Lisa Sokolov - Presence Rainart Productions On this release, vocalist/keyboardist Lisa Sokolov and her supporting trio including frequent collaborator, drummer Gerry Hemingway communicate gobs of charisma and artistically powerful musical portraitures. Ms Sokolov’s endearing vocal constructions reside in a peerless class, partly due to her ingenious stylizations of pieces by the likes of Cole Porter, Laura Nyro, and original works. It’s sort of like a near flawl …

Mika Pohjola Scandinavian Yuletide Voices Yuletide Voices Finnish jazz pianist Mika Pohjola generally abides by a credo of excellence! As this lovely affair has become a pre and post holiday favorite here at the home-front. Backed by a tentet, including male and female vocalists, this inspirational and wondrously recorded album boasts heady arrangements and sparkling contrasts. There are female choral incantations, bittersweet strings and more. In addition, a dist …

Tod Dockstader & David Lee Myers Pond ReR Megacorp A cleverly construed, and somewhat distorted electronics based view of nature, by two eminent synthesists. On this outing, the duo purveys abstracts that spark notions of perhaps listening to the sounds of the Amazon jungle at dawn or trickling water that is set upon call and response frameworks. Nonetheless, the artists’ pursue a deterministic state of mind, via these generally quiet but altogether thought-provok …

The New Orleans Grand Palace Hotel, highlights the best and brightest of New Orleans’ traditional jazz scene "Essentially, this may be the best looking jazz space in the South." The club is capitalizing on its non-Bourbon Street location by offering next door parking and enhanced by the increasingly popular Canal Street streetcar stops at the club’s front door. The venue is readily accessible from I-10 and the expanding commercial interest in the area of Canal Street between Ram …

With a master’s degree in music earned at "The Manhattan School of Music," and some top-notch recordings to her credit, Baum’s muse is heavily influenced by Stravinsky and Bartok. But there’s no doubt about it, Baum’s compositions are snuggly rooted within the modern jazz vernacular, while affording her soloists’ ample stretching room. Trumpeter Ralph Alessi displayed a blistering attack along with some impressive bass clarinet and alto sax work by Douglas Yates. However, Baum’s arrangements