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Dave Zinno & Unisphere Fetish Whaling City Sound Bassist and composer Dave Zinno issues his third album, Fetish, with his group Unisphere. Zinno calls it the culmination of a year without live music and thus, it’s a huge, in some cases, unbridled release of energy for he and his band members – Mike Tucker (tenor […]
Andy Farber and his Orchestra Early Blue Evening ArtistShare Saxophonist, arranger, composer and bandleader Andy Farber issues his fourth album as a leader and second big band effort with Early Blue Evening. His is a 17-piece band that digs back to the original big bands and infuses those sounds with a more contemporary language. The […]
Lisa Hilton Transparent Sky Ruby Slippers Productions Composer/pianist/producer, Lisa Hilton is back less than a year later with her follow-up to her 2020 More Than Another Day, again featuring her longstanding bandmates: Rudy Royston on drums, and Luques Curtis on bass. Considering that this writer has covered Hilton twice previously for two different outlets, perhaps an introduction is appropriate for […]
Carlos Henriquez The South Bronx Story Tiger Turn Carlos Henriquez is best known as the bassist for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a position he has held for over two decades. Henriquez is also a composer and bilingual artist, stepped in the Latin music of his Puerto Rican heritage. Currently, many acknowledge him as […]
Andrew Renfroe Ride in the Storm Self-released Ride in the Storm is guitarist Andrew Renfroe’s first album as a leader with all original compositions. Renfroe has built a reputation as a first call guitarist for artists such as Braxton Cook, Tia Fuller, and Jonathan Barber, to name a few. Renfroe’s many references, based on his […]
Seth James Different Hat Tiny Ass Seth James has all the trappings of a West Texas cowboy and looks the part attired in his white Stetson. He is a life-long working rancher. Somehow, though James picked up the same kind of roadhouse blues bug as that mostly retired singer from Ft. Worth, Delbert McClinton. Yes, […]
Kerry Moffit What Goes Around Comes Around Self-released Veteran composer, arranger, trumpeter Kerry Moffit has been playing professionally for 41 years, appeared on over 70 recordings as a sideman in many configurations, and is just now issuing his debut as a leader with What Goes Around Comes Around. Moffit leads his sextet, Turning Circles through […]
Gary Meek Monterey Groove Autumn Hill Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Gary Meek debuts a new band formed in and inspired by California’s central coast, as indicated in the title. The project began with no intention of a recording but simply to form a fusion band which was unique to the Monterey area, for playing locally. You’ve […]
Gabe Stillman Just Say the Word VizzTone Pennsylvanians are well acquainted with guitarist Gabe Stillman’s energetic, acrobatic, showman-like performances. He leaves no doubt that he can wield an axe gracefully, swaggeringly, and demonstratively depending on the tune. Nonetheless, this debut, Just Say the Word, will surprise even his most ardent fans due to his accomplished […]
Tom Cohen My Take Versa Music Philly drummer Tom Cohen leads the modern incarnation of the jazz organ trio across three different configurations on My Take, for extended versions of jazz classics from Gigi Gryce, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Sonny Stitt, and Vincent Youmans. Featured are master organist and fellow Philadelphian Joey DeFrancesco, tenor giants […]
Leon Lee Dorsey Freedom Jazz Dance Jazz Avenue 1 Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and legendary drummer Mike Clark are a tandem that just keeps on chugging, raising curiosity as to who will be the third member to join them on their next outing. Freedom Jazz Dance marks their fourth collaboration, having begun with 2019’s Monk […]
The Furious Seasons Home All Day, Home All Night Stonegarden Home All Day, Home All Night, the pandemically named and recorded eighth album and fourth as an acoustic trio for The Furious Seasons, finds them stretching out more into a full band mode. Bandleader/ guitarist/songwriter and vocalist David Steinhart sees this as a more eclectic effort […]
