The 1950s and 60s were overflowing with alto sax players inspired by the Pied Piper of bebop, Charlie Parker. Few are remembered today, but Art Pepper is probably the most important of the mainstream alto saxists, representing the West Coast…
Month: February 2024
Last Word Quintet: Falling To Earth
Poems set to jazz background are delivered by vocalists Al Day/g, Marc Kelly Smith, Bob Long/p and Doug Lofstrom/b-key along with support from Brian Gephart/sax and Sarah Allen/dr. The vocal deliveries range from a soulful and funky rasp as on…
Charles Ruggiero Plays Monk Volume 22@The Baked Potato 02.22.24
For the past two years at the Baked Potato, drummer Charles Ruggiero has been giving a monthly tribute to the iconic pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, having his rotating band perform either material composed by the legendary artist, or associated…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Tina Schlieske: The Good Life
The only thing that is inaccurate about the cover photo of vocalist Tina Schilieske on this album is that you can’t see the heart on her sleeve. Like Billie Holiday, or today’s Karrin Allyson, Schilieske doesn’t use range and chops…
Big Joe Williams: Baby Please Don’t Go-The Collection 1935-62
Big Joe Williams (1903-82) is as influential a Delta bluesman for his attitude and reputation as much as his playing and songwriting. He’s best known for two classics that have become the staple of rock and roll, “Baby Please Don’t…
Troy Roberts: Green Lights
Posessing a warm and Rollins-esque tone, tenor saxist Troy Roberts teams up with Paul Bollenack/g, John Patitucci/b and Jimmy MacBride/dr from some clever post bopping originals. His swing and sound is soft and supple on “The Question,” graceful on the…
THE ROOTS OF ROCK AND ROLL…The 1952 R&B Hits Collection
Before rock and roll and “soul”, and after jazz, the music that was most influential post WWII was Rhythm and Blues. Big bands were too expensive and bebop to esoteric, so black musicians stripped things down into blues with rhythm,…
Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy For Thelonious
Conductor and composer Frank Carlberg puts together a 16 member and two voiced team to interpret the songs of Thelonious Monk. All of the songs are “originals”, but are highly inspired by specific Spheric tunes. Thus, you get some spacey…
Riley Mulherkar: Riley
Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar blows soft embers with a team of Chris Pattishall/p-pr, Rafiz Bhatia/pr, Russell Hall/b, Kyle Poole/dr and Vuyo Sotashe/voc on a collection of originals ad covers . The mix of loops creates ambience fort he horn on “Chicken…
Mizz Lowe: Classy Woman
Mizz Lowe is not mizzing much on this mix of blues teaming up at times with Bobby Rush and a humming team of Brother Paul Brown/B3-keys-b-dr-g, Paul Black/slg and some cameo guests. She and Bobby are gritty as they chicka…