It’s rare to find anything touched by Tom Harrell that doesn’t satisfy and inspire. His first release in over a year finds him in a quartet setting, playing trumpet and flugelhorn with Ugonna Okegwo on bass, drummer Adam Cruz and…
Month: July 2022
INNOVA IS BACK…Laura Sewell: Threescore, Lewis Jordan and Music At Large: Critical Mass, Danny Holt: Piano Music of Mike Garson, Anil Camci: Dekagon
Locked up due to the lockdown, St. Paul-based Innova Records is up and recording again, bringing in new and fresh music, just like old times. Here is the first cache worth checking out… Cellist Laura Sewell teams up with team…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****THE END OF THE RAINBOW…Ivie Anderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack McVea, Gerald Wilson, etc: Classic Black & White Sessions
I don’t know how they still do it, but Mosaic Records continues to find some of the best obscure and undiscovered jazz sessions that immediately become essential once they come to light. This 11 disc set is no exception, consisting…
BEFORE THERE WAS “OLD SCHOOL”…Texas Jim Robertson: Classic Cowboy Country 1939-54
You know a guy is a REAL country singer when he’s listed in a “hillbilly-music.com” web site. That’s what you’re getting with Texas Jim Robertson (1909-1966) and this two disc, 52 song anthology . You get here a collection of…
LADY BIRDS…Jesse Palter: Nothing Standard, San Gabriel featuring Sinne Eeg: Under the Stars, Mike Holober & Balancing Act: Don’t Let Go
Female frames… Vocalist Jesse Palter teams up with Michael Jellick/p-key, Ben Williams/b and Gregory Hutchinson/dr for a collection of impressive originals and clever covers. Her own material is a mix of jazz and Broadway, having fun on a Disneyish “Thought…
Benjamin Koppel: Anna’s Doll House
A musical story takes place on this album led by alto saxist Benjamin Koppel. With Caecilie Norby at vocals supported by Kenny Werner/p, Peter Erskine/dr, Johannes Weidenmueller/b and Jacob Andersen/perc supplemented by the Danish National Youth Ensemble as a string…
PIANO TRIOS…Enrico Pieranunzi: Something Tomorrow, Ariane Racicot: Envolee
Pianist Enrico Pieranunzi joins forces with bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek and drummer Andre’ Ceccarelli for a collection of mostly originals on this gracefully swinging set. The team digs in hardest for the single cover, a pulsating read of “This Is New”…
Adema Manoukas Octet: New Roots
Baritone saxist Alex Manoukas teams with trombonist Nick Adema to mix bop and soul on this album with a full bodied horn section of Evan Dalling/tp, Brenon Parmar/as, David Hodgson/ts-ss, and a rhythm team of Josh Smiley/p, Leighton Harrell/b and…
Milen Kirov: Spatium
Bulgarian-American pianist Milen Kirov brings in a mix of classical, jazz and home country themes on this dee and probing solo album. His fingers mix rhapsody and drama for “Bulgarian Stride” while displaying a hip sense of swing on “Back…
Nikos Chatzitsakos: Tiny Big Band
Bassist Nikos Chatzisakos leads a flexible semi-big band of 11 members with clever arrangements of swinging jazz standards. The team of Robert Mac Vega-Dowda-Will Mallard/tp, Eric Nakanishi/as-ss, Art Baden/ts, Brandon Lin/tb, Gabriel Nekruthman/bs, Marco Birro/p and Karol Zabka/dr are mixed…