Richard Elliot brings his tenor sax to a soul stirring session on this toe tapping album. He mixes elements of classic R&B and funky horns with a backbeat with Franklin Richardson III/dr, Lenny Castro/perc, Randy Jacobs-Gerey Johnson/g Nathaniel Phillips/b and…
Category: It Doesn’t Go Anywhere
Miroslav Vitous: Music of Weather Report
Bassist Miroslav Vitous was one of the founding members of the iconic “fusion” band Weather Report, and until Jaco Pastorius came along, was considered the standard for all subsequent bassists to be measured by. He kind of returns to the…
Gregoire Maret: Wanted
Gregoire Maret uses his writing skill, socializing skills and expert talents on the chromatic harmonica for this album filled with guest appearances and accessible easy listening jazz. A core team of James Genus/b, Ricardo Vogt/g, Gerald Clayton/key-p and Terri Lyne…
Aarhus Jazz Orchestra: ReWrite of Spring
Jazz bands since Woody Herman have attempted to swing Igor Stravinsky’s famed Rite of Spring, all with varying results. Composer and Conductor Lars Moller makes a wise choice in this studio/concert version of the piece by re-arranging a bulk of…
Aarhus Jazz Orchestra: ReWrite of Spring
Jazz bands since Woody Herman have attempted to swing Igor Stravinsky’s famed Rite of Spring, all with varying results. Composer and Conductor Lars Moller makes a wise choice in this studio/concert version of the piece by re-arranging a bulk…
HE CAN STILL WHIP THE CREAM…Herb Alpert: Come Fly With Me
At 80 years old, Herb Alpert still sounds as fresh as in his days with the Tijuana Brass. This album, his first in years, has him in a Brazilian jazz mood along with his currently touring team of Michael Shapiro/dr,…
THE REAL AMERICAN SONGBOOK…Manny Albam & Hal Schaefer: Jazz Goes to the Movies/Showcase
The Spanish label Fresh Sound has done a remarkable job in revisiting a lost genre in jazz, the movie score. They’ve released a ton of “B” movie scores, all of which are stupendous. Here, they’ve reissued a pair of albums…
MODERN FUSION…Black Violin: Stereotypes, Mother Falcon: Good Luck Have Fun
In these days when “fusion” is getting revived, a new type of melding of styles is hereby presented by a couple of releases from Universal Music Classics. Viola player Wil Baptiste and violinist Kev Marcusboth come from Florida, and have…
LATIN RITMO…Nilson Matta: East Side Rio Drive, Simone Sou-Guilherme Kastrup-Benjamin Taubkin: Sounds of Life, Pedro Giraudo Big Band: Cuentos
Think all Latin music is salsas and polkas? Here are three ways the “tinge” adds spice to jazz. Bassist Nilson Matta mixes passionate straightahead jazz with sensuous sambas and salsas here. He teams up with Romero Lubamba/g, Craig Handy/ts, Anne…
Yann Tiersen: Infinity
Composer/arranger Yann Tiersen is a throwback to the days of concept albums a la Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells: thickly arranged, melodic with moments of drama and panoramic thrills. Here, he mixes strings, percussion, vocals and other various instruments in an…