Category: Ringer of the Week

You gotta love this team of Bryan J Hughes/voc, James Suggs/tp, Alejandro Arenas/b, Jean Bolduc/dr and John C. O’Leary III/p-key, just for moxie alone on this totally hip album. They’ve got swing in their collective bone marrow, but keep everything…

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This is about the third album I’ve taken in from TK Blue, and am still impressed by his mix of world and bluesy jazz tones. He plays the African percussion instrument kalimba quite a bit here, adding to some exoticism,…

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Here’s a fresh musical voice in singer, pianist and composer Mavis Pan. She brings in woodwind masters Ted Nash and Geoff Burke along with Mark Wade/b and Jared Schonig/dr for a Baker’s Dozen of originals that are textured and as…

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Who knows why this 1998 session of Roy Hargrove’s band was shelved for so long, especially after winning a Grammy for their album Habana. Better late than never, but only the living get to appreciate what the late great trumpeter…

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Not since Gregory Porter have I been as excited about a new jazz singer. This guy Michael Mayo has a rich and supple voice, hinting at Stevie Wonder, but with a jazz flexibility akin to Al Jarreau that is a…

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To put this important album of a previously unreleased recording of Al Jarreau in context, this Washington DC gig catches the iconic star just before hitting fame, after his 1976 Glow and before his chart topping 1977 Look To The…

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Miles Davis’ “Classic” Quintet of Ron Carter/b, Tony Williams/dr, Wayne Shorter/ts and Herbie  Hancock/p did not go under-recorded. There are a plethora of single and multi-disc sets of the band, with this collection of the team in various gigs in…

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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…

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