One of the leading sounds of the younger alto saxists, Immanuel Wilkins puts together a thoughtful and thought-provoking reflection akin to a concept album for his third Blue Note release. It includes Micah Thomas/p, Rick Rosato/b, Kweku Sumbry/dr and vocalists…
Author: George W. Harris
Stan Harrison: Some Poor Soul Has A Fire
Eclectic saxist and composer Stan Harrison puts together an ambitious album that has more ideas than a Mensa seminar. Harrison himself plays tenor sax, flutes, bass clarinet, guitars and vocals, and is joined by the flexible Kim Cass/b, Steven Crammer/dr,…
Randy Hoexter: Tomorrowsville
Pianist and composer Randy Hoexter brings in a upper echelon group including bassist Jimmy Haslip and guest guitarist Mike Sten with a collection of John David/dr, Emrah Kotan/perc, Sam Skelton/wwinds, Eric Alexander/tb, Gordon Vernick-Justin Powell/tp-fh and Roberta Setzu/voc on this…
VINYL REVIVAL ON SAX…Art Pepper: Getting’ Together, Ben Webster: At The Renaissance
Two sax greats with immediately identifiable sounds have classic albums reissued recently, thanks to Craft Recordings. Alto saxist Art Pepper follows up his successful Meets The Rhythm Section of Wynton Kelly/p, Paul Chambers/b and Jimmie Cobb/dr with the addition of…
Jeff Lederer: Guilty!!
In this election year, Jeff Lederer becomes an MSNBC news reporter, speaking and singing while playing the saxes and piccolo with Kirk Knuffke/ct-tp-voc-key, Bob Stewart/tub-voc, Matt Wilson/dr-voc, Curtis Hasselbring/el-tb and Mary Larose/voc. The “songs”, if you call them that, are…
Julia Danielle: Julia Danielle
A fresh voice comes out of the Chicago jazz scene with this debut album by Julia Danielle. She has a folksy wisp that floats with a bohemian glide on this collection of creatively read standards. Backed by Joshua Achiron/g, Clark…
Samara Joy: Portrait
She’s only at the beginning of her career, but even so, Samara Joy comes across like a well seasoned vet on this latest release. She’s still retaining her youthful and church-bred charm, but she is starting to stretch her boundaries,…
Marion Meadows: Just Doing Me
Multi-saxist Marion Meadows taps into his inner Stevie Wonder on this soulful mix of originals. He mixes and matches reeds as well as musicians, rotating around with Chris Davis-Rahni Song-Wirlie Morris/key-b-prog, Julian Davis/harm, Curtis McCain-Paul Brown/perc, Maria Meadows/voc, Will Brock/key,…
Jocelyn Gould: Portrait of Right Now
Canadian guitarist Jocelyn Gould puts out a fun one, singing and playing a bopping guitar with Will Bonness/p, Jared Beckstaead-Craan/b and Curtis Nowosad/dr on a mix of mostly originals and a couple standards. The two jazz pieces show where Gould’s…
Vardan Ovsepian Quartet with Bob Reynolds@The Grape 10.25.24
The joke that “those who can’t do, teach” was put to rest Friday night at The Grape, as pianist and composer Vardan Ovsepian, instructor at Cal Arts, teamed up with USC faculty member Bob Reynolds in a quartet that turned…