There is always so much more to music than meets the eye. Jerry Donato’s new release It’s A Cool Heat is a labor of love and respect for his past. Donato is a m…
14 May
Shadow Song by Howard Leshaw Quartet
Saturday, 14 May 2005
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Howard Leshaw's Essential "Rebirth" of the CoolShadow Song contains inspired jazz, through and through. Each crack composition is an integral part o…
This two disc set from Shout! Factory, like their set on Chet Baker’s mentor Dizzy Gillespie, is simply spectacular. Chet Baker, following in the footsteps of Louis Arms…
After a six-year hiatus, since his last album, Peculiar Situation, Earl Klugh makes a triumphant return with a new release, Naked Guitar, featuring the…
With a musical spectrum that could be fantastic, I feel simplicity is still the best criteria for jazz music. In today's market of sounds, and the way jazz creates these so…
After his various run-in’s in the 1960’s with the law, with drug dealers, with thugs who knocked his teeth out, with hospital personnel who mended his body Chet Baker someh…
This is the album Hiroshima took 25 years to make.Okay, that's not exactly true. Obon didn't take the band over two decades to create. It did take over t…
The fourth song on this disc is called ‘Atomic Café’ and well that is what it is, an atomic café. Hiroshima over the past 25 years have put together album and after albu…
The man with the horn: it's not merely a famous jazz standard, but the public face of the music itself. When one thinks of musicians who have influenced not only the sound …
Duets, trios, quartets, and even quintets are all nomenclatures of jazz music. Another name for this would be called bands or banding groups of people. Try to experiment…
Tonight 2/12/05, I had the pleasure, once again, of seeing Gerald Albright and his band perform "LIVE" at the LOVE94 radio station Love & Jazz Valentine's concert at C.B. S…
Solade is a vocalist, a writer and a trumpet player. Honing her sounds in the ‘big city’ of New York, this Panama born earned her Bachelor of Arts in trumpet performance…
24 Jul
On Broadway Volume 3 by Paul Motian
Saturday, 24 July 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
There are many jazz albums on the market that practically scream "All-Star Session! Everyone playing on this album is a big shot in his/her own right! Buy it!" Of…
I like the track Confessions Of A Liar. Guitarist Doug Munro and trumpeter Ray Vega bring this bossa nova track and album up to par to what is out there today and wi…
01 Jul
On the Road by The Jazz Expressions
Thursday, 01 July 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
The great thing about musicians, is that they can come from all walks of life andevery part of the world and still make the same kind of language. The languageof jazz. The …
28 Jun
Shades After Dark by Yuma Jazz Company
Monday, 28 June 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
This quintet has a nice tight grouping with fine musicians throughout. No fuss or clutter here, just the meat and potatoes of a solid jazz group with a refined sound."Re…
With a tone reminiscent of the Paul Desmond school of cool jazz, Allison Neale gets right to the heart of the music with no useless fuss or clutter. Neale's alto tone is li…
18 Jun
The Best of Chet Baker by Chet Baker
Friday, 18 June 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
I tend to greet "Best of" albums with skepticism. So many are cheap attempts to resell the same old tracks in a different package. And it’s such a subjective undertaking an…
One of the more outwardly troubled jazz musicians, his life a continuing saga of inspiration and addiction, Chet Baker continued to fascinate his listeners from his early f…
01 May
The Contemporary Records Story by Various Artists
Saturday, 01 May 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Lester Koenig’s Contemporary Records was the leading West Coast jazz label at its most prolific period in the 1950s and 1960s. This delightful 4 CD box captures the magic o…
Doc Powell and his all-star cast of guest musicians gets you into the groove right away on his new album, Cool Like That, and he never lets up.The album opens with
What we're offered here by jazz pianist Dave Fleschner, is his tidy exercise in 'chamber-jazz-bebop.' Dave & his group are fine exponents of the great ethos of jazz one exp…
The most compelling tune on this album is "Gnomesayin' which translated, is obviously Know What I'm Sayin' in the vernacular of the street. This song is in a be bop mode an…
26 Mar
In This Present Moment by Matthew Von Doran
Friday, 26 March 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
After 20 years of gradually building his rep as a reliable and versatile sideman on the Orange County, Calif., circuit, guitarist Matthew Von Doran has finally stepped out …
26 Mar
Sounds of Summer by Various Artists
Friday, 26 March 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Sounds of Summer, released by Concord Records, is their Jazz Moods series celebrating the summer its warmth and cheer with a compilation of cool and up-beat numbers from va…
It’s "Hot" and vivacious, this journey Allison Miller takes us on, as she introduces her debut recording, released by Foxhaven Records named "5 am stroll". The label this p…
14 Mar
In This Present Moment by Matthew Von Doran
Sunday, 14 March 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
A wide range of talent shares the spotlight on this tightly composed album. It’s soft, smooth, a little perky, yet, introspective and thought provoking.Opening with a se…
I have one rule when it comes to smooth jazz. Don't bore me. Jazz can be exciting, inspired and improvised. What it should never be is trite or tedious. I'm pleased …
04 Mar
