Articles by Bridget A. Arnwine
Brian Culbertson: Day Trip
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson is a musician with a vision, and on his Day Trip, he sets out to share that vision with his listeners. What is that vision? It is that of an artist who understands what music is capable of and his role as an artist to bring that all to fruition: the slow groove that evokes romantic love, the toe-tapper that stirs nostalgic memories, the funk-fueled jam that moves bodies out of their seats. Day Trip feels like ...
Continue ReadingHarold Mabern: Afro Blue (10th Anniversary Edition)
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Pianist Harold Mabern (1936-2019) was talented beyond measure. Though he never received the honor and distinction of the prestigious NEA Jazz Master designation, his music and the musicians who knew him tell a different story. That story unfolds beautifully throughout the 10th anniversary reissue of Mabern's 2015 recording, Afro Blue (Smoke Session Records). The newly remixed and remastered recording features performances from some of the most celebrated names in vocal jazz, including Gregory Porter, Norah Jones, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, ...
Continue ReadingThe Genius of Ray Charles is on display in this four-album Tangerine Records Master Series
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Ray Charles Robinson, known the world over as multi-award-winning icon Ray Charles, may have departed this world, but his music endures thanks in part to the Ray Charles Foundation. Recently, the Foundation released four albums as part of the Tangerine Records Master Series. Those albums which include Come Live with Me, Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (1963), Love Country Style (1970), and No One Does It Like Ray Charles were released as individual projects throughout 2025. While Ingredients in ...
Continue ReadingLori Williams: Here We Are
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Vocalist Lori Williams has the kind of voice that good singers are made of. With a sound that was honed over years of study and early days in the church, Williams sings with a depth of feeling that reflects both her technical command and her spiritual grounding. When she sings, there is no question about what she is singing and what she is trying to convey. Her words are clear; her message is crisp; her tone is warm; and her ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz Is Nobody's Jazz Musician
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Gary Bartz is nobody's jazz musician. What he has built and created as an artist with a career that spans six decades defies labels, especially ones that have storied racist connotations and otherwise derogatory origins like the word jazz. He is a composer of the finest order and as gifted as the most revered names in classical music. Defining his work as improvised music is too simple a term to fully capture the essence of what Bartz and “jazz" musicians ...
Continue ReadingIrving Flores: Armando Mi Conga
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Every now and again an artist releases an album that is so striking, so stellar, that it cements their legacy forever, not in a way that the artist can never grow beyond the album's greatness, but in a way that propels them beyond it. Pianist Irving Flores and his all-star Afro- Cuban Jazz Sextet have created such an album. Armando Mi Conga (Amor de Flores) consists of eight breathtakingly beautiful original compositions plus a bonus track (a solo piano version ...
Continue ReadingChris Greene Quartet: Conversance
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Saxophonist Chris Greene is back. The Evanston, IL native and his group the Chris Greene Quartet--comprising Greene on sax, Marc Piane on bass, Damian Espinosa on piano and Steve Corley on drums--recently released its newest project, titled “Conversance." The album is the first jazz recording released on the Pravda Records label in the label's forty-year history. According to the recording's press release, the Chicago-based indie rock label took a chance on Greene, but it feels more accurate to state that ...
Continue ReadingThe Baylor Project at the DC Jazz Festival
by Bridget A. Arnwine
The Baylor Project The District Wharf The DC Jazz Festival Washington, DC September 3, 2022 The 18th Annual DC Jazz Festival (August 31--September 4, 2022) closed out five days of music with a weekend of spectacular performances at The District Wharf, an outdoor space teeming with restaurants, shopping and waterfront living. Considering that the world is still in the throes of a global health crisis and considering that the DC Jazz Festival had been ...
Continue ReadingHARGROVE
by Bridget A. Arnwine
Roy Hargrove HARGROVE Poplife Productions 2022 When trumpeter Roy Hargrove passed away in November 2018, after enduring a longstanding battle with kidney disease, friends and fans of the jazz wunderkind mourned what could have been almost as much as they celebrated what was. He was, for many, an accessible bridge to jazz music that curious followers of hip-hop and R&B were willing to explore simply because Hargrove had shown them the way. For others, he ...
Continue ReadingChris Greene: PlaySPACE 2: Play Harder
by Bridget A. Arnwine
When a musician begins his set with a warning much like that issued in a pharmaceutical advertisement for mesothelioma, it's probably a safe assumption that those in attendance should brace themselves for what's to come. When that musician is Evanston, IL based bandleader and saxophonist Chris Greene one thing is certain: even after heeding the warning, there's still no way to fully prepare for the powerfully deliberate yet fun and funky approach to playing that each member of the Chris ...
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