Guitarist Justin Piper delivers a gorgeously pastoral mix of sounds that blend jazz, world and folk. His touch is warm, forward thinking and clean, gracefully upbeat on “Through Composed” and richly textured for “Mahavishnu’s Lullabye.” His picking is delicate and…
Month: December 2017
Peter Ward: Blues On My Shoulders
Peter Ward delivers plenty of blues hues with a rotating crew of buddies which include Ronnie Earl/g, Sugar Ray Garcia/harp and Sax Gordon Beadle/sax as well as a rhythm team of Bob Berry-Joe Delia-Mudcat Ward/b, George Dellomo-NeilGouvin/dr, Anthony Geraci-Rusty Scott/key…
Jeff Rupert with Veronica Swift: Let’s Sail Away
Whether or not you’re a vocal fan, here’s an album that is a swinger’s delight. Veronica Swift has a rich, confident and wide ranging voice, and teams it up like Jordan & Pippin with the Getz-sounding tenor of Jeff Rupert…
Gregory Porter@The Ace Hotel 12.06.17
“There was a boy A very strange enchanted boy” At the Ace Hotel, Gregory Porter showed why, since bursting onto the scene seven years ago, he has become the important lynchpin of male vocalists. Teamed with his band of Chip…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Dave Bennett: Blood Moon
Clarinetist Dave Bennett brings the clarinet out of its Swing Era past and gives it a modern yet melodic environment as he teams up with producer Shelly Berger for eleven well chosen or co-crafted tunes. The simpatico team of Dave…
LOOK AT ME!!! Johnny Mathis: The Columbia Album Collection
If you want to get the mother lode of pop vocals, save your money, do some weight lifting and invest in this massive multi-pound 67 album set of the apotheosis of male vocalists, Johnny Mathis. This commemorative set covers the…
Eden Ladin: Yequm
Pianist/composer Eden Ladin crafts together a clever and wide ranging album that takes you on a variety of musical and geographic journeys. He brigns together a wide ranging team of Dayna Stephens/ts-EWI, John Ellis/ts-ss, Gilad Hekselman/g, Herish Raghavan/b, Daniel Dor/dr…
IN THE BEGINNING…Ella Fitzgerald: Ella at Zardi’s
No, this is not the very first live or studio recording of Our Lady of Swing. Yet, a convincing argument could be made that this previously unreleased collection of two sets from February 2, 1956 at the chic LA club…
VOCAL VARIETIES…Lauren Kinhan: A Sleepin’ Bee, Emi Meyer: Monochrome, Michelle Lordi: Dream a Little Dream
A mix of vocal tradition with chance taking. World-wise vocalist Lauren Kinham gives a tribute to Nancy Wilson as she delves into the octengenarian’s songbook with a flexible team of Andy Ezrin/p, Matt Penman/b, Jared Schonig/dr and Ingrid Jensen/tp. She’s…
SINGER-SONGWRITERS…Mike Blakely: Keepsake, Chris Barron: Angels And One Armed Jugglers
Fellers that are story tellers… Singer/songwriter Mike Blakey comes off like an old pair of shoes as he sings his songs of the simple life a la John Denver and Jim Croce on this home spun album. Joining with him…