Joe Troop Borrowed Time Free Dirt If the name is not familiar, perhaps the group is. Joe Troop is the bandleader for the Grammy-nominated Che Apalache. He’s a bilingual bluegrass multi-instrumentalist who brings the kind of activism we associate with Pete Seeger, early Bob Dylan, and the ‘60s era folkies. Much of this doesn’t sit […]
Jeff Pearring Pearring Sound – Socially Distanced Duos Self-released Alto saxophonist Jeff Pearring usually leads groups ranging from trio to quintets under the group name Pearring Sound, but the pandemic intervened. So Pearring took a safe approach instead, deciding to play duos with six diverse musicians across eight selections, each recorded in a socially distanced […]
Andy Peake Mood Swings Big Little Mood Swings is the debut for singer/songwriter/drummer/percussionist Andy Peake who invites a wide cast of mostly Nashville-based musicians to join him in his eclectic mix of blues and roots tunes. Seven of the eleven are either penned or co-written by Peake with two highly recognizable cover tunes and two […]
Johnny Tucker Featuring Kid Ramos & The Allstars 75 and Alive Blue Heart/ HighJohn There are not that many seventy-plus original bluesmen, certainly few with the pipes of venerable Johnny Tucker who still has plenty left in the tank based on 75 And Alive, recorded on his 75th birthday in October of 2020. For that […]
Tim Motzer Many Ways Around the Sun Ropeadope Tim Motzer’s Many Ways Around the Sun is a true solo album with the multi-instrumentalist who has made nine solo soundscape albums now adding vocals to his compositions for the first time. Playing mellotron, guitars, bass, prophet synth, optigan, wood flute, cymbals, drums, reed organ, electronics, drum […]
Billy Test Trio Coming Down Roses ATM His name is not yet widely known but this writer first became familiar with Pennsylvania-bred pianist and composer Billy Test when he and trio mates, bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Ian Froman backed Dave Liebman in last year’s Invitation by The Generations Quartet. Having studied with Liebman while […]
System 6 Tales from the Backyard Skipper Productions Bandleader and multi-reedist, the English-born and now L.A. based Benn Clatworthy, returns with does his long-standing sextet, the totally acoustic System 6, with Tales From the Backyard, a follow-up to last year’s Bennie’s Lament, which we covered on these pages. Initially this writer felt that this one […]
Los Lobos Native Sons New West Besides their 2019 Christmas album, Llego Navidad, it’s been six years since we heard from the iconic band Los Lobos who return now with Native Sons. They are indeed native sons of Los Angeles, hence the album title and an album that pays homage to L.A.’s musical heritage and […]
Son Volt Electro Melodier Transmit Sound/Thirty Tigers Electro Melodier is alt country pioneering Son Volt’s tenth studio album, a year after marking, sadly without touring, the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1995 debut, Trace. Son Volt has always been defined by front man Jay Farrar’s weary, soulful, and inexplicably comforting voice as well his songwriting. […]
Mick Kolassa Wasted Youth Endless Blues The prolific, recently relocated to Memphis, resilient Mick Kolassa returns with a smile on his face after as devastating a year as any could endure. Kolassa lost his wife and many close friends but rather than sinking into maudlin self-pity, these losses inspire the album as Kolassa, in his […]
Blue Reality Quartet Blue Reality Quartet! Mahakala In another time the album cover would come across as daunting with four men, each with his face covered with a mask. Yet, in these times, we quickly realize that these four musicians have recorded an album during the height of the pandemic. That’s a blue reality itself […]
Keith Loftis Original State Long Tone Music Original State is saxophonist Keith Loftis’ fourth album as a leader. Loftis is the saxophonist for the three-time Grammy nominated Baylor Project, among his other pursuits. This is a new quartet for him in this lyrical, free blowing, mostly swinging session that features six originals in the nine […]
The Brothers March 10, 2020/Madison Square Garden/New York, NY Peach The Brothers is like having the Allman Brothers greatest hits performed live in one handy 4-CD package. Given that only one member of the original lineup, Jaimoe, is still alive, this is the second incarnation of The Allman Brothers Band (2001-2014) plus some guests who […]
