Category: Ringer of the Week

I know that I belabor the point, but Spain-based Fresh Sound Records continues to amaze me by bringing to surface bona fide jazz artisans that were simultaneously creative and overlooked both during their time and afterwards. This time, we get…

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Guitarist George Thorogood has always been associated with the electric guitar boogie and blues with his Destroyers band since the ‘80s. He strips down, sits down and gets down with vintage and modern blues as he plays acoustic, electric, slide…

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In jazz circles, hard bop trumpets have one of two sounds; either the brash and blistering chops of someone like Freddie Hubbard, or the sweet lyricism of Kenny Dorham. Dorham was one of the pioneers of bebop trumpet, having honed…

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Quick…name 5 bebop singers. See, that’s the problem. There were and are a ton of big band singers from the Swing Era, but after Jon Hendricks and Mark Murphy the well looks pretty dry for the bebop era vocalists. Joe…

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Pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff continues to release impressive material that is both melodic and adventurous. This time she releases a double album worth of material with the flexible and sensitive team of Adam Rogers/g, Drew Gress/b, Gerald Cleaver/dr and…

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It’s been about 10 years since vocalist Calabria Foti has released an album, the seductively Julie London-inspired A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening. After listening to this one, all I’ve got to say is “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?” Instead…

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One of the overlooked pioneers of jazz bass these days is Oscar Pettiford. Along with Jimmy Blanton, he brought the bass from out of the shadows and into the spotlight, making it an actual solo instrument as opposed to just…

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Here’s a sublime duet record by the father and son guitar team of Ulf and Eric Wakenius. They play acoustic guitars with sublime delicacy and swing, taking on material ranging from jazz standards to Baby Boomer pop. The album is…

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Violinist Maureen Choi taps into her Latin roots (just kidding) as she captures the romance of Spain, South America, Cuba and the Caribbean on this seductive album She mixes originals with Iberian covers, teaming up with Daniel Garcia Diego/p, Marlo…

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If this is the future direction of jazz, please count me in! This debut album by singer/bassist/composer Miles Mosley is as promising as it is exciting. He’s played with artists ranging from Jeff Beck and Mos Def, while this album…

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