There are few artists that transcend categories and labels. George Benson is one of those elect few. He’s been on the forefront of at least 4 major eras of modern music, starting with soul jazz in the 60s, being one…
Author: George W. Harris
JOHNNY RIVERS: A LIFE OF DANGER
For any recording artist, the odds ARE that you won’t live to see tomorrow. Johnny Rivers is one of the few singer/songwriters still standing from the early days of rock through the Beatles through progressive rock, punk rock, disco, and…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Taylor Haskins: Fuzzy Logic
Here is an successfully adventurous session lead by Taylor Haskins that mixes a post bop quartet of himself on trumpet, melodic and flute along with Ben Monder, Kermit Driscoll/b and Jeff Hirshfield. The genius is in his adding a string…
Adam Unsworth, Byron Olson, John Vanore: Balance
Here is a collection of originals arranged in a fascinating mix of moods. The core team of Adam Unsweorth/French horn, John Vanore/tp-fh and Bob Mallach/ts lead not only a quintet with bill Mays/p, Mike Richmond/b and danny Gottlieb/dr, but are…
Robert Prester: Dogtown
This one’s going to surprise you. Pianist/composer Robert Prester fronts a flexible and Brazilian-influenced bop band with Nicky Orta/b, Ettienne Fuentes/dr, Dave Schanzer perc with cameos by Terezinha Valois/voc and Jonathen Sigel/tp-fh. The music mixes samba and post bop to…
THE ANSWER TO BUBLE’…Tony Desare: Piano
It’s guys like Tony DeSare that confirm my conviction that MICHAEL BUBLE’ IS A MAJOR POSER! There, I feel so much better now. Tony DeSare has been making an impressive catalogue that shows off his warm and rich vocals, his…
Ayman Fanous & Jason Kao Hwang: Zilzal
Here’s an exciting duo disc that bridges music of the Far East, Mid-East Mediterranean and free jazz in an exciting way. Jason Kao Hwang supplies the voices of viola and violin while Ayman doubles of guitar and bouzouki on nine…
John La Barbera Big Band: Caravan
The Marsalis family gets better press, but the La Barbera family consisting of brothers John, Pat and Joe is at least on a par with Crescent City natives. John leads the band and writes the charts and/or tunes, Pat is…
BiG BAND SOUNDS FOR THE 21st CENTURY…M13: 1 Human, Too Human
M13, named for the membership of the big band being 13, is a Chicago based band that is lead by saxophonist/arranger Aaron McEvers. There are essentially dtow closely related but different bands that split the material which is a mix…
Paulinho Garcia: Beautiful Love
A number of years ago I went to the old Jazz Showcase in Chicago and heard Brazilian guitarist/vocalist Paulinho Garcia do some duets with a warm tenor sax player. The simplicity of the sounds won me over, and I’ve enjoyed…