CD Reviews on projects by Jazz artists
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Judy Wexler Back to the Garden Jewel City Los Angeles-based jazz vocalist Judy Wexler is taking more risks with each album, Back to the Garden, being her sixth. Her last effort, 2018’s Crowded Heart (covered here) had her stepping away from Great American Songbook fare to present, in this writer’s terminology, the Great Global Songbook, […]
Tim Mayer Keeper of the Flame D Clef Saxophonist and composer Tim Mayer leads an octet as well as other intimate configurations of first-call musicians including bassist Rodney Whitaker, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., and trombonist Michael Dease, with pianist Emmet Cohen sitting in for one track on Keeper of the Flame. The dates and places […]
Jalen Baker This Is Me, This Is Us Outside In Music There’s a new vibraphonist on the scene not named Joel Ross. Indeed, hailing from Houston, TX we have the young Jalen Baker, also a composer of merit that belies his youthful stature with his auspicious debut This Is Me, This Is Us. Baker has […]
Bruce Harris Soundview Cellar Music Group Trumpeter Bruce Harris is a died-in-the-wool New Yorker, having grown up in the Soundview section of the Bronx (hence the title) and living now in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. The album is a tribute to his community and family in both places and Black American Music. The […]
Dahveed Behroozi Echos Sunnyside Echos is the sophomore album from both classically and jazz trained, California-bred, and New York based pianist Dahveed Behroozi. This is his first studio recording and he’s flanked by two of New York’s finest in this trio – bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Billy Mintz. The leader has already received high […]
Andre Ferreri Quintetto Numero Uno Laser A first glance at the name and title would suggest a European group but New York born, Charlotte, NC-based guitarist Andre Ferreri and his quintet are a stateside group. Ferreri has worked in an array of genres including frequent stints with the Charlotte Symphony. For years he led the […]
Almog Sharvit Get Up or Cry Unit Get Up or Cry is the first album as a leader for New York-based bassist and composer Almog Sharvit. Yet this is far from your conventional jazz record; some of the press materials bill it as a crossover record. Much of that has to do with Sharvit’s sense […]
Alex Conde Descarga for Bud Sedajazz If you were to ask most casual jazz fans to name the most important pianist of the fifties, it would inevitably be Thelonious Monk. Yet although the jazz pianists may agree, they would also name the bebop giant Bud Powell as the major contender as he had a profound […]
Kendall Carter Introducing Kendall Carter Lladnek Music Recently one of my review comments was that organ trios are far from dead. In fact, we’ve seen several contemporary twists on the idiom lately, but newcomer B3 master Kendall Carter mostly embraces the tradition on this soulful, bluesy debut. Impressively he teams with one of today’s most […]
Dara Tucker Dreams of Waking Green Hill Productions The blues readers of these pages probably know the name Dara Tucker, ostensibly a jazz vocalist on this outing – Dreams of Waking – Music for a Better World. She co-wrote and sang on the title track for ‘Keb Mo’s Grammy winning Oklahoma. Tucker indeed hails from […]
Ahmed Warshanna Ishta Tiber River Ahmed Warshanna is an artist to watch, hailing from Baltimore and leading a septet that combines the western music of jazz with the eastern music of Egypt. Warshanna is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County where he received a Music Achievement Award in 2020. Warshanna is […]
Aaron Germain Bell Projections Aaron Germain Music This is a one-of-a-kind for this writer and maybe for any artist as the versatile Bay Area musician Aaron Germain who typically plays bass, delivers 17 compositions for guitar quartets and plays every guitar part himself. He does have accompanying musicians who appear in various configurations across the […]
Jacqui Naylor The Long Game Ruby Star Jacqui Naylor is not your prototypical jazz vocalist. She stands apart in this intensely competitive field from those who revel in an over reliance the Great American Songbook, scat, and predictable fare. She is a terrific writer and an inventive interpreter of contemporary material found in other genres. […]
Dan Moretti Tres Libre Roots Grooves Tres Libres is the unusual trio album that features ten musicians and ten different instruments. Marking his twentieth recording as a leader, versatile saxophonist Dan Moretti, as you might guess, uses an array of combinations across diverse styles ranging from free-Latin-jazz, funk, ambient, modal, and swing. Moretti employs all […]
Lunar Octet Convergence Summit Put Ann Arbor in the headline and this writer is immediately interested, having received a degree from the city’s most famous school and hosting a wonderful jazz radio show during my tenure there. Yet, of course, this is not about yours truly but about the long-running Lunar Octet who return after a […]
Alex Sipiagin Upstream Posi-Tone Russian-born, once New York-based trumpeter Alex Sipiagin has recorded near twenty albums as a leader, yet Upstream marks his debut for the Posi-Tone label. He is backed by the label’s consistent and reliable rhythm team of pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston, each of whom contribute originals […]
Ted Nash and Glenn Close Transformation Tiger Turn This one takes plenty of concentration. The liner booklet and perhaps this review will help when you listen to Transformation from reedist Ted Nash and actress Glenn Close. It is an ambitious project of the first order with the subhead entitled Personal Stories of Change, Acceptance, and […]
