cd review

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Neil Swainson Fire in the West Cellar Music Group Chances are that you will recognize some of the members of this quintet more so than the leader, the British Columbian bassist and composer Neil Swainson, who is releasing only his second album, 35 years after his acclaimed debut, 49th Parallel, released in 1987. Like that […]

Quentin Baxter Quintet Art Moves Jazz Charlton Singleton Crossroads BME Baxter Music Enterprises Art Moves Jazz and Crossroads are tandem releases on the same label by two friends, bandmates, and fellow members of South Carolina’s Gullah cultural community. They are two-fifths of the Grammy-winning (Good Time, 2017 Best Regional Roots Album) Gullah community ensemble Ranky […]

Geoffrey Keezer & Friends Playdate Markeez This is the 23rd album as a leader for acclaimed pianist, composer, and arranger Geoffrey Keezer, who lighthearted calls this session, Playdate. While the term connotes arranging a date for a group of kids to congregate and play, Keezer and his bandmates do anything but approach this far-ranging recording […]

Andy Adamson Quintet A Coincidence of Cats Andros The whimsical title threw this writer at first. Maybe pianist and composer Andy Adamson was referencing “cats” as in musicians. Probably not, but it doesn’t matter as the music is rhythmically complex, harmonic, precise, engaging, and just about anything but whimsical. Adamson and his quintet hail from […]