The Contemporary Records Story by Various Artists
Thursday, 04 March 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Possibly because of its many stylistic variants and the large number of musicians involved in the music during its heydays, recorded jazz has been more closely tied to vari…
02 Mar
More Live-Lee by Lee Konitz with Alan Broadbent
Tuesday, 02 March 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Lee Konitz and Alan Broadbent: Two craftsmen from different jazz generations united by an emphasis on exploration rather than emotion. The result is inventive music that cr…
25 Feb
The Easy Way by Jimmy Giuffre 3
Wednesday, 25 February 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Jimmy Giuffre was always a little ahead of the curve. Though he was lumped in with the (often unfairly maligned) Cool School, his stuff was always adventurous. JG omitted d…
21 Feb
Like Fine Wine by George Shearing
Saturday, 21 February 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
A subtle, laid back, yet melodic & harmonic George Shearingis proffered to us in the current incarnation of his new CD project'Like Fine Wine.' It's hard to believe Shearin…
07 Feb
One Day with Lee by Mark Masters Ensemble with Lee Konitz
Saturday, 07 February 2004
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
This CD from Mark Masters & Lee Konitz is full of excellent playing and clever ideas. Konitz has recorded several legendary dates with large and big bands through the years…
Mimi Fox doesn’t have anything to prove. Widely recognized by her peers and jazz guitar aficionados around the world as one of the most gifted, straight-ahead players on th…
Bay Area guitarist Mimi Fox makes me wish I had paid more attention taking guitar lessons as a teenager. Ms. Fox is not merely a meticulous technician, she is a unique guit…
Oh! the new recording by the quartet Scolohofo could have easily turned into a battle of egos where each member adapts a jam session mentality by trying to out play the oth…
21 Oct
Gypsy Schaeffer by Gypsy Schaeffer
Tuesday, 21 October 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Boston's Gypsy Schaeffer is a quartet of impeccable pedigree. Alto player Andy Voelker & drummer Chris Punis are alumni of the renown Berklee College of Music, while trombo…
21 Oct
Gypsy Schaeffer by Gypsy Schaeffer
Tuesday, 21 October 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Don’t assume (as I did) that just because Boston combo Gypsy Schaeffer is a piano/guitar-less ensemble - ‘bone, alto sax, bass, drums - that they’re a free/avant-type group…
17 Oct
Gypsy Schaeffer by Gypsy Schaeffer
Friday, 17 October 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Don’t be fooled by the name. Gypsy Schaeffer is not an exotic dancer of Hungarian descent. In fact, it’s not a person at all.It’s a group - a jazz quartet, to be exact.
27 Sep
It Runs In the Family Soundtrack by Various Artists
Saturday, 27 September 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
It runs in the family was a very well put together compositions of cool jazz tunes from some of our old favorite artist and a couple of new favorite artist. Diana Krall did…
04 Aug
Flute Bass-ics by Chip Shelton & Ron Carter
Monday, 04 August 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Perky, upbeat, yet sensual and sublime talents, master flutist Chip Shelton and THE master of bass, Ron Carter team up to create an ear-friendly variety of tunes: several w…
10 Jul
Live-Lee by Lee Konitz with Alan Broadbent
Thursday, 10 July 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Now in his 76th year, saxophonist Lee Konitz just keeps getting better and better. Far from resting on his considerable laurels, he continues to explore and examine, mining…
18 Jun
A New Generation: Paesanos on the New B3 by The Tony Monaco Trio feat. The Joey DeFrancesco Trio
Wednesday, 18 June 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
For over a decade Joey DeFrancesco has reigned undisputed as the king of the new generation of B3 Organ players. The unexpected emergence of Tony Monaco in the past three y…
23 May
Kinda Cool by Carl Amundson & The Modern Guitar Quintet
Friday, 23 May 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
The acoustic guitar is a rather reclusive instrument in jazz. It has been, historically speaking, relegated to time-keeping functions as a part of the rhythm section in the…
As it states in the liner notes, this album was recorded live to 2 track dat...no overdubs...no fixes. (This is the music of my formative years and it is simply magic).W…
As the title would seem to suggest, Mo'Fone has created a very upbeat summertime compact disc. Comprised from what would seem to be a Donald Fagan dream, Mo'Fone is lead by…
12 Mar
Live-Lee by Lee Konitz with Alan Broadbent
Wednesday, 12 March 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
I’d taken a friend of mine to see the Lee Konitz Trio at NYC Iridium club a year or so ago - she’s not a jazz fan per se but is an open-minded sort. When I asked afterwards…
09 Feb
In A Sentimental Mood by Kent Cohea
Sunday, 09 February 2003
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Kent Cohea and Alan Steger are a duo made for each other. Cohea's Tenor Saxophone at times has a Getz like feel but his ideas certainly run on differently, giving him an id…
Slightly Askew has been a long time coming but is well worth the wait. Chris Bowden's music has matured and now travels beyond the earlier musical territorial constraints o…
19 Sep
Music By / For Lennie Tristano & Lee Konitz by Palo Alto
Thursday, 19 September 2002
Published in
Cool Jazz - CD Reviews
Albums "paying tribute" can be tricky propositions - sometimes it’s a calculated (though not "evil") move, to sell more units of the album by covering the tunes/composition…