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 […]
Roxana Amed Unanime Sony Latin Unanime (“Unanimous”) is a different kind of Latin jazz album. While that sub-genre is most often associated with Caribbean Basin countries, vocalist Roxana Amed has tapped guests from South America as she celebrates the works of both contemporary and historic Latin American composers. Her previous release, 2021’s debut U.S. recording, […]
Ben Reel Locked In & Live Self-released Irish singer-songwriter Ben Reel is releasing Locked in & Live, an album of eighteen songs, eight live with a full band, three live solo acoustic, and seven studio songs that he recorded during the pandemic, hence “locked in” as part of the title. Two of the acoustic songs […]
Steve Turre Generations Smoke Sessions Trombonist and composer Steve Turre gathers rising stars and jazz masters in tribute to influential elders on Generations. Turre, as you may know, has been blessed to have played with some of the greatest artists in the music including Art Blakey, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Woody Shaw, and Ray Charles, to […]
Will Vinson Tripwire Whirlwind One of the most outstanding trio albums we covered on these pages was the 2020 release of TRIO GRANDE with alto saxophonist Will Vinson, drummer Antonio Sanchez and guitarist Gilad Hekselman. Now Vinson returns with another mostly trio recording, Tripwire, going chord-less, a configuration favored by legends such as Sonny Rollins, […]
Hermon Hitson Let the Gods Sing Big Legal Mess Herman (aka Hermon) Hitson’s story is one of rediscovery, a stunning one at that. There’s not a single musician who can claim Hitson’s lineage. He played with Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Joe Tex, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett, Garnet Mimms, Major Lance, Jackie Wilson, the Drifters, the […]
Rafael Zaldivar Rumba Effendi We bring you a Cuban pianist and composer, Rafael Zaldivar, by way of Montreal. Zaldivar calls the ensemble gathering for Rumba some of the best Cuban Canadian-American jazz voices from around the world. The term RUMBA refers to social gatherings of the black community from Havana, Cuba. By the beginning of […]
John Nemeth May Be the Last Time Nola Blue The aptly named May Be the Last Time, along with being a great recording is, as much as anything else, a testament to the warmth and communal sharing of the blues community. Responding to a possible career-ending and life-threatening illness to award-winning bluesman vocalist, John Nemeth, […]
Samara Joy Linger Awhile Verve Vocalist Samara Joy has risen quickly, making it to major label status by signing with Verve Records, for her debut, Linger Awhile. Prior to this Joy had just one eponymous release on the Whirlwind label. Verve, though is the same label that was home for the iconic female vocalists Billie […]
Julian Lage View with a Room Blue Note Visionary guitarist Julian Lage follows up his acclaimed 2021 Blue Note debut Squint with ten more originals on View With a Room, inviting legendary guitarist Bill Frisell to join his returning trio of Bad Plus drummer Dave King and bassist Jorge Roeder. The overriding idea is to […]
Abel Mireles Animo Sunnyside This is the debut as a leader for saxophonist and composer Abel Mireles, born and raised on the Southern border in the infamous Juarez -Tijuana region. For once, his story brings some ‘brightness” to this locale that we otherwise rather automatically label with crime, drugs, gangs, cartels, and the like. Mireles […]
The Hungry Williams Let’s Go Rochelle You might not think that New Orleans and Milwaukee have much in common. Once you’ve heard the band Hungry Williams, however, you’ll change your mind. That’s because bandleader and drummer John Carr heard the New Orleans Chess Anthology in 1995 and was completely transformed. Yet, he played all over […]
Joe McCarthy’s New York Afro-Bop Alliance Big Band The Pan American Nutcracker Suite By Jim Hynes We associate Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker, with the Holiday season so this may seem a bit early. Yet the score is timeless. Drummer/leader Joe McCarthy’s 18-piece New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABA) is not the first large […]
Richard Baratta Music in Film: The Sequel Savant What does the collaborative team of drummer Richard Baratta and pianist/arranger Bill O’Connell do for an encore, having won a Grammy nomination for their 2020 studio debut, Music in Film: The Reel Deal? They try again for the bigger prize wit a follow-up that contains as much […]
Blue Moon Marquee Scream, Holler & Howl Blue Moon Marquee Music Okay, based on several reviews in the past few weeks, this writer is a bit humbled as traditional blues releases are more plentiful than originally indicated. Here’s another, this time with an augmented duo. Blue Moon Marquee is a Canadian Gypsy blues duo with […]
