Mixing Kentonesque brightness with Lester Bowie freedom, the 3 trumpet team of Dick Titterington, Paul Mazzio and Thomas Barber team up with the flexible Greg Goebel/key, Dave Captein/b and Jason Palmer/dr for a rollicking collection of originals. The team is…
Month: October 2017
Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura: Kisaragi
At some point, one has to decide when something is music, and when something is abstract art created by musical instruments, like a sonic Jackson Pollock painting. Pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura cross the line here, with eight…
Ilu’ Keke’: Transmision en la Erita’ Meta
This collection of sounds, voices and music was put together, as the liner notes say, to capture “the soundscape of a small neighborhood that continues to house some of Cuba’s greatest musicians.” The “wandering microphones” weaves around town to record…
Fonnesbaek & Kauflin: Synesthesia
Pianist Justin Kauflin creates a series of empathetic duets with bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek on this mix of originals and intriguing standards. Fonnesbaek’s bass is tensile on his own title track as Kauflin flows like Chopin, and his bass jabs and…
Legendary Ladies of Motown w/ Mary Wilson & Martha Reeves@Smothers Theatre 10.07.17
Back in the 1960’s, Motown Records boasted that it was “The Sound Of Young America.” Sixty plus years later, the sound of youth came back to the Smothers Theatre for an evening of timeless soul music. Opening up was Martha…
LA’S BEST ACCOMPANIST? Josh Nelson: The Sky Remains
If you hang around the LA jazz scene, sooner or later you’re going to hear pianist Josh Nelson perform. He is teamed with bassist Pat Senatore a number of times, but usually he’s supporting a local female singer, as he’s…
YOWZA! The Boswell Sisters: 1925-35
While rarely acknowledged these days, the Boswell Sisters (Connie, Martha and “Vet”) essentially pioneered jazz vocals in terms of both swing and harmony. Artists ranging from Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby to today’s Manhattan Transfer have been highly influenced by the…
Vijay Iyer Sextet: Far From Over
Pianist Vijay Iyer seems to have found his best musical breeding ground in the sextet format. This one, with Graham Haynes/ct-fh-el, Steve Lehman/as, Mark Shim/ts, Stephan Crump/b and Tyshawn Sorey/dr has the pianist/leader able to showcase his formidable chops, but…
AMERICANA FROM ROUNDER…Chris Hillman: Bidin’ My Time, The Jerry Douglas Band: What If, Gregg Allman: Southern Blood
Traditional American sounds from the Cumberland Gap are delivered by Rounder Records, with each album here showing something about the musical prism from which we imbibe and learn. Chris Hillman was one of the founders of what was then called…
Buddy Guy, Robben Ford, Joe Satriani, etc: A Tribute to Les Paul
A concert tribute from Universal Studios Hollywood is presented to arguably the man that gave rock and blues its true instrument. Lester Williams Pulspus, better known as Les Paul, is saluted on this concert by the likes of Neal Schon,…