Legendary drummer Peter Erskine brings together a band consisting of Robert Unterkofler/ts, Bertl Mayer/harm, Cozy Friedel/vi, Andreas Varady/g, Danny Ziemann/b and musical director Danny Grissett/p for a tribute to one of America’s great composers, Leonard Bernstein, at a concert in…
Author: George W. Harris
Art Farmer: The Art of Farmer-Classic Albums 1953-55
Trumpeter Art Farmer (1928-99) possessed one of the prettiest tones on the horn, and was a major factor in the jazz scene particularly in the 50s and 60s. This 2 disc, 42 song collection puts together some of his tastiest…
Francesco Crosara: Circular Motion
Playing piano and synthesizer, Francesco Crosara mixes and matches trios with bassists Clipper Anderson/Farko Dosumov and Osama Afifi with drummers Mark Ivester/D’Vonne Lewis and Xavier Lecouturier respectively on this album of originals. On keyboards, there’s a Stevie Wonder meets Weather…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Kevin Burt & Big Medicine: Thank You Bill-A Tribute to Bill Withers
In order to not prejudice myself one way or another in reviewing an album, I tend not to read the musicians playing or liner notes before listening; I want to take the songs in on their own merits. So, I…
David Bixler: The Langston Hughes Project Volume 1
Alto saxist David Bixler gives a tribute to the poet/musician/educator Langston Hughe on this collection of wide ranging originals. The material consists of a 40 minute title piece, and then four more concise tunes, with a jazz team of Mike…
Donald Vega: As I Travel
Best known for his work with Ron Carter’s trio, pianist Donald Vega leads a formidable team of Lewis Nash/dr, John Patitucci/b and Luisitio Quintero/perc through a collection of originals. His signature classy style is in display well on “Alegria” and…
Mike DiRubbo: Inner Light
Alto saxist Mike DiRubbo teams up with Brian Charette/B3, Andrew Renfroe/g and Jonkuk Kim/dr for a mix of bluesy originals and a couple standards. DiRubbo has a warm and earnest sound, bopping well on “JK in NYC” and graceful for…
Kevin Sun; The Depths of Memory
Tenor saxst Kevin Sun brings together a mix and match team of Adam O’Farrill/tp, Dana Soul/p, Walter Stinson-Simon Willson/b and Matt Honor-Dayeon Seok/dr for a two disc collection of three multipart suites. The first, “All This Stillness” has seven movements…
Fly To The Sun: Fly To The Sun
Progressive rock reminiscent of Asia is presented by the band Fly To The Sun. Consisting of Ray/voc-fl, Jennifer Batten/g, Billy Sheehan/b, Andrew Giddings/perc-ley, Gregg Bissonette/dr, AAlex Grata/key-g, JJ Sansaverino/g, Joe Deninzon/str and guests Drew Hall/g-Troy Perkins/b, the band goes upbeat…
Brian Melvin-Soran Lee-Mads Sondergaard: Tranesformation
The organ trio of Soren Lee/g, Mads Sondergaard/org and Brian Melvin/dr take on the John Coltrane songbook with creativity and vigor on this new release. Lee has a sound that is reminiscent of Wes Montgomery and Grant Green, simmering on…