Month: March 2017

Andrew Durkin: Breath of Fire

Pianist Andrew Durkin flexes creative muscles with his team of David Valdez/as, Tim Willcox/ts, Ryan Meagher/t, Andrew Jones/b and Todd Bishop/dr for a mix of originals. The Oregonian is adept at setting moods, as his keyboards create a CTI-like soulful…

Robert Occhipinti: Stabilimento

Bassist and producer Roberto Occhipinti brings together a flexible all star team of Tim Ries/ts-ss, Luis Deniz/as, Manuel Valera-Hilario Duran/p and Dafnis Prieto-Mark Kelso/dr for a free form collection of material.  Strings and Quinisin Nachoff’s tenor add extra texture while…

The Klezmatics: Apikorsim/Heretics

As the Borscht Belt master Shecky Greene used to say, if you’ve got a good schtick, keep playing it. The Klezmatics, consisting of Frank London/horn-harm-voc, Lisa Gutkin/vi-voc, Lorin Silamberg/voc-acc-g-p, Matt Darriau/reeds-voc, Paul Morrissett/b-g and Richie Barshay/perc-voc have been shvinging for…

Mark Whitfield: Grace

Guitarist Mark Grace has carved out an impressive catalogue presenting music ranging from straight ahead material such as True Blue to his soulful Songs of Wonder. This time around he makes his music a family affair by bringing in son…

Sam Newsome: Sopranoville

Everyone agrees that the soprano sax is the most unforgiving of the jazz reed instruments. Sam Newsome takes that challenge and creates an album that features 22 various tunes that have the horn produce sounds, music and effects in a…

WONDERFUL RARITIES FROM AVID…Don Bagley: Four Classic Albums, John Coltrane: Four Classic Albums, Judy Garland: Four Classic Albums Plus, Freddy King & Albert King: Four Classic Albums, Roy Orbison: Three Classic Albums Plus

The past few months UK-based Avid Records has stretched its vision beyond strictly jazz to include vocals, vintage blues pioneers and early rock/rockabilly. The world is better for it! Bassist Don Bagley made his name with Stan Kenton’s orchestra of…