Just when you thought you had everything by Wes Montgomery… Back in 1965, when Wes Montgomery was putting out pop albums, he went into the NDR studios in Hamburg, Germany and for Old Time Sake, he met up with a…
Month: July 2022
LADY LOVE…Jackie Messina: Necessary Arrangements, Andy James: Rhythm In New York
Ladies sing more than the blues… Vocalist Jackie Messina leads an adroit team of Bruce Barth/p, Will Galison/harm, Paul Beaudry-Ed Howard/b and Cliff Barbaro/dr through some clever and contemporary reads of standards and clever covers. Her honey’d voice is delicate…
TOUGH TENORS..Cory Weeds Quartet: Just Coolin’, Stevr Kaldestad: Live at Frankie’s Jazz Club
Styles and sounds from the tenor sax come and go, but big, beefy and muscular offerings like these latest releases have an everlasting quality that endure through the ages. Cory Weeds has a big, voluminous and breathy Sonny Rollins sound,…
ALL ABOARD…John Fogerty, Dave Alvin, Rocky Burnette, etc: Americana Railroad
I’ve heard a number of “tribute” and “theme” albums dedicated to people or places, but this one dedicated to the American Railroad hits it just right in both its genius of simplicity and its romantic imagery. Songs related to the…
Mike Allemana: Vonology
Guitarist and composer Mike Allemana creates intuitive post bop moods with his horn section of Victor Garcia/tp-fh, Greg Ward/as, Geof Barfield/ts, Kendall Moore/tb and a rhythm section of Tomeka Reid/cel, Matt Ferguson/b and Michael Raynor/dr along with a collection of…
Way North: New Dreams, Old Stories
Warm and concise post bop originals are delivered by the pianoless quartet of Rebecca Hennessy/tp, Petr Cancura/ts, Michael Herring/b and Richie Barshay/dr, all adding voices to the calypso’d title tune and cozy “Come Over to Our House”. The album has…
SWINGING IN A PLANE…The United States Air Force Band: The 2022 Jazz Heritage Series
So, how many albums do you have that state in the liner notes that the music “is approved for the Department of the Air Force”. Talking about an endorsement! Well, you don’t need to have your wings to appreciate this…
Ches Smith: Interpret It Well
Ches Smith plays vibes and drums with a collection of intuitive partners in Craig Taborn/p, Mat Maneri/vi and Bill Frisell/g. Smith explains in the notes that Frisell joins in as a guest for his current “road” band, and the guitarist…
Dan Bruce’s Beta Collective: Time To Mind The Mystics
Playing electric and nylon guitars as well as doing some “live” programming, Dan Bruce brings together a band of Chris Coles/as-ts-vocodor, Brad Wagner/ss-ts-bcl, Caleb Smith/tb, Will Wedmedyk/vib, Theron Brown/key, Aidan Plank/b, Anthony Taddeo/dr and Joel Negus/synth for a collection of…
Marco Pignataro’s Dream Alliance: Awakening
The team of Marco Pignataro/ts-ss-as, Kennery Werner/p, Nadia Washington/voc-g and Devon Gates/voc-b create dark and mysterious moods of vocals and instrumentation on this pastel of an album. Nadia Washington’s lovely tone is cozy with Pignataro’s soprano sax for Stevie Wonder’s…