Jackson Browne Downhill From Everywhere Inside Recordings This is Jackson Browne’s first album in six years and like many veteran musicians, he’s finding the studio conducive to songwriting. In other words, his songs often take new directions, once he begins to collaborate with bandmates, most of whom have cemented their chemistry with the iconic songwriter […]
Greg Ward, Rajiv Halim, Sharel Cassity Altoizm AFAR Music Usually any three-headed saxophone group comes together to honor a legend like Bird or Trane, notwithstanding bigger units such as the World Saxophone Quartet of Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir. Yet this unit, self-dubbed Altoizm, is making their own music with all seven compositions composed by the […]
Steve Dawson at the bottom of a canyon in the branches of a tree Pravda Besides having one of the longest and strangest album titles seen in some time, Chicago-based singer- songwriter Steve Dawson brings us a powerful album of loss and rebirth. Dawson is vastly underrecognized and underrated but has long been one of […]
Mehmet Ali Sanlikol An Elegant Ritual DÜNYA Last year one of our Top 30 Jazz albums was from multi-instrumentalist and composer Mehmet Ali Sanlikol leading a large ensemble featuring NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman for The Rise Up: Stories of Strife, Struggle, and Inspiration. This one, An Elegant Ritual, is almost entirely different as Sanlikol […]
Mike Clark and Michael Zilber Mike Drop Sunnyside Renowned jazz drummer Mike Clark and acclaimed saxophonist Michael Zilber have a decade-long musical relationship in the Bay Area. Although Clark spends more time now in New York, the two had such an inspiring week of performances in the Bay Area in 2018 that they decided to […]
Adam Schultz Soulful Distancing Blue Heart It’s rather common for an established bluesman to have a younger protégé that he is mentoring, with Buddy Guy and Quinn Sullivan being perhaps the most recognizable example to most blues fans. But Pennsylvania’s Clarence Spady has an apprentice too, 18-year-old guitarist Adam Schultz. After a long recording hiatus, […]
Gary Vogensen Shot of Hope Little Village Here’s an unfamiliar name to most but you’d likely perk up when you learn that Gary Vogensen played with Mike Bloomfield, Barry Melton, Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, Etta James, Commander Cody, John “Marmaduke” Dawson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage (for years), and more. Bay Area […]
William Parker Mayan Space Station – Painter’s Winter AUM Fidelity This likely introduces some of our readers to William Parker for the first time. Parker is an edgy, free jazz, avant-garde composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, griot, shaman, and community leader. His major instrument is the bass, but he plays such instruments as the trombonium and shakuhachi […]
Art Hirahara Open Sky Posi – Tone Pianist/composer/ and bandleader for his sixth outing on the Posi-tone label, Art Hirahara, furthers his appealing mix of straight-ahead jazz to standards to progressive jazz as he splits the selections between a trio and quartet on Open Sky, the title alone suggesting few, if any boundaries. The trio […]
Samara Joy Samara Joy Whirlwind We first introduced our readers to jazz vocalist Samara Joy, who appeared on Bruce Harris’ Soundview, released just a few weeks ago. Now Joy delivers her self-titled debut, after winning the Sarah Vaughn International Jazz Vocal Competition. Consider that past winners include the likes of Jazzmeia Horn and it harbingers […]
Daniel Herskedal Harbour Edition Chances are good that you have never heard an album where the music perfectly captures the song titles as well as this one. Close your eyes and conjure the images for Norwegian master of the tuba Daniel Herskedal and his trio for Harbour. His may well be the only trio of […]
Robert Billard & The Cold Cuts Stop Self-released Robert Billard, formerly mostly a folk singer and now a bluesman, may be the only one of that ilk living in Nunavut, Canada’s newest province, a massive, sparsely populated territory of northern Canada, forming most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its islands have expanses of tundra, craggy […]
Will Bernard Ancient Grains Posi-Tone Guitarist Will Bernard’s musical history is truly versatile and Ancient Grains is his third as a leader for Posi-Tone, the label that tends to favor straight ahead jazz. However, Bernard, a Berkeley CA native and Brooklyn transplant, has recorded with avant –garde trumpeter Don Cherry, worked with Hindustani-influenced Jai Uttal, […]
