Sometimes the music is the message; with the Royal Southern Brotherhood, the music is used to deliver one, and it’s one worth hearing. The tam of Cyril Neville/voc-perc, Bart Walker/g-voc, Tyrone Vaughan/g-voc, Darrell Phillips/b, Yonrico Scott/dr and Horman Caesar/B3 deliver…
Month: August 2016
Ilhan Ersahin: Istanbul Sessions
Swedish-Turkish tenor saxist Ilhan Ersahin delivers eleven originals of post-bop jazz with a flexible team of Alp Ersonmez/b, Izzet Kizil/perc and Turgut Alp Bekoglu/dr. The songs themselves have a free spirit about them, feeling almost spontaneous as on “The Calling”…
Matt Baker: Almost Blue
Matt Baker plays a swinging piano and sings with disarming fashion on this clever collection of material with Joel Frahm/ts, Lage Lund/g, Luques Curtis/b, Obed Calvaire/dr and Bashiri Johnson. The team sounds hip as Frahm’s tenor blows warm smoke on…
David Sanborn & Dave Koz@Fred Kavli Theatre 08.21.16
Back in the day, Thousand Oaks used to be used as the background scenes for scores of TV and movie Westerns. On Sunday night at the Fred Kavli Theatre, Dave Koz and David Sanborn re-lived those golden moments with an…
BET YOU FORGOT HOW GREAT THEY WERE..Woody Shaw & Louis Hayes: The Tour Volume One
Ya know, just when I thought that today’s crop of musicians was sounding pretty good, I get this 1976 recording of trumpeter Woody Shaw in concert with Louis Hayes/dr, Junior Cook/ts, Ronnie Mathews/p and Stafford James/dr and I realize that…
Jerry Bergonzi: Spotlight On Standards
How can you not believe in God when there are things like Hammond B3-tenor groups? There is no way anything but an all-knowing and loving God could create something like this. Jerry Bergonzi brings his tenor to team up with…
Steve Turre: Colors For The Masters
This album should be titled “Colors FROM The Masters” as Turre has assembled some , of the biggest names for a strong mainstream album. Kenny Barron/p, Ron Carter/b, Javon Jackson/ts, Jimmy Cobb/dr and Cyro Baptista/perc join in for a swinging…
BLUES, BOP AND POP FROM AVID…Lonnie Johnson: Four Classic Albums, John Lee Hooker: Four Classic Albums, Brenda Lee: Four Classic Albums, Herbie Nichols: Four Classic Albums, Earl Bostic: Four Classic Albums
This UK label has absolutely no shame!! And that’s the beauty of Avid Records; they release material that other labels are afraid to throw out to the public. Because of their moxie, we get to get either reunited with or…
Autobahn Trio: Out of the Tree
The unorthodox jazz trio of Autobahn has James Hill’s piano and Ian Wright’s drums serving as the foundation for Jeff LaRochelle’s tenor sax and bass clarinet for some moody free flowing originals. The album is divided into short fragments that…
Sinikka Langeland: The Magical Forest
Haunting medieval voices abound here as Sinikka Langeland brings her voice and kantele to meld with Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim and Linn Andrea Fuglseth, aka Trio Mediaeval. Her own team of Trygve Seim/ss-ts, Arve Henriksen/tp, Anders Jormin/b and Markku…