Here’s a sublime guitarist from the LA area that I think you’re going to like. Dan Sistos takes an acoustic guitar and puts it in a variety of settings that allow his Spanish touch on the strings to sing, sigh…
Category: Reviews
Bruce Forman Trio: Formanism
Guitarist Bruce Forman is an LA regular, and is always playing in some club in the Valley. Definitely a worthy night when you catch him, as this latest release of his with the accompaniment of Bage Noel/b and Jake Reed/dr…
Hamilton de Holanda Quinteto: Brasilianos 3
One of these days, the world of music fans is going to wake up and discover this wonderful Mandolinist. He’s put out countless releases on Adventure Music, and each one has its own distinct charms. This one has him leading…
Human Spirit: Dialogue: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival
Here’s a nice tempting treat for fans of post bop jazz. The quintet Human Spirit consists of Thomas Marriott/tp, Mark Taylor/as, Matt Jorgensen/dr, Orrin Evans/p and Essiet essiet/b, and are caught in concert running through 8 originals. The songs are…
Jimmy Cliff: Rebirth
Hard to believe that Jimmy Cliff is still around and still sounding great. He bridged the gap between “old school” reggae artists like Desmond Dekker and the later and iconic Bob Marley. In 1972 he starred in the reggae film…
Georg Breinschmid: Fire
If you want some fun and adventure in your jazz, here’s an iconoclastic guy that will appeal to your sense of swing and humor. Bassist/composer/singer Georg Brenschmid has put out another variety show of a disc (and bonus) here with…
South American Sounds: Sabrina Lastman: The Candombe Jazz Sessions, Oscar Castro-Neves with special guests: Live At The Blue Note Tokyo
Here are a couple of artists that take you on musical journeys all over South America, from the urban café’s of Brazil to the villages of Uruguay. Vocalist Sabrina Lastman brings together a working trio of Emilio Solia/p, Pablo…
Dan Wilensky: Back in the Mix
Ah! How nice to hear a tenor saxist not under the shadow of John Coltrane. Dan Wilensky has a nice rich and thick sound, and uses it well on this modern hard bop disc with Mark Soskin/p, Dean Johnson/b, Tony…
The Michael Treni Big Band: Boy’s Night Out
If you like your big band charts clean, fresh and tasty, here’s a band after your own heart. Michael Treni does the conducting, arranging, ‘bone playing and some of the composing on this cooking disc with an 18 piece big…
Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver: Family Ties
I knew that I was in trouble with this disc when the first song, the title track, opened with Perelman soloing with simply the mouthpiece of his saxophone. Oh, boy. After that the material with Morris/b and Cleaver/dr has the…