Violinist Brooke Alford creates soulful and smooth atmospheres with a mix of strings, keyboards and a mix and match rhythm section. She soars around the synth pulses of the title tune, with some R&Bish keyboards by George Foreman making “New…
Month: July 2023
Flamenco Passion: A Tribute to Paco De Lucia
Exciting Andalusian sounds are brought to the fore by Poul Jacek Knudsen/g-claps, Mikkel Nordso/g, Bjarke Falgren/vi, Mathias Heise/harm, Nicolai Land/b, Anders Pederson/perc-caj and Juan Murube/jalco/clap on this m usical salute to guitar legend Paco De Lucia. The intoxicating claps ,…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Anthony E. Nelson Jr: Swinging Sunset
Tenor sax man Anthony E. Nelson Jr puts out an album that takes you back to the beefy horn/B3 meetings between Stanley Turrentine or Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott. Nelson smokes like a Cohibo throughout, with Koehler humming on…
Matt Carter Octet: Between The Lines
Jazz bands from the other side of the pond always pleasantly surprise me, and this one by pianist Matt Carter is a perfect example. First of all, he leads the unorthodox octet, consisting of Luke Tomlinson/dr, Joe Lee/b, George Jefford/tp,…
Orrin Evans: The Red Door
Pianist Orrin Evans takes the front stage as he leads a team of all stars and guests on this album of post boppers. The core unit of Nicholas Payton/tp, Gary Thomas/sax-fl, Robert Hurst/b and “Smitty” Smith/dr is supplemented by Buster…
Laila Biali: Your Requests
Canadian vocalist Laila Biali brings fresh, exciting and unorthodox takes of American Songbook classics in that they may sometimes not be recognizable, but are certainly enjoyable. Think Anita O’Day’s reading of “Tea For Two” for comparison. Here, Biali is supported…
David Deacon: Four
There are singers, and those that use music to tell stories. Gruff toned David Deacon fits into the latter, growling out lyrics like vintage Tom Wits on material ranging from a dark boogie chillun’d “No Never Mind” to some tender…
Fareed Haque: Casseus!
Guitarist Fareed Haque creates rich and ebullient sound on a wide range of guitars, teaming with a core of Kevin Kozol/p, Alex Austin/b, Jose Maria Piedra/pec and Greg Fundis/dr along with a series of percussive guests. The group efforts are…
Edward Simon: Femeninas-Songs of Latin American Women
Pianist and keyboardsit Edward Simon brings in the luscious voice of Magos Herrera supported by Reuben Rogers/b, Adam Cruz/dr, Luis Quintero/pec an guest Romer Lubambo/g for passionate traditional sounds. With Lubambo, Herrera is upbeat on “Feminina” and delicately teamed with…
Jorma Kaukonen: Live at the Bottom Line
I’ve never been into Jefferson Airplane or Hot Tuna, so the first time guitarist Jorma Kaukonen got my attention was on the historic collection of early Janis Joplin recordings that he was featured on. Now, I just heard this recoding…