CD Reviews

CONSTANTINE ALEXANDER FIRETET Independent Label Constantine Alexander, trumpet/flugelhorn/composer; Julius Tucker, piano; Greg Essig, drums; Ben Dillinger, acoustic bass; Roy McGrath, tenor saxophone. This album is ‘hard bop’ at its best!  Opening with a tune Alexander penned titled “The Show” I am swept into the energy and excitement of this Chicago-based trumpeter and his capable quintet.  […]

Rob Susman Top Secret Lab Self-released Trombonist, composer, and arranger Rob Susman is a veteran of many NYC-based large ensembles, two of which we have covered on these pages – Swingadelic and Funk Shui NYC. Top Secret Lab is his first effort as a leader since his eponymous album in 2002, giving him the opportunity […]

Micah Thomas Reveal Artwork It seems only appropriate as we finish 2023 to have a review of a jazz pianist as one of final reviews. It has been an extraordinary year for jazz pianists and for jazz piano trio and solo albums. This new label, Artwork, in his first year boasts a Grammy nomination for […]

Charles Owens Trio Here It Is LA Reserve Here It Is follows up 2021’s 10 Years from the Charles Owens Trio, a jazz-funk unit from Richmond, VA, the same town in which Butcher Brown resides and, in fact, claims the other two members of saxophonist Owens’ trio. They are drummer DJ Harrison, a master of […]

Don Thompson Rob Piltch Bells… Now and Then Modica Music Being pleasantly surprised is always good. In this case, approached an album recorded some 42 years ago, held modest expectations at best but the music from veteran multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson and the accomplished fingerstyle guitarist Rob Piltch not only sounds uniquely creative but compatible with contemporary offerings. Bells… […]

Palle Mikkelborg/Jacob Bro/Marilyn Mazur Strands:  Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall ECM Three generations of Danish jazz greats come together for this concert, recorded in February of 2023 at the Danish Radio Concert Hall. Octogenarian trumpeter and flugelhornist Palle Mikkelborg’s gorgeous tones float spaciously through the hall, buttressed by the supportive and at times […]

Lisa Hilton Coincidental Moment Ruby Slippers Productions It is to the point now that we can mark the beginning of December on our calendars and know that we’ll have a new release from pianist and composer Lisa Hilton.  She returns with Coincidental Moment featuring her mainstay bass-drum tandem of Luques Curtis and Rudy Royston, along […]

Rich Halley Fire Within Pine Eagle The expression “three strikes and you’re out” becomes “three and you’re on again” as force-of-nature tenor saxophonist, Oregon based Rich Halley once again teams with leading creative music scene improvisors pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker for the more than aptly named Fire Within. […]

The Flying Horse Big Band A Message From Flying Horse Records This writer is struck by the seemingly recent trend for large ensembles to tackle material from the great hard bop combos of Horace Silver, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Cedar Walton, and others. Just last week we reviewed Cory Weeds’ Little Big Band […]

Sullivan Fortner Solo Game Artwork We’ve covered many pianists this year in 2023, remarking often about this new generation that includes the likes of Isaiah J. Thompson, Sean Mason, Joey Alexander, and several others. Yet, the generation that preceded them, the ‘thirty somethings’ if you will, point to Sullivan Fortner with the utmost admiration. His […]

Benjamin Koppel White Buses – Passage to Freedom Cowbell Music Often music is the best conveyor of stories.  And, if there were justice in the music world, Danish saxophonist and composer Benajmin Koppel’s White Buses – Passage to Freedom would accrue the kind of publicity that Silk Road Ensembles’ American Railroad (that amplifies the untold […]

Geri Allen + Kurt Rosenwinkel A Lovesome Thing – Live at the Philharmonie de Paris Motema Sometimes it seems pointless to describe in words music that is so sublime, delicate, and intricately woven into gorgeous layers. That’s the case with this recently unearthed recording from the late, revered pianist Geri Allen and guitar great, master […]

Cory Weeds and his Little Big Band Home Cookin’ Cellar Music You’ve seen Vancouver-based Cory Weeds’ name often on these pages but typically in the producer role as he is also the label owner of Cellar Music. Weeds is a terrific tenor saxophonist as well as you may also realize. So, here on Home Cookin’ […]

Trio Grande 2.0 Urban Myth Whirlwind We brought you the first foray of Trio Grande with their eponymous 2020 album featuring co-leaders guitarist Gilad Hekselman and saxophonist Will Vinson (also on synths and Wurlitzer). For that date they had Grammy-winning drummer Antonio Sanchez. That was their only showing as the pandemic precluded any chance of […]

Mike DiRubbo Inner Light Truth Revolution Inner Light is alto saxophonist and composer Mike DiRubbo’s tenth album as a leader, fronting a quartet of long-held collaborators. DiRubbo cut his teeth as a sideman for the likes of Al Foster, Harold Mabern, and Cecil Payne among others before proving to be a steadily prolific leader in […]

