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Susanne Alt: Dark Horse
by Neil Duggan
In 2024, saxophonist Susanne Alt released Royalty For Real (Venus Tunes); the album was a homage to her mentor, the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. It featured bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Willie Jones III. Their seven-year collaboration in Hargrove's band brought a tight, intuitive groove to the session, complemented further by keyboardist James Hurt. From that same session comes Dark Horse, which features seven Alt compositions plus a Charlie Parker cover.The album owes its origins to Alt arriving ...
Continue ReadingKen Peplowski: Live at Mezzrow
by Jack Bowers
When one is diagnosed with multiple myeloma, as woodwind specialist Ken Peplowski was in June 2021, there are basically two alternatives: either accept the decision and throw in the towel or choose to fight and double down on doing what keeps you active and hopeful, in this case making beautiful music that swings. Obviously, as epitomized by the album Live at Mezzrow, Peplowski chose the latter path, and three years on has apparently won the battle, at least for now, ...
Continue ReadingKen Peplowski: Unheard Bird
by Jack Bowers
Even when the recording (in this case, two) is a classic--as, for example, Charlie Parker's memorable Bird with Strings (Mercury Records, 1950)--some songs that deserve better are necessarily left on the cutting-room floor. Some may see that as disappointing, while others--like reed specialist Ken Peplowski--embrace it as an opportunity. On Unheard Bird, Peplowski--with strings and a core quartet--presents a series of fourteen generally likable themes, most of which were destined for Parker's album but were somehow passed over, and three ...
Continue ReadingWillie Jones III Sextet at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
Willie Jones III Sextet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA April 30, 2024 Arriving early to a club performance can give one perspective on what is about to take place. On a Tuesday evening in Seattle, with but a few patrons in the club among the hustle-and-bustle of house staff preparing for the evening, the set-up on stage was a prologue of the story that was to be told over a two-hour set. In particular, the drum ...
Continue ReadingRoberta Gambarini: Easy To Love
by Richard J Salvucci
In 2007, All About Jazz reviewer Michael Caratti wrote: “This debut outing from Roberta Gambarini sees the Italian-born jazz vocalist pair up with two star-studded rhythm sections and legendary tenor saxophonist James Moody, to present what has to be one of the best vocal jazz albums of the decade. Opening with Cole Porter's classic title track Gambarini's exquisite tone and masterful rhythmic phrasing are immediately on display in the first a capella section. The gradual addition of bass and brushes ...
Continue ReadingRyan Kisor: Awakening
by C. Andrew Hovan
A man of few words, Ryan Kisor chooses to let his horn do the speaking and obviously it has said volumes over the years when you consider that the trumpeter is one of a select few musicians who has managed to sustain a viable career past the heydays of the jazz renaissance of the '80s and early '90s. Even when given the opportunity to elaborate on his most recent musical endeavors, Kisor states quite simply, “I'm pretty much just doing ...
Continue ReadingSam Taylor: Let Go
by Edward Blanco
Presenting his third offering from the Cellar Live record label, Harlem-based and Philadelphia native, saxophonist Sam Taylor unleashes an exciting bop-filled package of contemporary jazz covers, making a superb job of interpreting the music of composers such as Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen and laying down sturdy new treatments of oft-recorded and ageless classics. The goal of this project is best described by the saxophonist himself in the liner notes when he states: “Fill the ...
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