Most of us have never heard of the South African singer/songwriter Rodriguez, who made a bit of a name for himself during the 70s with some gritty and open nerved songs. Sort of like a south of the Equator Bob…
Author: George W. Harris
A Pair of Good Grooves! Towner Galaher :Uptown!, Bobby Broom: Upper West Side Story
Meat and potatoes, baby. Meat and potatoes. These two releases, nothing fancy, nothing ground breaking, are the comfort food of jazz. Good grooves, good solos and a get down to business attitude that makes you want to go to a…
Luis Perdomo: Universal Mind
Venezuelan-born pianist Luis Perdomo has only put out a handful of sessions under his own name, but this trio session just might get him the recognition he deserves. He’s got a Corea-Jarrett feel to his style, which make a…
Sarah Elgeti Quintet: Into The Open
I must really be a sexist; first glance at this disc by Sarah Elgeti that had a picture of her face, and I’m thinking, “another vocalist.” WRONG! She plays tenor, soprano and flute, writes all of the stuff here, and…
UNDERAPPRECIATED LIVING PIANISTS Ya know, everyone is hip to guys like Jarrett, Hancock, Tyner and even Brad Mehldau as being among the most influential and “important” (whatever that means) pianists of our day. But the fact remains that…
Hristo Vitchev/Weber Iago :Heartmony
Sometimes, you forget that there’s such a thing as simple as beautiful music. Here, guitarist Hristo Vitchev writes and arranges 11 pieces of music designed for himself and pianist Weber Iago, and the result is a collection of music that…
Putumayo World Music: Brazilian Beat
If you’ve got a heart for the infectious groove of samba and bossa nova, this release takes the venerable genre and gives it a kick into the 21st century. The disc comes off like a sampler, with a wide variety…
Paolo Recchia: Ari’s Desire
Italian based saxophonist Paolo Recchia teams up with Alex Sipiagin/tp-fh, Nicola Muresu/b and Nicola Angelucci/dr for a collection of post bop originals as well as shining a different spectrum on some jazz standards. The free from rhythm team lays…
Clazz Ensemble/Frank Carlberg: Federico On Broadway, Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band: Eleven
Here are a couple releases that display the polar opposites of what a large jazz band can accomplish. Pianist/conductor/composer Frank Carlberg leads this mini-big band through seven outside of left field originals. The material consists of songs that have meandering…
Candy Dulfer: Crazy, Citizen Rhythm: Of The People, By The People, For The People
How do jazz artists try to make the music more accessible? Here are a couple of attempts. What do you emphasize? What do you give up? Is this compromise, simply audio entertainment, or is it still an artistic vision? Alto…