Straight-Ahead / Classic - CD Reviews (1959)
In Bridging the Gap, drummer Eddie Metz Jr. builds a bridge from the comfort zone of some mainstream groups and their audiences to a recognition that beautiful melod…
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A listen to The Phil Norman Tentet’s "Totally" Live at Catalina Jazz Club, even from its start, reveals that its musicians, who have been performing as a group since…
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Scotish Borders pianist Dave Milligan has performed throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and Asia. Previous working associations include time with Art…
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Guitarist Kevin Van Sant and bassist Ben Palmer’s third CD release as a duo is a tribute to the music made famous by pianist Horace Silver. Included are traditional gems…
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Swing-jazz vocalist Lisa Hearns demonstrates the pleasing warm acoustics of Sheila Cooper and the dreamy-pop glaze of Dena DeRose on her debut album, I Got It Bad & That…
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Sonny Rollins’ Freedom Suite has become so integrated within jazz vocabulary that its themes are immediately recognizable as he plays through its various, but connec…
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Tim Hagans’ lyrical trumpet and pianist Marc Copland’s stand-out compositions and arrangements are on display in Alone Together. Although fresh and inventive in i…
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After releasing his reflective Close to My Heart, a musical reminiscence of the records he heard his mother play at home, Jeremy Pelt determined to record solely ori…
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So Grace Kelly is sixteen? You could have fooled me. She doesn’t sound a day under forty. An alto saxophone phenomenon from Boston, Kelly has received more recognition by h…
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Night Whispers might as well have been entitled Emily, for "Emily" is the most reinforced song, thrice performed, on Marc Copland’s third installment of his
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In these difficult economic times, we would do well to remember that good things can come from adversity, even if the payoff is in the distance. Benny Powell is living p…
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There are a lot of unsung groups out there which play in smaller local venues week in and week out. Take Scott Dailey, for example, who, with his trio has been performing s…
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Michaela Rabitsch and Robert Pawlik are a pair of Austrian jazz musicians who have been working together for over ten years. Rabitsch carries the vocal and horn duties, …
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Even casual jazz fans will recognize the name Brubeck. Pianist Dave Brubeck led a popular 1950s quartet that recorded the now instantly recognizable "Take Five," a rare …
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Danish saxophonist, Benjamin Koppel, continues innovating jazz expression by furthering the international reach of modern jazz by collaborating with four other musicians…
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Last year marked the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the paragon of jazz labels. Recognizing this auspicious occasion, the company issued the CD Mosaic: A Celebra…
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Every once in a while a CD comes along that so captures a reviewer’s attention it’s almost as if there aren’t enough superlatives to describe it. This is the case with g…
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Pianist/composer Kenny Barron's musical accomplishments span half a century. He has recorded 40 albums as a leader and played with everyone: James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, B…
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Philadelphia-based tenor saxophonist Ben Schachter can hold his own with just about anyone on the jazz planet. On his first CD in four years, the artist surges forward w…
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With his second outing as a leader, guitarist Nobuki Takamen continues his seamless merging of lyrically-resplendent compositions, with peppery, in-the-pocket grooves. A…
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