Month: March 2016

Herlin Riley: New Direction

Drummer Herlin Riley shows his New Orleans roots here with a mix of incessant groove and a dash of other cultures on this rich session. He brings together Emmet Cohen/p, Russell Hall/b, Bruce Harris/tp and Godwin Lewis/as-ss for some snappy…

Alexis Cole: Dazzling Blue

Here’s a brilliant idea that vocalist Alexis Cole pulls off successfully. She delves into the compositions of Paul Simon, but not the usual 60s material when he and Art Garfunkel had hits with “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or “Mrs. Robinson.”…

Tord Gustavsen: What Was Said

Pianist Tord Gustavsen takes some time away from his usual trio sound with an adventurous session with vocalist Simin Tander and long-time drummer Jarle Vespestad. Gustavsen not only plays his usually spacious and deeply reflective piano here, but he adds…

Ari Erev: Flow

Pianist Ari Erev mixes and matches between trio, quartet and quintet on this successful post-bop album. The core trio has him with Eli Magen/b and Ron Almog/dr, and they deliver some wonderful sounds, as the pianist chimes on “Domingo” while…

Javier Colon: Gravity

Who would have thought 20 years ago that a pop-rock-R&B artist would headline on Concord Records. Such is the financial life of record labels these days, as Javier Colon, a singer-songwriter-guitarist makes his jazz label debut here. Good news-it’s pretty…