Blues vocalist Janiva Magness pours out her harrowing life story in this 260 page memoir. In it she recounts her dark and lonely life of growing up with having both parents dying of suicide before being placed in a series…
Month: August 2019
Rich Halley: Terra Incognita
Tenor saxist Rich Halley leads an intuitive team of pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker through six originals that are long on landscapes and musical journeys. Halley has a thick and sorghum textured horn, gurgling…
*****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Brandee Younger: Soul Awakening
You can argue until you’re blue in the face as to why the best jazz harpists have been women such as Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, but you’re going to want to add Brandee Younger to your list, as this…
MAINSTREAM JOY…Dave Wilson Quartet: One Night At Chris’, Hastings Jazz Collective: Shadow Dances
Hard to beat vintage sounds of hard bop post bop… Saxist and leader Dave Wilson captures an unfiltered night of swinging postbop at Philadelphia’s Chris’ Jazz Café’. He’s joined by Kirk Reese/p, Tony Marino/b and Dan Monaghan/dr, mixing originals with…
Nick Hetko-Rich Syracuse-Jeff “Siege” Siegel: When You Were There
Here’s a piano trio that is overflowing with style and lyricism. Pianist Nick Hetko, bassist RichSyracuse and drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel all contribute writing skill to this album along with a couple of standards, and the album has a clean…
David Cruz: David Cruz
Guitarist David Cruz releases an ep of mainstream sounds along with William Dietrch/b and Miles Fuller/dr on this six song ep. His tone is warm and relaxed, well displayed on the calm “Avery” in solo format, while showing nice feel…
Rob Ryndak & Tom Lockwood featuring Brian Lynch: Gratitude
Pianist and percussionist Rob Ryndak fronts a band with woodwind master Tom Lockwood and guest trumpeter/flugelhorn man Brian Lynch on this dozen originals. The remaining team of Sasha Brusin/g, Karl EH Seigfried/b, Jeff Moehle/dr, Victor Gonzalez Jr/perc, Micah Rutschman/vib, Ran…
Rich Peare: Classical Jazz Guitar
Nylon stringed Rich Peare brings his classical tone t omeld with jazz atmospheres on this lyrical and lovely album. Stating in the liner notes that “I consider myself a jazz musician, but I still enjoy playing the classical repertoire” he…
BOWING THE BLUES AWAY…Kamancello II: Voyage
Dark hues from two continents are produce, with Raphael Weintroth-Brown playing the cello and Shabriya Jashidi playing the Middle Eastern Kamanch on this four tuned collection of moody improves. The Kamanch has a brooding feel to it, and bows deeply…
A WALK IN THE REEDS…Sam Newsome: Chaos Theory
Sam Newsome is the reigning champ of preaching the message about the soprano sax. He is usually in solo or duet form, with this latest album featuring him exploring just about every part of the straight sax, teamed with “preparations”…