Skip & Dan Wilkins Quartet In the Stars Deer Head At this same time almost exactly three years ago we reviewed Someday from the Skip and Dan Wilkins Quartet, an homage to the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA, relatively local for this writer. Yes, it’s a rather unlikely spot to find a […]
Santi Debriano & Arkestra Bembe Ashanti Jojo Panama-born and New York-based composer and bassist Santi Debriano has been a longtime bandmate for Kirk Lightsey but is an accomplished bandleader as well. Ashanti is his eighth release as a leader and the first for Jojo Records. Bembe is quite the ensemble, boasting a five-horn front line, with four […]
Vince Herman Enjoy the Ride LoHi The epitome of the Americana sound is present of Vince Herman’s Enjoy the Ride, the first solo album from the frontman of Leftover Salmon, a band that’s been with us for thirty years. Melding country, bluegrass, tinges of blues, and the kind of songs that echo John Prine and […]
Jussi Reijonen Three Seconds/Kolme Toista Challenge Records International If you were to know that the leader has lived in Finland, Jordan, Tanzania, OMan, Lebanon, and the United States, it would pique your curiosity. Add to that the unusual instrumentation and background of the players in his nonet: Jason Palmer on trumpet and flugelhorn; Bulut Gülen […]
Sun-Mi Hong Third Page: Resonance Edition As the title implies, Resonance is the third album for Korean born, Amsterdam-based drummer Sun-Mi Hong, and it marks her debut for the prestigious UK Edition label. Sun-Mi is one of the rising stars in European jazz and, if you were reading closely, she appeared on the recently reviewed […]
Sam Blakeslee & Wistful Thinking Busy Body Outside in Music Ohio native, New York City based trombonist and composer Sam Blakeslee follows up his 2021 debut The Long Middle with his band, Wistful Thinking, delivering their second release, Busy Body. The bandleader has created an almost entirely new sound that contrasts to the intimate, melancholy […]
Ant Law & Alex Hitchcock Same Moon in the Same World Outside in Music Two emerging forces in the UK jazz scene have collaborated on Same Moon In The Same World. Guitarist Ant Law and tenor saxophonist Alex Hitchcock not only remotely recorded the album, but they enlisted support from top artists in the UK and the U.S. […]
Michael Blake Combobulate Newvelle Combobulate is the second release in Newvelle Records Renewal Series is a celebratory and unique exploration of saxophonist and composer Michael Blake’s compositions and arrangements featuring a star-studded brass section including TWO legendary tuba players Bob Stewart and Marcus Rojas, Steven Bernstein on trumpet, Clark Gayton on trombone and Allan Mednard […]
Eddie Palmieri Sonido Solar Truth Revolution Recording Collective NEA Jazz Master, 85-year-old Eddie Palmieri, dubbed “The Sun of Latin Music” has figuratively passed the torch to many but is doing so directly on this recording, Sonido Solar. While Palmieri’s spirit and guiding light brightens the whole album, he plays just on two tracks while handing […]
Hilario Duran and David Virelles Front Street Duets Alma Hilario Duran and David Virelles are two acclaimed Cuban pianists and composers who have known each other for over two decades. They come together here on Front Street Duets with their most extensive project to date. There seems to be a proclivity for Cuban pianists to […]
The Lone Bellow Love Songs for Losers Dualtone After delivering four highly acclaimed albums with reputable, decorated producers, the harmonious trio, The Lone Bellow have self-produced their fifth album, Love Songs for Losers. Recorded in the possibly haunted former home of Roy Orbison, this album weaves in some pain with the unbridled joy that characterized […]
Kenny Shore Time Stands Still Hawida Music North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Kenny Shore courses through several styles from folk-pop to soul to bluegrass to rock n’ roll and even a bit of zydeco on his hook-filled Time Stands Still. It comes across easy, but the emotions are far ranging throughout on this warm, intimate effort. An […]
