Rudy Royston/dr as able replacements…
Month: May 2015
Rodrigo Bonelli: Septet Works
Rodrigo Bonelli shows himself to be a triple threat here as he leads a septet (with guests) here with a fresh and young crew. Bonelli wrote all of the material, mostly in the finger tapping bop-cum-Mingus genre, and his arrangements…
Harley Card: Hedgerow
Here’s a fun one for guitar fans, as Harley Card brings forth a wide selection of sounds and styles of guitar playing. Teamed up with David French/ts-bcl, Matt Newton/p-key, Jon Maharai-Dan Fortin/b and Fabio Ragnelli-Ethan Ardelli/dr,card dispalyes h is composing…
AMERICANA… Sol Driven Train: Dance, Duke Garwood: Heavy Love
Here are a couple releases that, while not exactly “jazz” per se, capture a part of the American spirit. Sol Driven Train is made up of Ward Buckheister/v-g-tb, Russell Clarke/sax-v, Matt Thompson/b-v, Ross Bogan/key-voc, Joel Timmons/g-v and Wes Powers/dr. As…
Lauren Lee and Charley Sabatino: Velocity Duo-Dichotomies
At least the pair wrote on the liner notes to “listen, ponder and draw your own conclusions.” What you have here is vocalist Lauren Lee and Charley Sabatio on bass doing some free improvisations based on visualized words. Each song…
Karla Harris: Sings the Dave & Iola Brubeck Songbook
Karla Harris has an earthy and husky tone to her voice, almost sounding like she stepped out of a Delaney and Bonnie session. She makes an adroit choice by selecting songs made famous by Dave Brubeck, along with Ms Iola…
A TRIO OF TRIOS…Omer Klein: Fearless Friday, PLS Trio: East River, Adam Birnbaum-Doug Weiss-Al Foster: Three of A Mind
There are a ton of piano trios out there in the Naked City. Here are a few: Omer Klein leads a very impressive one here with Haggai Cohen-Milo/b and Amir Bresler/dr on this collection of originals plus one. He’s got…
CAN WE TALK?…Sour Grapes: Sour Grapes, Free Nelson MandoomJazz: Awakening of a Capital, Spin Marvel: Unfolding
First, let’s please define what music needs to include: melody, rhythm and harmony. Next, the fluid definition of “jazz” tends to include: improvisation, swing/syncopation and “blues.” Here are three recent releases that may make you question either a) these definitions…
GUITAR TRIOS…Eric Sardinas and Big Motor: Boomerang, Mark Wingfield: Proof of Light
Gone are the days when guitar trios were subtle affairs of full bodied Gibsons strumming along with a bass, drum with brushes or another guitarist. Here are two axe men that hit hard. Eric Sardinas teams up with Levell Price/b…
Claus Waidtlow & The Orchestra featuring Jeff Ballard: Play House
Claus Waidtlow puts together a full jazz orchestra for his own tunes and arrangements, featuring a lyrical Scandinavian team that includes American drummer Jeff Ballard. The mix of reeds and brass is done cleverly and judiciously as on the call…