At the Grammy Museum Thursday night, without saying so directly, Miles Mosley spent the evening in both conversation and music giving ample evidence that he is able to be the man that can bridge the gap between popular music and…
Month: July 2017
Roger Rosenberg@The Blue Whale 07.19.17
Only in Los Angeles can a musician like bari saxist Roger Rosenberg go from a show in front of 56,000 at Dodger Stadium on night, and then hit the cozy and intimate Blue Whale the next. That’s the life for…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Maureen Choi Qu4tet: Ida Y Vuelta
Violinist Maureen Choi taps into her Latin roots (just kidding) as she captures the romance of Spain, South America, Cuba and the Caribbean on this seductive album She mixes originals with Iberian covers, teaming up with Daniel Garcia Diego/p, Marlo…
Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five
Paul Tynan and Aaron Lington equally divide up the writing chores while the former plays trumpet and the latter baritone sax on this exciting big band album. The Lington tunes include an elliptical post bop “Two Views” with punchy horn…
RICH VOICES…Mari Nobre’s Jazz Band: Live and Alive, Kathleen Potton: Nero
Lovely ways to deliver a song… Italian vocalist Mari Nobre delves into standards and sleek bossa on this album recorded at UCLA in 2016. Backed by Leo Nobre/b, Justo Almario/ts-fl, Angelo Metz/g, Sandro Feliciano/dr and Daniel Szabo/p, she uses her…
CREATIVE GUITARS…John McLean Clark Sommers Band: Parts Unknown, Mason Razavi: Quartet Plus, Tom Rizzo: Day and Night
If guitars are the new voice of jazz, here are some artists that have their fingers on the pulse of the times. Thick toned guitarist John McLean teams up with Clark Sommers/b, Joe Locke/vi and Xavier Breaker/dr for some rich…
JAZZ OR CLASSICAL? Society For New Music: Music Here & Now, Juri Seo: Mostly Piano
Where does classical end and jazz begin? Here are a collection of pieces varying in length from seven to over thirty minutes, all “modern” compositions for instruments ranting from a piano-cello-violin trio to small chamber ensembles of strings,…
TENORS ANYONE? Chad Lefkowitz-Brown: Onward, Berta Moreno: Little Steps
You can argue all you want, but for my money, the tenor sax is the heart of jazz. Here are two lesser known artists that make the sax sing. Chad Lefkowitz-Brown takes the baton from big beefy tenor giants like…
JAZZ WITH AN AMERICAN IDOL? The Chaz Lipp Groove Tripp
Well, Sanjaya Malakar didn’t win as a vocalist during the 2007 season of American Idol, but you know he must have something if Simon Cowell was impressed. He sure impressed leader/alto saxist Chaz Lipp as well, as Lipp and his…
Yoko Miwa Trio: Pathways
Pianist Yoko Miwa teams up a trio with Will Slater/b and Scott Goulding/dr with a personal and melodic mix of originals and covers. She has an elegant touch, flowing and telling a story during Joni Mitchell’s “Court and Spark,” giving…