Category: Ringer of the Week

I don’t know how they still do it, but Mosaic Records continues to find some of the best obscure and undiscovered jazz sessions that immediately become essential once they come to light. This 11 disc set is no exception, consisting…

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In this current state of affairs, where most musicians seem to be trying to recreate something, it is refreshing to hear musicians from an era where music and styles were actually being created. Both trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and pianist McCoy…

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Here’s an album that gets you back to the roots of all music-worshipping God. But this ain’t no Presbyterian Trinity Hymnal, Oh No! Vocalist Radha Botofasina, playing harp and supported by musicians ranging from Cecil McBee Jr/b, John Lehman/p, Munyungo…

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Just when you thought you  had everything by Wes Montgomery… Back in 1965, when Wes Montgomery was putting out pop albums, he went into the NDR studios in Hamburg, Germany and for Old Time Sake, he met up with a…

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Vocalist Somi Kakoma is one of the few artists who have successfully bridged modern jazz with African roots. Born in Illinois, and currently living in New York, her Rwanda/Uganda-born parents have passed on an appreciation of the passions of Africa’s…

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Along with the accordion, the tuba has to be one of the least likely instruments in the jazz canon, but big brass man Jim Self has made it work. This time out, he even ups the ante, bringing in guitar…

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Are you like I am? I’ve NEVER heard of this guy Bobby Cole before, so I had to look him up after getting knocked out by this album of his, a reissue (and then some) of essentially his only album,…

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If you don’t know where the lyrics of “It’s good enough for me” come from, you either missed Sunday School a few times or don’t know Americana. There’s an old hymn “Give Me That Old Time Religion” that summarizes this…

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First, you have to love the joys of Brazilian music to get hooked on this album by mandolinist Danilo Brito and guitarist Joao Luiz. That’s an easy task, right? Next, you have to just sit down, SIT DOWN, and take…

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For the past few years there has been a cache of posthumously released concert albums from various tours of guitar legend Allan Holdsworth. This latest one, recorded at the Jarasum International Jazz Festival back in  2014, is by far the…

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