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Jazz Articles about Alyssa Allgood
Kenny Reichert: Deep Breath
by Richard J Salvucci
Kenny Reichert is a jny:Chicago-based guitarist of broad background, Berklee training, and wide-ranging tastes in pop and jazz. He has self-released one studio album, Interpretations (2015). Reichert records mostly originals. If you are looking for influences, Spears" (a play on Sphere"?) sounds Thelonious Sphere Monk-ish enough, with plenty of solo space for saxophonist Tony Barba woven in. Barba can hold his own with anyone. Reichert does not shy away from vocals either. His lyricist and singer is Alyssa ...
read morePaul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet
by Pierre Giroux
Singer Paul Marinaro issued his acclaimed debut album Without A Song (122 Myrtle Records) in 2013. Seven years after the release of his follow-up, One Night In Chicago" (122 Myrtle Records), and with almost a decade of performing from coast to coast at top-end clubs, including New York's Birdland, he has released Not Quite Yet, which is devoted to exploring timeless themes, such as life, love and the search for lasting connections. Accompanying Marinaro are longtime band members guitarist Mike ...
read morePaul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet
by Richard J Salvucci
The cover of the album is vaguely noir, with the urban greenish cast of tungsten film. A sole figure leans slightly against a building, downcast, staring into his soul, and waiting out a lit cigarette when it was still hip to smoke. The guy is Frank Sinatra and the album was In The Wee Small Hours. The year is 1955. It is difficult to believe that jny: Chicago-based vocalist Paul Marinaro has even been born, but clearly, Sinatra will make ...
read moreAlyssa Allgood: What Tomorrow Brings
by C. Michael Bailey
In the chemistry lab, solvents are said to be punctilious when they have been completely purified through filtering, distillation, and chromatography. Punctilious ether, if a sound, could be compared to the perfectly polished tone generated from lead crystal when struck with a platinum spoon. This is the level of refinement heard in Alyssa Allgood's voice on What Tomorrow Brings. Allgood has been filtering and distilling her tone over three previous recordings: Lady BIrd (Self Produced, 2015); Out Of The Blue ...
read moreC. Michael Bailey’s Best Releases of 2016
by C. Michael Bailey
Shifting priorities in 2016 prevented me from either listening to or reviewing as much music as I have in the past. Thus, I did not take a swing at many fine recordings that by all accounts should be on this list like: John Scofield's Country for Old Men (Impulse!); Keith Jarrett's A Multitude of Angels (ECM); Frank Kimbrough's Solstice (Pirouet Records); Joe Lovano's Classic! Live at Newport (Blue Note Records); or Michael Formanek's Ensemble Kolossus' The Distance (ECM).
read moreAlyssa Allgood: Out Of The Blue
by Tyran Grillo
If Alyssa Allgood's debut EP Lady Bird made a splash, then Out of the Blue is a veritable deluge of inspired thinking. The Chicago vocalist's imprint is evident in every lick of this full-length follow-up. From the original lyrics and arrangements to her choice of musicians and production, Allgood uses everything in her toolkit throughout 10 redux tunes from the Blue Note catalog. Many of these tracks started out as instrumentals in their heyday, foregrounding the melodic and improvisational stylings ...
read moreAlyssa Allgood: Out Of The Blue
by Mark Sullivan
Chicago vocalist Alyssa Allgood devotes her first full length album to an unexpected source: the classic hard bop repertoire of Blue Note Records. The label is mainly known for instrumental jazz, and all of these selections were originally instrumental. This presents no problem for Allgood, who demonstrates equal facility scatting, singing wordless vocalise, and writing lyrics (which she does on four tracks). She has a crack band, too: organist Dan Chase, guitarist Tim Fitzgerald, saxophonist Chris Madsen and drummer Matt ...
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