The recently departed free jazz drummer and educator Alvin Fielder (1935-2019) was given a fitting tribute by compatriots Edward “Kidd” Jordan/ts, Joel Futterman/p, William Parker/b and Hamid Drake/dr-perc on this June 12, 2019 concert. The single marathon piece has Jordan…
Month: August 2020
John Finley: Soul Singer
Vocalist John Finley sings like a veteran that has made a living working the clubs on this stylish collection of standards and originals. Produced by keyboardist Lou Pomanti, Finley weaves stories backed by Larnell Lewis-Davide Direnzo/dr, Marc Rogers/b, Danny Weis-John…
NDV: Invisible
Nick D’Virgilio plays drums, some piano and loops as he sings and rocks the blues with guests Carl Verheyen/g, Jonas Reingold/b, Dave Martin/b, Phil Naish/key, Tony Levin/b and others. He mixes metallic fist pumpers like “Snake Oil salesman” with funky…
Tim Stine Trio: Fresh Demons
Guitarist Tim Stine leads a flexible team of bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Frank Rosaly through 8 fluid originals. Most of the tunes have a folksy feel to them, even as they ricochet on the Monkish “Watched Trains”. More often…
R.I.P…Jimmy Heath: Love Letter
Before leaving us January 19 at age 93, one of the last of the living beboppers, Jimmy Heath, left us one last will and testament, a warm album focused on relaxed and timeless ballads. For this last session, Heath teamed…
21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN…Maria Schneider Orchestra: Data Lords
Every album released by Maria Schneider is a sonic event, but this one is particularly important, as it not only contains two discs of music, but it touches on an important topic, namely balancing the tension between living in a…
David Boswell: The Story Behind The Story
David Boswell mixes acoustic, electric and synth guitars to lead a post bop team of Mitchel Forman/p, MB Gordy/dr, Jimmy Haslip/b, Scott Kinsey/p-key, Gary Novak/dr, Otmaro Ruiz/p-key, Bart Samilis/b and Andy Snitzer/sax through a collection of originals. Much of the…
Immanuel Wilkins: Omega
The debut album by alto saxist and composer Immanuel Wilkins ushers in a new generation of artists and attitudes. Pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns and drummer Kweku Sumbry are all fairly new names under the sun, along with the…
Zen Zadravec: Human Revolution
Pianist and composer Zen Zadravec leads a team of Todd Bashore/as-ss, Derrick Gardner-John Douglas/tp, Kenny Davis-Mike Pope/b and Mark Whitfield Jr/dr for some vintage hard bop sounds. Zadrevec shows strong hands as he throw red meat chords to Bashore’s ravenous…
CeCe Gable: More Than A Song
CeCe Gable has a way to hold back on a lyric and letting it go at just the right time, using her timing to perfection as she teams with bassist Harvie S along with Roni Ben-Hur/g, Brian Landrus/gs-bcl and Sylvia…