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Randy Napoleon: The Door is Open: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Paul Rauch
In and around the formidable jazz studies program at Michigan State University is a plethora of jazz talent devoted to instrumental and compositional excellence. Most of this talent is young, benefiting from a wide array of world-class instructors that includes program director Rodney Whitaker and veteran guitarist Randy Napoleon, among other notables. Within this labyrinth of jazz wisdom in the Detroit / Lansing metroplex is composer Gregg Hill, a former truck driver and tech entrepreneur whose performing ambitions were superseded ...
read moreBrad Turner Quintet: The Magnificent
by Jack Bowers
If the title of Canadian trumpeter Brad Turner's latest album, The Magnificent, sounds a trifle self-absorbed, rest assured it does not refer to him but to another “magnificent" horn player, the late Thad Jones. The honorific, however, would not be unwisely used if applied to Turner himself, who not only excels on the trumpet but also plays tasteful piano and wrote every one of the album's generally engaging themes. Although the group is listed on the album ...
read moreBrad Turner Quintet: The Magnificent
by Pierre Giroux
Brad Turner's album The Magnificent is a sonic gem on which he invites listeners on a musical journey which effortlessly balances tradition and innovation. Comprising a wish-list of stellar musicians, including guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Neil Swainson, drummer Quincy Davis and, on four tracks, tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds, the band gathered together to record a session to breathe life into nine Turner compositions. The opening track is “You're OK," in which Turner's trumpet takes center stage ...
read moreJeb Patton: Preludes
by Jack Bowers
A jazz quintet performing eight classically-inspired Preludes and Duke Ellington's wistful “Prelude to a Kiss"? How could that possibly work? In the capable hands of pianist Jeb Patton (who wrote the Preludes) and his quintet, quite well, actually. Patton, who grew up in a household where listening to classical music was the norm, never forgot those early years even as he moved toward jazz and found his calling there. When Covid struck in 2020, Patton had time to revisit his ...
read moreRandy Napoleon: Rust Belt Roots: Randy Napoleon Plays Wes Montgomery, Grant Green & Kenny Burrell
by Jack Bowers
One's response to jazz--indeed, to music of any kind--most often depends on where he or she is coming from. To erase any doubts about where he is coming from, guitarist Randy Napoleon has subtitled his album, Rust Belt Roots, “Plays Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and Kenny Burrell." This is music born of a Midwestern ethos: Indianapolis (Montgomery), St. Louis (Green), Detroit (Burrell). Napoleon called Michigan home before moving to New York City in 1999, and has never forgotten the enormous ...
read moreJocelyn Gould: Elegant Traveler
by David A. Orthmann
The first thing that attracts attention on Elegant Traveler, Jocelyn Gould's debut as a leader, is her guitar's tone. The sound she coaxes from the instrument has a profound effect on the music as a whole, yet it remains intimate, unpretentious and disarming. Whether Gould is playing a melody, improvising, or offering sparse accompaniment, it is these qualities, instead of an anxious, rapid-fire delivery, which lead the way. Every note is struck with care, stands up on its own, and ...
read moreJocelyn Gould: Elegant Traveler
by Dan McClenaghan
Guitarist Jocelyn Gould opens her debut album, Elegant Wanderer, with a cooker: Cole Porter's “It's All Right With Me." The tune is artfully arranged for quartet—piano and guitar with bass and drums—and Gould displays some serious chops. She has soaked up the influences of Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell and Joe Pass, and she wears that collective mainstream, swinging attitude on her sleeve, not only stylistically, but also in her sense of the joy of creation. Gould's ...
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