I like a disc when I listen to the music and can’t tell who the leader is. That was the case here with electric pianist Tom Wetmore on his debut release. All nine songs here are his compositions, and he…
Category: Reviews
Melissa Errico: Legrand Affair / Sue Halloran & Ken Hitchcock: I Can Cook Too!
Here are a couple of female vocalists that are undeservedly under the radar, and add an extra texture to the book of Standards. Melissa Errico has a voice that used to be termed “legit.” In other words, she sounds like…
Jukin’ Wit De Blues: Jukin’ / Bar-B-Cue’n Blues
Various wailers and shuffling beat boogiers If you ever wanted to know what the 60s, and therefore, pop and rock music, would have sounded like if there were no British Invasion of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc, these two discs…
Gary Smulyan: Smul’s Paradise
Gary Smulyan is one of of thetop bari players around, having developed a big fat sound via his work with large ensembles like the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, Woody Herman’s Orchestra and the Mingus Big Band. He’s also carved out…
Al Di Meola: Morocco Fantasia: World Sinfonia Live with Special Guests
Guitarist Al Di Meola seems to finally have found a musical voice and home. He’s made a name for himself as an AK-47 styled electric guitar gunslinger, a devotee of New Tango music, and an amalgam of sounds on his…
Neil Welch: Boxwork
I know I sound like one of those people at a modern art museum, but the fact is, my daughters COULD have played this music on the saxophone. This collection of sounds (not “music”) is completely devoid of melody, rhythm…
Various Classic Jazz Artists: Putumayo Presents Jazz
I just love these kinds of discs: unassuming introductions to jazz for the uninitiated which feature alluring sounds that will get you hooked in no time. The emphasis here is on singers, but the few instrumentals are nothing to be…
Steve Smith and Vital Information: Live! One Great Night
If you’re a drum freak, you know about the in-the-pocket-chops of Steve Smith, who’s made a name for himself as THE go to drummer, playing with Jean Luc Ponty, Journey, Steps Ahead, Stanley Clarke and Ahmad Jamal, to name just…
Jochen Rueckert: Somewhere Meeting Nobody
Drummer Jochen Rueckert leads a quartet with some of the major movers of the new generation of jazzers, namely Mark Turner/ts, Brad Shepik/g and Matt Penman/b. The music while, sophisticated and intellectual, is a bit more cerebral than necessary, with…
Rufus Reid & Out Front: Hues Of A Different Blue
If you have a Jazz Play-Along book/cd, you’ve probably heard Rufus Reid’s bass, as he’s on a plethora of those essential educational tools. Here, along his Out Front Trio (Steve Allee/p and Duduka Da Fonseca/dr) he puts forth a textbook…