Sometimes, you just forget how great some jazz artists are. This most recent release by vibist Gary Burton, who’s been with everyone from Metheny to Getz to Corea, is a wondrous and beautiful collection of musical art. His latest band…
Category: Reviews
IF THEY CAN MAKE IT THERE: BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS! Cinderella starring Julie Andrews, Candide-1974 Broadway Cast Recording, Forever Plaid: Original Cast Recording, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Original Broadway Cast with Carol Channing, Grease: The New 2007 Broadway Revival Cast
Here are some recent releases by Sony Masterworks, and they are making a yeoman’s effort to bring back some of the best and most intriguing musical productions you’ll ever want to come across. Some are being released for the first…
THE SUMMIT OF MODERN MUSIC-Kris Berg & The Metroplexity Big Band: This Time/Last Year, Nobuki Takamen: Three Wishes
Here’s a label that you need to start being friends with. Summit Records has been putting out some straight-ahead music for awhile, and this latest stash of releases is as fresh as mint tea. Bassist Kris Berg leads a big…
Cheryl Bentyne: Let’s Misbehave-The Cole Porter Songbook
The most prolific of the Transfers when they’re not in Manhattan, Cheryl Bentyne has developed an impressive catalogue of her own. This one adds to the collection with some extra style, delving into what could have been the overplayed Cole…
MANNA FROM MOSAIC HEAVEN: Charles Mingus: The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-1965
Ahhhh. This is the kind of stuff that makes you just love Mosaic Records. They seem to tease us with great reissues by Coleman Hawkins, Anthony Braxton and Jimmie Lunceford, but just when you think you’re lulled into having them…
****ROTW****Joy Road: The Complete Works of Pepper Adams, Alexis Cole: I Carry Your Heart…Sings Pepper Adams
Baritone saxist Pepper Adams had a full career as a sideman for an innumerable collection of artists such as Charles Mingus and Herbie Hancock, as well as leading his own hot little quintet with Donald Byrd back in the 1960s.…
Jonathan Butler: Grace and Mercy
Sometimes, you just need a record to pick you up and change your focus. Smooth jazz guitarist Johathan Butler succeeds on that level on this latest release. His voice is reminiscent of a young George Benson, but his subject matter…
Donny McCaslin: Casting For Gravity
Boy, if nothing else, you have to give credit to tenorist Donny McCaslin for not letting moss grow on his sax. Heputs himself in a plethora of settings, from big bands to trios to small bands. Here, he’s plugging in…
Joe Fielder: Joe Fielder’s Big Sackbut
You like your music a little on the brassy side? This quartet is made for you! Trombonist Joe Fielder forms a band with two more sliders in Ryan Keberle and Josh Roseman, and then brings along tubaist Marcus Rojas to…
DOCUMENTARY DVDS-The Beatles: Their Golden Age-Ali: The Man, The Moves, The Mouth
Here are a couple documentaries that try to capture the essence of cultural figures that seem bigger than life. The Beatles dvd is hosted and written by publisher Les Krantz. Giving a single hour to the phenomenon of this…