Silvan Joray UPDRAFT Ubuntu Music The Swiss-born, NYC-based guitarist Silvan Joray is releasing UPDRAFT, his second album as leader. Having established considerable acclaim in Europe, Joray is poised to expand his footprint in the U.S. and globally. Beginning as many Europeans do, he studied classical guitar but when hearing jazz, he switched to electric guitar, […]

Ray Gallon Grand Company Cellar Music Group  Pianist and composer Ray Gallon collaborates with the legendary bassist Ron Carter and nearly legendary drummer Lewis Nash, for this trio release, Grand Company. Gallon, previously not covered on these pages, is known for his work with such luminaries as Art Farmer, Lionel Hampton, George Adams, Wycliffe Gordon, […]

Yuhan Su Liberated Gesture Sunnyside What are the odds of us covering two female Taiwanese-born, NYC-based vibraphonists leading quintets and releasing albums in the same week?  However low those odds may have been, we bring you Liberated Gesture, the fourth album (and second for Sunnyside) from Yuhan Su, and you will also see on these […]

Mareike Wiening Reveal Greenleaf Music Reveal is drummer and composer, the German-based Mareike Wiening’s (Mar-eye-kuh Vee -ning) third album for Dave Douglas’s Greenleaf Music. We covered her second, 2021’s Future Memories, on these pages and much remains intact not only in terms of personnel but also in outlook, namely that her band, spread throughout the […]

Hassan Ibn Ali Reaching For the Stars: Trios/Duos/ Solos Omnivore This writer’s two previous reviews of the legendary pianist Hassan Ibn Ali appeared in another outlet so it’s probably best to provide some background information. Reaching For the Stars: Trios/Duos/ Solos is the third collection released by Omnivore Records, another look into the previously unheard […]

John Chin Sun of Music: Live From The Lockdown Self-released Pianist John Chin leads a trio of bassist Sean Conly and drummer Jaimeo Brown in a live performance without an audience from Smalls in NYC during the height of the pandemic. Fortunately, the tape machines were rolling. The trio has played together for decades but […]

Lafayette Gilchrist Undaunted Morphius The Baltimore-based, D.C.-born pianist and composer Lafayette Gilchrist leads a sextet through five of his compositions on Undaunted that course through a potpourri of styles from, barrelhouse blues, stride, post hard bop, hip-hop, R&B, and his foundational go-go, the musical style of Washington D.C.  His angular style makes him a descendant […]

Chien Chien Lu Built In System (Live from New York) Giant Steps Art Vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu leads her top shelf quartet of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, bassist Richie Goods, and drummer Alan Mednard in this vibrant live recording, Built In System (Live from New York) from Hunter College in January of 2023. Lu composed all […]

Joe Santa Maria Echo Deep Orenda Joe Santa Maria is a L.A.- based versatile multi-reedist, comfortable playing behind rock groups, laying down post-bop lines, or playing in experimental formats.  Echo Deep, a project that has consumed him for ten years, is his ‘sonic biography,” a daring, totally unique foray into many different cultures and locales. […]

Mathis Picard Heat of the Moment La Reserve Last year on these pages we introduced you to the French-Malagasy pianist and composer Mathis Picard and his solo rendering Live at the Museum. Now he returns with an album, as the title indicates, focused on climate change, Picard’s quest for healing the planet. Heat of the […]

Joey Alexander Continuance Mack Avenue Our jazz readers will notice that just this week in our review of Sean Mason’s debut, the opening paragraph shed light on a ‘renaissance’ of gifted young pianists. Mentioned in that group is the youngest one of all, 20-year-old Joey Alexander, the once child prodigy who last year issued his […]

Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet Hear the Light Singing Rogue Art Pianist and composer Myra Melford reunites a super group of all female improvising players with a different drummer to build the next chapter in her Fire and Water Quintet, building on 2022’s widely acclaimed For the Love of Fire and Water with five new […]

Alex Louloudis & Zack Clarke What We Are ears & eyes In the spirit of exposing independent artists, we bring you the third release from jazz and free jazz drummer and composer Alex Louloudis and pianist Zack Clarke, What We Are. This is the second Louloudis duo outing as he teamed with saxophonist Rafael Statin […]

Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra Playland at the Beach Little Village Playland at the Beach by Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra is certainly an odd entry for the Little Village label. Heck, it is an odd entry for album review/background piece, period. Yet, it was this line in the promotional materials that piqued this writer’s […]

Sean Mason Southern Suite Blue Engine This writer had one of those weird “what world are they in? moments recently encountering an article questioning why the piano is losing favor. Admittedly, while not going very far into the article and chalking it up as one of the pop-oriented articles that often hits the phone, it […]