22 Feb
Heart And Soul by Kenny G.
Kenny G is one of the most phenomenal smooth jazz musicians known through out history. He has sold over millions of albums and that is just in the United States. He started his solo career in 1982 and in now known worldwide. This album Heart and Soul is produced by Walter Afanasieff and Kenny G. himself. This is a smooth jazz style with a twist of urban with the help of vocal artists Babyface, “No Place Like Home,” and Robin Thicke, “Fall Again."This album is very touching. Robin Thicke’s “Fall
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There is a very good reason why tenor and soprano, as well as sometime alto, saxophonist Joe Lovano is one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. It’s because he has devoted his life to finding new ways to express improvised melodic conceptualizations, because his harmonic language continues to evolve and develop, and because he has found new means for elaborating on and breaking through rhythmic patterns. But mostly, because Lovano continues to practice and develop his instrumental techni
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James Moody passed away today. It would take extraordinary words to adequately describe the genius of this remarkable artist. This album, his last, is a treasure and keepsake for all afficionados of jazz. Moody's phrasing and ideas say a lot about him. In his soliloquys, it's as if he is speaking directly to the listener. BeBop's last hope is gone, but his dominant force lives on in his music. From blazing speed to soulful ballads, James Moody has no peer.With "Take The A Train" Kenny Barron ope
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Exploring odd-meters, swirling melodic themes and rhythmically-charged free-form improvisations, the New York-based collective Tarbaby delivers an intriguing set of swing-based jazz with The End of Fear. Along with core members Orrin Evans on piano, bassist Eric Revis and Nasheet Watts on drums, the twelve-track set features the trumpeter Nicholas Payton and saxophonists Oliver Lake and JD Allen. The use of speech sound bites cleverly enhances shorter, open-ended pieces such as "E-Math" and "Hea
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Stories Yet To Tell is something very special indeed from British jazz singer Norma Winstone. Somehow, all the material on this album summarizes what the ECM label is all about: spacious, haunting music that leaves you with a sense of lingering reflection at what you have just listened to. It's the kind of music where the space between the notes and tracks is as important as the notes being played.Hard to classify or label in terms of content, one thing the album isn't is in your face. This i
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There is a little bit of Broadway in the way MJ Territo sings. And even in the jazzier moments on the album, Territo does not sound like any other female jazz singer. Her pharsing and style reminds me more of male singers, like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett than Holiday or Ella. Territo has kind of the same coolness on her phrasing.You can hear on Territo voice, she is having a lot of fun singing songs like Down with love, Mambo italiano, Lady is a tramp, Gotta serve somebody, Jobim Waters of M
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Jazz and Country? Billie Holiday and Dolly Parton music in the same CD? Seems like an odd combination. Billie and Dolly is the tittle of Jacqui Sutton new album, but in reality just two songs are from Lady Day and the Queen of Country, God Bless the Child and Endless stream of tears. The rest of the album is a unique fusion of Jazz and Bluegrass. Its known that musicians like Bela Fleck has been doing something similar, but it is the first time I hear a singer trying this fusion in a whole album
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One of the ways jazz has grown is by absorbing the sounds and rhythms of other cultures. African and Latin American music were strong early influences. Today, India is making waves. Since classical Indian music has always included extensive improvisation, it seems it might have happened sooner. However, while spirituals, rumbas and African drums readily appeal to Western ears, Indian raga is a more difficult fit—its scales more exotic, its rhythms more austerely complex. But now, saxophonist R
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Europeans always liked and supported jazz since the beginning, when they first heard James Reese's Europe HellFigthers. At the beginning of the 20th century when jazz was regarded as inferior black music, some European classical composers were among the first to recognize the richness and the quality of this new music. And when jazz legends like Miles, Duke and Dizzy went to Europe, especially to France, they were treated as royalty in a time when back in the U.S., they were not allowed to stay
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Jazz standards in an intimate format of just guitar, bass and clear, rich vocals, that is the new album of Jenny Davis, Inside you. Jenny Davis vocals are equally soulful and honest in ballads like My romance or swingin pieces like On green dolphin strett. Like any good jazz musician Jenny use her voice as an instrument, improvising and playing with the melodies. She is the kind of singer that gets deep into the songs and makes you feel the lyrics.Jenny has a unique style yet deeply rooted in th
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Indonesian guitarist Tohpati, revered for his work with the ensemble simakDIALOG, tenders a captivating mission, pronouncing a rapidly-paced slant on Indo jazz-rock. The premise for this album underscores a positive aspect that communicates an upbeat outlook and musically diverse course of action. Here, the musicians engineer a poetic manifesto based on our collective environments. Featuring memorably melodic grooves and radiant interplay with flutist Diki Suwarjiki, the music seamlessly coal
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Elisabeth Lohninger’s album, Songs of Love and Destruction, is full of extremely emotional songs. This album could take the listener on some kind of an emotional rollercoaster ride, but some tend to need something similar to realize that life is what it is. For example; her song, “Save Me” –“Save me from you/But pave me a way to you…/Spoil me with you/and soil me with the world of you.” A singer-songwriter expressed the album best. This album gives the experience “from both sides.” This album is
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Achingly soulful with a hint of apathetic teenage angst, from top to bottom, Spiral drips with an honesty that has been lacking with many of the latest jazz offerings of the past decade. Trimmed out with guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Jamire Williams, Dr. Smith’s current touring band, the tunes on this album run the gauntlet, from Slide Hampton and Frank Loesser to Rodgers and Hart. Not limited by the three man line-up, Spiral is full of textual nuance that rumbles by the listener with
