Pianist Clare Fischer joins together with drummers Peter Erskine or Mike Shapiro on an intriguingly lyrical collection of jazz standards and originals. There’s a lovely bluesy laziness to pieces like “Love’s Walk,” and the reflective “Two For The Road” and…
Month: January 2016
CREATIVE VOICES: Emma Larsson: Sing to the Sky, Carrie Wicks: Maybe
One of the most denigrated categories is “jazz female vocalists.” Most either try to sound like a quirky indie like Norah Jones, or try to jump on the Diana Krall bandwagon by ONCE AGAIN revisiting the Great American Songbook. Well,…
STOMPING! The Hot Jazz Jumpers: The Very Next Best Thing
A mix of trad and New Orleans come together for a festive cd/dvd from the team of Nick Russo/g-banj-res, Betina Hershey/vc-g, Miles Griffith/voc, David Pleasant/dr, Essiet Essiet-Mamadou Ba/b and a roving horn section. Two step heaven and Gordon Au’s trumpet…
ARE WE NOT MEN? WE ARE IVO! Ivo Perelman/Mat Maneri/Tanya Kalmanovitch: Villa Lobos Suite, Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/Whit Dickey: Butterfly Whispers, Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/Complementary Colors
Tenor saxist Ivo Perelman is nothing if not prodigious. His spontaneous left leaning recordings show an inexhaustible ability to be creative and forward thinking. Here are the three latest in what is certainly a…
TWO SIDES OF TRUMPETS…Arturo Sandoval: Live At Yoshi’s, Richard Harris: Shades of Blue
You get the dynamic range of the trumpet on these two releases. Multi-Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval is in funky and boisterous form here with his band of Dave Siegel/key, Kemuel Roig/p, Rene Toledo/g, John Belzaguy/b and Johnny Friday/dr. They strolled…
Romi Mayes: Devil On Both Shoulders
Romi Mayes has a gritty voice and style about her as she sings and probably lives the blues. She’s teamed with Grant Sienens/g, Damon Mitchell/dr, BernieThiessen/dr and Marc Arnould/key. Her voice growls on rocking tunes like “Monkey of a Man”…
Marbin: Aggressive Hippies
Wonder where the “Psychedelic Sixties” went? They formed a band with dani Rabin/g, Danny Markovitch/sax, Greg Essig/dr and John W. Lauier/b and put out this album! You’ve got a mix of jazz and acid rock as wild as the 13th…
INDIE ROCK JAZZ? Ozere: Finding Anyplace, Salvador Santana: Fantasy Reality
Lines are crossed back and forth between pop, indie and jazz on these two discs. The band Ozere consists of the eclectic team of essica Deutsch/vio-voc, Emily Rockarta/voc, Adrian Gross/mand-g, Lydia Munchinsky/cello and Bret Higgins. Rockarts has a kind of…
Sam Sadigursky: Follow The Stick
Clarinetist Sam Sadigursky takes the classic Benny Goodman Quartet makeup to a modern level, with Chris Dingman/vibes, Bobby Avey/p and Jordan Perlson/dr taking Hampton, Wilson and Krup to “infinity and BEYOND.” The band has a post boppy sound with Sadigusky’s…
Tommy Emmanuel@Smothers Theatre 01.19.16
Tommy Emmanuel’s latest album is called It’s Never Too Late, and the famed guitarist demonstrated how appropriate that title is, as he welcomed the packed Smothers Theatre into his world of music and worldview. The opening act, The Wisherkeepers was…