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The Scott Whitfield Jazz Orchestra West: Postcards from Hollywood
by Jack Bowers
While many people have been excited or enraptured by the music scores accompanying Hollywood's most beloved films, few know (or perhaps even care) who wrote them. That's a shame, as these composers (and their contemporaries) were musical trailblazers whose names should be enshrined forever in the annals of artistic brilliance. One who does care is composer/arranger Scott Whitfield who has dedicated the latest album by his Jazz Orchestra West, Postcards from Hollywood, to their remarkable (and too-often overlooked) legacy.
read moreScott Whitfield & Friends: A Bi-Coastal Christmas
by Jack Bowers
If trombonist Scott Whitfield's A Bi-Coastal Christmas cannot quicken your inner holiday spirit, that will not be for lack of trying. Whitfield uses every ribbon in the packet and every tool in the shed to help make the season bright, from big band to quintet, from duo to solo (Whitfield's trombone all by itself). Two of the selections were recorded in 2004, four others in 2005, whereas Whitfield's brace of solo tracks was taped in 2020 as he cast off ...
read moreJennifer Leitham: Remnants of Humanity
by Jack Bowers
Jennifer Leitham, already known as one of the most accomplished bassists on the West Coast (as well as other precincts spanning the globe), spreads her wings, so to speak, on Remnants of Humanity, singing on seven numbers as well as playing her usual assertive upright bass most of the way. As a singer and musician, Leitham has plenty to say, addressing, as she writes, the need for outcry against injustice and the cruelty being done in the name of the ...
read moreJennifer Leitham: Mood (S)wings
by Jack Bowers
One of the rules of thumb in jazz is that hardly anyone ever looks forward to a bass solo. Rules, however, were made to be broken, and a case in point is multi-talented Jennifer Leitham whose solos on Mood (S)wings are nimble, well-crafted and consistently engaging--in other words, worth looking forward to. Not that anything less would be expected from someone who has been at the top of her game for more nearly four decades and performed with a who's ...
read moreJennifer Leitham: Future Christmas
by Jack Bowers
The spirit of Christmas past, present and future overspreads this charming holiday album by virtuosic bassist Jennifer Leitham's working trio (Andy Langham, piano; Randy Drake, drums) on which she offsets a program comprised mainly of established seasonal favorites with some tantalizing curves (for example, her own Future Christmas," a.k.a The Global Warming Winter Holiday Blues," or Bob Dorough's clever Blue Christmas" --not to be confused with Elvis Presley's version from the '50s). Such uncommon departures seem only proper, as there ...
read morePear: Extemp'ore
by AAJ Italy Staff
Curioso e bizzarro. Sono i primi aggettivi che vengono in mente con lo scorrere delle tracce di questo Extemp'ore, l'album di debutto del duo formato dal tastierista Rick Pierone, molto attivo nell'ambito della sonorizzazione di film e spettacoli teatrali, e del percussionista Rick Milne. I due registrano varie sessions a ruota libera, solo qualche indicazione, qualche riferimento, poi tutto è lasciato alla spontaneità, alle sensazioni, agli umori del momento, all'estemporaneità, in poche parole all'improvvisazione. Quelle sessions diventano poi la base ...
read morePear: Extemp'ore
by David Rickert
Most jazz albums involve at least a little bit of preparation: song selection, rehearsals, selection of sidemen and so on. Pear, on the other hand, is after something much more spontaneous and pure on its debut, Extemp'ore. The group is comprised of percussionist Rick Milne and keyboardist Nick Pierone. They enter the studio and play whatever comes to mind, sometimes inviting a few other musicians along for the ride, like bassists Jennifer Leitham and Jimmy Johnson). The songs are then ...
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