Martin Bejerano CubanAmerican FR Miami-born pianist and composer Martin Bejerano straddles the lines between post-bop jazz and Latin music. With humility he claims not be a great Latin player, summing up his latest effort, #CubanAmerican, by saying, “It’s not Cuban music and not American music. It’s Cuban American music.” Take his humility lightly. He is […]
Ben Markley Big Band with Ari Hoenig Ari’s Fun-House OA2 Let’s introduce you to the two collaborators. Renowned Philadelphia-born drummer Ari Hoenig, who plays drums on all seven tracks, has over a dozen recordings as a leader plus many more as an accompanist on many other sessions. He is a formidable composer and award-winning educator […]
Bouvier Blachant Renewell Bouvier is the nickname for Dr. Jackie “Bouvier” Copeland, who is releasing her spiritual, socially conscious inspired debut Blachant. The latter is a trademarked term for blachanting – her practice of deep reflection, social action, prayer, and her chanting vocal style, which is indeed unique. It’s a blend of the singer-songwriter’s jazz […]
Mark Winkler Late Bloomin’ Jazzman Café Pacific Late Bloomin’ Jazzman is the 20th album for singer-songwriter/jazz vocalist Mark Winker and the fourth we have covered on these pages since 2018. Two of them were in collaboration with other artists – 2018’s Eastern Standard Time with Cheryl Bentyne, and 2021’s Old Friends with David Benoit. 2019’s […]
Alex Brown The Dark Fire Sessions Self-released Pianist and composer Alex Brown is relatively new on the scene and The Dark Fire Sessions marks only his second release as a bandleader. Having seen Brown perform in virtual performances such as Sean Jones’ Dizzy Spellz at the 2021 Detroit Jazz Festival and at Baltimore’s Keystone Korner […]
Michael Stephenson Meets The Alexander Claffy Trio (with Benny Benack III) Cellar Music Group Sometimes just a couple of highly recognizable names will draw one to an album. Although familiar with Claffy and Benck III, it was Executive Producer Cory Weeds and Producer Jeremy Pelt that caught my attention and neither plays on this album […]
Mark Zaleski Band Our Time – Reimagining Dave Brubeck Origin Our Time is far edgier than one might guess, considering that the Mark Zaleski Band is reimagining the music of Dave Brubeck. Mark Zaleski is featured here on alto and soprano saxophone alongside tenor saxophonist Jon Bean, pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Mark Cocheo, bassist Danny Weller, and drummer Oscar Suchanek. […]