Maynard Ferguson’s closet seems to be getting cleaned out lately, as a slew of his older recordings are being issued by the bucketload by Omnivore Recordings. Here are the latest two: Body and Soul was originally released in 1986, a…
Month: March 2016
Michael Formanek: The Distance
Bassist Michael Formanek puts together a wide ranging 17 piece jazz orchestra here, with the centerpiece being an 8 part “Exoskeleton” suite (along with a 9 minute “Prelude”). The orchestra includes some heavy hitters like Tim Berne/bs, Chris Speed/ts-cl, Ralph…
SNARKY PUPPY OFFSHOOTS…Cory Henry: The Revival, Bill Laurance: Aftersun
The popular crossover band Snarky Puppy is brimming over with solo projects from the rotating team. Here are a couple intriguing side bars. Keyboardist Cory Henry plugs his B3 and Leslie speakers in and takes you on a tour through…
Ralph Alessi: Quiver
Trumpeter Ralph Alessi has had an impressive career as a sideman for the likes of Ravi Coltrane, Steve Coleman and Fred Hersch. His own albums have been quite strong, with this most recent one with the adroit rhythm team of…
Shaina Taub: Visitors
Vocalist and songwriter Shaina Taub is a throwback to the storytelling artists such as Laura Nyro or Carole King. Her voice has a similarity to current star Sia, and there’s a dash of quirkiness as well as “indie” in her…
Luciana Souza@The Broad Stage 03.18.16
Vocalist Luciana Souza demonstrated at The Broad Stage that Brazilian music can be presented in many hues. Up to now, most of her recordings have been of the softer pastels in watercolors with quiet chords delivered by the Romero Lubambo …
SWINGIN’ WITH AVID…Georgie Auld: Four Classic Albums, Les Brown: Four Classic Albums, Ray Bryant: Four Classic Albums, Gerald Wiggins: Four Classic Albums
Nothing like hearing voices from the past to make you realize what is missing in the present. Here are the latest four 2 cd sets from AVID that show that swing still needs to be the thing. At one time…
Stewart Copeland & God: Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ (1925)@The Valley Performing Arts Center 03.16.16
If you’ve had trouble getting into the Easter season this year, a trip to the Valley Performing Arts Center this past Wednesday evening would have cured your doldrums. Even Stewart Copeland, the famed drummer who composed the music for the…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Trio Da Paz: 30
It seems that guitarist Romero Lubambo always gets on my Ringer of the Week list, either for his solo albums or on one of his many collaborations. This long term trio of the Brazilian with Duduka da Fonseca/dr and Nilson…
THIS IS A JAZZ VOCALIST 101…Sarah Vaughan: Live At Rosy’s
Nothing like a voice from the past to show how the present has fallen short. Resonance Records, one of the top deliverers of historic albums, has been dumping out a goldmine of material lately, and this one of vocalist Sarah…