piano

Danilo Perez Crisalida

Jim Hynes cd review, jazz, latin, making a Scene, piano March 16, 2022

Danilo Perez Crisalida Mack Avenue The GRAMMY-winning pianist, composer, educator, and longtime member of The Wayne Shorter Quartet, Panamanian Danilo Perez, delivers essentially an idealistic world music effort imbued with Latin, classical chamber music, jazz improvisations (mostly his) and choral strains via his new band, The Global Messengers. This is very different sounding album than […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Mathis Picard Live at the Museum

Jim Hynes jazz, making a Scene, piano, roots February 2, 2022

Mathis Picard Live at the Museum Outside in Music Mathis Picard, only in his mid-twenties, is an emerging French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer, and bandleader who currently resides in New York City and is ascending in popularity. If you’ve been fortunate to hear him, it was probably through his genre-bending 2020 EP World Unity under the […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Mareike Wiening Future Memories

Jim Hynes cd review, jazz, making a Scene, piano, roots November 18, 2021

Mareike Wiening Future Memories Greenleaf Music Certain jazz labels such as Greenleaf Music, Pyroclastic, and Outside in Music are just a few that one can count on for creative jazz presentations today. Greenleaf, the subject at hand, is an independent music company owned, operated and curated by trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas. The label is […]

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CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Miki Yamanaka Stairway to the Stars

Jim Hynes cd review, jazz, making a Scene, piano October 2, 2021

Miki Yamanaka Stairway to the Stars Outside in Music This is our second entry for Miki Yamanaka, who’s stunning 2020 Human Dust Suite we covered on these same pages. She returns with a more intimate recording, Stairway to the Stars, her third album, this time with a drumless trio featuring returning bassist Orlando le Fleming […]

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CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Lisa Hilton Transparent Sky

Jim Hynes cd review, jazz, lisa hilton, making a Scene, piano September 3, 2021

Lisa Hilton Transparent Sky Ruby Slippers Productions Composer/pianist/producer, Lisa Hilton is back less than a year later with her follow-up to her 2020 More Than Another Day, again featuring her longstanding bandmates: Rudy Royston on drums, and Luques Curtis on bass. Considering that this writer has covered Hilton twice previously for two different outlets, perhaps an introduction is appropriate for […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Billy Test Trio Coming Down Roses

Jim Hynes billy test trio, cd rev, ew, jazz, making a Scene, piano August 5, 2021

Billy Test Trio Coming Down Roses ATM His name is not yet widely known but this writer first became familiar with Pennsylvania-bred pianist and composer Billy Test when he and trio mates, bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Ian Froman backed Dave Liebman in last year’s Invitation by The Generations Quartet. Having studied with Liebman while […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Alex Conde Descarga for Bud

Jim Hynes alex conde, cd review, flamenco, jazz, making a Scene, piano May 27, 2021

Alex Conde Descarga for Bud Sedajazz If you were to ask most casual jazz fans to name the most important pianist of the fifties, it would inevitably be Thelonious Monk. Yet although the jazz pianists may agree, they would also name the bebop giant Bud Powell as the major contender as he had a profound […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Americana

Ben Cosgrove The Trouble with Wilderness

Jim Hynes americana, ben cosgrove, cd review, making a Scene, piano April 27, 2021

Ben Cosgrove The Trouble with Wilderness Self-released Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist from New England. He travels constantly all over the country, performing a unique variety of original instrumental music that explores themes of landscape, geography, and environment while straddling a line between folk and classical music. He has delivered several […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Jazz

Miki Yamanaka Human Dust Suite

Jim Hynes jazz, making a Scene, miki yamanaka, piano September 20, 2020

Miki Yamanaka Human Dust Suite Outside In Music You could say the centerpiece for this album by New York-based musician and composer Miki Yamanaka is based on a rather strange and alarming subject but then again, you’ve probably had your own experience of wandering through an art museum, only to be totally stunned by a particular […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews Americana/ CD Reviews INDIE Blues

The Boogie Kings Disturbing the Peace

Jim Hynes boogie kings, boogie piano, making a Scene, piano January 9, 2019

The Boogie Kings Disturbing the Peace BluJazz/Spirit Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza bring four-handed boogie-woogie thunder on their collaborative and aptly named, Disturbing the Peace. Images of freight trains, highways, loud juke joints and boisterous road houses ring through this resounding set that often sounds like a full band. Yes, it’s generally loud and raucous […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews INDIE Blues

Michael Kaeshammer Something New

Richard Ludmerer blues, cd review, indie Blues, making a Scene, Michael Kaeshammer, piano, something new May 7, 2018

Michael Kaeshammer Something New Linus Entertainment Michael Kaeshammer grew up in Germany where he studued Classical piano. At a young age he developed an interest in the boogie – woogie and stride piano of Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. He moved with his family to Canada and began playing at festivals. He […]

CD Reviews/ CD Reviews INDIE Blues

Victor Wainwright and The Train

Rhetta Akamatsu blues, blues-rock, cd review, indie Blues, making a Scene, New Orleans blues, piano, roots rock, Victor Wainwright February 8, 2018

Victor Wainwright and the Train Ruf Records By Rhetta Ajamatsu Having established himself firmly in the last few years as a multiple-award winning piano player and entertainer, Victor Wainwright is making some changes. He has a new band, The Train, a new record label, Ruf and a new album, simply called Victor Wainwright and The […]

Artist Interviews/ INDIE Blues Artist

An Exclusive interview with Wendy Dewitt!!

Richard L'Hommedieu .blues, boogie woogie, Indie B, indie Blues, Live from the Midnight Circus., making a Scene, piano, wendy dewitt November 18, 2015

An Exclusive Interview with Wendy Dewitt! by Richard Lhommedieu on Mixcloud Throughout a career that included touring the United States and Europe with rhythm-and-blues legend Hank Ballard and nearly a quarter century at the helm of a powerhouse blues combo called Blue Saloon, boogie woogie and blues pianist and vocalist Wendy DeWitt always worked with […]

CD Reviews INDIE Blues

Dave Keyes – Right Here Right Now

Richard Ludmerer blues, dave keys, making a Scene, piano August 18, 2014

Dave Keyes Right Here Right Now Keyesland Music Dave Keyes has been a part of the New York music scene for over twenty years. His cd “Tear It Up” was released in 1997. In 2000 Keyes won the International Blues Challenge band competition. Keyes’ third cd “Covered in Blue” received 3 ½ stars from Downbeat magazine. […]