Drummer Lee McKinney leads a bopping quartet of Matt Cooper/p, Chris Berg/b and Greg Abate/as-ss-fl on this confident collection of hard bop-styled originals. McKinney’s drums serve as a strong frame for these portraits, dedicated to the likes of drummers such…
Month: July 2024
Giovanni Guidi: A New Day
Pianist Giovanni Guidi leads a quartet of James Brandon Lewis/ts, Thomas Morgan/b and Joao Lobo through pastoral originals and a standard. Lewis’ tenor is filled with cirrus clouds, yearning on “Cantos”, sighing around Morgan on the ruminating “Only Sometimes” and…
Jordina Milla’ & Barry Guy: Live In Munich
Pianist Jordina Milla’ performs duets in Munich with bassist Barry Guy for a mix of free form originals. The pieces range from a 22 minute opus of “ Part I” to a concise four minute “Part III”, with the former…
Norma Winstone & Kit Downes: Outpost of Dreams
Vocalist Norma Winstone teams together with pianist Kit Downes for a collection of intimate duets on this latest release. Her voice is quite the instrument, sighing over Downes on “Black is the Colour” and hovering like a haze during “El”.…
Ray Brown’s Great Big Band: I Could Write A Book
Big and meaty big band charts reminiscent of Billy Mays’ days with Sinatra are served up by arranger, conductor, composer and vibes man Ray Brown as he leads his 20 piece big band through a two disc set that covers…
MIND BENDING…John Lennon: Mind Games-The Ultimate Collection
At 33 years old, John Lennon released one of his strongest solo albums, 1973’s Mind Games, which was a recovery from his chaotic Some Time in New York City and just before he went deeper into his personal life of…
RESPECT YOURSELF…The Staples Singers: Africa ’80
One of the most important bands to bring the sound of the church was The Staples Singer, with cross-gene songs of social and spiritual liberation including “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There”. This concert from 1980 in South Africa…
SWINGING ROOTS…Bob Wills: Ida Red Likes The Boogie, Lonnie Donegan and His Skiffle Group: All The Hits and More 1955-62
While R&B and blues get most of the credit for modern rock and roll, the fact is that there were a lot of flavors that entered the musical gumbo. Here are a pair of forgotten herbs and spices… The inventor…
PREACH IT! The Radio Four: The Classic Decade
Just when you think you’ve heard every post WWII black gospel group, Acrobat Music shows that there is thing called the Resurrection by bringing up a group that never gets top billing. Consisting of Babb brothers Morgan, Paul, Seheus, James,…
FOLK BLUES…Lightnin’ Hopkins: Live From The Ash Grove…Plus!, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee: Live From The Ash Grove, Dave Fan Ronk: From…Another Time & Place
Picking and grinning through the blues on the back porch. Back in the day, LA’s Ash Grove was the home to folk and blues artists, coming to town in 1970 was Lightnin’ Hopkins, in a boogie-ing mood on this avuncular…