Steve Tintweiss Spacelight Band Live at NYU:1980 INKY DoT Media Why bring something so ‘old’ to these pages? Admittedly, it’s due to Steve Tintweiss, the bassist and composer, who appeared on several avant-garde or free jazz recordings of the ‘70s and ‘80s, including the most intriguing album this writer has heard this year – Albert […]
Billy Truitt Abstract Truth Gutbukit Billy Truitt is a veteran musician who goes as far back as Jack Ely and Kingsmen of “Louie Louie” fame. Hailing from southern Idaho, he spent time in the Bakersfield honky tonks and L.A. club scenes. Truitt moved to Las Vegas in the ‘90s and began working with the roots/rockabilly […]
Joel Quarrington The Music of Don Thompson Modica Music Joel Quarrington is one of the most renowned classical bassists in the world. He was the former principal bassist for the London Symphony Orchestra. Yet, here on The Music of Don Thompson we hear Quarrington playing jazz. Fellow Canadian Don Thompson (George Shearing, Jim Hall, Paul […]
Lee Fields Sentimental Fool Daptone The venerable classic soul singer Lee Fields has joined the Daptone roster. Few things are more fitting. Sentimental Fool finds the septuagenarian Fields in fine voice, backed by the roster’s house band that brings out the singer’s best. The album was produced by Daptone’s Gabriel Roth (AKA Bosco Mann). He […]
Luke LeBlanc Fugue State 145 Entertainment Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter Luke LeBlanc delivers his fourth full-length effort with Fugue State, which is more outwardly focused than LeBlanc’s 2022 Only Human. LeBlanc gets elite support from Erik Koskinen, who in addition to playing a slew of instruments, produced, mixed, and engineered the album. Other musicians include Ryan Young […]
Matt Carmichael Marram Edition When we think of Scotland, we invariably think of the ocean coastline, folk songs, ancient structures, mythology, literature, and for some, maybe golf. A jazz saxophone record is not one of likely things that first comes to mind. Enter tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael who arguably embodies all of the above in […]
Sara Niemietz Superman Self-released Singer-songwriter Sara Niemietz has had widely eclectic musical tastes since childhood. So, it should not be surprising to see her deliver one of the most purposely diverse, genre agnostic we’ve heard with Superman. Partnering with top-notch co-producer, co-writer, and guitarist Linda Taylor, the duo brings us fourteen tunes. Niemietz, though a […]
Yates McKendree Buchanan Lane Qualified It was the singer-songwriter Kevin Gordon who first sang Yates McKendree’s praises to this writer, describing Yates’ searing guitar playing on one of Delbert McClinton’s Sandy Beach Cruises. Whether the 2019 clip of Yates’ thumb work on “Sweet Little Angel” is the right one or not (it was likely even […]
Simon Belelty Pee Wee Jojo Guitarist Simon Belelty is the founder and owner of Jojo Records, the label named after his father. Through thirty years as a professional arranger, sideman and producer Belelty has rarely assumed the spotlight until now with Pee Wee, where he carries on the spirt of his father in an emotionally rich, harmonically […]
Jeremiah Johnson Hi Fi Drive By Ruf Ah, the guitar slinger – too many notes, too much repetition, and too loud. That was my previous impression of Jeremiah Johnson. Hi Fi Drive By conjures a different one because Johnson comes to this recording with a bunch of infectiously good songs. So, it seems that Johnson […]
Roberta Donnay BLOSSOM-ing Village Jazz Café BLOSSOM-ing, a tribute to the music of Blossom Dearie, is the tenth album for the award-winning vocalist Roberta Donnay. We’ll get to Donnay shortly but just in case you need a little background on Blossom Dearie, we’ll start with the famed vocalist who made her mark mostly in the […]
Whit Dickey Quartet Root Perspectives TAO Forms Drummer and composer Whit Dickey is one of the foremost stalwarts of New York’s improvised music scene. His own label, TAO Forms, has spawned James Brandon Lewis’ poll winning Jesup Wagon, and Dickey’s own Expanding Light and Astral Long Form: Staircase in Space. His latest, Root Perspectives, is, […]
The Claudettes The Claudettes Go Out Forty Below The Claudettes Go Out, the quartet’s sixth album, is their follow-up to their 2020 High Times in the Dark, described by this writer in another outlet as their best yet. While that was a coming-out party for trained jazz vocalist, turned pop singer Berit Ulseth, this one smooths […]
