Once known as a sideman for Wynton Marsalis, pianist Eric Reed has now become one of the elder statesmen of jazz, ranked along with the likes of Cedar Walton, Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Barron as one of the most lyrical…
Month: March 2023
John Bailey: Time Bandits
Clean and vintage toned trumpet playing is delivered by John Bailey, swinging with a team of classic vets like George Cables/p, Scott Colley/b and Victor Lewis/dr on this mix of originals and covers. Bailey is warm and muscular on modal…
Skip Grasso: Becoming
Rich toned guitarist Skip Grasso delivers some clean and fresh originals with his team of Harvie S/b, Anthony Pocetti/p-org-key and Billy Drummond/dr on this postmodern collection of tunes. Grasso’s touch is clear, clean and unpretentious as he works well with…
Michael Feinberg: Blues Variant
Bassist Michael Feinberg brings together a double woodwind front line in Noah Preminger/ts-fl and Dave Liebman/ss-fl with a strong backbone of Leo Genovese/p-key and Nasheet Waits/dr for a collection of post bopping (mostly) originals. Feinberg’s touch is strong and lyrical,…
Tony Adamo: Angel Bop Comes To Earth
Bay Area’s disciple of dig, Tony Adamo, releases a single with Chris Pimentel/g and Barry Schiffman/arr-prog that mixes a “ heavenly dna” of funk, hip hop and street preachin’ jazz. Sound and vibes that would please both Miles Davis and…
EVER HEAR OF?…Pat Healy: Sings Just Before Dawn-Her Complete Recordings
Just when you thought you’ve heard every female singer from the 1950s, here comes Fresh Sound Records with another rare find. I’ve tried to find info on this lady Pat Healy (1927-2020), but outside of the liner notes from this…
Rich Thompson: Who Do You Have To Know?
Drummer Rich Thompson puts together a hip little quartet that veers between a humming Hammond groover and a piano post bopper, depending which instrument Bobby Floyd is sitting behind. Along with Peter Chwazik/b and Corey Christiansen/g, Thompson mixes standards with…
VINYL REFLECTIONS OF SOUL JAZZ…David Axelrod: Heavy Axe, Bernard Purdie: Purdie Good
Back in the 1970s, everyone was plugging in and mixing musical styles like no other time. Soul, jazz, pop and funk all melded together and influenced each other, as these two recent vinyl reissues from Craft Recordings attest. While not…
Henk Kraaijeveld: Patches of Sky
I’ve always got a soft spot for male vocalists, first of all because they’re outnumbered by women by something like 50 to one, and secondly, if they don’t sound like Michael Buble’ imitators (am I being repetitive?) it’s 100 to…
STREET CORNER SYMPHONIES…The Ember Records Doowop Collection 1956-64
Founded by Duke Ellington’s son Mercer, Embers Records was known for producing a solid R&B catalogue. This two cd, 60 song collection shows how even a David like label can compete against the Goliaths of the recording industry. Groups that…