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.
Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke Lean In Edition Although the duo of vocalist-arranger Gretchen Parlato and guitarist-vocalist Lionel Loueke have performed together relatively often and have contributed to each other’s projects, Lean In is their inaugural recording. Written during the pandemic on two different continents, the project evolved between Luxembourg and Los Angeles, where the two respectively reside. […]
Robert Ellis Yesterday’s News Niles City After a string of five strong and truly varied albums for New West, Texas troubadour, the enigmatic Robert Ellis issues his first album, the richly intimate Yesterday’s News on his own label, Niles City Records. This writer once heard an artist state that every album should be different from […]
Joe Farnsworth In What Direction Are You Headed? Smoke Sessions In What Direction Are You Headed? is the third album as a leader on Smoke Sessions for “ Time to Swing,” drummer Joe Farnsworth. He has built his reputation as one of the best straight-ahead drummers in jazz for the likes of Wynton Marsalis, George […]
Lady J Huston Groove Me Baby Earwig/Unisun Productions Lady J Huston (pronounced like the city Houston) is a well-decorated though sparsely recorded woman who sings, writes, plays trumpet and flugelhorn, arranges, and produces. She has a Music Theory/Composition major from Howard University and at one point was the musical director for Albert King’s band. Her […]
Pat McDougall In the Key of Sorry Self-released Keyboardist, vocalist, and masterful songwriter Pat McDougall teams with co-producer Jimi Bott for his dozen originals on In the Key of Sorry. McDougall impresses this writer as the best blues lyricist today apart from Derrick Procell. Yes, McDougall has a gift for songwriting, especially in breakup songs, […]
Dominic Miller Vagabond ECM Guitarist Dominic Miller, a longtime member of Sting’s band, releases his third album as a leader for ECM as he fronts a quartet. His co-conspirators are pianist Jacob Karlzon, bassist Nicolas Fiszman, and drummer Ziv Ravitz. (More on them later). Miller’s first album, Silent Light (2017) was a solo venture and […]
Lil’ Jimmy Reed with Ben Levin Back to Baton Rouge NOLA Blue Pianist Ben Levin cut his fifth album last year while still attending his hometown University of Cincinnati. Guests on Take Your Time included Chicago blues luminaries Lil’ Ed Williams, Bob Stroger, and Rockin’ Johnny Burgin. Lil’ Jimmy Reed, one of the elder statesmen […]
Benny Green Solo Sunnyside The great pianist and Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers alum Benny Green has forged an excellent career in the decades since whether leading a trio or occasionally as a solo pianist. The pandemic inspired Green to pursue the solo route once again as he does here on Solo, his first […]
Pilc-Moutin-Hoenig YOU Are the Song Justin Time When we last visited pianist Jean-Michel Pilc it was for his energetic 2022 trio album, Alive, recorded in Montreal with bassist Remi-Jean LeBlanc and drummer Jim Doxas. While YOU Are the Song is also a piano trio album, the cast has changed and so has the timbre of […]
Alabama Mike Stuff I’ve Been Through Little Village Blues fans should recognize the name of blues vocalist Alabama Mike, as he has guested on Little Village and other label recordings in recent years. Nonetheless, for many, Stuff I’ve Been Through, his fourth album, may well be his coming out party. Despite the “Alabama” moniker, (Mike […]
Dorian and Nayanna Holley DNA Ropeadope Sometimes it’s just refreshing to hear an album of familiar tunes, rendered by unfamiliar artists who put their own special stamp on the tunes. This is the case for the father-daughter team of Dorian and Nayanna Holley. Dorian was a backup singer for Michael Jackson and was the musical […]
Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble Home Is Here Tapestry Home Is Here is the third project for New England-based saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble, which he founded in 2016. His multi-cultural nineteen-piece ensemble is flexible enough to play conventional big band music but more purposely apply themselves to different variations on Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and other […]
