Fine. I’ll admit that I’m a “jazz sexist.” I get this cd, and on the jacket I see this cute blond (about my older daughter’s age) posing with her trumpet while looking into a sunset. First thought, “gotta be another…
Author: George W. Harris
Conrad Herwig/Richie Beirach/Jack DeJohnette: The Tip Of The Sword
All three gents are names of the left of center elite. Getting together could have caused problems, but these vets know how to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. We don’t need no stinking bass, man! Beirach’s piano and…
Linda Oh: Initial Here
Bassist/composer Linda Oh put out an impressive debut disc not too long ago, and this followup has some moments when she sounds like she could be a major voice for jazz’s future. She leads a band her with Dayna Stephens/ts,…
Rare Noises-Bob Belden’s Animation: Agemo, Eraldo Bernocchi, Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie: Winter Garden, Lorenzo Feliciati: Frequent Flyer
Do labels determine a sound? Do names of labels define destinies? Here are three releases that have music that is part rare and part noise. Miles Davis-ophile Bob Belden experiments with the art of engineering on this 2 disc set…
Nils Weinhold: Shapes
German-born guitarist Nils Weinhold democratically leads a quintet with Adam Larson/sax, Fabian Almazan/key, Luques Curtis/b and Bastian Weinhold/dr through a collection of material dominated by the titular head. The material fluctuates around the mood post bop modernism, with intricate melody…
Quartango: El Fuego
The original team of Quartango lasted 25 solid years together before the recent and sad demise of founding member and pianist Richard Hunt last year. This disc is then their last foray together, and the team of Rene Gosselin/b, Stephane…
****ROTW****Mark Masters Ensemble featuring Gary Smulyan: Ellington Saxophone Encounters
One of the truly indisputable evidences for the existence of an all loving God is when he allowed Duke Ellington to form his orchestra, and let baritone saxist Harry Carney anchor the sax section for 50 years. Whether it was…
Booker T. and the M.G.s: Green Onions
Hard to believe that an instrumental group could get so popular in the 60s, but there were a number of them. BTATMGS was by far the best, as not only did they put out superior and funky stuff like this…
SAX LITTLE LEFT OF CENTER: Jure Pukl : Abstract Society: Featuring Vijay Iyer, Joe Sanders & Damion Reid, Ivo Perelman/Matt Shipp/Gerald Cleaver: The Foreign Legion, Ivo Perelman with Sirius Quartet: The Passion According to G.H., Rich Halley 4: Back From Beyond
There are some styles of music that I must confess, I just don’t get. Outside tenor sax players is a “type” that seems contradictory, as the whole reason the instrument was devised was to sound as “heavenly” as a cello,…
The Hot Club of Detroit: Junction
The Hot Club of Detroit is one of the few small groups out there that takes a genre (in this case, Django Reinhardts Hot Club of France) and use that as a starting point as opposed to an apotheosis. The…