It seems to be getting more and more difficult each year to find clubs that play mainstream jazz, but drummer Charles Ruggiero keeps the hard bop candle lit with his monthly visitation at the Baked Potato. This evening, the event…
Month: September 2024
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Nancy Reed & Spencer Reed: Happying
The husband and wife team of Spencer/g-voc and Nancy/b-voc create joyful and bouncy cooings on this album hinting at Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in terms of harmony and style. Teamed with drummer Bill Goodwin and with cameos by Dave Liebman/ss,…
MAN WITH A PLUGGED IN HORN…Darren Barrett: The Get Down 4 Real, The Path To Our Truth
If you want your horn with lots of plugged in effects, check out these two releases by Darren Barrett. A throwback to the days of The Headhunters or electronic Miles, the two albums have almost the same members, just differing…
TAKE EIGHT…Jon De Lucia: The Brubeck Octet Project
Of course, Dave Brubeck is best known for his classic quartet with Paul Desmond and the hit “Take Five”. Maybe you didn’t know that before those days, when Brubeck just got out of the army post WWII, he put together…
Denny Zeitlin: Panoply
This recent release by pianist Denny Zeitlin made me think of the “higher criticism” of The Bible, which states that since books by Moses and Isaiah sometimes have passages with a different feel and style, they must be done by…
Jake Leckie: Planter of Seeds
Bassist Jake Leckie teams up with Nadav Peled/g, Beth Goodfellow/dr, Cathlene Pineda/p, Randal Fisher/ts and Darius Christian/tb for a collection of originals that have a Charles Mingus feel. The loose but cohesive horns sway through the bluesy bop of “Big…
April Varner: April By April
Vocalist April Varner gives a tribute to the month of the diamond with eleven songs that include her name. She keeps it creative with a wide variety of band sizes and arrangements, such as a duet with bassist Reuben Rogers…
Conrad Herwig: The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner
Trombonist Conrad Herwig throws some salsa on the McCoy Tyner songbook with a core unit of Robby Ameen/dr, Ruben Rodriguez/b, Bill O’Connell/p, Camilo Molina/perc, Alex Norris/tp-fh and Craig Handy/ts-bars, and it works glowingly. Pianist Eddie Palmieri guests on the dark…
BIG BANDS! Eyal Vilner Big Band: Swingin’ Uptown, Peter Vuust & Aarhus Jazz Orchestra: New Views
Big bands with sounds old and new. Playing alto sax, flute and clarinet, Eyal Vilner leads a big band through his fresh arrangements of songs both old and new reflecting the swing era. There’s a nice R&B feel to pieces…
Ivanna Cuesta: A Letter To The Earth
Playing drums and electronics, Ivanna Cuesta brings together Kris Davis/p, Ben Solomon/ts and M ax Ridley for a musical message about the fragility of the earth, as if mankind were so audacious as to think he could destroy it. Nevertheless,…