Michelle Malone Fan Favorites Vol. 1 Unplugged SBS/The Orchard Independent Atlanta bluesy singer-songwriter Michelle Malone, like many musicians, got resourceful during the pandemic. Riding the success of her singer-songwriter album, 1977, and especially the single/video “Dust Bowl Man,” Malone began streaming her stripped-down songs from her living room during the shutdown, satisfying fans and amassing […]
Rodney Crowell The Chicago Sessions New West The title of Rodney Crowell’s new album speaks to a collaboration with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco who produced the album that was recorded in Wilco’s Loft by Tom Schick. In terms of sound, knowing that, you might not expect that it is more in line with Crowell’s first […]
The Bomboras Songs from Beyond MuSick Songs from Beyond marks the return, after a 25-year hiatus of the neo-surf band, The Bomboras. This long-awaited comeback album finds this five-member outfit rocking harder than ever. Of course, the original surf bands made their mark in the ‘60s. Are you old enough to remember those radio hits […]
Steve Smith and Vital Information Time Flies + A Prayer For the Generations Wounded Bird Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Steve Smith, formerly of Journey, and recognized in many quarters as one of the all-time best drummers, has been leading his jazz group, Vital Information, for forty years now so this represents a […]
Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 Jazz Is Dead Seventeen albums in the space of just a few years and this writer realizes that this is our first coverage of the Jazz Is Dead series, helmed by producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The name, of course, is intended to be the opposite and the duo […]
Jimmy Bennett Sunday Morning Sessions Junkyard Dog Productions Sunday Morning Sessions is the gentle and unplugged side of the typically fiery guitarist Jimmy Bennett. You may recall Bennett was electric guitarist with The Bennett Brothers, Bruce Katz, John Ginty, and Alexis P. Suter albums on the American Showplace label under the late Ben Elliott to […]
Jim Alfredson Family Business Posi-Tone Yes, more organ music, but organist Jim Alfredson, on his first Posi-Tone release as a leader, invites three of the label’s horn players to join his trio of guitarist Will Bernard and drummer EJ Strickland. The three horn players should be familiar names, all leaders in their own right, who, […]
Richard X. Bennett & Matt Parker Parker Plays X BYNK Richard X. Bennett is the pianist and composer for what are essentially piano-saxophone tunes played by Matt Parker. While they are the principals, this is a quartet session, with bassist Adam Armstrong and drummer Julian Edmond. Unlike many jazz albums, this has a full twelve […]
Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy DAY Greenleaf Music In-demand drummer Rudy Royston has played on countless albums as a valued sideman. You’ve seen his name associated with most releases from the Posi-Tone label that we have covered on these pages and you’re likely aware that he often contributes his own compositions to many of those albums. In […]
Yelena Eckemoff Lonely Man and His Fish L & H Productions The title sounds more like a short story than a jazz album and it is indeed a narrative put to music. Russian-born, North Carolina-based composer and pianist Yelena Eckemoff has built her reputation on concept albums, whether it’s stages of life, colors, smells, seasons, […]
Dan Rosenboom Polarity Orenda Trumpeter and composer Dan Rosenboom has been a pivotal catalyst for the creative music scene in Los Angeles over the past decade and a half. Polarity, originally envisioned as a most improvisational album became one of mostly through-composed compositions at the behest of drummer Damion Reid, which is not to say […]
Arturo O’Farrill Legacies Blue Note Composer, arranger, and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill has returned to his first love, jazz piano, after helming large ensemble projects such as last year’s …dreaming in lions. Flanked by his son, drummer Zack O’Farrill, and bassist Llany Mateo, Legacies is a mix of five trio and four solo piano performances. The […]
Alex Weitz Rule of Thirds Outside in Music Saxophonist and composer Alex Weitz is multi-talented. Many will recognize him as a videographer and, in fact, he is the man behind the camera for the popular streaming series “Live at Emmett’s Place,” of which, pianist Emmet Cohen guests on the aptly titled, Rule of Thirds, Weitz’s […]
