A fresh voice comes out of the Chicago jazz scene with this debut album by Julia Danielle. She has a folksy wisp that floats with a bohemian glide on this collection of creatively read standards. Backed by Joshua Achiron/g, Clark…
Category: Reviews
Samara Joy: Portrait
She’s only at the beginning of her career, but even so, Samara Joy comes across like a well seasoned vet on this latest release. She’s still retaining her youthful and church-bred charm, but she is starting to stretch her boundaries,…
Marion Meadows: Just Doing Me
Multi-saxist Marion Meadows taps into his inner Stevie Wonder on this soulful mix of originals. He mixes and matches reeds as well as musicians, rotating around with Chris Davis-Rahni Song-Wirlie Morris/key-b-prog, Julian Davis/harm, Curtis McCain-Paul Brown/perc, Maria Meadows/voc, Will Brock/key,…
Jocelyn Gould: Portrait of Right Now
Canadian guitarist Jocelyn Gould puts out a fun one, singing and playing a bopping guitar with Will Bonness/p, Jared Beckstaead-Craan/b and Curtis Nowosad/dr on a mix of mostly originals and a couple standards. The two jazz pieces show where Gould’s…
Vardan Ovsepian Quartet with Bob Reynolds@The Grape 10.25.24
The joke that “those who can’t do, teach” was put to rest Friday night at The Grape, as pianist and composer Vardan Ovsepian, instructor at Cal Arts, teamed up with USC faculty member Bob Reynolds in a quartet that turned…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****GETZ A GO GO! Jeff Rupert: It Gets Better
Ok, am I the only one who sees the punny reference to tenor sax giant Stan Getz on Jeff Rupert’s latest release. First of all, he’s got a tone and style just like The Mellifluous One. Second, he’s brought Getz…
Paula Maya: Rio De Janeiro
Singing and playing piano, Paula Maya brings a strong Brazilian breeze to this album with Erick Vieira-Nema Antunes-Sizao Machado/b, Fernando Moneiro/eg, Humberto Mirabeill/ag, MonicaAila/fl, Teo Lima/dr, Andre Siqueira/perc and Tamlia Nikazm/voc. The tunes can range from a popish “Agua Sagrada”…
Rose Mallett: Dreams Realized
Soulful stirrings from a broad palette are delivered by the comfortable and confident voice of Rose Mallett on this release with Robert Kyle/sax-fl, Jamison Trotter/p, Trey Henry/b, Mike Shapiro/dr, Munyungo Jackson/perc and a handful of guests. She can get old…
Greg Satterthwaite: Crossing Lines
There’s a fine line in jazz between jazz that is smooth and “smooth jazz” and Greg Satterthwaite takes great pains to use his piano and keyboards to be on the right side of the line. This recent release of his…
Peter Bernstein: Better Angels
Three masters of today’s generation join with one from a previous, as AL Foster supplies the punch for leader Peter Bernstein/g along with Brad Mehldau/p and Vicente Archer/b. Bernstein displays his straight, no chaser tone on gorgeous arias of “Lament”…