Two of LA’s finest get together for a meeting made in jazz heaven. Pianist Josh Nelson has made a career balancing swinging small group jazz with being one of the best vocal accompanists while Mon David is one of the…
Category: Reviews
Michael Silverman: Human Spirit
Pianist/composer Michael Silverman has made an impressive career out of recording pieces for film and TV, including productions as “The Good Wife” and “Two and a Half Men”. An enviable position ofr any musician, and now he delves into his…
Bartosz Hadala Group: Three Short Stories
Pianist and composer Bartosz Hadala leads a post bop team of Michael Manring/b, Brad Cheeseman/b, Marito Marques/dr, Luis Deni/as, Kelly Jefferson/ts, Eric St-Laurent/g and Joao Frade/acc through an eclectic collection of originals. The rhythm team is able to deliver funky…
Event Horizon: Jazz Concert
A mix of post bop and CTI-inspired soul is delivered by the quartet of drummer Rick Vitek, bassits Donn DeSanto, Scott Mertens on piano or keyboards and Jim Kaczmarek playing a variety of reeds and flutes. The band has an…
Andreas Vollenweider: Quiet Places
Sounds reminiscent of the halcyon days of Windham Hill and “New Age” music are created by famed harpist Andreas Vollenweider, who also contributes piano, woodwinds, keyboards, percussion and even his voice on this album that also includes drummer/percussionist Walter Keiser…
Rick Cutler: Women & Children
Rick Cutler plays piano, keyboards and a dash of drums on this album that has him In a variety of unassuming settings ranging from solo to a cozy quintet. Of the former there are some lovely piano solos such as…
Modasaurus: 4K
Led by composer James McGowan on piano and keyboards, the whale of a band including Alex Moxon/eg, JP Lapensee/e and Jamie Holmes/dr fuse together a myriad of styles and tastes. The upbeat “The Four Kids (4K) includes Steely Dan-ish guitar…
WILD IN THE STREETS…Agusti Fernandez-Liudas Mockunas: Improdimensions, Francois Carrier/Masayo Koketsu/Daisuke Fuwa/Takashi Itani: Japan Suite, Sam Rivers Trio: Ricochet, Threadare-Jason Stein/Ben Cruz/Emerson Hunton: Silver Dollar, Adam Caine Quartet: Transmisions, ”, Conny Bauer/Matthias Bauer/Dag Magnus Narvesen: The Gift, Vincent Chancey/Wilber Morris/Warren Smith: The Spell-The Vincent Chancey Trio Live, 1987
Pianist Agusti Fernandez teams with Liudas Mockunas on the soprano sax, tenor sax and floor shaking contrabass clarinet for six “Improdimensions” divided into two sections. Of “Improdimension I”, you have Morse Code messages via the puffing mouthpiece in “Part II”,…
TWO TRIOS…Matt Moran Trio: Return Trip, Adam Glaser Trio: Wide Awake
Keyboards in threesomes. Gary Versace plays a deep and harmoniously sophisticated Hammond B3 along with vibist Matt Moran and drummer Tom Rainey on this Hound of Baskervilles fogged collection of tunes. The vibes and Leslies are both mellow on “Ripples”…
BLACK(MAN)-MAGIC WOMAN…Cindy Blackman Santana: Give The Drummer Some
This latest release by Cindy Blackman Santana continues to show her growth and progression as an artists. The lady that started her career with the likes of Wallace Roney and Jackie McLean displays a Bitches Brew-styled album cover this time,…