Category: Reviews

Lesson #1: Don’t judge a book by its cover. She looks like someone who’s going to be doing Janice Ian covers, and the name of the group (Secret Garden) just oozes of doe-eyed female “feelings” and “relationships.” Well, pop in…

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Singers from the past and present… At one time, Julie Andrews was the queen of the movie screen, with iconic performances in musicals like “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music.” Not to mention, she was the star of the…

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Minnesota Jazz? You betcha! Ya gotta do something to hide from the frozen tundra for 6 months out of the year besides eating Lutefisk. Saxist Jeremy Long fronts a trio with Hammond hammerer Steven Snyder and drummer Jason Tiemann through…

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Trumpeter Thad Jones’ career can easily be divided into 3 major stages: 1) Charles Mingus discovery of a post bopping trumpeter par excellence who put out a handful of very snazzy small group sessions, 2) big band trumpeter for Count…

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Clarinetist Dr. Michael White has one of the real rich tones, making these tributes to the music of the Crescent City a pleasure to behold. This one has him mixing and matching with various trumpet and trombone players, with a…

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Here’s a Kansas City-based singer that’s got a voice and delivery you’re going to like. Produced by LA composer/singer Mark Winkler, Uptown has Basse singing in a style that sounds like he’s a cross between a ticket scalper and carney…

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While guitarists have been comfortably plugged in to their amplifiers since the Swing Era, violinists have generally been less ambitious to explore the sonic potential of “going electric.” This booklet and cd/dvd goes a long way to introduce the curious…

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Lakecia Benjamin plays alto and soprano sax here, and also does the arranging on this release that is a throwback to the days when R&B was filled with wacka-wooka guitars, fuzzy bass riffs and disco inferno horn punctuation. Some of…

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