Well, I guess it was just a matter of time. Pianist Denny Zeitlin just got the electric piano and keyboards out of his system, so now we’ve got the most influential modern guy these days, Brad Mehldau, and he’s gone…
Author: George W. Harris
Rob Derke & The NYJAZZ Quartet: Blue Divide
Soprano saxist and composer Rob Derke leads a free flowing quartet with Aruan Ortiz/p, Carlo De Rosa/b and Eric McPherson through some loose yet cogent post modern material. He’s got a warm and rich carmel-sounding horn, and go either angular…
Tony Bennett: The Classics
Here’s a two cd set that takes the bel canto Mr. Bennett at two complete bookends of his career. Disc one has him pre-“San Francisco” and at the peak of his first apotheosis, while the second cd features him in…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****The Jeremy Steig Quartet: Flute Fever
Fifty years old and as timeless as the a speech by Winston Churchill, this 1963 (from Columbia Records, no less) session lead by flute player Jeremy Steig has been hiding for decades, and undeservedly so. You probably haven’t heard of…
MINGUS’ DYNASTY?…David Dominique: Ritual
Do you want to know what happened to the sounds and vision of Charles Mingus’ music? It seems to have gotten into the ear of composer and flugabone (a variance of flugelhorn) player David Dominique who leads a thrilling band…
Jeff Saxon: Blujanova
Here’s a guy with a style that used to be ubiquitous, but is now about as rare as double platoon football players. Jeff Saxon plays guitar, bass, piano, organ and also sings along with Chet McCraken/dr, perc, McGregor/key-b-dr, Keith Jones/b-dr…
Anton Schwartz: FlashMob
If you’re looking for your next post bop disc, here’s a great find. Tenor saxist Anton Schwartz has a warm and beefy sound not unlike Hank Mobley, and he forms a glistening front line with radiantly toned trumpeter Dominick Farinacci…
Volcan: Volcan
The quartet Volcan consists of Gonzalo Rubalcaba/p-key, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez/dr, Jose Armando Gola/b-eb and Giovanni “Manenguito” Hildago/perc. This collection of songs is a bit different than other Rubalcaba recordings in that he mixes electronic piano with his acoustic work,…
Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips: Moment to Moment
I’m a sucker for “ballads” albums. Always have been, and always will be. It can be with strings, as in “Clifford Brown with…” or a small combo like with John Coltrane’s quartet. Here, we’ve got a lovely one with co-leaders…
Earl McIntyre: Brass Carnival & Tribute!
What trombonist/arranger Earl McIntyre gives you is two, two, two bands in one. The Brass Carnival is a band similar in construction to the Salvation Army brass band, yet with Latin percussion, which focuses on street and carnival music. The…