Every week our staff of CD Reviewers bring you the best in Independent CD releases. Making a Scene is considered the number 1 resource for the independent musician and the fans that love them.
W. Ed Harris The Foggy Dew Independent Ed Harris has just released album number nine and again he managed to add another masterpiece to his vita. Based in North Carolina, Ed started making music at the tender age of 5 and then discovered his love for Celtic music, which has been his focus for over […]
Rebecca Dumaine and the Dave Miller Trio Someday, Someday Summit Jazz vocalist Rebecca Dumaine, the daughter of pianist Dave Miller, returns for another generous program of mostly standards, several done rather inventively on Someday, Someday. Yet, she both includes and strays from the Great American Songbook on this outing. Joining are bassist Chuck Bennett, drummer […]
Reggie Quinerly New York Nowhere Redefinition Music With what could be the best album title in this pandemic era, drummer-composer Reggie Quinerly is instead not speaking so much about the present state of NYC but bidding goodbye to what was his home after 21 years. He and his family relocated to Los Angeles last fall […]
Joe Lewis Band Up Next Independent James Joseph Lewis hails from Picayune Mississippi, an hour north of New Orleans. Most of the music he heard growing up was either blues or gospel and he started playing guitar at the age of ten. After struggling with the ups and downs of the music industry Joe was […]
Schapiro 17 Human Qualities Summit Last year we covered Schapiro17’s debut recording, New Shoes: Kind of Blue at 60 on these pages. Human Qualities is the follow-up with this same 17-piece band and seven new Schapiro compositions plus a fresh rendition of a classic ballad. Jon Schapiro’s consistently surprising arrangements keep one guessing and inspire […]
Dan Blake Da Fé Sunnyside Saxophonist Dan Blake is an activist. His latest album, Da Fé, sets his activism to music with a project that’s spiritual, intense, and turbulently urgent. A practicing Buddhist since his college years, Blake has served since 2015 on the board of Buddhist Global Relief, an organization dedicated to combatting chronic […]
Lake Street Dive Obviously Nonesuch With the kind of success enjoyed by Lake Street Dive, it would be easy to get complacent and churn out the next album in a similar groove to past records. Why mess with a proven formula? But, after being on the road for nearly eighteen months since 2018’s Free Yourself […]
Cameron Knowler & Eli Winter Anticipation American Dreams Records Cameron Knowler and Eli Winter are young guitarists barely out of college that bear watching. You may recognize the latter’s name as we did cover his solo album, Unbecoming, last August. The winter holidays of 2018 found Cameron Knowler and Eli Winter touring through an interesting […]
JP & Ekat JP Williams Blues Band featuring Ekat Pereyra Gizzifter Records New York City born JP Williams attended Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. It was there that he began moonlighting at college coffee houses playing a mixture of folk, blues and soul. After college JP returned to the city and performed at open mikes, […]
David Larsen The Mulligan Chronicles Self-released Ask any casual fan of jazz for a bandleader who played baritone saxophone and it is likely that just one name will emerge – the famed player and composer Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan was every bit as important to the post bebop, cool movement aka “Birth of the Cool” as […]
Jason Ringenberg Rhinestoned Courageous Chicken Jason Ringenberg releases his new album Rhinestoned March 5, 2021 on his Courageous Chicken label. A legendary alt-country pioneer, Ringenberg will have you Rhinestoned and boot-scootin’ to the best cow-punk this side of Nashville. Pandemic be damned, you’ll want to socially distance yourselves across the dance floor emulating Jason’s energetic […]
Roni Ben-Hur Stories Dot Time Jazz guitar virtuoso Roni Ben-Hur shares another chapter of his genre-busting 40-year multicultural musical journey with Stories and an impressive lineup that includes the legendary George Cables on piano, esteemed trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, the steadfast rhythm section with bassist Harvie S and drummer Victor Lewis, and special guest vocalists Magos Herrera and Tamuz Nissim. Ben Hur’s story began in Dimona, a small, provincial desert […]
