KAREN STACHEL & NORBERT STACHEL & LEHCATS (with Giovanni Hidalgo)

Purple Room Productions

Karen Stachel, flute/alto flute/piccolo/ vocals/composer; Norbert Stachel, soprano & tenor saxophone/flute/alto flute/composer; Giovanni Hidalgo, percussion; Matt Clark, acoustic & electric bass; Daniel Gonzalez, drums.

If you reverse the spelling of this group name, (LEHCATS) you come up with Karen and Norbert’s last name, Stachel.  The couple has been making great jazz for decades.  In 1996, Karen Anderson married multi-instrumentalist, Norbert Stachel. Her Christmas CD titled “And Of The Son” was released in 1999, using her married name of Karen Stachel. Many of the songs on this album featured Karen playing solo.

Karen is a classically studied flutist who has been performing jazz (America’s only original classical music) for a number of years.  She blends her classical background into the jazz genre seamlessly. She formed the Karen Anderson Jazztet in 1991.  They were a San Francisco, Northern California quartet using various musicians on various sessions. Those musicians included both John Schott and John Ellis on guitar, Trevor Dunn and Geoff Brennan on electric bass, Muziki Roberson on piano, Michael Barry as their drummer, with John T. Sbherman playing acoustic bass, percussion and Rainstick and Joe Fajen adding Djembe to the mix. With this mix of talented musicians, Karen’s first recording was released in 1993 and titled, “In The Name of the Father” under her maiden name of Anderson. I loved her interpretation of “Gentle Rain” played beautifully on her flute.

Their latest release, featuring stellar musicians as part of their LEHCATS lineup is a sweet blend of contemporary, Latin & straight-ahead jazz, R&B, Funk and just plain soulful music!  They open with a Karen Stachel original composition called “Step On It.” On a song that Norbert has penned called “Sunshine” Karen shows off her vocal skills.

Every song, every performance is fueled by improvisation and a deep connection with their ‘live’ audiences.  On this album, you will hear elements of Latin jazz influence, Afro-Cuban excitement, Middle Eastern cultural sounds and funky American contemporary jazz arrangements.

Norbert Stachel is a multi-instrumentalist who shows his dynamic skills on soprano and tenor saxophone, flute, and alto flute.  Giovanni Hidalgo brings his brilliant percussion magic to their stage and is their special guest on this recording.  Born November 22, 1963 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hidalgo is an Award-winning Latin jazz percussionist and is praised as one of the greatest conga players in the world.  You will enjoy his speed, his deliberate precision and innovation on the conga drums.  Hidalgo brings Afro-Caribbean rhythms to these original songs.  He has worked with such prominent jazz artists as Dizzy Gillespie and Eddie Palmieri. He was a core member of Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra and in 1992 he co-won the Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album alongside Mickey Hart and other percussion masters. He brings percussive energy to every song performed, but on the ninth track, “Afrobaldi” Giovanni Hidalgo is brilliantly featured.

This is a double set album, captured on two discs. These songs, and the talented musicians that play them, will have you moving and grooving from beginning to end. Every original composition on this album was composed by one of the Stachels.  When they join forces, Norbert on his saxophone and Karen on her flute, like on “Upper West Side Story,” you hear how naturally and harmoniously they blend.  Dan Feiszli’s electric bass closes out the first disc, strumming energy and excitement into a tune called “Power Tap.”  It’s the first number I heard that tapped on the door of Fusion jazz.

This is a historic album release. It is guaranteed to bring any listener hours of pleasure.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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