The music, mood and worldview of Thelonious Monk is presented by Dan Willis, who plays a wide variety of woodwinds to create a plethora of sonic portraits. He teams up with various incarnations of musical meeting with guitarist Pete McCann,…
Month: September 2020
GAUL GUITAR…Rene’ Thomas: Remembering Rene’ Thomas
Well known in native France, guitarist Rene’ Thomas’s reputation didn’t get much traction in the US, but his playing is on a par with the likes of Herb Ellis and Kenny Burrell. There’s even a dash of Grant Green on…
PAS DE DEUX…Jason Foureman and Stephen Anderson: Duo
I’ve always been a sucker for duet recordings, as there’s just nowhere to hide. This one by bassist Jason Foureman and pianist Stephen Anderson is a lyrical delight, conversant, swinging and thoughtfully melodic. Anderson’s touch sounds like he drank deep…
Miki Yamanaka: Human Dust Suite
A mix of piano and vibes by Miki Yamanaka has her leading a team with the arid alto sax of Anthony Orji, bassist Orlando Le Fleming and drummer Jochen Rueckert. The center of the album is a ive part “Human…
The Diego Urcola Quartet Featuring Paquito D’Rivera: El Duelo
Cool tones and rich palpations abound with leader Diego Urcola on trumpet and flugelhorn, directing traffic with his team of drummer Eric Doob, bassist Hamish Smith and guest all star Paquito D’Rivera on clarinet and alto sax. The two horns…
Ashley Locheed & Chris Rottmayer: So In Love
Pianist and arranger Chris Rottmayer and his team of electric bassist/arranger Chuck Archard and drummer Keith Wilson team up with the girl-next-door voice of Ashley Locheed for some clever rethinking of some American Songbook and Boomer tunes. Wilson and Archard…
Black Art Jazz Collective: Ascension
The all star team BAJC carries the hard bop torch like Rafer Johnson in the 1988 Olympics, mixing a strong harmonic and soloing front line of Wayne Escoffery/ts, Jeremy Pelt/tp and James Burton III/tb along with a sharp cornered rhythm…
Ray Mantilla: Rebirth
Ray Mantilla leads with a percussion discussion on this salsa flavored mix of jazz standards with a cruising team of Ivan Renta/ss-ts, Jorge Castro/fl-bs, Guio Gonzalez/tp-fh, Mike Freeman/vib, Edy Martinez/p-key, Reuben Rodriguez/b, Diego Lopez/dr and Ogudaro Diaz & Rafael Monteagudo/perc.…
Matt DeMerritt: Fools Journey
Matt DeMerritt plays a wide variety of saxes, mostly focusing on tenor, while also adding flute and some percussion on the soulful collection of post bop originals and covers. He’s supported by Sam barsh/p-key, Kaveh Rastagar-Jonny Flaugher/b, Gene Coye-Brock Avery-Scott…
Ant Law: The Sleeper Wakes
British guitarist Ant Law teams up with a core unit of Michael Chillingworth/as-bcl, Ivo Neame/p, Tom Farmer/b and James Maddren/dr along with a pair of cameo guests on this post bop collection of mostly originals. The lone cover is a…