When the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with Barack Obama a few years ago, the world would have been better off if he had given our President a copy of this session by compatriot drummer Jose Duque than his…
Author: George W. Harris
Marco Santiago: Rudiments, Surrender
Here’s a guy that’s a throwback to the days of singer/songwriter/producers like Todd Rundgren and Roy Wood who did every part of a record to make it a true personal project. Hawaiian based Marco Santiago releases two impressive discs, the…
The Miami Saxophone Quartet: Four of a Kind: Live in Concert
Here’s a sax quartet that is quite ecumenical in its delivery. Made up of Gary Keller/ss, Gary Lindsay/as, Ed Calle/ts and Mike Brignola/bari, the Miami Sax Quartet mixes and matches originals with standards, and unaccompanied reeds with various supporting teams.…
Platz-Demos-Delvo-McLellan: Differential Equations
The team of Jeff Platz/g-elec, Kit Demos/b-elec, Fabio Delvo/as and John McLellan/dr join together for a truly collaborated effort of angular musical permutations that focus more on interaction and muscularity than mere melody.. Assertive and edgy pieces such as “Bell…
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown: Imagery Manifesto
Here’s an impressive debut by a NY-based tenorist who I hope comes to the Best Coast sometime soon. Chad Lefkowitz-Brown (from now on referred to as “L-B”)graduated from the Brubeck Fellowship Program, winning 15 Downbeat awards and has started paying…
Steve Gadd Band: Gadditude
One of the guys artists like Chick Corea, Bob James and Al DiMeola have made their first call drummer, Steve Gadd has also had an impressive career as a leader in his own right. Here, he leads a nifty quintet…
David Weiss: Endangered Species: The Music of Wayne Shorter
Trumpeter David Weiss has come up with an inspired idea-put together a tribute to Wayne Shorter’s compositional pen with a large ensemble that takes away some of the tangential distractions and emphasizes the rich complexities by making them fuller and…
WONDERFUL OBSCURITIES FROM AVID JAZZ…Joe Bushkin: Three Classic Albums Plus, Jimmy Forrest: Four Classic Albums, Tony Scott: Three Classic Albums Plus
You know those guys on Sirius Satellite radio that play obscure tunes by equally obscure artist that you love so much and wonder “how come I never heard of this stuff before”? Well, they’ve got NOTHING on the people of…
Ken Peplowski: Maybe September
During the early days of his career, Ken Peplowski played his clarinet in big bands lead by Benny Goodman. At this stage in his career, he may not be the King of Swing, but he’s got a tone and delivery…
A JAZZ VERSION OF “OUR TOWN”… Kenny Burrell: Special Requests
Like the Thornton Wilder classic play Our Town, this disc of guitarist Kenny Burrell takes a “typical” show at the famed LA nightclub, Catalina’s and delivers a “typical” set of tunes. You get the entire 75 minute set, just without…