Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (or MOFI), the label known for giving out the absolute best sound quality in cds in vinyl, is back with a vengeance with this recent reissue, the 1978 classic for curmudgeons, Warren Zevon’s Excitable Boy. At…
Month: June 2023
Ronnie Foster Trio@The Baked Potato 06.10.23
“Welcome to the heavy metal country show!” So joked veteran B3 soulmeister Ronnie Foster, riding the wave of his renaissance as a result of his return to Blue Note Records and a successfully soulful album Reboot. Foster, looking fit and…
MUSCULAR MUSIC…Don Menza & Sam Noto: Steppin’
This is the kind of music I was weaned on when I got hooked on jazz: muscular, macho, melodic and modal. No fusion, no confusion. Tenor saxist Don Menza forms a formidable front line with trumpeter Sam Noto for a…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Ben Wendel: All One
Bringing together a rich collection of tones, Ben Wendel creates an elegiac album without drum and bass, mixing fanfares, declarations, impressions and standards with a mix and match team of artists. Wendel himself plays soprano and tenor saxes, along with…
Mark Lewis: Sunlight Shines In
Smooth jazz, in the good sense, is delivered by Mark Lewis on the sax and flute with a sublimely swinging team of Ron Kobayahi/p, Baba Elevante/b, Steve Dixon/dr and Nolan Shaheed/tp. Lewis’ flute is a cirrus cloud of sound on…
Jeremy Pelt: The Art of Intimacy, Vol 2: His Muse
While Jeremy Pelt is best known as a powerful hard bop trumpeter, he is becoming known as one of the more mellifluously lyrical players with a series of “Intimate” albums. This one has hime with his team of Victor Gould/p,…
EUROPE GOES MEMPHIS…The Drawbars: One Finger Only, Lucas De Mulder: Feel The Spirit
Soul sounds from the 60s and 70s start coming back in style; growing out your Afro? David Nesselhauf/b, Julian Gutjar/dr and Chris Haertel/org-p-synth sound like a mix of B3 groove tones and Deep Purple on this recent album. The two…
CLASSY TRIOS…Lafayette Harris Jr. : Swinging Up In Harlem, Trio Profondo: Mosaic, Joe Locasio Trio: November-The Music of Phil Gurlik
Pianist Lafayette Harris delivers classy and classic trio work with Lewis Nash/dr and Peter Washington/b on this collection of covers and bookending originals. Hi sstride is strong on the romantically slow and seductive “Teach Me Tonight” while he waltzes through…
Dean Mucetti & Rhythm Real: Isolate//Integrate
Drummer Dean Mucetti drives a twin guitar team of Dore Wallace and Jon Aparicio along with Miguel Ortiz/b, Alex Williams and Brian Hargrove/key through some tasty and six stringed originals. There’s a lot of soul to stomping pieces like “Steps…
Mister Rogers: The Best Of Mister Rogers Volume-Back in the Neighborhood
Don’t you just miss him? The eternally avuncular Mr. Rogers may be known as the best teacher of the meaning of life outside of church, but he was also a jazzer. This collection of 20 tunes, mixes children-focused sermonettes with…