With a gruff and gravelly voice, Steve Mariner accompanies himself on guitar, bass, drums and piano along with a supporting team that includes Jim Bowskil/g, Jesse O’Brien/key, Darcy Yates/b, Glen Milchem/g and various rotating guests on this blues rocker of…
Month: September 2021
Konstantia Gourzi: Anajikon
For her second ECM album, Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi mixes orchestral and chamber music to moody effect on this latest release. The album is divided into three moods. The first is a triptych Hommage A Mozart, OP. 56 that includes…
Jean-Jacques Rojer: SOKO
Leader Jean-Jacques Rojer plays guitar and percussion with his team of Warren Wolf/vib, John Benitez/b, Jeff “Tain” Watts/dr and Pernell Saturnino/perc for a mix of soft, kinetic and world jazz. Rojer shows nimble guitar work that gives hints of East…
ROCKERS AND BLUESERS…Shumaun: Memories and Intuition, Sean Chambers: That’s What I’m Talkin’ About (Tribute to Hubert Sumlin)
Plug in and blow the blues The rocking trio of Farhad Hossain/voc-g-key, Jose Mora/b and Tyler Kim/g rotate drummers Thomas Lang, Mark Zonder, Atma ANur, Leo Margarit and Chris DeChiara on this collection of a dozen hard rockers. Heavy mettalica…
BEYOND CATEGORY…Staci Griesbach: My George Jones Songbook
Jazzers always like to say that Duke Ellington’s music was “Beyond Category”, but the same could be said for country music legend George Jones, who defined the music so well (like Patsy Cline) that his influence has spread to just…
A HINT OF HEAVEN…Duke Ellington: Berlin 1959
It’s albums like this that remind me of 1) how shallow today’s music is because 2) Duke Ellington’s music is why I got into jazz, particularly since I am now at about the age that he was during this 1959…
Kenny Garrett, Herbie Hancock, Joshua Redman, Cecile McLorin Salvant, etc: Relief-A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund
In response to the lockdown and results of the 2020 COVID pandemic, this album/cd was put together in order to raise needed funds to help musicians and others in the music “business” who are in financial straits. The result I…
Samantha Fish: Faster
Singer/composer/guitarist Samantha Fish is starting to head the pack of upcoming ladies who sing the blues. This is her 9th album since her debut in 2011, and it mixes street level blues with some pop and even artsy indie, never…
Terell Stafford and the Temple University Jazz Band: Without You No Me (Honoring Jimmy Heath)
A Philly love fest is delivered by trumpeter Terell Stafford as he leads the Temple University Jazz Band through a tribute to the recently departed Philadelphian bopper Jimmy Heath. Along with fellow local guests like Joey DeFrancesco/org and Christian McBride/b,…
Lukasz Pawlik: Long Distance Connections
Lukasz Pawlik plays acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizers and brings in some sound samples as he mixes and matches with some of the hardest hitting fusion giants around, including Mike Stern/g, Tom Kennedy/b and either Gary Novak or Dave Weckl on…