Alto saxist Mike DiRubbo teams up with Brian Charette/B3, Andrew Renfroe/g and Jonkuk Kim/dr for a mix of bluesy originals and a couple standards. DiRubbo has a warm and earnest sound, bopping well on “JK in NYC” and graceful for…
Month: January 2024
Kevin Sun; The Depths of Memory
Tenor saxst Kevin Sun brings together a mix and match team of Adam O’Farrill/tp, Dana Soul/p, Walter Stinson-Simon Willson/b and Matt Honor-Dayeon Seok/dr for a two disc collection of three multipart suites. The first, “All This Stillness” has seven movements…
Fly To The Sun: Fly To The Sun
Progressive rock reminiscent of Asia is presented by the band Fly To The Sun. Consisting of Ray/voc-fl, Jennifer Batten/g, Billy Sheehan/b, Andrew Giddings/perc-ley, Gregg Bissonette/dr, AAlex Grata/key-g, JJ Sansaverino/g, Joe Deninzon/str and guests Drew Hall/g-Troy Perkins/b, the band goes upbeat…
Brian Melvin-Soran Lee-Mads Sondergaard: Tranesformation
The organ trio of Soren Lee/g, Mads Sondergaard/org and Brian Melvin/dr take on the John Coltrane songbook with creativity and vigor on this new release. Lee has a sound that is reminiscent of Wes Montgomery and Grant Green, simmering on…
Donald Vega: As I Travel
Best known for his work with Ron Carter’s trio, pianist Donald Vega leads a formidable team of Lewis Nash/dr, John Patitucci/b and Luisitio Quintero/perc through a collection of originals. His signature classy style is in display well on “Alegria” and…
David Lopato & Global Coolant: Short Stories
Pianist David Lopato joins forces with Ed Neumeister/tb, Lucas Pino/sax, Anson/voc, Ratzo Harris/b,Michael Sarindr, Rogerio Boccato-Keita Ogawa-BobbySanabria/perc for a collection of originals. Jones joins in for a wild and frisky “Through The Veil” and the darker “Papagayo” while without a…
Drew Zaremba: Reunion
Playing sax and organ, composer/arranger Drew Zaremba puts together a muscular big band on this John Clayton-produced album that mixes originals with some wild reads of covers. Of the later, Zaremba lets guitarist Steve Kovalcheck dig in for a roller…
Phil Sargent: Sons
Guitarist Phil Sargent leads a core unit of Greg Loughman/b and Mike Connors/der-perc along with guests Jerry Sabatini/tp and Anastassiya Peterova/p on a collection of originals. With Peterova, Sargent and company drive propulsively through the prancing “Skyline” and the upbeat…
Sylvia Brooks: Live
Vocalist Sylvia Brooks works Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Club with Angelenos Christian Jacob/p, David Hughes/b, Kevin Kanner/dr, David Whithan/key-acc, Jeff Bunell/tp-fh and Brian Scanlon/ts-fl. The band shows its talents throughout, notable on the swinging The Red Pig flew Up The…
*****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Andrew Hill Sextet Plus 10: A Beautiful Day, Revisited
This two disc set of previously unreleased material is special for a couple of reasons. One, it is rare glimpse of latter day sounds of piano giant Andrew Hill, and even better, it finds him in rare group forms, a…