Month: March 2024

One of the hardest hard bopping teams around has to be the Black Art Jazz Collective, lead by the front line of Wayne Escoffery/ts, Jeremy Pelt/tp, Josh Evans/tp and James Burton III/tb and a rotating rhythm section of Xavier Davis-Victor…

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Since I first saw him back in the days when he was a member of the Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, alto saxist Jim Snidero has always impressed me with his delivery and style. On his own, he’s built up an impressive…

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Singing, playing keyboards and supported by a band that includes an accompanying string section, Ona K mixes pop, R&B and world on a dramatic collection of originals. Her voice has a Broadway touch, and is dreamy around the pizzicato’d string…

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For her latest release, Norah Jones sound particularly extroverted on a bold sounding album produced by Leon Michels, with an in your face dynamic teamed with Dave Guy/tp, Jesse Purphy/b and Brian Blade-Homer Steinwess/dr. Jones is quite strong and emotive…

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As one of today’s guitar spokesmen, Julian Lage converses in a plethora of different languages. Every time I’ve seen him it’s been with a different feel and style, ranging from heated post bop with long solos to Grand Ol’ Opry…

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Guitarist Jeff Aug goes solo on this collection of pretty and intimate originals. The sound and feel gives hints of Leo Kottke, with deep resonance of the strings as on “Liquid Moon” and “The Lat Minutes in This Town” and…

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Consisting of  guitarists Jim Suhler, Buddy Wittinton, Vince Converse and drummer Jeff Simon, Texas Scratch rocks the road boogie on this rollicking session. Rounding out the team is Kirk Yano-Nathaniel Peterson/b and Shawn Phares-Tom Mandel/key with vocals by all three…

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Chris Potter forms a “supergroup” with Wayne Shorter alumni John Patitucci/b and Brian Blade/dr along with Brad Mehldau/p for a meeting of the genius minds. The summit has Potter on all three of his reeds, a lyrical and graceful bass…

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