The roots of the blues is not in the delta of Louisiana, but maybe closer to the Niger river in Mali. From ther, you have guitarist/vocalist Tiecoro Sissoko, kora (sort of an African sitaer)master Madouba Camara and Djeli N’goni (percussionist)…
Author: George W. Harris
Greg Amirault: East of the Sun
Here’s a Canadian guitarist that’s got a nice clean style. Greg Amirault leads a trio with Fraser Hollins/b and Dave Laing/dr for a soothing and sleek collection of standards and originals. The spaciousness laid out by his teammates gives him…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****David Helbock’s Random/Control: Think of Two
And now for something completely different… You want to try something that will push you a bit, but still sound accessible to the senses? David Helbock, Johannes Bar and Andreas Borger respectively play keyboards, brass and reeds, but in that…
Jeff Ballard Trio: Times Tales
Drummer Jeff Ballard is best known for his work with Brad Mehldau’s trio as well as his work with FLY, and this is his first as a bona fide “leader.” While still in a trio format, this one is quite…
MID EAST WONDERS…Dhafer Youssef: Bird’s Requiem
Mediterranean and Byzantine sounds float from this album produced by oud player Dhafer Youssef. He teams up and mixes and matches moods with clarinetist Husnu Senlendirici (is it a “C”?),Aytac Dogan’s kanun (similar to a zither), Eivind Aarset/g, Nil Petter…
VILLAGE VANGUARD ’61 ? Jon Di Fiore: Yellow Petals
If I didn’t know who the musicians were on this session, I would have thought that maybe the classic trio of Bill Evans, Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro had never been broken up, they were all still alive, and this…
WHO IS MIMI JONES?!? Mimi Jones: Balance, Camille Thurman: Origins, Shirazette Tinnin: Humility-Purity of My Soul
Playing bass, singing, composing, arranging, leading a band as well as founding a label, New York based Mimi Jones is working on creating a vehicle for jazz musicians without a Y chromosome to have a place to display their talents.…
L.A. 6: Frame of Mind
Here’s a sextet of guys who’ve been part of the LA scene for decades, steadily serving in the studio or as sidemen. If you haven’t seen any of them in concert, then you haven’t been to a jazz club in…
Rudy Royston: 303
Drummer Rudy Royston leads from behind a team of Sam Harris/p, Yasushi Nakamura-Mimi Jones/b, Jon Irabagon/sax, Nadja Noordhuis/tp and Nir Felder/g on a collection of originals, indie rock and classical. Of the former, there are some fast and tricky bop…
REAL WOMEN REALLY SINGING…Carol Fredette: No Sad Songs For Me, Rebecca DuMaine & The Dave Miller Trio: Better Than Anything
My biggest pet peeve about the plethora of female singers is that they all sound like either Diana Krall or Norah Jones wannabes. Here are a couple that sound comfortable in their own sound and their own skins as they…