Two artists united by letter and lore… Singer/songwriter Chris Catalena teams up with Nate Ryan, Nick Murray, Jordan Odom, Kyle Mullarky, Ryan Rapsys and Sean Caffey for some down home folksy country on this latest album. His voice is laconic…
Month: January 2020
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****THE MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMP: Hank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70
During his long and productive career, tenor saxist Hank Mobley was termed “The Middleweight Champ: of the tenor sax, due to his “round” sound being halfway between the beefy Sonny Rollins/Dexter Gordon and the airy Lester Young/Stan Getz tones. What…
IT GETS MY VOTE…Karrin Allyson Sextet: Shoulder To Shoulder
Celebrating the centennial of 1920’s giving women the right to vote, suffragette singer Karrin Allyson brings together an all star cast of Harry Belafonte, Rosanne Cash, Denise Donatelli, Kurt Elling Lalah Hathaway, Madeleine Peyroux, Regina Carter among others in a…
BACK ROAD JOYS…Sid Whelan: Waitin’ For Payday, Marie Martens & The Messarounds: Travelled, Will Sexton: Don’t Walk The Darkness
Nice music for sitting at the local Moose Lodge… NYC’s Sid Whelan mixes bluesy rock with a soulful country stew as he mixes and matches with Trevor Bridgewater/b, Robert Weiss-Richard Huntley/dr, Matthew Whittaker/keys and a horn and percussion section for…
MOODS EXOTICA…Barrett Martin Group: Indwell, Mathieu Vanasse: Archipel, Quey Percussion Duo: soniChroma
Barrett Martin plays drums in various and exotic forms along with vibes, marimba, piano and bass, joining with thirteen guests in cameo form including 3 different basses, some percussionists, guitarists and woodwinds. The 25 pieces here are between 1-5 minutes,…
THE REAL DRIFTER…Ben E. King: The Singles & Albums Collection 1960-62
Considered the smoothest and most elegant of the R&B singers of the 50s, Ben E. King (1938-2015) is probably best known for the classic crossover hit “Stand By Me”, but that is only one small part of his importance. This…
Andris Nelsons & Wiener Philharmoniker: Beethoven Complete Symphonies
As one who has an acceptable number of Beethoven Symphony collections, I’ve come to a certain way to “fact check” their importance. My key check points are 1) “How sweeping is the opening of the “Eroica” on the “Allegro” along…
EVEN WHITE BOYS GET THE BLUES…Griff Hamlin: I’ll Drink To That, Kern Pratt: Greenville, MS…What About You?, Jay Gordon’s Blues Venom: Slide Rules!, Poppa Chubby: It’ A Mighty Hard Road, Jeff Chaz: No Paint
Blue eyed blues.. Griff Hamlin sings and plays street level with a juke jointy team of Ty Bailie/key, Mark Smith/b, Chis Atchley/dr and a smoking horn section of Jonathan Bradley/tp, Eric Letta/ts-as, Kevin Hicks/tb and Laura Hamlin/bs. You get a…
Larry Bernstein/Larry Goldings/Bill Stewart Trio @ Dazzle Jazz Club 01.23.20
The team of guitarist Larry Bernstein, B3er Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart showed the packed Dazzle jazz club that there are major benefits to long term relationships. These three gents have been recording and performing together for three decades,…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Ralph Peterson’s Gen-Next Big Band: Listen Up!
Just when you thought that studio big bands were cerebral and sterile affairs, here comes this gem by Ralph Peterson. He conducts the large ensemble (FIVE TRUMPETS?!? TWO DRUMMERS?!?!?) while also p laying drums and cornet. A few of the…