Serabee Hummingbird Tea Rabadash The next great female soulful singer in the mold of Bonnie Bramlett, Bonnie Raitt, and Susan Tedeschi may well be Serabee (short for her real name, Sera Buras). She’s a songwriter too, having penned the 14 originals on this destined to be breakout album, Hummingbird Tea. Just look at these credentials […]
Joe Ely Flatland Lullaby Rack ‘Em This is not the Joe Ely album you expect. Flatland Lullaby, recorded in Ely’s home studio in 1984, is a treasured recording that has never been made public until now. It is not a re-issue, it’s not a rocker, it’s not one of those early collaborations with the Clash […]
Dave Keyes Rhythm Blues & Boogie Blue Heart The artist with the perfect name for his craft, Dave Keyes, returns with his sixth album and debut for Blue Heart Records, Rhythm Blues & Boogie. Keyes, here playing piano, Wurlitzer, B3, and accordion has earned three BMA nominations, has played in the Broadway pits, done television […]
Malaya Blue Blue Credentials Blue Heart Unfortunately, the songs on Blue Credentials are the swan songs for the late noted blues songwriter Dennis Walker (Robert Cray, B.B. King, Bettye LaVette) unless someone unearths undiscovered material. Award-winning U.K. vocalist Malaya Blue follows up her 2020 critically acclaimed collaboration with Walker, Still, making this her fourth release […]
Maria Mendes Saudade, Colour of Love Live in Amsterdam with Metropole Orkest conducted by John Beasley Challenge Portuguese born and raised, Netherlands based Maria Mendes is a Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated composer and vocalist. Saudade, Colour of Love is the follow-up to her highly acclaimed 2019 Close to Me (Justin Time) and it meshes […]
Dierk Peters Spring Sunnyside Eric Dolphy firmly established the harmonic splendor of the vibraphone, alto sax, trumpet, bass, and drums on his iconic 1964 Blue Note release, Out to Lunch. It’s a sound that we continue to hear today. The Posi-Tone label alone has issued four in their “Out to Dinner” series, patterned on the […]
Franco Ambrosetti Nora Enja Maybe it’s these unsettled times that call for calming sounds. Or perhaps it’s this writer’s enduring love for Charlie Parker with Strings together with Swiss trumpeter/flugelhornist Franco Ambrosetti’s touch on ballad material. Ambrosetti may have as a unique as resume as any jazz musician. For almost six decades he has been […]
John Escreet Seismic Shift Whirlwind John Escreet‘s Seismic Shift may well be one of the boldest, adventurous piano outings since Cecil Taylor and Don Pullen burst on the scene in sixties. And yet, for most ears, Escreet’s approach is clearly more accessible. Rarely has a album been better titled. Yes, he brings the kind of […]
Bobby Broom Keyed Up Steele It may seem a bit unusual to see a master guitarist honor piano greats, but many will recall the legendary pianist McCoy Tyner’s honoring guitarists with his album, Great Guitars. Guitarist Bobby Broom, who for the last three decades, has worked exclusively with a trio, brings aboard an acoustic piano […]
Dave Douglas Quintet Songs of Ascent Book 1 – Degrees Greenleaf Music We introduced you to contemporary jazz composer, trumpeter, bandleader, and owner of Greenleaf Music Dave Douglas on the pages earlier this year with his work, Secular Psalms. Douglas lives far from the mainstream, out on its edges, the primary reason he founded his […]
Michael Kaeshammer The Warehouse Sessions Linus Entertainment Readers of these pages have likely heard or seen the expression ‘the blues comes in many colors.” As you well know through this writer, there are literally tons of ‘jazz’ albums that could easily be filed under ‘blues’ if one has a broad definition of the latter. That’s […]
Rufus Reid Trio with the Sirius Quartet Celebration Sunnyside Rufus Reid is acknowledged as one the most distinctive and revered bassists in jazz, having been a mainstay for such giants as Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and countless others. This recording, Celebration, more than anything else though is […]
Taurey Butler One Of The Others Justin Time Taurey Butler is a Montreal-based pianist who originally hails from East Orange, NJ. One of the Others is his second release for Justin Time Records, with his self-titled debut hitting in 2011. This is a trio album, featuring his usual performing band with Wali Muhammad on drums […]