Van Morrison Latest Record Project: Volume 1 BMG Perhaps no artist was more upset about the pandemic lockdown, at least to the point of railing against it in song, as the ever prolific Van Morrison. And yes, he used the time to generate a ton of new material, indicating that this tongue-in-cheek entitled Latest Record […]
Francesco Amenta Midtown Walk Amenta Music International This is the second release and U.S. debut for saxophonist, pianist, and composer Francesco Amenta. The Italian-born, now New York City based Amenta enlists some premiere players or this effort including co-producer John Lee (best known as Dizzy Gillespie’s bassist and producer for Larry Coryell, Roy Hargrove, Antonio […]
Paul Colombo Group Rio Crystal Vectordisc The Paul Colombo Group is a quartet of players residing in the Philadelphia area, that expanded the original trio of guitarist Paul Colombo, bassist Andy Alonso, and drummer Chris Loser with the addition of renowned pianist/composer Ron Thomas who had played with Pat Martino on 1972’s Pat Martino/Live. As […]
Berta Moreno Afro-Jazz Soul Project Tumaini Tiger Turn Berta Moreno is a Madrid-born, New York -based saxophonist and composer who leads a sextet dubbed the Afro-Jazz Soul Project through the music of Kenya. Morena volunteered, working with children at the Little Ray of Hope School in the Kawangware region of that country several years ago […]
John Daversa Jazz Orchestra (featuring Justin Morell) All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren Tiger Turn Multiple Grammy winner, trumpet master, bandleader, composer and arranger John Daversa continues his string of poignant, imaginative, and vastly different projects with this captivating work – All Without Words -Variations Inspired by Loren. And yet, he does not compose, […]
Spike Wilner Trio Aliens & Wizards Cellar Music Group Animated pianist, bandleader and club manager Spike Wilner has enjoyed a long tenure on the New York City and global jazz scenes, performing with the likes of The Artie Shaw Big Band, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson & Lennie Cuje while remaining highly active as a […]
Evan Arntzen Countermelody Dot Time Countermelody is the third album from multi-reedist, vocalist and bandleader Evan Arntzen. This is a throw-back record to the vintage sounds of New Orleans and Chicago in the early days of Black American music in the first half of the twentieth century, signaled in part by the premiere vocalist in the […]
Melody Gardot Sunset in Blue (Deluxe Edition) Decca Singer Melody Gardot is the definition of sultry, dusky romanticism. Her highly acclaimed 2020 Sunset in Blue, is reissued here less than a year later to include five intimate bonus tracks, that leave out the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra that backed the original album, providing soft cushions for […]
Marques Carroll The Ancestors’ Call JMarq This is the debut of trumpeter Marques Carroll leading his quintet, but Carroll is no stranger to Chicago audiences as a member of the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective and the Count Basie Orchestra. This project, The Ancestors’ Call, pays homage to his ancestors and heritage. Joining Carroll is his […]
Arturo O’Farrill The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Virtual Birdland Zoho Last year we were fortunate to bring you the Grammy-winning effort from Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra –Four Questions. So, it is only fitting that we bring you the follow-up, Virtual Birdland. By now you’ve seen the opening sequence to the Grammys, and you […]
Matt Panayides Field Theory Pacific Coast Jazz Guitarist and composer Matt Panayides tries something new and different for him on his third release, Field Theory. While his first wo albums were acoustic, this one blends that sound with electric by using various guitar pedals and jamming often with Matt Vashlishan, a multi-woodwind instrumentalist who plays […]
Kane Mathis Geminus Nyaato As we’ve commented before, the kora is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments of any, string or otherwise. It’s not often that we find an accomplished player of the instrument that didn’t grow up in Africa where the instrument is passed on through generations and it’s a testament to the […]
Steve Hunt Connections Spicerack The dizzying array of names emblazoned on the CD cover, Billy Cobham, John Patitucci, Vinnie Coliauta, and Eric Marienthal, prominent among the 32, speaks to the album title, Connections for keyboardist Steve Hunt’s second album as a leader. Those prominent names suggest a fusion outing which is what keyboardist Hunt delivers […]
Jack Brandfield I’ll Never Be the Same Gut String New York City Native tenor saxophonist Jack Brandfield, like many musicians, has an affinity for the Great American Songbook. Brandfield holds a B.M in Jazz Studies from Michigan State University and is currently a scholarship recipient from The Frost School of Music at The University of […]
Lorne Lofsky This Song Is New Modica Music Canadian jazz guitarist Lorne Lofsky delivers his first album in more than two decades with This Song is New. A master guitarist known for his pianistic voicings and virtuosic skill, Lofsky is considered one of Canada’s great musical treasures. Joining Lofsky is his tight-knit quartet made up of his […]
Daniele Germani Congregation of Folks GleAM As his debut received an enthusiastic endorsement from saxophone great Joe Lovano, that might be all the encouragement that the budding newcomer Daniele Germani needs. Indeed, A Congregation of Folks introduces a riveting and spirited voice on the alto saxophone, and an intriguing, unique composer. Ten modern jazz compositions, […]
Vinnie Riccitelli Octet For the Record Self-released The music is one thing. And then there’s the story. Sometimes there are both and such is the case with Vinnie Riccitelli as we are looking at likely the longest gap between recording projects in history – 65 years to be exact. Yes, you read that correctly; Riccitelli […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.