If you’re a fan of the likes of vintage Weather Report and Return to Forever, keyboardist and arranger Tobin Mueller is going to be your buddy if you check out this latest “Best Of” album. The songs are culled from…
Month: March 2023
Ari Joshua: Meeting of the Minds
Guitarist Ari Joshua teams up with groovemeisters John Medeski/key, Billy Martin/dr and Jason Fraticelli for a soul/jazz version of punk rock, with each tune a catchy 1-2 minutes of power before moving on to the next piece. There are 27,…
Brad Mehldau: Plays the Beatles-Your Mother Should Know
Pianist Brad Mehldau was one of the first jazz pianists to explore the Beatles songbook back in the earliest days of his career with his Art of the Trio series that got everyone’s attention. Here, in a cozy and personal…
Phillip Dornbusch: Reconstruct
Playing sax and clarinet, Phillip Dornbusch creates a wide range of moods and messages with compatriot Johanna Summer/p, Johannes Mann/g and Philip Dornbusch/dr. There are a couple guest vocals, notably JuJu Rogers rapping over the edgy rubato of “In Art…
Roberto Pistolesi: Open Lands and Moving People
Italian drummer Roberto Pistolesi leads a multi-faceted team of Roberto Taenzi/p, Zack Lober/b, Daniel Juarez/ts, Teis Semey/g and Sanne Huijbregts/voc-vi through a multicolored collection of musical portraits. Huuijbregts brings her lovely voice and pulsating vibes up to the front seat…
Andrew Moorhead: Interleaved
Pianist Andrew Moorhead leads a team of bassist Marcos Varela and drummer Ari Hoenig through a collection of mostly originals and standards. His originals feel like he takes a simple theme, not unlike Beethoven’s 5th, and turns it around and…
Michael Dease: The Other Shoe-The Music of Gregg Hill
Co-producer Gregg Hill has his compositions interpreted by the bold trombonist Michael Dease and the team of Virginal MacDonald/cl, Geoffrey Keezer-Luther Alison/p, Liany Mateo/b Colleen Clark/dr and a handful of guests. The addition of MacDonald’s clarinet makes for rich ideas,…
Satoko Fujii and Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion
What do you get with a summit meeting between two Japanese avant-garde jazzers? Piaist Satoko Fujii and electric guitarist Otomo Yoshihide answer that question with four “Perpetual Motion” pieces that create varied moods and mayhems. The strings and instrument bodies…
RORY BLOCK: PROVING IT ON EVERY ALBUM
THERE ARE FEW LIVING PEOPLE THAT CAN TRULY BE CONSIDERED BRIDGES TO THE MUSICAL PAST. ONE SUCH PERSON IS RORY BLOCK,WHO HAS AT 14 YEARS OLD TRAVELLED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES TO MEET AND LEARN FROM COUNTRY BLUES ICONS SUCH…
Maria Schneider Orchestra @ Broad Stage 03.03.23
Let’s just all start off by admitting that there simply aren’t a lot of big band concerts that… Have accordion and guitar players, and not doing French songs Put poems to orchestrations Use Morse Code as messages in the rhythm…