Jazz Articles

Kendra Shank: Reflections

by Jerry D'Souza
June 1, 2001

It is always a pleasure discovering something new, even if that “new" has been around for a while. So it is with Kendra Shank, as complete a jazz singer as one could wish for. And on this her third album, Shank sings to tunes composed by Duke Ellington, Abbey Lincoln, Kurt Weill, Ralph Towner and The Beatles. That nails the concept of the singer she is, dead center.

Shank who was once a folk singer made her recording debut in ...

The Dado Moroni Trio: Out Of The Night

by Jerry D'Souza
June 1, 2001

What's in a name? Shakespeare had an answer to that one and so will those who listen to this album. Thenceforth, the mention of Edgardo “Dado" Moroni will no longer lead to a quizzically raised eyebrow.

Moroni has recorded well over 25 albums. The bulk of those were in Europe. Yet there were those in the know on the other side of the Atlantic, who hired him to play in their bands, among them Clark Terry, Tom Harrell and Lee ...

Jessica Williams: Blue Fire

by Jerry D'Souza
June 1, 2001

Jessica Williams is a no-nonsense person. You can hear this in conversation with her, you can feel this from her liner notes and you can sense it from her music. The attitude stems not only from confidence but also with being comfortable with her craft, something that leaps out each time you listen to her music.

In writing the notes to this record, Williams makes several pertinent points. One is that the tradition in her music will not go away ...

Misako Kano: 3 Purple Circles

by Jerry D'Souza
June 1, 2001

If there is one constant about Misako Kano it is that she is comfortable in two worlds. Born and raised in Yamaguchi, Japan, she studied classical and jazz piano at Kent State in the U.S. She earned her bachelor's degree, majoring in classical piano performance and music education and later got her master's majoring in jazz piano performance. She lived in New York City, had a residency at the Cotton Club in 1992 and then moved back to Japan.

Kano ...

Kendra Shank: Reflections

by Mathew Bahl
November 1, 2000

Although many vocalists pay only lip service to the ideas of “using the voice as an instrument” and the singer “working as part of the group,” on her third CD, Kendra Shank delivers spectacularly on both fronts. Ms. Shank had already set herself apart as a singer who was deeply committed to jazz but unwilling to traffic in the usual jazz singing clichés. What makes Reflections her finest effort yet is an added willingness to open up and expose herself ...

Jack Brownlow Trio: Suddenly It's Bruno

by Dave Nathan
July 1, 2000

Jack Brownlow was born in Wenatchee, a small town in Washington State. So was bop saxophonist, Don Lanphere and jazz writer Doug Ramsey. Ramsey relates an interesting bit of jazz trivia about Wenatchee in his very good book Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of Its Makers. Ramsey, long an admirer of Miles Davis, had never seen him play live. The opportunity came when Miles was playing the Jazz Gallery in Greenwich Village, New York when Ramsey was ...

Misako Kano: Breakthrew

by Jim Santella
January 1, 1999

Pianist Misako Kano grew up in Japan and studied at several universities before earning her Master’s degree in Jazz Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music in 1990. She led this session in New York City in early 1996, and the quartet’s recording was released in Japan. Jazz Focus released the session in 1998 shortly after Thomas Chapin died at the age of forty, after a long bout with leukemia.

“Never Let Me Go" and Cole Porter’s “I Love You" ...

Marilyn Lerner: Birds Are Returning

by Jim Santella
December 1, 1997

Recorded in Havana and featuring an international lineup, Marilyn Lerner's latest release builds upon the strengths of her trio and expands the ensemble in differing numbers. Joining pianist Lerner, acoustic bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Dafnis Prieto, are Jane Bunnett on flute and soprano saxophone, Cuban “young lion" Yosvanny Terry on alto and tenor saxophones, Javier Falbo on baritone saxophone, and Inor Sotolongo on Latin percussion. A trio of Cuban bata drummers is included on Horace Silver's “Que Pasa" and ...