This 30 minute ditty of an album takes you back to the innocent days of Hawaii. Erich Sylvester plays ukulele unabashedly cheerfully as he sings along with Greg Sardinha’s steel guitar, Duane Padilla’s violin, Sonny Silva’s guitar and Steven Strauss’…
Month: July 2016
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Quincy Jones And His Orchestra: Live In Ludwigshafen 1961
Yes, Quincy Jones was actually a swinger before he made a gazillion dollars producing Michael Jackson’s Thriller among other pop and rap albums. Don’t forget he was the musical director for the classic Frank Sinatra at the Sands with Count…
Will Vinson: Perfectly Out Of Place
Will Vinson brings a mix of reeds to a wide ranging collection of originals, as he mixes and matches artists including Gonzalo Rubalcaba/key, Mike Moreno/g, Matt Penman/b and Jeff Ballard/dr with strings and voice or by themselves. Modern voiced strings…
COMFORT FOOD! One For All: The Third Decade
Here’s a Blue Plate Special of mainstream jazz that will stick to your ribs. Venerable vets Eric Alexander/ts, Jim Rotondi/tp, Steve Davis/tb all boast strong and muscular sounds, and they don’t disappoint as they are driven by the wagon train…
Albare: Dreamtime
Guitarist Albare has released a handful of impressive and original albums, and this one might top them all. He teams up with a quartet of Joe Chindamo/p, Philip Rex/b and Pablo Bencid/dr, but the clever pick here is that he…
LOST AND FOUND GUITAR TREASURES …Steve Vai: Modern Primitive
If you’re a guitar fan, Steve Vai is probably one of your 6 slinger heroes. If so, this 2 cd set is going to be on your “must have” list. It comprises the 25th Anniversary Edition of Vai’s classic guitar…
PIANO TRIOS…Mike Bogle Trio: Live At Stoneys, Joe Mulholland Trio: Runaway Train
Ah! If there is an essence to jazz, it has to be the jazz trio. Here are a couple strong releases to prove the point. Pianist Mike Bogle brings together Lou Harlas/b and Steve Barnes/dr to a live recording session…
Julio Botti: Sax to Tango
Julio Botti uses his soprano and tenor saxes in a fresh and exciting environment. Teamed with Pablo Ziegler’s production and Saul Zaks’s conducting of the University of Southern Denmark Symphony Orchestra, Botti weaves through some sophisticated tango and jazz charts…
Hector Martignon’s Banda Grande: The Big Band Theory
Strings, brass and reeds get a workout on this wide ranging collection of material arranged, conducted and mostly composed by pianist/leader Hectoro Martignon The saxes and horns get hip on the sauntering “Hell’s Kitchen Sarabande” and bop with pep on…
A FRESH PEN…The James Kob Experience: So Right
James Kob wrote both the music and lyrics for this album of fresh and vibrant material. He doesn’t sing; he leaves that to Danielle Field and Maria Schafer as they take turns in front of an expanding and contracting band…