Saxist Dave McMurray hit the jackpot a couple of years ago with a funky trio album Music Is Life that mixed fiery jazz with a hip backbeat. This time around, McMurray gets a bit ambitious, taking on the songbook of…
Month: July 2021
CATCH A FIRE! Acute Inflections: Exodus
While I appreciate reggae music, and even saw Bob Marley in concert back in the day, the limiting factor of this Jamaican export is that it tends to sound the same. Well, the problem is solved with this incredibly clever…
FOXY! 2B3: Jimi
With Hammond B3 trios, it’s all about the song selection, and the team of Jeff Jenkins/B3-synth, Mike Abbott/g and Mike Marlier/dr, the choice of Jimi Hendrix is a clever one. The team hits hard on rocking versions of pieces like…
IS THERE EVER ENOUGH? Bill Evans: Behind The Dikes-The 1969 Netherland Recordings
Like so few people, producer and musical gold miner Zev Feldman understands that one can never have enough previously unreleased material by the likes of Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins or Nat Cole. He keeps looking through nooks and…
Julian Lage: Squint
Guitarist Julian Lage continues to impress with his growing catalogue of unpretentious and intimate small group formatted albums. This latest is another trio session, his second with bassit Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King, and the interplay and communication is…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Aaron Germain: Bell Projections
Here’s a gorgeous and sublime album by Aaron Bell, who plays a copious variety of guitars, including soprano, 6 string classical bass and guiro. He brings in one to two guests for most of the tunes, including Nestor Torres/fl, Paul…
Raul De Souza Generations Band: Plenitude
The trombone has to be one of the more ignored instruments in jazz these days. That problem is remedied by the latest album by Raul De Souza, who plays both slide and valve trombone along with second trombonist Christophe Schwizer…
Human Being: Human Being
Rossano Baldini is with one song exception the only human being on this album of six songs. While the titles of each song is about a body part or organ, the music itself is almost completely lacking in humanity itself.…
Joao Donato, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammed: JID007
Brazilian legend Joao Donato takes part in the “JAZZ IS DEAD” series with urban sounding producers and dj Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammed. As with the other releases, a jazz artist is puree’d through modern urban sounds, mixing vintage…
Three-Layer Cake: Stove Top
Consisting of Brandon Seabrook/g-ban-tapes, Mike Pride/dr-bells-org-glock and Mike Watt/b, the Three-Layer Cake trio spends an album trying to figure out if they can give a new feel to Led Zeppelin moods. A throbbing bass and ride cymbal come right out…