Horizons Quartet Self-titled PM Records As soon as we mention the Deer Head Inn, the jazz readers of these pages will realize that the Horizons Quartet are local to this writer. Yet, keep in mind that the venue is home to many reputable musicians and a gig location for many prominent NYC-based musicians. After all, […]
Various Artists A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato True North This is an amazing group of artists all generously donating their proceeds from these recordings to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to support NRBQ founding member/bassist/songwriter Joey Spampinato with his current health issues. Joey’s wife Kami Lyle and producer Sheldon Gomberg rallied a group […]
Gerald McClendon Let’s Have a Party Delta Roots Chicago soul singer Gerald McClendon, the “Soul Keeper,” makes a quick return from 2020’s Can’t Nobody Stop Me Now, a major statement, which he now quickly follows with Let’s Have a Party. McClendon first got a lift from 2019’s Delta Roots release, Battle of the Blues: Chicago vs. Oakland, […]
Troy Roberts and Tim Jago Best Buddies Toy Robot Music The best buddies referred to in the title are indeed versatile saxophonist Troy Roberts and guitarist Tim Jago, both originally hailing from Down Under where the album was recorded last summer during the pandemic. Not only do these two co-leaders have origins in the same […]
Patti Parks Whole Nother World VizzTone Working nurse and blues belter Patti Parks hails from Buffalo, NY but made the trek to Baton Rouge, LA to record Whole Nother World, her second full-length release, at Kenny Neal’s studio. After hearing Parks at the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge, Kenny Neal signed her to his Booga […]
Lauren Henderson Musa Brontosaurus Bilingual and multi-cultural jazz vocalist Lauren Henderson, who has appeared on these pages before, returns with an album that explores love and relationships in a blend of styles. The traditions that influence her sound, jazz, flamenco, and Afro-Latinx are here in a bigger way than they have been on her seven […]
Tom Kennedy Stories Autumn Hill Bassist/composer Tom Kennedy has been working mostly in the fusion jazz realm for nearly five decades. Stories is his sixth album as leader and provides an opportunity to share his original songs inspired by his many global travels with those he has often played and formed lasting relationships with. Kennedy […]
Madre Vaca Elements Madre Vaca We have covered this imaginative quartet Madre Vaca (“Mother Cow”) before on these pages for 2020’s interpretation of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise. Elements is their fourth album and deals with four elements of earth in just four long extended pieces, each composed by a different member of the quartet. Yes, lots […]
Ches Smith’s We All Break Path of Seven Colors Pyroclastic The music on Path of Seven Colors is likely unlike most anything we have heard. After all, how many of us are familiar with traditional Haitian Vodou music? The octet We All Break, led by forward-thinking drummer Ches Smith, take this foundation, and mix it […]
Julian Lage Squint Blue Note Squint is esteemed guitarist Julian Lage’s debut for Blue Note as a leader although he has appeared on the label for Nel Cline’s Lovers (2016) and Nel Cline’s 4 Currents, Constellations (2018). This writer was especially impressed by his performance on Charles Lloyd’s 8: Kindred Spirts (Live from The Lobero) […]
Molly Miller Trio St. George GSI The Molly Miller Trio features three well-known first-call musicians. Molly Miller, the chair of the Guitar Department at Los Angeles School of music and has a regular gig with Jason Mraz, having also played with the Black Eyed Peas, Donna Missal and Morgxn. Bassist Jennifer Condos has a decorated […]
Leni Stern Dance Self-released Dance is the second quartet album for guitarist/vocalist Leni Stern, following rather closely last summer’s 4. For the past decade-plus Stern, hailed as one of the world’s top guitarists (her guitarist husband, Mike Stern, isn’t shabby either), has fused a contemporary jazz approach with West African folkloric elements. She has traveled and studied […]
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