John Pizzarelli Stage & Screen Palmetto Having just witnessed a performance from John Pizzarelli and his trio, the same musicians that grace, Stage and Screen, it’s not surprising to see the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter devote an album to the Great American Songbook. That’s primarily what he’s been doing for the past 40 years whether it be Frank […]
Blood, Sweat, & Tears What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? – Original Soundtrack Omnivore Now that we think about the question posed in the album title, it’s one that many of us have pondered, or in most cases, probably forgot about in the intervening years. Yet, those who lived through the brief […]
Rachel Eckroth One Blackbird Sessions Having somehow failed to review Rachel Eckroth’s Grammy nominated The Garden and realizing that we haven’t yet devoted ink to one of the more versatile artists of our time, it just seemed right to make you aware of her latest endeavor. One is Eckroth alone on solo acoustic piano devoid […]
David Cook Loyal Returns Sunnyside There are plenty of musicians whose first love is playing jazz but realize that applying their talents to other genres can be more lucrative. Such is the case with pianist, composer, and erstwhile musical director David Cook who leads such big name acts as Taylor Swift, Shoshona Bean, and Shayna […]
Various Artists Shorter Moments – Blue Ballads Posi-Tone Even before the iconic Wayne Shorter passed just this past March, we had seen tributes to him in recent years by many artists across many labels. In fact, this one, Posi- Tone issued their first installment of Shorter Moments–Exploring the World of Wayne in 2021. This next […]
The Le Boeuf Brothers Hush Soundspore If the sound and music of an album can be described in one word, the Le Boeuf Brothers have managed to do just that with this title, Hush. One does not find many jazz albums with 19 tracks as this has, but the many short vignettes or interludes serve […]
Jae Sinnett’s Zero to 60 Quartet – (featuring Randy Brecker) Commitment J-Nett Music Jae Sinnett is a formidable, drummer, composer, educator, and bandleader but he may be even more widely known to most as a top-rated jazz programmer and radio personality. He is the host for NPR affiliate WHRV-FM 89.5 in Norfolk, VA. He hosts […]
The Wood Brothers Heart is the Hero Honey Jar/Thirty Tigers The Wood Brothers admonish us to slow down in the rollicking opener “Pilgrim” on their eighth album, and that slowing down to appreciate the little, oft overlooked aspects of life, is essentially the theme of this infectious record stock of songs with the kind of […]
The Infamous Stringdusters A Tribute to Flatt & Scruggs Americana Vibez Records Here they go again, those Infamous (and incredible) Stringdusters, demonstrating that to rock as creatively and successfully as they do in the progressive bluegrass realm, frequent trips back to the music’s Appalachian sources to really know the stuff, are an obligation. Besides enormous […]
Wayne Escoffery Like Minds Smoke Sessions Saxophonist, composer, and educator Wayne Escoffery returns with his steady quartet and major guests for Like Minds, his Smoke Sessions follow-up to the acclaimed 2020 The Humble Warrior. Escoffery considers the album very personal, on the one hand containing pandemic reflections and on the other, basking in the enjoyment […]
Nick Finzer Dreams, Visions, Illusions Outside in Music Trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and Outside In Music label founder Nick Finzer delivers Dreams, Visions, Illusions with his long running sextet. The album follows his 2021 album Out of Focus and is a cousin to his 2020 sextet recording Characters. Finzer’s sextet features tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Lucas Pino, guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Glenn Zalenski, bassist Dave […]
Triogram Triogram Circle Theory Media Jazz artists continually refer to “our generation,” “the next generation,” or “the elders” when describing the lineage of an artist or unit. Depending on your perspective, Triogram is an either “our generation” or “next generation” group of three musicians, all under 30 years of age. They are a modern jazz […]
Lucas De Mulder & The New Mastersounds Feel the Spirit The Drawbars – One Finger Only Color Red We made you aware of the funky, mostly organ-oriented music coming out of the label Color Red with our review of the Tim Carman Trio in late February. There’s plenty more where that came from, most recently […]
