Don’t think of it as “jazz” as much as 20th or 16th century modern music. What you’ve got here is a collaboration of various Eastern European composers who’ve been interpreted by either a pianist (Angela Tosheva), recorder (Benedikta Bonitz) or…
Author: George W. Harris
Beata Pater: Red
Vocalist/violinist Beata Pater mixes and matches a variety of sounds and styles here, with a combination of old school acoustic and Headhunter funky modern. Electric fusion sounds from the late 70s permeate material like Herbie Hancock’s own “Butterfly” as well…
Mark Kleinhaut & Neil Lamb: Jones Street
OK! I’ll admit it! I’ve always been sucker for guitar duets. From Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson to John Renborn and Stephan Grossman to Pat Metheny and Jim Hall and whoever I’ve left out. There’s a nice one that’s were…
PARTY TIME!!! Lula Lounge: Essential Tracks, Kiwi: Roots Music
Here are two discs that are guaranteed to add some pep tour your next outdoor get together. Lula Lounge is part of the burgeoning Toronto music scene, and this disc captures some of the music that is south of our…
GUITAR FREAKS UNITE!!! Scott Yanow: The Great Jazz Guitarists; The Ultimate Guide
If your idea of heaven at a baseball game would be having Vin Scully sit next to you and describe what’s going on between pitches, the jazz equivalent would be sitting with jazz journalist Scott Yanow in some place like…
Clarke/Corea/Gilmore Trio with Guest Hubie Laws@Catalina’s 03.10.13
If you had told me back in the fusion-dominated 70s, while I was sitting on my couch listening to my Return to Forever and Stanley Clarke School Days albums, that in two score years these same guys would be putting…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Heather Masse & Dick Hyman: Lock My Heart
There’s absolutely no need to introduce the world to pianist Dick Hyman, as he’s been the go-to guy for traditional jazz since rising to fame via the Woody Allen movie scores way back when. Contrasting with the 85 year old…
Chris Alpiar Quartet: The Jazz Expression
If you don’t know where to go after you’ve worn out your John Coltrane discs, take a listen over here with tenor saxist Chris Alpiar. He leads a quartet with Pete Rende/p, Matt Pavolka/b and Bob Meyer/dr through a handful…
DIVINE! Sarah Vaughan: The Complete Columbia Albums Collection
The Sony Music Group is doing an impressive job cleaning out its attic and bringing some obscure material out for the world to see. Recently, they’ve put out box sets of Dexter Gordon, Weather Report, Woody Shaw, Duke Ellington and…
Kevin Eubanks: The Messenger
Guitarist Kevin Eubanks kicks it up a notch on his most recent release. He teams up with a hip cast of Bill Pierce/ts-ss, Duane and Robin Eubanks/brass, Rene Camacho/b and Marvin “Smitty” Smith, allowing the horns a lot of solo…