Bruce Brown Death of Expertise Triangle 7 Herein lies another one of those interesting musical stories as vocalist/songwriter Bruce Brown, who was once a pianist too, found some new inspiration in songwriting, following recovery from a life-threatening stroke four years ago. Two decades ago, Brown was gigging in L.A. but has lived in New Zealand […]
Jesse Brewster The Lonely Pines Crooked Prairie Songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Brewster has been bringing his blend of rock, Americana and folk to across the US for the last 15 years. Call it West Coast Americana, formed by a nomadic childhood as the son of hippie parents, first in the mountains of Northern California, […]
Curtis Salgado Damage Control Alligator Records Curtis Salgado was born in 1954, in Everett Washington, approximately 200 miles from Portland. By 1976 Salgado was already a member of The Robert Cray Band and helped to launch Cray’s career as he plays harp on Cray’s 1980 debut “Who’s Been Talkin’”. Salgado is also credited for turning […]
SHIJIN Theory of Everything SOCADISC We covered Shijin’s self-titled debut in 2018 and perhaps you recall that this is not your usual jazz group but instead a inter-continental group that brings American and European jazz artists together in a fusion-jazz/improvisational format across eight original compositions. The quartet has musicians that have performed in a variety […]
Menahan Street Band The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band Daptone Menahan Street Band, an all-star Brooklyn collective featuring members of Budos Band, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Charles Bradley’s backing band, deliver their first album in nearly a decade. The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band has already had three singles, the opening […]
Michael Dease Give It All You Got Posi-Tone Recalling many of those great Blue Note albums with trombonist Curtis Fuller and Art Blakey, Give It All You Got, the eighth Posi-Tone release by one of today’s leading voices on the trombone, Michael Dease, carries that infectious soul-jazz vibe and percolates with similar energy. Dease has […]
Wildroots Sessions Volume 1 Wildroots Records Victor Wainwright was born in Savannah. He attended college in Daytona and moved to Memphis where he was employed during the day as an Air Traffic Controller at Memphis International Airport. At night Wainwright honed his piano skills in the clubs along Beale Street. He met bassist Stephen Dees […]
Ryan Dugré Three Rivers 11A Brooklyn guitarist and composer Ryan Dugré works as a sideman with folks like Cass McCombs and Eleanor Friedberger, but his solo music is composed of cinematic, guitar-led instrumentals. The pieces feel intimate, warm and nostalgic but perhaps not what you are expecting if you’re thinking John Fahey or Leo Kottke […]
Dave Thomas One More Mile Blonde On Blonde Direct (Records) Limited Welsh born Dave Thomas is a veteran of the 60’s British Blues boom. By 1970 he had become the lead singer in the South Wales rock band “Blonde On Blonde”. He spent ten years as leader of the house band for England’s Shake Down […]
Mark Winkler and David Benoit Old Friends Café Pacific Readers of these pages know that Mark Winkler is one of the premiere vocalists in jazz, with more than 16 albums to his credit, two of which we have covered here. Now we bring you his collaboration with old friend, pianist/composer David Benoit. The aptly titled […]
The Bluesbones Live On Stage Naked/Donor Productions The Bluesbones are a five-piece Blues-Rock band from Belgium first formed in 2011. The following year they released their debut album “Voodoo Guitar”. In 2012 and 2016 the band was the winner of the Belgian Blues Challenge, and finished second in 2017’s European Blues Challenge held in Denmark. […]
Michael Wimberley Afrofuturism Temple Mountain Afrofuturism is an ambitious project from percussionist, keyboardist, and composer Michael Wimberly. With the full album due this week, followers will have already heard the first five tracks which were released in December and four tracks released a month ago. Those and the final three make up the full album […]
Neil Barnes Bald Guy With A Lot On His Mind Bar-B-Q Sound Recordings The San Francisco Bay Area’s Neil Barnes is a harmonica player strongly influenced by Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Charlie Musselwhite and Lee Oscar. He was able to hangout, up close and personal, and witness Freddie King, Albert King and Albert Collins. During […]
