Sometimes I like to play the game of just listening to an album and try to figure out who is the leader. These latest two releases made the game fun. Until you get to the bass solo on “Yellow Room”…
Author: George W. Harris
Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts: Hang Time
Here’s a reason to have hope in the future, a pair of bands fromed from the CCJA put out an impressive collection of original material that shows impressive sounds, melody and a look to both the past and future. Group…
Steve Cole: Pulse
Is it “smooth”? Is it “contemporary jazz”? I’m not sure what you can label it, but tenor saxist Steve Cole has a rich and warm tenor on this collection of ten tunes written by either himself, the sax player and flutist…
STRAIGHT, NO CHASER…Miles Davis: The Original Mono Recordings
In case you didn’t know, the technology for making stereophonic albums didn’t get going until around 1958. Up until then, the goal of Columbia Recording Studios (which was THE state of the art label for sonic reproduction at the time)…
ALL OF THE CAMELEON’S COLORS…Herbie Hancock: The Complete Columbia Album Collection 1972-1988
As Bob Beldon writes in his notes for the 200 page book that accompanies this 34 disc collection of albums, the trend setting and following Herbie Hancock was like a chameleon “in the sense of an evolving, inclusive entity that…
BEST SOUNDING TENOR ALIVE? Houston Person: Nice ‘N Easy
Why am I a sucker for the warm and breathy tone of tenorist Houston Person? I grew up in the era of Weather Report and Michael Brecker, but once I was brought into the world of guys like Ben Webster,…
WHERE’S THE HITCHCOCK CAMEO? John Abercrombie Quartet: 39 Steps
Guitarist John Abercrombie makes a good percentage of this record with Joey Baron/dr, Drew Gress/b and Marc Copland/p with song titles in reference to classic Alfred Hitchcock movies. Any real reason? Not sure, but while each tune is an understated…
Laurence Hobgood Quintet@The Blue Whale 11.09.13
Better known as the pianist & arranger for vocalist Kurt Elling, Laurence Hobgood occasionally steps out in front to perform his own material, and for good reason. His solo albums include a fascinating series of duets with bassist Charlie Haden…
Bill Holman’s Big Band@Vitello’s 11.08.13
“It’s very confusing, but what else are we here for?” So joked 87 year old bandleader Bill Holman about the music between songs at Vitello’s where he revisited the sounds from his 1997 Grammy winner album of wildly exciting big…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Mario Adnet: Um Olhar Sobre
Digging into the songbook of famed composer Heitor Villa Lobos, Mario Adnet comes up with gold on this wondrous mix of voice, orchestra and intimate instruments. The warm and full bodied mix of strings and brass can be as impressionistically…