Jim Witzel Trio & Quartet Feelin’ It Joplin & Sweeney Jim Witzel’s Trio and Quartet’s Feelin’ It is yet another entry in 2022’s, “the year of the organ-oriented bands.” Witzel is the guitarist in the classic jazz Hammond B3 organ-guitar-drums trio, Witzel hails from northern California and has been away from the recording scene for […]
Jason Kao Hwang & J.A. Deane Uncharted Faith Tone Science Music/Blue Coast Music We’ve covered the progressive violinist Jason Kao Hwang twice on these pages before and every one of his projects is remarkably distinctive from the other. Uncharted Faith, a duo performance with the late electronics maestro J.A. Deane, called “Dino” by his friends, […]
Andrés Vial When Is Ancient Chromatic Audio When Is Ancient is the Juno-nominated Jazz Album of Year. trio recording from Montreal-based pianist and composer Andrés Vial. Surely, this begs the question of how it could be nominated for an award when it is just being released. It was originally released in a streaming only version […]
Crystal Shawanda Midnight Blues True North Now recognized as a vocal blues powerhouse, Crystal Shawanda has had a split career. She began as an indigenous musician growing up on the Wikwemikong reserve on an island in Ontario, CA in a house filled with both blues and country music. She tried the latter first when moving […]
John Fullbright The Liar Blue Dirt/Thirty Tigers Grammy-nominated John Fullbright returns after a eight year hiatus and a year when he garnered numerous awards with The Liar. Fullbright was beginning to build a reputation as a Red Dirt Randy Newman, or closer to home, fellow Okie Leon Russell. While that year, 2014, produced a solo […]
Noah Garabedian Consider the Stars Beneath Us Outside in Music Bassist and composer Noah Garabedian assembles a top-level quarter for Consider the Stars Beneath Us, and album dedicated to the recent passing of his father in the mode of a celebration of life. While the bassist leads an acoustic quartet, he taps longtime friend and […]
Out to Dinner Food Is Medicine Posi – Tone Food Is Medicine is the fourth release in Posi-Tone’s “Out to Dinner” series, inspired initially by Eric Dolphy’s iconic 1964 Blue Note Out to Lunch. Just as that album represented a touch of avant-garde to the mostly mainstream Blue Note releases of the time, Posi-Tone’s “Out […]
The Ron Kraemer Trio w/Reggie Murray Sarasota Swing Poquois Publishing At the outset of this year, 2022, this writer in another outlet penned 2022 as “the year of the organ-oriented bands.” While the Ron Kraemer Trio is centered around the leader’s guitar, the addition of Reggie Murray on Hammond B-3 and tenor saxophone puts Sarasota […]
Grant Geissman Blooz Futurism/Mesa/Bluemoon This is not one that we expected given guitarist Grant Geissman’s mostly mainstream, film, and television work, including sixteen albums of his own. Geissman first came to prominence with his guitar solo on Chuck Mangione’s 1978 hit “Feels So Good” and went on to work with the likes of Quincy Jones, […]
Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues More Different Voices Dawnserly Corky Seigel, harmonicist who first came to fame with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band in 1965, has long been the sole pioneer of fusing blues with classical music with this history – Chamber Blues on Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1994. 1998’s Complementary Colors (Gadfly Records), 2005’s Corky Siegel’s […]
Yosef Gutman Levitt Upside Down Mountain Self-released South African-born, Jerusalem-based Yosef Gutman Levitt is by primary calling an upright bassist, yet he chooses the acoustic bass guitar for his first trio outing, Upside Down Mountain. It proves to be a wise decision as the instrument imparts a warmth, a melodic flow, and high register tones […]
Claudia Acuña DUO Ropeadope Claudia Acuña is a Chilean-born American jazz vocalist with a dynamic range and an emotionally incisive delivery. Following her dynamic debut on the NY scene in the 1990’s she recorded five albums as a leader, and then stepped away for a decade to raise her son and restore her power. Returning […]
