Trumpeter Julien Knowles, fresh out of graduating from Herbie Hancock’s Institute of Jazz at UCLA, has put together and ambitious debut album melding post bop jazz with Devin Daniels/as, Javier Santiago/p, Dario Bizio/b and Benjamin Ring/dr with an occasional string…
Author: George W. Harris
Sam Anning: Earthen
Bassist Sam Anning brings his compositions to fruition with a team of Mat Jodrell/tp, Carl Mackey/as, Julien Wilson/ts-el, Andrea Keller/p-key, Theo Carbo/b and Kyrie Anderson for tunes dedicated to Archie Roach. The colors are soft and pastoral, with the horns…
Ellie Lee: Escape
Pianist Ellie teams with saxist Steve Wilson, bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Jongkuk Kim for a collection of pasteled originals and one cover. Of the latter, “Whisper Not” is warm and mature interplay between Wilson’s soprano and the leader’s fingers,…
Mercer Hassy Orchestra: Duke’s Place
Mercer Hassy plays keyboards, guitar, percussion and does some programming as he leads a big band through his updated arrangements of the Duke Ellington songbook. He bookends the tribute with a pair of “Train” tunes, as the band chugs through…
Julieta Eugenio: Stay
I saw tenor saxist Julieta Eugenio a couple years ago in concert and was impressed by her Ben Webster of a tone. It’s displayed well here with core team of Jonathan Barber/dr and Matt Dwonszyk/b and guest Leo Genovese/key. Eugenio…
Shawn Kellerman: Kell’s Kitchen
Shawn Kellerman sings like something out of J. Geils Band while also playing bass and bluesy guitar on a rocking album with a wide range of guests. Bobby Rush brings his howling harp and and R&Bish “We Are Blues Men”…
Luis Tovar: Storm
Venezuelan percussionist Luis Tovar has made a plethora of recordings with a variety of musicians. This one, however, is quite clever and unique, as the ep of four tunes is the result of a collaboration with a dancer, Sabrina Naz.…
SOUL JAZZ TRANSITION FROM BOPPERS…The Cannonball Adderley Quintet: Live In Montreal May 1975, Dizzy Gillespie: Soul & Salvation
Two heroes of the bebop sound, Cannonball Adderley and Dizzy Gillespie, return to their church roots on these recently discovered albums from the 60s and 70s. Cannonball Adderley is found at the In Concert Room in Montreal, Canada for a…
Tomasz Stanko Quartet: September Night
Trumpeter Tomasz Stanko built a career creating moods akin to Miles Davis’ “Blue In Green”, with rich kind of blue ideas floating to cerebral pulses. This release finds him in a September 9, 2004 gig in Munich with his classic…
Sergio Pamies: Time To Say
Spanish born pianist and composer Sergio Pamies puts together a strong album with a core of Michael Thomas/as-ss, Alex Norris/tpfh, Samuel Torres/perc, Jimmy Macbride/dr and Ricky Rodriguez/b. There’s an alluring Latin flair to each of his originals, with guests David…