THERE SEEMS TO BE A PALPABLE RENAISSANCE OF JAZZ SINGERS THESE DAYS. MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE SO MANY WOMEN WERE COOPED UP FOR SO LONG, THEY JUST NEEDED TO BURST OUT. BUT WHATEVER THE CAUSE, SOME EXCELLENT NEW ARTISTS AND ALBUMS…
Category: Reviews
****A MISSING LINK****…Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions
The mid 1940s were a pivotal time, not only for the world due to WWII, but also for jazz, as during these years America’s classical music was in a major transition period. The heyday of the Swing Era was (unbeknownst…
Naomi Moon Siegel: Shatter The Glass Sanctuary
Trombonist and composer Naomi Moon Siegel creates modern pastoral and impressionistic moods in a mix of songs and a suite with a symbiotic team of Ray Larsen/tp, Marina Albero/p, Andy Coe/g, Kelsey Mines/b and Christopher Icasiano/dr. The five part title…
Danish Radio Big Band: XL-LX
Subtitled, “Plays the Music of Marilyn Mazure-Clarla Bley-Palle Mikkelborg-Carl Nielsen-Miho Hazama”, this album celebrates the 60th anniversary of the venerable Danish Radio Big Band by playing five commissioned pieces from as many composers. The five vinyl record box set is…
THE BIRTH OF JAZZ…Jelly Roll Morton: A Career Anthology, Vol 1 1923-28, Vol 2 1929-40
If you don’t believe me, you could have checked on Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton’s business card that read “Inventor of Jazz”. Ok, so argue with him! These two boxed sets, each of 3 discs, consisting of 70 and 72 songs…
Trygve Seim/Frode Haltli: Our Time
Duets by Trygve Seim on soprano and tenor saxes with accordionist Frode Haltli create ethereal clouds of Byzantine meditations on this release. Seim’s tenor goes from sub-tones on the dainty “Madana Mohana” to high pitched sighs that compete in tone…
Pritesh Walia CD release @ Sam Fist Bar 10.31.24
Instead of delving into the Halloween world of ghosts and goblins, jazz fans were given the chance to hear the debut album of a different kind of spirit, that coming from the guitar of Indian born, LA local Pritesh Walia.…
*****RINGER OF THE WEEK****BACK IN THE DAY…Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band-Live At Smalls 1996
It’s amazing how each member of this 1996 band of leader/guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel with Mark Turner/ts, Jeff Ballard/dr and Ben Street/b is now a major name on his respective instrument. To put things in perspective, Rosenwinkel is still a few…
Anne Burnell & Mark Burnell: This Could Be The Start Of Something Big
This is the second album I’ve heard from the husband and wife team of singers Anne and Mark Burnell (who also plays piano), and like the previous one, it is a hearty endorsement to the swinging bliss of marriage. They…
Matt Booth: Sun Prints
Playing both electric and acoustic bass, Matt Booth modernizes vintage hard bop with Steve Lands/tp, Sam Taylor/ts, Oscar Rossignoli/p-key and Peter Varnado/dr on this album of originals. Booth makes the bopping hot for the horns on “In Tongues” and leads…