Mike Clark, Leon Lee Dorsey, and Mike LeDonne Blues on Top Jazz Avenue 1 The title, Blues on Top, could just as easily read “Blues on Tap.” This trio tackles true classics – Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me,” Ellington’s “C Jam Blues,” and Dizzy’s “Birk’s Works,” among others. This is […]
John McCutcheon Leap! Appalseed In discussions this summer about the Newport Folk Festival and Philly Folk, this writer, viewing these lineups commented that “there just aren’t that many real folk singers left.” Well, John McCutcheon is indeed one of those few real folk singers putting out vital material as he’s been doing for five decades […]
The Baylor Project The Evening: Live at APPARATUS Be a Light/Motown Gospel Fresh off a stunning performance, clearly one of the highlights of the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival, we finally have a live recording from the 4-time Grammy-nominated The Baylor Project that gives listeners a sense of how easily the group builds instant rapport with […]
Ana Nelson Bridges Self-released Bridges is the first full-length debut, following 2017’s EP Wanderlust, for talented alto saxophonist and clarinetist Ana Nelson from Indiana who points to such formidable mentors as Walter Smith III, Greg Ward, and Gary Bartz, among several others. Originally trained in classical music, the album title is Nelson’s way of expressing […]
Steve Yanek Long Overdue Primitive The title suggests recognition that’s been a while in coming. The credits reveal impressive names, beckoning us to listen. Singer-songwriter Steve Yanek has talented friends in producer Jeff Pevar of the Crosby Stills and Nash touring band on acoustic, electric, and resonator guitar, lap steel, bass, and backing vocals, along […]
Mark Miller Standing on Shoulders Self- released Singer-songwriter Mark Miller has released one the most impressive independent Americana story albums. New to this writer, we’ve learned that the Georgia- born Miller had almost a 20-year career in Contemporary Christian and Gospel music but he has returned to roots music to make a deeply personal record. […]
South Island Rhythm Kings Still That Way Today Self-released Having begun a review recently with – “There are still traditional blues albums,” we now find a new surge of them. This writer can point at least four more that will be forth coming in the next month. The South Island Rhythm Kings bring that count to […]
Kris Kristofferson Live at Gilley’s – Pasadena, TX: September 1981 New West Where have 41 years gone? Kris Kristofferson’s Live at Gilley’s – Pasadena, TX: September 1981 is here to remind us of how great his songs were. Heck, most of us probably still know the lyrics and can sing along. For those of you […]
The Jon Cowherd Trio Pride and Joy TRIO Vol. 2 Le Coq As you’ve likely noticed by now, Le Coq Records, only in its second full year, is attracting some of the most prestigious names in jazz, like this top shelf trio of Jon Cowherd, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade. TRIO Vol. 2: Pride and […]
Tiffany Williams All Those Days of Drinking Dust Self-released A gifted new singer-songwriter, Tiffany Williams, has arrived with her distinctive literate songs and a head turning vocal performance. All of Those Days of Drinking Dust is often a hypnotic listen with spare accompaniment, varied tempos, and aching vocals that captivate the listener. Williams offers a […]
Marcus King Youngblood American Records/Republic We don’t hear too many of these kinds of rock records anymore. In fact, there are probably better writers on these pages than this one to cover it. But, given Marcus King’s previous forays into blues and his collaborations with Dan Auerbach are compelling factors in giving this, Youngblood, a […]
The Dig 3 The Dig 3 Self-released There are still traditional blues albums. John Primer has one coming as does Bob Corritore, John Nemeth, and a handful of other artists who ply their craft apart from the blues rockers who dominate the airwaves. This is not to diminish other “real deal” efforts we’ve heard this […]
Ethan Philion Meditations on Mingus Sunnyside The music of Charles Mingus has been prominent in this centennial year and it’s refreshing to hear the many interpretations including this one, Meditations on Mingus, from Chicago bassist Ethan Philion who assembled a tentet for his arrangements of Mingus composition, many of them iconic. Mingus music is not […]
Al Foster Reflections Smoke Sessions The recently turned octogenarian drummer Al Foster does not have many who can claim to have played with as many icons as he has. Only Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, and Jack DeJohnette come to mind. There are likely others but consider that at various points in his career, Foster was […]