The David Angel Jazz Ensemble Out on the Coast – 3 CDs Basset Hound Music David Angel is likely the best arranger and composer you have never heard of. You are not alone. Even though he is one of the most respected on the West Coast, he is virtually unknown to the public. It certainly […]
Trevor B. Power What Is Real Farm 189 Records New Jersey’s Trevor B. Power began playing the guitar when he was fifteen. He was inspired by the rock n’ roll of the sixties and seventies, and spent most of his adult life playing solo acoustic at coffee houses and bars in the northeast and Arizona. […]
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians Hunter and The Dog Star Shuffle/Thirty Tigers Hunter And The Dog Star is the band’s fifth studio album for Edie Brickell & New Bohemians and their first since 2018’s Rocket—which came after a twelve-year hiatus. Since forming in Dallas in the mid-1980s, the band has toured extensively across the country and had […]
The John Miechi Projekt “High Vibrations” The John Michie Collective is a multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist from the North of England. John is also a producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, photographer, graphic designer and record label owner, a really versatile artist. Featured on BBC Sounds, BBC Introducing North East, Amazing Radio UK / US, reviewed […]
Ally Venable Heart of Fire Ruf Records The past year has left us needing music that is bold and uplifting and Heart of Fire is surely that. From the first sizzling notes of Venable’s guitar, you know you are hearing a guitarist skilled enoughto equal her Texas heroes, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, […]
Stratcat Willie & the Strays On The Prowl Independent Stratcat Willie Hayes was first influenced by guitarists Michael Bloomfield, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Winter, and B.B. King. He founded the band “Blue Plate Special” in 1995, and released the album “Hot n’ Tasty” in 2002. Hayes has been keepin’ the blues alive in New York State’s […]
Karen Matheson Still Time Vertical/Compass Widely recognized as the compelling voice of Celtic super-group Capercaillie, vocalist Karen Matheson began performing as a child in her local village hall in Argyll on the west coast of Scotland, where she was brought up immersed in the deep well of traditional songs that have been her inspiration for […]
Greg Murphy Cool Water Whaling City Sound Master keyboardist and composer Greg Murphy delivers a very inspirational project, Cool Water, based on his trip to Africa. “The inspiration for the concept of the album and title track, ‘Enkare Nairobi,’ (which means ‘cool water’ in Maasai and refers to the Nairobi River which flows through the […]
Roseanna Vitro Listen Here (reissue) Skyline Vocalist Roseanna Vitro, who has led a multi-faceted career as performer, recording artist, educator, and journalist has delivered well over a dozen albums since her debut in the early ‘80s with Listen Here. This debut, recorded in the fall of 1982 and released in 1984, featured an impressive supporting […]
Early Times & The High Rollers The Corner Dealer’s Choice Records/Vizztone Label Group Sacramento raised Early Times is a blues guitarist who started playing professionally when he was sixteen. He formed his first band in 1990 and released his debut “Society for the Misunderstood”. His follow-up recordings include 1993’s “Hobo-Deluxe; and 1995’s “The Comedown”. He […]
Veronica Lewis You Ain’t Unlucky Blue Heart Records/Nola Blue Veronica Lewis hails from Haverhill, Ma. located thirty-five miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. Encouraged by her mother (and manager) Nancy Leotta she began playing piano when she was 6 years old. The performer has been honing her rhythmically complex piano chops and […]
Rick Margitza Sacred Hearts Le Coq Renowned saxophonist Rick Margitza’s Sacred Hearts is one of four of the first releases from the new jazz label, Le Coq Records, and is the first not recorded at Capital Studios in L.A. That’s because Margitza has been living and working in Paris since 2003. This is his first […]
