Here’s a guitarist that you’re going to love. Hyunil lee’s got the relentless swing of a Grant Green mixed with modern textures, ably displayed on this collection of bopping originals. He teams up with Quamon Fowler/ts-ss, Young Heo/b, Colin Campbell/p,…
Month: February 2017
Dialectical Imagination: The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Rapture
The duo of Rob Pumpelly/perc and Eli Wallace/p answer to the band name Dialectical Imagination, and they join together for six free flowing improvisations that mix melody with majesty and mayhem. Wallace has a rich and warm touch on the…
Teri Thornton: The Voice of Teri Thornton
Teri Thornton has had two careers as a vocalist. The Detroit native started out in the early 60s with a couple of very hip albums and then dropped out of the scene. She re-emerged in 1998 and actually won the…
THE MOOD TO BE WOOED… Bobby Hackett With Strings: That Midnight Touch & A Time For Love
Cornetist Bobby Hackett was one of the few artists who had a rich and warm tone almost identical to Louis Armstrong. While he took advantage of that fact on a ton of “Traditional” albums with the likes of Jack Teagarden,…
BASIE SWING! Joe Newman Sextet featuring Frank Wess: The Happy Cats
Trumpeter Joe Newman and tenor sax/flutist Frank Wess were two of the most important elements of Count Basie’s “Atomic” Band of the mid fifties. This album features the two in smaller settings, with arrangements by Basie-ites Al Cohn, Quincy Jones…
WAS IT REALLY THIS EASY? The V.I.P. Trio: Standards
Back in 1988, bassist Pat Senatore had finished his stint with Herb Alpert and was running his own hip jazz club Pasquale’s in Malibu. He was usually the bassist for the incoming artists, and with locals like Cedar Walton/p and…
Craig Taborn: Daylight Ghosts
Pianist Craig Taborn brings together Chris Speed/ts-cl, Dave King/dr and Chris Lightcap/b for a communicative display of freedom within loose forms. The quartet creates dreamy moods that expand and coalesce, as Speed sighs on his tenor over Taborn’s dark piano…
Otis Taylor: Fantasizing About Being Black
Few storytellers get as in your face as blues master Otis Taylor. He pull no punches,either in lyrics, voice or musical accompaniment. It’s easily to get depressed after taking in one of his albums, as his songs are almost always…
Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge: Mount Royal
Jazz and bluegrass meet on successful terms as Chris Eldridge, armed with his 1937 Martin D-18 summits with Julian Lage and his Martin 000-18 for a dozen sublime songs proved by 12 sublime strings. It’s easy to tell the two…
JAZZ BON MOTS…Serge Gainsbourg: The Collection 1958-62
Pianist, vocalist, composer,boyfriend of Brigitte Bardot and even social provocateur later in life, Serge Gainsbourg was one of the few original French jazz artists in the 50s and 60s. While his last years were more legend than substance, his first…