Once upon a time the jazz world was filled with “guns for hire” like tenor saxist and flutist Don Braden. Guys like David “Fathead” Newman, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis or Gene Ammons..big toned guys that knew how to swing and make…
Month: October 2015
PIANO TRIOS…Shai Maestro Trio: Untold Stories, Jacob Szekely Trio: JSIII
Modern piano trios… Pianist Shai Maestrio teams up with Jorge Roeder/b and Ziv Ravitz/dr for a mix and match of moods and environs. The sessions or “live” appearances vary from Brooklyn, NY to France, and Maestro does a couple solo…
Mary Halvorson: Meltframe
Wanna know what a solo guitar can do? Check out this album by Mary Halvorson. She takes a wide swath of jazz pieces and makes each one as individual as a fingerprint. The most eye opening is the first track,…
Drifter: Flow
Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila teams up with a lithe post-bop team of Nicolas Kummert/ts-voc, Alex Gilain/b-voc and Teun Verbruggen/dr for some flowing small group impressions. Tuomarila has a melodic tone and touch, creating a graceful cadence with Gilain’s bass as…
John Fedchock’s New York Big Band: Like It Is
Want some nice big band charts? Trombonist John Fedchock leads a hip 20+ swinging team and does some nice arranging as well. He’s got the right guys on the team; Scott Robinson/bs, Gary Smulyan/bs, Rich Perry/ts, Bobby Sanabria/perc and Barry…
East West Quintet: Anthem
Guess how many players make up the East West Quintet. That’s right…SIX! You get Dylan Heaney/as-ts, Phil Rodriguez/tp, Simon Kafka/g, Mike Cassedy/p-key, Benjamin Campbell/b and Jordan Perlson/dr teaming up for some vintage post bop material. Chiming piano and cantering rhythms…
Catherine Marie Charlton: Maiden’s Voyage
Pianist Catherine Marie Charlton puts together a hip modern jazz collection here with a mix of originals, standards and surprises. She teams up with J. Jody Janetta/dr, Steve Meashey-Barry Green/b, and a front line of Jeff Oster/fh and Elliott Levin/ts-fl…
Cesar Orozco & Kamarata Jazz: No Limits For Tumbao
Cesar Orozco plays piano and keyboards here as he leads a core team of Rodner Padilla/b, Francisco Vielma/perc and Euro Zambrano/dr and a rotating team of guests through some exciting Latin jazz sounds. The rhythm team simmers with piano and…
LaFayette Harris Jr. Trio: Bend to the Light
Pianist LaFayette Harris Jr leads an impressively swinging trio with Lonnie Plaxico/b and Willie Jones III/dr on this mix of originals and well selected covers. He shows his allegiance to Thelonious Monk-styled bop on a well arranged read of Herbie…
Mark Christian Miller: Crazy Moon
Vocalist Mark Christian Miller does an excellent job in picking both a collection of standards and obscurities as well as a working team for his medium tenor voice. His tone has a dash of Barry Manilow in it, earnest with…