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Mark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman
by Edward Blanco
Veteran singer, platinum-selling lyricist and songwriter Mark Winkler delivers his twentieth album as leader, Late Bloomin' Jazzman, beginning with a George Gershwin standard, ending with a Gershwin tribute and, in between, presenting romantic ballads, a bit of swing and a touch of bossa. An educator at UCLA who teaches the art of songwriting, Winkler brings this remarkable talent to the fore on this album, providing his own lyrics to seven of the twelve songs which he suddenly realized “talk about ...
read moreMark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman
by Richard J Salvucci
Anyone who can hold their own on a stage on in a studio with Cheryl Bentyne cannot be all bad, right? Even if one's taste runs more to Harry Connick, Jr than to Mark Murphy, it is difficult not to get seriously into Mark Winkler. Oh, he can sing, for sure, but even if he could not carry a tune, he is a lyricist for the ages. Not all ages, mind you. But for those of a certain age, sensibility, ...
read moreWill Lyle: L.A. Source Codes
by Kyle Simpler
For computer programmers, a source code is a piece of computer language, which they are able to read and transfer and put to use in a practical way. With his debut album, L.A. Source Codes, bassist Will Lyle makes a connection between this concept and jazz. As with computer programming, jazz has its own language, and learning the language of jazz can be somewhat challenging. A skilled player, however, can take musical “source codes," such as chords, scales and arpeggios, ...
read moreJon Mayer: Live at the Athenaeum
by C. Michael Bailey
Pianist Jon Mayer has been quietly building his considerable discography over the last 25 years. Live at the Athenaeum joins eight previous releases that include, Full Circle (Reservoir Music, 2002); So Many Stars (Reservoir Music, 2007); Nightscape (Reservoir Music, 2009); and The Art of the Ballad (UDJ, 2014). These releases more than solidify Mayer's bona fides as an inventive composer and interpreter. Recorded at the Athenaeum in La Jolla, CA, Live at the Athenaeum proves a ballad-lover's delight ...
read moreJon Mayer: The Art of the Ballad
by C. Michael Bailey
Jon Mayer not John Mayer. This particular Mayer is a jazz pianist currently living on the West Coast who has been plying his Jazz trade in one form or another since the mid-1950s. Early on, Mayer played on two notable sessions: alto saxophonist Jackie McLean's Strange Blues (Prestige, 1957) and on the John Coltrane sessions recorded between 1958 and 1960 that eventually became Like Sonny (Roulette, 1990). Mayer did a stretch in Paris in the late '50s where he periodically ...
read moreJon Mayer: Nightscape
by Ken Dryden
Jon Mayer was working professionally as a jazz pianist as a teen back in the '50s, while attending the Manhattan School of Music. As well as working as a sideman with Tony Scott, Kenny Dorham, Chet Baker, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Sarah Vaughan and others, along with taking part in record dates with John Coltrane and Jackie McLean, Mayer contributed original pop songs to a number of vocalist record dates, though he did not make his recording debut as ...
read moreJon Mayer: Nightscape
by Bruce Lindsay
New York-born, Los Angeles-based pianist Jon Mayer began his musical career in the New York jazz scene of the 1950s and 1960s. He has a long and distinguished pedigree, including work with Jackie McLean and John Coltrane, but his first recording as leader came as late as 1996, with Round Up The Usual Suspects (Pullen Music). Nightscape is Mayer's eighth album as leader and it's an engaging, beautifully performed, collection of tunes. As with Mayer's previous albums ...
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