One of the key questions any artist has to eventually ask himself has to be,”Who am I playing this music for?” More specifically, what kind of audience is going to pay to see the artist, or put down a few…
Author: George W. Harris
Arturo O’Farrill: The Noguchi Sessions
Arturo O’Farrill is best known for his larger band ensembles, particularly of the Latinized flavor. Here, he makes a few personnel changes and goes completely solo, giving an intimate performance of some originals and heartfelt covers. He touches on all…
IT SOUNDS SO EASY! Joe Alterman: Give Me The Simple Life, The Joe La Barbera Quintet: Silver Streams
It seems so simple to create it, yet so few artists are able to do it: namely, make an acoustic jazz disc, not too out there, having some good melodies with well constructed solos performed by artists who have their own…
Tora: Spilling Over
Here’s a singer that’s a bit of a throwback: Tora Fisher is a vulnerable soul who tells stories about her life on this release of pop/rock flavored material. She was the sole survivor of a plane crash, so she sees…
Erena Terakubo with Legends: New York Attitude, Ibrahim Maalouf: Diagnostic
Here are a pair of releases by newer artists; one with keeping and advancing the tradition, and the other bringing in a whole new reservoir of sounds and ideas into the idiom. Alto saxist Erena Terakubo is joined by the stellar…
A MONTH OF THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving, which is celebrated the 2nd to last Thursday of November (it used to be last one until FDR changed it in 1939 to help businesses during the Great Depression), is one of the few American Holidays that EVERYONE seems…
TRUMPET & VOCAL PERFECTION-Clifford Brown: The Singers Sessions with Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan & Helen Merrill
If you want to know why I’m down on so many modern female vocalists (as well as trumpet players and musicians in general), just give a listen to the music on this heavenly 3 cd set. A few years ago…
Eddie Daniels@ Vitello’s 10.26.12
The full house at Vitellos Upstairs was treated to not only a serving of great Italian food and inspiring small group jazz, but got a chance to be on a recording session that everyone in attendance (“and beyond!”) will want…
****ROTW****Eddie Gomez: Per Sempre
This seems to be the year of the older generation getting their faces back into the music scene. Chick Corea just put out a hot little trio disc with Eddie Gomez and Paul Motian, and now the famed Bill Evans…
FRESH SOUND PIANO CLASSICS-Dick Morgan: Dick Morgan Trio, Randy Weston: Randy Weston Trio Plus Cecil Payne
Fresh Sound Records is doing what Mosaic Records USED to do: put out important but obscure material by important but obscure artists. For some reason, Mosaic releases only dribbles a year, while the Spain-based Fresh Sound Records is making more…