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Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Pedro Bermudez is a pianist with lot of experience playing with salsa legends like Willie Rosario, Roberto Roena and the Puerto Rican Latin Jazz group Batacumbele.The opening track "Yuba a Santurce" is an homage to Pedro's town, Santurce. This is a piece with Bomba and Jazz fusion, reminiscent of the music of another great Jazz musician from Puerto Rico, trmbonist William Cepeda. Good improvisations by Ivan Renta on sax and Oscar Stagnaro on drums.Pedro plays the f
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Well-traveled bassist Michael Formanek and his band-mates, here on The Rub and Spare Change, are accelerators of the new jazz with roots in New York City amid collaborations in the US and abroad for over three decades. An interesting composer and consummate idea man, Formanek highlights his cunning compositional prowess with this debut solo effort for ECM Records. The division of labor in this release equates to a program that builds upon the players’ individual strengths and voices. Formanek
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Australia is a land of beautiful sights, kangaroos, and even some great rock bands like AC/DC, Inxs and Men at Work. But Jazz is not the first word that comes to mind when talking about Australia. Sydney native bassist Mark Costa might change that perception with his album Textures. Textures is a collection of interesting compositions in a Jazz Fusion tradition. All compositions are originals by Mark Costa and like all good jazz music, Mark leave a lot of space to improvisations. "Dedication", i
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In the early 1970’s, Emerson, Lake & Palmer helped accelerate the burgeoning progressive-rock movement with dazzling technical acumen and a distinct convergence of classical, jazz and fundamental rock basics. They sold millions of LPs, although their elaborate and showy stage antics, at times diminished the band’s relevance. Ultimately, the world took notice and the trio developed a huge following. However, prog and fusion took a downturn in the early 80s to new forms of rock and a prisma
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On the surface, putting together a duo album seems like a pretty straight-ahead idea: you get some tunes together and head to the studio. All too often though, the mojo that keeps a duo album from going stale runs out. Without the collaboration that comes with putting together four or five players in a room, melodic lines float about unanswered and the comping of the guitar can become labored. The energy and spontaneous creativity that is needed to breathe life into the album deflates. Flights:
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Pianist and Denver, Colorado native Lisa Downing has spent time touring with new-age artists like Liz Story and Lee Bartley, as well as shared the program with other artists like David Lanz. Her collegiate music degree is a joint one between the University of Colorado at Denver and Metropolitan State College.A Delicate Balance is her third solo piano recording and has a style very reminiscent of Liz Story. Downing’s 12-track, 42-minute disc is a collection of solo piano pieces inspired by peop
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UCLA ethnomusicology graduate and New Orleans native, Sandra Booker was the first vocal student to receive the Julian Cannonball Adderley Memorial Scholarship. Since then, she has taught vocal workshops at universities like Cal State Northridge and Santa Monica Community College, as well as at various high schools. Professionally, you’ve probably heard her voice on Coca-Cola and Ralph Lauren television commercials. All of this is to lay the groundwork that Booker is the real deal. An artist
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Brazilian Voyage indeed hits some breezy, swaying Brazilian highlights, but there are stops in Germany, New York and, perhaps, Kentucky. Even the samba-like tracks are more worldly than usual. Brazil's most famous classical composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, is represented by "Trenzinho Do Caipira." It's from his collection Bachianas Brasileiras, which honored the musical style of Bach. All of this could have turned out to be overly intellectual. It didn't. Villa-Lobos' noisy depiction of a little
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Saxophonist Dan White began his musical studies on piano before switching over to the saxophone at a young age. Raised in Williamsville, NY, he is currently a junior at Ohio State University studying music. Fran’s Place is his first full-length self-released recording. The seven tunes were all recorded on one day in August of 2009.White is accompanied by a trio including Buffalo native Chris Ziemba on Fender Rhodes. Ziemba, who is quickly making musical waves with invites to such hig
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What a better way to start Canadian singer/composer Laura Harrison's debut album Now Here, than with the extraordinaire interpretation and fabulous scats in the Sarah Vaughan song "Shulie a Bop." The hard swing, superb scats and amazing phrasing on this first track should tell you what's this lady is all about. Laura is a singer with complete command over her voice, a master of scats and improvisations. This is how a jazz singer should sound.Laura sings in perfect Portuguese in Vinicius de Morae
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Acoustic and electric bassist Terje Gewelt hails from Norway, where he grew up in a small town on the southeastern coast. Starting on the guitar at the age of 10 he switched to the bass at age of 14 and never looked back. Studies with the great Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and playing with Norwegian pianist Atle Bakken, only strengthened the young musician. Studies in the United States at the Bass Institute in Los Angeles, with Jeff Berlin and Bob Magnuson, led to playing gigs in clubs wi
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Vocalist and Ohio native Rita Edmond began singing in the church. Later studies with the highly regarded vocal teacher Evangeline Stewart only helped refine the four-octave vocal instrument that Rita has so sweetly polished over her career. A longtime experienced singer of R&B and pop demos for companies like Motown, BET, MCA, EMI Publishing and Warner-Chappell, left the artist wanting. Two years ago Edmond began to move out and explore more heavily the jazz inflected singing that was in h
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