Category: Ringer of the Week

If you’re looking for something fresh and new, come on over here and check out this 20 song compilation of pop music from Haiti from the 60s to the 80s. You get a wide range of Merengue, Kompa Kreyou, Electric…

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Here’s the final recording by New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint. It’s an absolute beaut, and not just because it’s his adieu. The man that gave us such songs as “Yes We Can Can” and “Mother In Law” mixes originals with…

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At one time, Chico Freeman (along with Arthur Blythe, David Murray and  the late Lester Bowie) were the darlings of the left of center jazz cognizenti. Since the heady 80s, their patented mix of freedom and form have drifted away…

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Next time you watch a movie with Dana Andrews, Robert Mitchum or Gloria Grahame, you may want to get into the mood by putting on this disc by fluglehhorn player Dmitri Matheny. He creates shadows inspired by Fritz Lang with a…

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Yes. Yes.  YES!! I know that there is a surfeit of Porgy and Bess recordings out there. Satch and Ella, Miles, Torme’. But this one just might be the most swinging of them all. Performed back in 1992 at The…

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Matt Lavelle plays cornet, flugelhorn and alto clarinet as he conducts a large scale band through a half dozen originals. You get a mix of reeds, woodwinds, strings and various things like vibes, mandola and banjo ere, and the mood…

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Truer words couldn’t be found for the title of this album by tenor saxist George Coleman. He’s most famous for being part of the front line of Miles Davis quintet during the famed ’64 tour of Europe that gave us…

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If you’ve been looking for some fresh Brazilian music, look no further. Grade B Maple Syrup of a voice Renato Braz teams up with Paul Winter and his famed Consort along with guests like Dori Caymmi and Ivan Lins for…

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What are you to make of this album by clarinetist David Krakauer?!? He’s got a Mediterranean tone, thick and rich on his licorice stick, and he uses it here to get back in touch with his Eastern Europe Jewish roots.…

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Brian Bromberg is one of those consummate bass players around. A highly respected studio stud, he’s released some amazing albums ranging from “smooth” jazz to Hendrix tributes. Here, he picks, plucks strums and even hits just about everything, as he’s…

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