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Leah Crane: Lucky to Be Me
by Jane Kozhevnikova
Hailing from Indianapolis and based in Chicago, versatile singer Leah Crane released Lucky to Be Me in 2022 after working on it since 2019. Joining her on the album is Paul Langford, a Chicago-based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. The album also features Rob Dixon on saxophone, Daniel Duarte on guitar, Shawn Sommer on bass and Tom Hipskind on drums. Lucky To Be Me has a variety of instrumentation ranging from a duet to an ...
read moreCharlie Ballantine: Vonnegut
by Mark Sullivan
Indianapolis-based guitarist/composer Charlie Ballantine took his inspiration from iconic American novelist Kurt Vonnegut for this project, the most complex set of music in his already lengthy and varied recording career. He was joined by fellow Indianapolis musicians: saxophonist Rob Dixon, saxophonist/clarinetist Amanda Gardier, pianist Mina Keohane, bassist Jesse Wittman and drummer Cassius Goens. Dixon, Gardier and Wittman have appeared on several prior Ballantine recordings, so there is a strong base of shared experience to draw upon. Kurt Vonnegut ...
read moreDerrick Gardner & The Big dig! Band: Still I Rise
by Jack Bowers
Trumpeter Derrick Gardner, a Chicagoan who has performed around the world with a who's who of jazz luminaries from Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Foster to Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr., to name only a few, traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, to assemble and record his Big Dig! Band, several sizes removed from Gardner's sextet, The Jazz Prophets, a working group since it was formed in New York City in 1991. Gardner not only shines as trumpet ...
read moreRob Dixon: Coast to Crossroads
by Chris M. Slawecki
"The album is called Coast to Crossroads because I'm based in Indiana, the Crossroads state, but I also work a lot on the West Coast and East Coast," explains saxophonist Rob Dixon, who leads this trio session with drummer Mike Clark and seven-string funk guitar maven Charlie Hunter (who also served as producer), plus occasional guest trombonist Ernest Stuart. Personal connections between the three principals enable their musical connections to flow richly and deep: Indianapolis Jazz Hall of ...
read moreThe Rob Dixon Trio: Coast to Crossroads
by Mark Sullivan
Saxophonist Rob Dixon, who mainly plays a muscular tenor sax here, is based in Indiana (the Crossroads state) but also works a lot on the East and West Coasts--hence the album title. He has done three tours with guitarist Charlie Hunter's band, and the 7-string guitar phenomenon returns the favor here by both playing and producing the album. The core band is completed by legendary drummer Mike Clark (who made his name playing with pianist/composer Herbie Hancock in the 1970s), ...
read moreThe Dixon-Rhyne Project: Reinvention
by John Kelman
The configuration may be conventional, but Reinvention is the perfect title for The Dixon-Rhyne Project's debut. Sax/organ/guitar/drums quartets date back to the 1950s and organist Melvin Rhyne brings direct cred to this group, having played on some in the late 1950s and early 1960s including Boss Guitar (Riverside, 1963) and The Wes Montgomery Trio (Riverside, 1959). But the rest of this group--most notably co-leader/saxophonist Rob Dixon--consists of relative youngsters for whom the music Rhyne made in his youth is a ...
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