Mike Miz Only Human Blackbird The singer/songwriter/guitarist Mike Mizwinski, better known as Mike Miz, took a major step by moving to Nashville three years ago. Miz has a strong following in his native Northeastern Pennsylvania as a jam band icon, from early band Morning Pride to his various Miz band lineups to Phish and Grateful […]
Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen Black Leather Blues Mo Mojo Like many other regions that don’t receive national attention, northeast Pennsylvania has a vital music scene. This is the second artist (see also review on Mike Miz) that we’ve covered this week alone who hails from the area. Wilkes-Barre guitarist and emerging singer-songwriter Dustin […]
Luis Russell At the Swing Cats Ball – Newly Discovered Recordings from the Closet Vol 1.- 1938-1940 Dot Time It turns out that with all due respect Zev Feldman and Cory Weeds aren’t the only jazz archaeologists unearthing new discoveries. Firsthand this writer heard Catherine Russell describe how she found boxes of acetates when cleaning […]
Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music For Jemeel – Fire from the Road Rogue Art Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music is a band that grew out of New York’s creative improvisational scene in the late ‘80s, with this 3-CD live set, For Jemeel, Fire from the Road, dating to shows from 2004-2005 in two Texas locations […]
Joe Krown Tribute Sledgehammer Blues Joe Krown played keyboards with many people who influenced him. When I first heard Krown he was the keyboardist for Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Krown played alongside his band mate alto-saxophonist Eric Demmer. Krown’s last project was in a duo performance with Jason Ricci. Krown opens with an instrumental tribute to […]
Behn Gillece Between the Bars Posi-Tone Between the Bars is the ninth album as a leader for vibraphonist Behn Gillece, not to mention his many sideman contributions to the label’s catalog. He brings both familiar Posi-Tone names such as pianist Art Hirahara and saxophonists Diego Rivera (tenor) and Patrick Cornelius (alto, soprano, bass clarinet) as […]
Towner Galaher Organ Trio LIVE Rhythm Royale Some of the most timeless music in jazz lies in its sub-genre, the classic organ trio. Rarely does a month go by without an organ trio or organ related band. We’ve already heard from Dave Stryker with Larry Goldings and the Vince Ector trios in this first quarter […]
Dewayne Pate On the Upside Self-released The talented musicians in San Francisco’s Bay Area never cease to amaze in their versatility across so many genres whether it be blues, soul, R&B, jazz, or Latin. We’ve heard these cross-pollinations on albums from David K. Mathews, Roy Obeido, and Bill Ortiz, among others. Now the ridiculously busy […]
David Haerle El Camino Sierra Edendale Los Angeles singer/songwriter/guitarist and indie-label owner David Haerle releases his third album, El Camino Sierra, his follow-up to 2020’s Death Valley. Like that album, the themes are rooted in California geography and personal experience. While this writer described his previous effort as “an uneven set of songs, some of […]
Ingrid Laubrock The Last Quiet Place Pyroclastic The title, The Last Quiet Place, certainly has a foreboding ring to it. Where is such a place – is it physical or is it some corner of our inner selves that becomes increasingly more difficult to reach? Saxophonist and composer Ingrid Laubrock posed these questions to herself […]
Peter Case Doctor Moan Sunset Blvd. Apart from the great, though purposely dichotomous album title, Peter Case marks his first piano driven album, the sixteenth in his storied five-decade career that’s ranged from punk, jangly rock, and introspective folk to what we can now add his latent hints of jazz and blues. While researching this […]
Canadian Jazz Collective Septology – The Black Forest Session HGBS Blue The Canadian Jazz Collective (CJC) is fronted by three of Canada’s most acclaimed and accomplished jazz treasures and familiar names to readers of these pages, especially trumpeter Derrick Gardner alongside saxophonist Kirk MacDonald, guitarist Lorne Lofsky. We introduced clarinetist Virginia MacDonald (Kirk’s daughter) on Michael Dease’s recently issued The Other […]