One major advantage of being a bass player who leads a session is that you get much freedom in what you want the songs to sound like. For instance, how many sax leaders are only going to feature a piano…
Author: George W. Harris
Robben Ford@Catalina’s 01-18-14
January has been guitar lover’s heaven in LA, as by the third week Angelenos have had the chance to see and hear the likes of Lee Ritenour, Andy McKee, Johnny Rivers, Howard Alden and Tommy Emmanuel. Keeping up with fret…
THIS IS A TENOR SAX 101…Gene Ammons’ All Stars: Complete Recordings with Jackie McLean & Mal Waldron, Complete Recordings with Mal Waldron, Pepper Adams & Art Taylor
Ah! There’s nothing like the big beefy sound of the “Texas Tenor” to cure whatever pains you have. I’m convinced if you could just take Gene Ammons’ tone and make a balm out of it and rub it into your…
Johnny Rivers & Jimmy Webb@Saban Theatre 01.15.14
“There is a man who lives a life of danger…” 50 years ago, a young blues rocker by the name of Johnny Rivers performed with his band at the fledgling club called the Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset…
****ROTW****POPPING BUBLE’ AT A SINGLE BOUND! Anthony Strong: Stepping Out
I just cannot figure out why everyone loves Michael Buble’. It’s becoming an obsession with me. He’s SUCH A POSER! All my friends think I’m crazy, or jealous (well, he does have a babe for a wife, but I’m content…
George Cotsirilos Trio: Variations
If you want to hear how a guitar is supposed to sound these days, you can’t go wrong with an album by George Cotsirilos. Here, he’s in a trio format with Robb Fisher/b and Ron Marabuto/dr, and together an intimate…
Leni Stern: Jelell
Guitarist Leni Stern continues her foray into mixing jazz and African sounds on this excellent session of originals. She teams up with Mamadou Ba/b and Alioiune Faye/perc as the core foundation, but various percussionists, vocalists and keyboardists pop in like…
Pete Rodriguez: Caminando Con Papi
Here’s a trumpet player you may not be familiar with, but you’ll like him a lot. Pete Rodriguez sings as well as writes most of the material here as he leads a band of Daniel Dufour/dr, Sam Pankey/b, Luis Perdomo/p…
GROUP EFFORTS: Wide Hive Players: Turnstyle, Alan Blackman: The Coastal Suite
Here are two self produced releases by artists and groups trying to develop their own sounds. Wide Hive Players consists of Matt Montgomery/b-key, Gregory Howe/B3, Calvin Keys/g, Doug Rowan/sax, Mike Rinta/tb, and Thomas McCree-Josh Jones/dr. Montgomery and Howe do the…
AXE MEN…Eric Divito: The Second Time Around, Perry Smith Quartet: Street Sense
Here are a couple of guitarists that are working on creating their own unique personal and group sound. Guitarist Eric Divito mixes his lithe and symbiotic trio of Corcoran Holt/b and Alyssa Falk Verheyn/dr with occasional guests Steve Wilson/as…