Chad McCullough Forward Outside in Music Trumpeter and composer Chad McCullough releases Forward, his eighth as a leader. McCullough leads a quartet made up of three of Chicago’s best: pianist Rob Clearfield, bassist Matt Ulery, and drummer Jon Deitemyer. Renowned producer Ryan Cohan augments the affair by contributing additional programming and part-writing to Forward; creating ambient layers for McCullough’s lyrical compositions and augmenting […]
Alonzo Demetrius Live from the Prison Nation Onyx Productions Trumpeter Alonzo Demetrius and his working band The Ego deliver, as you would guess from the title, a socially conscious album, recorded live this past May from Boston’s Berklee School of Music. Demetrius is working on acclaimed drummer Ralph Peterson’s label, and, as such is the first instrumentalist to record […]
Cesar Orozco & Kamarata Jazz Rooted Forward Self-released Rooted Forward is the fourth album from César Orozco and Kamarata Jazz. A pianist, composer, arranger, and educator (who just so happens to be a classically trained violinist, too!), Orozco has always celebrated the rich musical traditions of Cuba and Venezuela, the two places that most greatly informed […]
Dustin Laurenzi’s Natural Language A Time and a Place Woolgathering Tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi’s A Time and A Place, follows-up his 2016 self-titled album with his quartet of Chicago-based musicians, Natural Language, intact. Their sound embodies unbridled invention and cohesiveness that creates moods and textures in favor of aggressive soloing although there is some of that too, mostly […]
Edward Simon 25 Years Ridgeway Celebrating a quarter century of inventive music, Venezuelan-born pianist, composer and bandleader Edward Simon, who now resides in the Bay Area, releases the two-disc career retrospective 25 Years on Ridgeway Records, affirming his status as a key figure in the wave of Latin American musicians who’ve transformed jazz in recent decades. Featuring tracks […]
Chuck Bergeron & South Florida Jazz Orchestra Cheap Thrills The Music of Rick Margitza Summit Bassist/bandleader Chuck Bergeron celebrates the 15th anniversary of his South Florida Jazz Orchestra (SFJO) with the music of saxophone great Rick Margitza. The SFJO is one of the best unheralded big bands, very versatile and comprised of some of the […]
Brianna Thomas Band Everybody Knows Self-released Maybe it’s a fitting coincidence that rising jazz vocalist Brianna Thomas is releasing her second album, Everybody Knows, on the same day that Ella Fitzgerald’s Lost Berlin Concert is out. All female jazz vocalists point to Ella as a major influence but not many are in the same conversation […]
Benn Clatworthy & System 6 Bennie’s Lament Skipper Productions London-bred and Los Angeles-based saxophonist Benn Clatworthy has been a fixture on the Los Angeles jazz scene since 1980. Clatworthy was originally heavily influenced by late-’50s John Coltrane, but would soften his tone and sometimes sound a little like Warne Marsh with touches of Sonny Rollins. He debuted in 1990 with Thanks Horace (which […]
Nicholas Brust Frozen In Time Fresh Sound Frozen in Time is saxophonist, composer, and educator Nicholas Brust’s debut full-length album, with nine originals in a quintet setting. Brust did release an EP of original music in 2015 but has mostly stayed busy playing in NYC and serving as a educator at three institutions. Brust has […]
Doug Webb Apples and Oranges Posi-Tone Posi-Tone, the highly selective label that only issues about a dozen recordings annually, a label that we began covering on these pages this year, now releases Doug Webb’s Apples & Oranges, the latest from the veteran saxophonist and composer, one of the label’s longest tenured artists. Some of the […]
