Violinist Benet McLean teams up with Duncan Eagles/ts-fl, Liam Dunachie/p-org, Rio Kai/b and Zoe Pascal/dr for a mix of originals and covers. The team gets fusion on a read of Bobby Watson’s “Fuller Love” with the team handling the tricky…
Month: November 2023
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Madre Vaca: Knights of the Round Table
Hey, you gotta take n otice of a jazz album if the music is a concept album about the Knights of the Round Table. I mean, come on!! The music is cleverly composed by Benjamin Shorstein, peformed by Jarrett Carter,…
House of Waters: On Becoming
Jazzy folk themes are created by the hammer dulcimer of Maz ZT, joined by Moto Fukushima/eb, Antonion Sanchez/dr and guests Mike Stern/g with Priya Darshini/voc. Stern’s guitar is dark and echoey on “Hang in the Air” with Darshini providing konnakol…
John Wojciechowski: Swing Of The Pendulum
Tenor saxist John Wojciechowski (and that’s the last time I’m writing that name all the way out) sounds like Atlantic-Records era John Coltrane with a simpatico team of Xavier Davis/p, Clark Sommers/b and Dana Hall/dr on this collection of originals.…
TURNER TURNS…Mike Yamanaka: Shades of Rainbow, Anthony Fung: Fo(u)rth
One of today’s most influential tenor saxists is Mark Turner, and his horn is featured on a couple new releases. Playing piano and Wurltizer, Mike Yamanaka brings together Mark Turner/ts, Tyrone Allen/b and Jimmy Macbride/dr for a collection of modern…
Geof Bradfield-Richard D. Johnson-John Tate-Samuel Jewell: Our Heroes
Well, we can tell who the hero is of Geof Bradfield, whop lays tenor sax, soprano sax and bass clarinet with a team of Richard D. Johnson/p-key, John Tate/b and Samuel Jewell/dr, and that hero is STAN GETZ! This album…
BLUES HIGHWAYS…The Bluesland Horn Band: Six, Jason Ricci and the Bad Kind: Behind The Veil, Al Basile: B’s Time
Guitarist Terry Medd leads a road kill team of Marty Cochrane/voc, Ross Hall/dr, Casey Ryder/b, Jan Randle/p, Miguelito Valdez-Doug Zacharias/tp, Barrie Sorensen/ts, Armando Alvarez/bs, Tim K eels/tub and David Wilkie/mand through a Decalogue of blues busters. The horns honky tonk…
The Jim Self & John Chiodini Quintet: Touch and Go
The successful idea of Jim Self/s tuba and John Chiodini’s guitar gets a repeat performance on this encore album along with trumpeter Ron Stout, Kendall Kay on drums and bassist Ken Wild. The whole trick is in the arranging, and…
Rachel Eckroth: Humanoid
Recorded at LA’s famed SamFirst club, pianist Rachel Eckroth teams up with Andrew Renfroe/g, Billy Mohler/b and Tina Raymond/dr for a rich collection of tasty originals. The team sounds well rehearsed, with guitar and piano in amazing unison lines on…
CANARIES SINGING…Maci Miller: Nine, Masumi Ormandy: Beyond The Sea
Philly-based vocalist Maci Miller is teamed up with pianist/co-writer Aaron Graves and a tem of Mike Boone/b, Larry McKenna/ts, Victor North/ss, Byron Landham-Josh Orlando-Leon Jordan/dr and guest Jeremy Pelt/tp for some modern sounding originals and standards. Her tone is reminiscent…