Drummer Billy Mintz leads from behind a team of John Gross/ts, Roberta P iket/p-B3 and Putter Smith through a dozen of his wide ranging originals. The moods range from Coltranesque spirituals (“Ugly Beautiful”) to free from (“Dit”), but with all…
Author: George W. Harris
Kara Mack: A Negroe’s Spiritual
Vocalist Kara Mack gives an anthological review of Black music, ranging from traditional African themes to contemporary R&B in this ambitious project. She has a warm and attractive, quite earnest voice, not unlike the guileless Lizz Wright. When she sings,…
Jimmy Masters: When Trees Speak
Bassist Jimmy Masters has put together a well rounded and wide ranging collection of material on this creative album. He teams up with JC Kuhl/ts-ss, Justin Kauflin/ and John Toomey/p, Joe Locke/vibes, Trey Pollard/eg, Mary Lou Osterhous/g-v and Brian Jones/dr…
Griffith Hiltz Trio: This is What You Get
Here’s an intriguing combo-a trio with reeds (Johnny Griffith), electric guitar and bass pedals (Nathan Hiltz) and a drummer (Sly Juhas) to keep it all together for the ten original songs. The thing that’s interesting about this band is that…
INTRIGUING ARRANGER…Jeff Lederer: Swing N’ Dix, Mary LaRose: Reincarnation
What difference does an arranger make? Well, reedist Jeff Lederer brings forth two highly varying releases that are unified by his presence on sax and clarinet, as well as showing an intriguing ear for sounds. Swing N’ Dix has Lederer…
Raya Brass Band: This Train is Now
You want some energetic sounds? Give this frenetic quintet of Greg Squared/sax, Ben Syversen/tp, Matthew Fass/acc-org, Don Godwin/tuba-horn-key and EJ Fry-perc a try. Sounding like an Eastern Mediterranean street band gone wild, or a Klezmer combo without the minor chords,…
1974/75 REVISITED…Eric Clapton: Give Me Strength
Back in the 1970s, guitarist Eric Clapton stepped out of the spotlight of rock and roll and worked on putting himself together both personally and musically. At a time when many guitarists were trying to see who was the “fastest…
UNDESERVEDLY FORGOTTEN…The Duke Pearson Big Band: Baltimore 1969
The sixties were a peculiar time for big bands. You had Swing Era holdovers such as Ellington, Basie, Herman and Kenton, and then “outside” orchestras from the likes of Sun Ra and Jazz Composers Alliance. Caught in the middle were…
Clifford Jordan: The Complete Clifford Jordan Strata-East Sessions
This is the kind of work that has Mosaic Records remain as the gold standard of reissues. They take a musician who’s had a respectable although underappreciated career, and shine a light on a particular time period of his catalogue…
OH LITTLE LABEL OF BETHLEHEM…Chris Connor: Sings Lullabys For Lovers, Booker Ervin: The Book Cooks, Dexter Gordon: Daddy Plays the Horn, Charles Mingus: The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus, Oscar Pettiford: Modern Quintet, Nina Simone: Little Girl Blue
Back in the early to mid 50s, a tiny label named Bethlehem Records signed up an alarming number of hip singers and musicians, ranging from Mel Torme to Duke Ellington to Charles Mingus. Adventurous to say the least, they had…