The triple bari front line of Pat Velliveau, Keith O’Rourke and Gareth Bane take you to the musical version of the La Brea Tar Pits on this bopping session that is as thick as a London Fog. Don’t be intimidated,…
Month: February 2020
Andrea Petrity: What If I
Pianist Andrea Petrity leads a swinging trio of bassist Stefano Valdo and drummer Robin Tufts through and impressive set of originals and a clever cover. The latter, a rich take of the 60s classic “Can’t Help Falling In Love” is…
FEMME VOCAL…Beverley Church Hogan: Cant’ Get Out of This Mood, Rebekah Meldrum: Slippery Noodle Inn
Vocalist Beverley Church Hogan teams with some of LA’s finest jazzers on this pretty and polished album produced by pianist John Proulx. The team of Proulx’s piano with Graham Dechter/g, Clayton Cameron/dr, Lyman Medeiros/b, Ron S tout/tp-fh, Doug Webb/fl-ts and…
MODERN GUITARS…Martino Vercesi 4tet: nEW tH ING, Ted Quinlan: Absolutely Dreaming
Cool toned guitarist Martino Vercesi leads a post bop team of Rudi Manzoli/ts, Matteo Rebulla/dr and Danilo Gallo/b through six rich originals. Vercesi’s spaciousness and sleek lines are a plus here coalescing with Manzoli’s firm sounding tenor on the modern…
SERGIO MENDES: BOSSA, BEBOP AND BRASIL ’66
IT HAS BEEN MY CONTENTION THAT IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE SENSUOUS SOUNDS OF SAMBA, JAZZ IN THE LATE 50S AND EARLY 60S WOULD HAVE DEVOLVED INTO MINDLESS NAVEL GAZING CACOPHONIES OF FREE JAZZ AND THE AVANT GARDE. THE SEDUCTIVE…
EDDIE LEVERT’S LOVE TRAIN
ONE OF THE MAJOR INFLUENCES IN POP CULTURE HAS BEEN THE SOULFUL SOUNDS OF THE 1970s, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE “PHILADELPHIA SOUND”. THE O’JAYS WERE ONE OF IT’S MAJOR PROPONENTS, FILLING THE AIRWAVES WITH A MIX OF URBAN STREET…
THIS IS A BEBOP TRUMPET 101…John Bailey: Can You Imagine?
Here is a of horn player that sound like they took the brass torch from Dizzy Gillespie. John Bailey plays trumpet and flugelhorn with a snappy rhythm team of Edsel Gomez/p, Mike Karn/b, Victor Lewis/dr, Stacy Dillard/ts-ss, Stafford Hunter/tb and…
WHEN “SMOOTH” WAS ROUGH AND READY…Bob James + Kirk Whalum: Joined At The Hip
As the reissue of this 1996 album demonstrates, at one time “Smooth” jazz had muscle and chops. Keyboardist Bob James got together with tenor saxist Kirk Whalum (sporting a vintage ‘do on the cover BTW) along with Chris Walker/b, Billy…
Joey Alexander: Warna
Pianist Joey Alexander is now at the phase where he is past being the latest “thrill” of being the “latest” new thing as a child prodigy. Now, he has included in the list of pianists like everyone else, needing to…
Sam Fazio: Let’s Go
Baritone vocalist Sam Fazio shows strong storytelling skills as he takes some clever material and gives it a late night/last set feel. He’s got a great sense of timing and nuance as he puts himself in settings ranging from duets…