Pianist Mina Cho mixes modern jazz with traditional Korean tones with a team of Yeongjin Kim/dr, Max Ridley/b and bringing in Insoo Kim for some folk instruments such as the janggu, jing, aoie-buk and kkwaenggwari. The exotic instrumentation is an…
Month: April 2024
Neal Caine Trio: Skip To My Lou
Bassist Neal Caine leads a trio with Andrew Fisher/p-key and Henry Connerway III/dr through a mix of originals and jazz covers. His own work has a soulful/funk flavor as on the title pieces and the festive “St Paul Sandwich-Interlude”, with…
Annie Chen: Guardians
Annie Chen bridges musical continents, singing on her compositions with a mix of Eastern and Western sounds with Marius Duboule/g, Fung Chern Hwei/vi-va, Mathew Muntz/b, Alex LoRe/as-fl-bcl, Vitor Goncalves/p-acc and Satoshi Takeishi/dr-perc. Her bold and confident voice, high pitched, brings…
Ed Johnson & Novo Tempo: For Every Living Thing
Singing and bringing in a variety of guitars, Ed Johnson creates an album of breezy bossas with the Novo Tempo of Jennifer Scott/voc-key, Kristen Strom/wwinds-voc, John Worley/tp-fh, Jeff Cressman/tb, Scott Sorkin/g, Rene Worst/b, Mark Ivester-Jason Lewis/perc and various guests. Worley’s…
Christian Tamburr/Dominick Farinacci/Michael Ward-Bergeman: Triad
The trio of trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman and vibist Christian Tamburr create soft and bohemian moods on this collection of a wide range of ideas. Nuevo tango is wheezed out by Ward-Bergeman on Piazzolla’s “Libertango” and eerie bohemia…
Peter Hand: Blue Topaz
Classy mainstream post bop is delivered by guitarist Peter Hand’s team of Eddie Allen/tp-fh, Don Braden/sax-fl, James Weidman/p, David Janeway/p, Harvie S/b and Steve Johns/dr, with smokey tenorist Houston Person sitting in The blues are delivered with ease as Braden’s…
BLUESING IT…Mitch Grainger: Plug It In/Plug It In Acoustic
Singer/guitarist Mitch Grainger delivers the same songs, in the same order, on two albums here. As Marshall McCluhan famously said, the medium is the message, as one album has an electrified team of Arlan Schierbaum/keys, Deacon Marrquin/dr and Ed Maxwell/b…
FOLKSY IDEAS…Adrian Sutherland: Precious Diamonds, Neal Rosner: Kentucky
Old folks at home… Singing, playing acoustic guitar and keyboards, Adrian Sutherland tells rootsy stories on this album with Colin Linden/g, Janice Powers/B3, John Dymond/b, Gary Craig-Jerry Roe/dr, Jeff Taylor/acc, Jim Hoke/sax, MickeyRaphael harm and Brandon Robert Young/voc. There are…
Stephen M Lee: In The Moment
You can tell that pianist Stephen M. Lee has spent time in the church, as this recent release of his with bassist Doc Samba and drummer Marcus E. Finnie is filled with soul-stirring originals. Mixing reflecting meditations with Sunday Morning…
Roger Tilton Trio: Mostly Bossas
Breezy bopping bossas and swinging sambas are delivered by pianist Roger Tilton and his veteran team of drummer Yayo Morales with legendary bassist Henry Franklin. As with the word “jazz”, the term “bossa” is more of an attitude than anything…