LA musicans Ariel Alexander/sax and Jon Bremen/g team up with fellow locals Louis Cole/dr, Tim LeFebvre/b, Vardan Ovsepian/p and Sara Leib/voc on an ep of originals and traditional folk tunes. Alexander’s airy sax mixes well with Leib during “Daisy” while…
Author: George W. Harris
Rozina Patkai: Voce E Eu
Yes, you’ve heard these songs a million times, but you’re STILL going to love the delivery that Rozina Patkai has on them. The jazzy team of Balazs Pecze/tp, Matyas Toth/g, Marton Soos/b and Balazs Cseh/dr adds more of a jazzy…
Lisa Ferraro: Serenading the Moon
Here’s an impressive vocalist who has a wonderful pitch and delivery. Lisa Ferraro teams up with a rhythm team of John DiMartino/p, James Chirillo/g, Ray Drummond/b and Lewis Nash as well as guest tenor titan Houston Person for a dozen…
Eddie Allen: Push
Trumpeter Eddie Allen leads a cooking session of hard bop beauties on this session with Keith Loftis/ts, Dion Tucker/tb, Misha Tsiganov/key, Mark Soskin/p, Kenny Davis and EJ Strikland/dr. Except for ballad standard “Who Can I Turn To?” (which spotlights the…
MORE DUETS! Ben Stolorow & Ian Carey: Duocracy, Brandon Ross & Stomu Takeishi: Revealing Essence
Here are a pair of duets for you to compare and contrast This summit between trumpeter Ian Carey and pianist Ben Stolorow is Exhibit A why I’m a sucker for duet recordings. There’s just nowhere for these two gents to…
Bruce Pollock: A Friend in the Music Business-The ASCAP Story
This being the year of the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, otherwise known as ASCAP, author Bruce Pollock has released an intriguing book that goes into the history of the famed organization, from its…
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Landmarks
I’m convinced that there are two Brian Blades that are drummers. One is this outside, intricate and adventurous sideman for the formidably free form Wayne Shorter Quartet, and then there’s the Dr. Jekyll who leads these quiet, sensitive and lyrically…
SOPHISTICATED LADY…Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra: Habitat
This is the second album I’ve heard by composer/conductor Christine Jensen, and it’s just as impressive as her initial Treelines from a few years ago. This one is quite ambitious, with just six songs, and most of them clocking in…
Christian Vuust: Urban Hymn
It’s not appreciated here in the US, but there are some exciting sounds coming out of Scandinavia, and they’re not all from the sterile sounding ECM label. This disc from tenor saxist Christian Vuust is a case in point. He’s…
Rachel Eckroth: Let Go
Singer/songwriter Rachel Eckroth teams up with Jesse Fischer/key-dr, Chris Parrello/g-uk and Myles David Lancette/voc-dobro-perc as she contributes her own keyboards and arrangements to a collection of originals that deal with relationships and their endings. Her breathy and earthy voice sounds…