Trumpeter/composer and musical historian Jeremy Pelt mixes traditions here, combining modern jazz with the West African tradition of GRIOT, which is passing on oral histories. The clever idea brings in spoken commentaries by the likes of Larry Willis, Harold Mabern,…
Month: May 2021
POPULAR JAZZ? Tony Pastor: The Tony Pastor and His Orchestra Collection 1940-51
Tony Pastor was best known as a warm toned tenor saxist and hep jived vocalist for Artie Shaw’s famous orchestra, striking it rich on “Indian Love Call” way back in 1938. Pastor formed his own big band after Shaw walked…
WOMEN AT THE MIC…Lara Solnicki: The One and The Other, Meredith D’Ambrosio: Sometime Ago
Lara Solnicki runs the whole gamut of vocals ranging from poetry to indie with a flexible rotating team of Peter Lutek/wwinds, Hugh Marsh/vi, Jonathan Goldsmith/key-el-b-g, Rob Piltch/g, Scott Peterson/b, Rich Brown/b and Davide Di Renzo. She mixes and matches the…
Brian Woodruff Sextet: A Centering Peace
In these dystopian times, it’s nice to hear an encouraging and optimistic musical voice. Brian Woodruff plays to the Buddhist philosophic drum on this Bodhi tree of musical musings with Michael Rodriguez/tp, Lisa Parrott/as-ss, Alan Ferber/tb, Pete McCann and Matt…
Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas: Other Worlds
They’ve teamed up before, but there’s a different feel between tenorist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas this time around. Maybe it’s hinted at on the inside drawing, with Lovano being painted as Coleman Hawkins; Lovano’s got the classic gruff…
577 VARIETIES…Hprizm: Signs Remixed, The Cyclone Trio: The Clear Revolution, Rachel Musson: Reeling, Paul Dunmall & Mark Sanders: Unity
Just like Heinz Ketchup had 57 variety of tomatoes, so 577 Records has as many varieties (or more) of free jazz. Here’s the latest cache… Electronic Music Producer Hprizm reworks material form Gerald Cleaver’s album Signs with a series of…
TRIOS OF SORTS…The Spike Wilner Trio: Aliens and Wizards, WRD: The Hit
Combinations of three… Pianist Spike Wilner teams up with bassist Tyler Mitchell and drummer Anthony P inciotti for some rich trio conversations of originals and standards. His own tunes have a dash of Monk in them, with Mitchell getting some…
RECENT GUITAR WORKS…Quick Quartet: Low Rent Space, Paul Colombo Group: Rio Crystal, Ricardo Silveira: Solo
Guitar sounds from newer hands… Guitarist and composer Jason Quick uses his rich toned guitar to team up with Ben Wolkins/tp, J. Ronquillo/b, Zac Kreuz/dr and Ben Maloney/key for eight modern originals. He shows his ability to bop on the…
Kristin Callahan: Lost In A Dream
Vocalist Kristin Callahan has made a name for herself delivering a pair of tribute shows to Peggy Lee and Julie London. The emotion, style and class of those two inspirations have been imbibed well by Ms. Callahan as she delivers…
TENORS ANYONE?
A couple of years ago, we posted a list of the most important tenor sax players. This time we’re going to narrow things down a bit, focusing on a top ten list of tenor sax solos that are not only…