CD Reviews on projects by Jazz artists
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
