Phil Ravita plays both upright and electric bass for a wide range of swinging settings as his team of Mark Leppo/vib-cong, Benny Russell/ts-ss, Nucleo Vega/dr, Greg small/p and Deirde Jennings/voc take on a mix of originals and standards. Of the…
Month: June 2023
Michael Blake: Dance of the Mystic Bliss
Woodwind player Michel Blake creates wondrous pieces of music for dance with a creative team of Guilherme Monteiro/g, Mauro Refasco-Rogerio Boccato/perc, Skye Steele/vi-rabeca-gonji, Christopher Hoffman/cel and Michael Bates/b. All of the songs take multiple directions, making the listener pay close…
CarbonWorks: Vanishing Act
It’s been awhile since the last album by CarbonWorks, but that 2017 caught my ear with its surfeit of creative ideas. Guitarist/keyboardist/composer Neal Barnard hasn’t run out of ideas, as this latest album has him with Dolche, Lara Lotz and…
Jakob Manz: Groove Connection
German alto saxist Jakob hits the funk factor on this album with a core unit of Roberto Di Giola/key, Karin Hammar/tb, Bruno Muller/g, Tim Lefebvre/b, Per Lindvall/dr and guests Mark Harrington/voc, Nguyen Le/g and Paolo Fresu/tp. The toe tapping set…
IF ENO PLAYED BASS…John von Seggern: Ambient Bass Guitar
Most of the albums in the ambient genre tend to be from keyboardists, which makes sense since Brian Eno was the essential progenitor of the style. Bassist John von Seggern learned much from his tenure with the Eno-associated trumpeter Jon…
KING OF SWING…Taj Mahal: Savoy
While best known as a keeper of the blues flame, Taj Mahal enters the music of The Swing Era with his gravely voice teaming with jumping blues and swing on this latest release. Mahal sings, jives and plays harmonica backed…
Dan Rosenboom: Polarity
Playing trumpet, flugelhorn and quartertone trumpet, Dan Rosenboom leads a team of Gavin Templeton/as-bs, John Escreet/p-key, Billy Mohler/b and Damion Reid/dr through a wide ranging collection of originals. The horns hover over the agitated pulse of the mournful “The Age…
LENNY WHITE & VINCE WILBURN JR: THAT YOU NOT DARE TO FORGET MILES!!
MILES DAVIS STILL SPEAKS TO US! DRUMMER AND PRODUCER VINCE WILBURN JUNIOR RECENTLY COLLABORATED WITH DRUMMER AND PRODUCER LENNY WHITE TO BRING TO LIGHT IDEAS, TONES AND SONGS EITHER PERFORMED OR INSPIRED BY UNCLE OR EMPLORYER MILES DAVIS. WHAT THE…
Alex LoRe & Weirderar: Evening Will Find Itself
Alto saxist Alex LoRe teams up with Glen Zleski/p, Desmond White/b and Allan Mednrd/dr for a collection of post bop moods and improves. There are a trio of “Radiance “ pieces that range from herky jerky to dark elliptical pulses…
Rachel Eckroth: One
Pianist Rachel Eckroth gives eleven solo pieces of mostly originals, mixing modern classical tones with jazz. There are a couple of covers, a dainty and spacious read of Joshua Redman’s “Neverend” and a patiently searching version of Duke Ellington’s “Prelude…