Not since Duke Ellington’s famed Sacred Concerts has jazz so successfully melded Christian faith with modern music, and not since Bach has it been done with such reverent orthodoxy. Leader and conductor Chris Waldon comes up with the brilliantly inspired…
Month: August 2022
VINYL REVIVAL…Hampton Hawes: Four!, The Oscar Peterson Trio: We Get Requests, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Ella and Louis
The return of the black grooves… As part of celebrating their 70th Anniversary, Craft Recordings has been reissuing a series of their classic recordings of the 1950s. This latest one is a true gem, led by overlooked and forgotten West…
THIS IS AN ALTO SAX…Johnny Hodges: The Best of the Verve Years
If I could have been guaranteed that I would play the alto sax like Johnny Hodges, I would have chose that instrument to take up and play. Unfortunately, only Johnny Hodges could sound like Johnny Hodges, so I chose the…
Matt Lomeo: When You Call
Singing and playing a nasty little harmonica, Matt Lomeo takes you to the sounds of vintage STAX sessions on this album with Billy Watts/g, Terry Wilson/b-g-key, James Cruce/dr, Teresa James/p, Kevin McKendree/key, Darrell Leonard/horns and Joe Bonamassa tenor saxist Paulie…
YELENA ECKEMOFF: SONGS OF ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” Psalm 150 I HAVE BEEN A JAZZ JOURNALIST FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS. I’VE HEARD AND SEEN JUST ABOUT ANYONE FOR THE PAST 40. RARE IS THE ARTIST THAT TRULY GRABS MY…
Roberta Brenza: It’s My Turn To Color Now-featuring Sheila Jordan
On the cover, vocalist Roberta Brenza doesn’t wear her singing influence on her sleeve, but on her T-shirt, as a picture of bop pioneer Sheila Jordan peeks through with a smile. Her presence is felt and heard here, as Brenza…
Kyle Aho: Rituals
Kyle Aho plays piano and keyboards in this suite-like album of various stories with his team of Christin Bohrisch/voc, Randy Hamm/sax-fl, Jeremy Allen/b, Marty Morrison/dr, Chris Mathisen/cel and Mark Brueggemann/tp. The team gets mixed and matched to create various colors…
SUMMERTIME!
So, here we are in the midst of summer. There are NO holidays to celebrate in August, and the only time to do any physical activity out doors is before 10 o’clock or after 7, when the sun is thinking…