Pianist Gary Urwin leads a swinging big band through some clever charts and rich solos brought on by an A list of guests including the late Carl Saunders/tp, Wayne Bergeron/tp, Pete Christlieb/ts, Scott Whitfied/tb, Christian Jacob/p and Rusty Higgins/sax-fl. The…
Month: April 2024
THE HUMMING HAMMOND…Brother Jack McDuff: Ain’t No Sunshine-Live In Seattle
One of the most gospel drenched of the Hammond B3ers, Brother Jack McDuff, is found in concert on a recently discovered set of tapes and released on Cellar Live. Teamed up with McDuff for this 1972 gig at Seattle’s The…
SOPRANO SUMMIT…Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Might Warriors
If you don’t know that Steve Lacy is probably the best soprano sax player in the history of jazz, then you haven’t been doing y our homework. It’s understandable, however, as he leaned toward the left center of music after…
A SMOKING CANNONBALL..Cannonball Adderley: B urning In Bordeaux-Live in France 1969, Poppin’ in Paris-Live at L’Olympia 1972
Believe It or not, once upon a time, jazz musicians actually had “pop” hit song and played music that was creative and accessible. You’ll have to trust me on this one. Elemental Music has recently uncovered a pair of concerts…
Mathias Landaeus: Path
Pianist and composer Mathias Landaeus forms a post bop team with Tim Hagans/tp, Karl-Martin Almqvist/ts, Johnny Aman/b and Cornelia Nilsson/dr for some originals that feel like late Blue Note material from the 1960s a la Andrew Hill. Landaues goes dark…
Josh Lawrence: Measured Response
Post bop trumpeter Josh Lawrence teams up with Diego Rivera/ts, Art Hirahara/p, Luques Curtis/b and Rudy Royston/dr for a collection of originals. The Leader is warm and bright, muted in a cool atmosphere for “Prelude to a Farewell (For Barry…
Ethan Iverson@Sam First Bar 04.05.24
Believe it or not, Ethan Iverson’s Friday night’s set with Peter Erskine/dr and Darek Oles/b was the first time the pianist has played in Los Angeles as a leader. He’s been here many instances with The Bad Plus and served…
Kandace Springs @ The Sun Rose 04.04.24
In this day of singers weaned on Auto-Tune, it’s rare to find a vocalist who not only sounds real, but sounds both relevant and invigorating. Kandace Springs, playing piano and keyboards while delivering music mostly from her most recent album…
John Basile: Heatin’ Up
Better known for rocking the blues, guitarist John Basile pulls back a bit on this album with David Finck/b, Carmen Intorre Jr and Kevin WInard/perc, giving sensitive reads to (mostly)standards. There’s a classy nimbleness to “Girl Talk” and a calm…
Daniel Bennett Group: Mr. Bennett’s Mind
This is the fourth album I’ve heard by Daniel Bennett, who’s always carrying around with him at least three woodwinds to his gigs and albums. This one not only has him playing alto sax (mostly), flute and clarinet, but he’s…