One of the true throwbacks of the tenor sax, Eric Alexander possesses a tone and style rarely heard these days of screeches and navel gazing, preferring the classic sound and feel of players like Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and George…
Month: July 2023
Matt Ulery: Mannerist
Bassist Matt Ulery creates a pastoral album of 6 tunes in Gil Evans fashion on this recent release. With a rhythm secio of Jon Deitemyer/dr and Paul Bedal/p, he brings in woodwinds of Dustin Laurenzi/ts, Zachary Good/cl, Andrew Nogal/ob, Ben…
Louis Hayes: Exactly Right!
There aren’t many living and active drummers that can be labeled “legendary”, but Louis Hayes is definitely one of them, having played with Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Oscar Peterson just to name a few. This latest album…
Altin Sencalar: In Good Standing
Trombonist Altin Sencalar mixes earthy Latin ideas with muscular post bop on this album with Art Hirahara/p, Boris Kozlov/b, Rudy Royston/dr, Diego Rivera/ts and Patrick Cornelius/as. The horns mix together well in bold fashion as on the boogalooing “Do It”…
Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble: Home Is Here
Composer and saxist Felipe Salles conducts a large ensemble with some all star guest soloists on this album of originals. The mix of five woodwinds, five trumpets, four trombones and five members of a rhythm section create sounds ranging from…
THE KID FROM RIVE ROUGE…Jacques Denjean: And His Jazz Orchestra 1959-1962
If Count Basie came from Red Bank, New Jersey, maybe band leader, pianist, conductor and arranger Jacques Denjean came from the Rive Rouge, as his band sure sounds a lot like it drank from the Basie waters. This collection of…
WHEN ROCK WAS ROLLIN…Eddie Cochran: Rockin’ It Country Style, Portrait Of A Legend
Back when rock and roll was, well, “rock and roll”, you had melding of styles like country, rockabilly and R&B trying to figure out how to amalgamate them all for Baby Booming music fans. Eddie Cochran, the pride of Albert…
TRIO TIME… Vicente Archer: Short Stories
Bassist Vicente Archer forms a trio with all stars Gerald Clayton/p and Bill Stewart/dr for a mix of originals and covers, with the focus on subtle interplay. The leader shows his lyricism on a reich solo of ‘Lighthouse” and does…
Dara Starr Tucker: Dara Starr Tucker
Vocalist Dara Starr Tucker has a warm and husky tone to her delivery, mixing originals with some serene covers on this album. The team of Mike King-Aaron Parks/p, Vincent Archer-Greg Bryantt/b, Marcus Finnie/dr and guests Giveton Gellin/tp, John Ellis/ts, Stacy…
The Baseball Project: Grand Slam Time!
An album dedicated to baseball is simply a brilliant idea, with Peter Buck/g, Scott McCaughey/g-key, Mike Mills/b, Linda Pitman/dr, and Steve Wynn/g-voc rocking through the various aspects of The National Pastime. The band has a mix of Tom Petty and…