Skylar Rogers Firebreather Independent Skylar Rogers was born and raised in Chicago. Her main influences include Koko Taylor, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and B.B. King. Rogers’ listened to these and other soulful artists whom she credits for becoming as passionate a vocalist as she is. Rogers’ released her debut EP in 2018, and began touring […]
Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra Bernstein Reimagined MCG Jazz Seeing the name Leonard Bernstein, will make most associate this ambitious project with classical music yet it reads more like a Duke Ellington or Gil Evans record. In fact, Bernstein stated that Ellington wrote symphonic jazz while he wrote jazz symphonies. Also, the legendary composer once called […]
Larry Newcomb Quartet Love, Dad Essential Messenger As you might guess from the title this is a father-son duo featured in this quartet led by renowned guitarist Larry Newcomb, with his son Jake Newcomb on the standup bass. Rounding out the foursome are pianist Thomas Royal and drummer Dave Marsh. This is the guitarist’s third […]
Don Bonsanti and the 14 Jazz Orchestra Cartoon Bebop Dabon Music Arranger Don Bonsanti is back with The 14 Jazz Orchestra following up the previously issued successful The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be. The big band is contemporary and creative with five reeds, three trumpets, three trombones, and various players in the rhythm […]
Joyann Parker Out of the Dark Hopeless Romantics Records Joyann Parker is a classically trained pianist with a degree in music from the University of Wisconsin. Before 2014 she had only sang with a wedding band. After hearing her sing Aretha Franklin’s soul classic “Chain of Fools” she was asked to join a Minneapolis based […]
Diego Rivera Indigenous Posi-Tone Indigenous is saxophonist/composer/bandleader Diego Rivera’s second release for Posi-Tone. As the title suggests, this is multi-cultural program consisting of a mix of originals and covers. Joining the Rivera are trumpeter Etienne Charles (three tunes), pianist Helen Sung, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Donald Edwards in a fiery quartet/quintet that blazes through […]
Melbreeze I Love Paris Blue Canoe I Love Paris is the follow-up for progressive vocalist Melbreeze to her largely Latin Animazonia and most directly to her 2019 Amethyst. Like the latter, I Love Paris is an album of radically reimagined standards. The Turkish-born vocalist has resided in L.A. in recent years and has stamped herself […]
Mike Scott Collecting things Self-released Guitarist and composer Mike Scott has been a fixture on the Los Angeles jazz scene for over 20 years. He is founding member of The Los Angeles Jazz Collective, and like many musicians in the city has recorded for film and television soundtracks, in addition to his work as sideman […]
Greg Sover Band The Parade Grounded Soul Records Pennsylvania based Greg Sover has been influenced by multiple genres including classic rock, blues, and reggae. He released his debut album “Songs of a Renegade” in 2016. His follow up recording was 2018’s “Jubilee”. “The Parade”, an EP completed during the pandemic, is only Sover’s third release. […]
Binker and Moses Escape the Flames Gearbox This serves to both inform you about the London-based sax-drum duo of Binker and Moses as well as the label, Gearbox. Binker and Moses We have covered sax-drum duos on these pages before, specifically the London duo of Tony Irving & Massimo Magee with Vitriol and the Third […]
Miles Donahue Just Passing Thru Whaling City Sound Miles Donahue is a unique cat, even in jazz circles. As a multi-instrumentalist he not only plays a couple of also, tenor, and soprano saxophones, but also trumpet and keyboards. This writer can’t point to many in that category although Joey DeFrancesco is one who comes to […]
Andy James Tu Amor Le Coq Le Coq is a new record label whose inaugural releases just two weeks ago assembled some of the strongest names in jazz to present an eclectic set of styles worthy of the stellar musicians that set the stage for what the label will be offering. On The Jazz All […]
Sounds of A&R (S.O.A.R) Questions Left Unanswered Self-released The group dubbed Sounds of A&R, or as they are commonly referenced S.O.A. R., is the partnering team of vocalist April May Webb and the trumpeter Randall Haywood, with support from April May’s siblings Jacob Webb on bass and Nathan Webb on drums, plus guitarist Charlie Sigler, pianist James Austin and harpist Riza Printup. Questions Left […]