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Dial and DeRosa: Keep Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Keep Swingin', a splendid new album from pianist Garry Dial and drummer Rich DeRosa, features “the music of Charlie Banacos." Charlie who? you may ask. And the answer is, there are jazz educators, and then there was Charlie Banacos, whose talent and ingenuity in the classroom influenced and inspired countless jazz musicians for more than fifty years. During that time, he designed more than a hundred courses of study and wrote half a dozen books on composition and improvisation.
read moreSusie Meissner: I Wish I Knew
by Jack Bowers
I wish I knew why the talented Philadelphia-based singer Susie Meissner chose to open her salute to the Great American Songbook with the only tune on the album that doesn't really qualify: Curtis Lewis' “The Great City." It's not a bad song but Cole Porter or Johnny Mandel it ain't. On the bright side, Meissner recovers quickly on the fourth album under her name with a burnished rendition of the title theme, a memorable composition by the legendary Hollywood songwriting ...
read moreSusie Meissner: I Wish I Knew
by C. Michael Bailey
Over the past decade and three previous recordings, Philadelphia-based vocalist Susie Meissner has crafted an intelligently conceived and thoughtfully paced survey of the Great American Songbook. Meissner's considerations of the standard jazz repertoire, in concert with pianist John Shaddy's sturdy arrangements and educated performance manner, have emerged, evolving from chaste and reverent beginnings, into rich and supple layerings of stylistic and technical outreach with each subsequent recording. Meissner's debut, I'll Remember April (Lydian Jazz, 2009), emerged as a ...
read moreSusie Meissner: Tea for Two
by C. Michael Bailey
Natural but determined evolution makes for well conceived and produced projects. Vocalist Susie Meissner has proved this statement as she progressed from her debut recording I'll Remember April (Lydian Jazz, 2009), through her sophomore effort, I'm Confessin' (Lydian Jazz, 2011) to the present Tea for Two. Using a well-worn repertoire, Meissner, mostly with the support of pianist John Shaddy and his regular rhythm section (bassist Lee Smith and drummer Dan Monaghan), has steadily moved from solid, if not predictable, arrangements ...
read morePaul Meyers: Paul Meyers Quartet featuring Frank Wess
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
This is a very smooth outing from Paul Meyers, mixing standards--both the rather ripe ("I Cover The Waterfront") and the lesser-known (Billy Strayhorn's “Snibor")--with Meyers originals as showcases for his acoustic nylon string guitar. “Smooth" should not be taken to mean “smooth jazz": there is just the right amount of edge in the musicians' interaction to keep things interesting.Meyers' style is almost casually virtuosic, reflecting the easy skill of a session veteran whose credits span a vast stylistic ...
read morePaul Meyers: Paul Meyers Quartet featuring Frank Wess
by Bruce Lindsay
Guitarist Paul Meyers' stated intention with Paul Meyers Quartet featuring Frank Wess was to create “a relaxed, straight-ahead jazz CD," and with the assistance of some delightful sax and flute from NEA Jazz Master Frank Wess he has succeeded admirably. The mix of standards and originals is thoughtfully put together and the end result is a feel-good and sophisticated album (which was originally released on Meyers' own PCM label in 2008). This is a rich, accessible recording. ...
read morePaul Meyers: Paul Meyers Quartet Featuring Frank Wess
by Raul d'Gama Rose
This record, very simply titled, brings together two fine musicians. One is Paul Meyers, the stylish nylon-string guitarist who adorns the music of Jon Hendricks, and the legendary Frank Wess, a tenor saxophonist and flutist with perhaps the most burnished vocal styles on both instruments. This in itself, achieves a sort of Zen-like Nirvana while soaking in the exquisite exchanges between the two. Then to add the deeply moving, regal baritone of Andy Bey on “Lazy Afternoon" is like a ...
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