Earth toned vocalist Janiva Magness leads a team of Stephen Godges/dr, Davey Faragher/b, Arlan Schierbaum/key, Doug Livingston/dobro-stg, Dave Darling/g, Phil Parlapiano/p, a backing horn and vocal section with some special guests on this rural collection of tracks. She mixes a…
Month: April 2018
Miguel De Armas Quartet: What’s to Come
Pianist/composer Miguel de Armas leads a sleek team of Michel Medrano/dr-perc, Marc Decho/b and Arien Villegas/cong along with guests Carlitos Medrano/ong, Mathier Senechal/b, Galen Weston/g, Jane Bunnett/ss and Alex Baro/tp for some rich compositions. De Armas’ compositional and arranging skills…
E.J. Decker: Bluer Than Velvet
Vocalist EJ Decker does a well overdue tribute to molasses-toned singer Arthur Prysock on this wonderfully hip album. He is backed by a supporting team of Clair Daly/bs, Chris Bergson/g, Les Kurtz/p, Elizabeth Frascoia/tb, Saadi Zain/b and Tom Melito/dr, covering…
Lawson Rollins: Airwaves
Flamenco flavored guitarist Lawson Rollins brings together an album of his biggest “hits” on this album custom made for those unfortunate souls not in-the-know of this wondrous artist. His upbeat Mediterranean sounds are in full force on “Infinita” while sensuous…
Dafnis Prieto Big Band: Back to the Sunset
Drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto is best known for his flexible small group recordings, so this big band album is quite a pleasant surprise. The 16 member team creates exotic sounds with a rich pulse on “The Sooner the Better”…
The Heavyweights Brass Band: This City
When you think of brass and “The City,” your only choice is New Orleans. The team of John Pittman/tp, Chris Butcher/tb, Tom Richards/tba along with Paul Metcalfe/ts join forces with Lowell Whitty/dr and a slew of guests on vocals, horn…
The Manhattan Transfer: The Junction
The venerable and influential Manhattan Transfer, even with the addition of Trist Curless, continues to change with the times while still retaining its original sonic vision. Alan, Cheryl, Janis and Trist put together their first studio album in years, and…
FRENCH REEDS…Guy Lafitte & Andre Persiany: Les Classiques du Jazz, Michelle De Villers: Low Reed
The great feature of Spain-based Fresh Sound Records is that they find obscure artists of the 50s-80s that deserve a second (or even first) listen. Here are a pair of artists from France that show an influence of American swing…
Daniel Meron: This Was Now
Pianist Daniel Meron goes solo on this intimate and personal collection of songs, culled from standards and the pianist’s own pen. He likes interpretations to vary, producing two different takes of a pair of songs, a Grieg like stretching out…
Bobby Previte: Rhapsody
Bobby Previte writes, conducts and arranges all of the music on this album, along with playing drums, percussion, guitar, harmonica and auto harp with an intuitive team of John Medeski/p, Zeena Parkns/harp, Fabian Rucker/as, Jen Shyu/voc-erhu-p and Nels Cline. The…