Jazz Articles
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Chris Cortez: Top Secret (For Your Ears Only)
by C. Michael Bailey
Houston, Texas is such a hot bed of jazz music that it has its own jazz mafia. However, as of late the Houston jazz mafia's Godmother, vocalist Tianna Hall has been letting several of her high-ranking officers get away. First to go was trumpeter capo regime Carol Morgan, who decided to start her own jazz “Family" in New York City. Then went consigliere vocalist Jacqui Sutton, who decided to go legit with a professor type while remaining a jet setter. ...
read moreMatija Dedić: Sentiana
by Dan Bilawsky
Croatian pianist Matija Dedić demonstrates exquisite taste in selecting trio mates for his projects. His debut--From The Beginning (Dallas Records, 2009)--brought him into contact with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard, best known for their work in pianist Brad Mehldau's acclaimed trio. The follow-up record--M.D. In N.Y.C. (Origin Records, 2011)--found him working with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Kendrick Scott, a pair that's done fine work together with pianist Danny Grissett. On a portion of this album, his third ...
read moreCarol Morgan: Retroactive
by C. Michael Bailey
After two well-behaved, straight-ahead, and positively reviewed recordings-- Opening (Blue Bamboo Music, 2010) and Blue Glass Music (Blue Bamboo Music, 2011)--Texas-cum-New York City trumpeter Carol Morgan decides to take a walk on a wilder side with Retroactive: a mostly electronic affair prominently featuring guitarists Mike Stern and Chris Cortez as well as one Jeff Sipe (Apt. Q258) on drums. Always a serious music maker, Morgan lets her copious red hair down and has fun. Her open bell ...
read moreChris Cortez: Aunt Nasty
by Hrayr Attarian
Guitarist and producer Chris Cortez's Aunt Nasty brims with a joie de vivre that permeates the entire album becoming its pervasive theme. The disc opens with a Latinized “Caravan" highlighting Cortez's flamenco guitar stylings that cascade over James Metcalfe's Afro Cuban percussion. Jimi Hendrix's “Fire" closes the album and it transforms into a gutbucket anthem with passion, shouting vocals, horns, blistering electric guitar and Glen Ackerman's pulsating bass. Even the two original songs, that ...
read moreChris Cortez: Aunt Nasty
by Edward Blanco
A businessman as well as an active musician, Chris Cortez has been very busy producing music through his own Blue Bamboo Music record label--so much so that Aunt Nasty is his first recording in five years. A guitarist and excellent vocalist as comfortable in rock and blues as he seems to be when performing a jazz standard, this sixth solo effort provides an eclectic selection of three vocal and nine instrumental tracks, presented in a varied landscape. There are reinterpretations ...
read moreCarol Morgan: Blue Glass Music
by Hrayr Attarian
Trumpeter Carol Morgan is an improviser par excellence, having literally written the book on it, and her style has matured fast over the course of five years and four albums. Blue Glass Music showcases the trumpeter's explorative solos, which are often edgy, like on “I Love You," complemented by Joel Frahm's bluesy tenor and taking the trend of thought where she leaves off and bringing it full circle to the melody. This ethereal dance of the horns ...
read moreCarol Morgan: Blue Glass Music
by C. Michael Bailey
Trumpeter Carol Morgan's Blue Bamboo debut, Opening (2010) was received uniformly, with accolades from all quarters. The Texas-native cum Manhattan-ite exploded out of Julliard following the tutelage of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and seemed to be everywhere at once. Morgan has been a constant in the DIVA Jazz Orchestra (with Sharel Cassity), and fronting her quintet, Carol Morgan's Case Study, featuring pianist Helen Sung and guitarist Mike Moreno, and her organ trio, Morgana' Organic Trio, featuring Akiko Tsuruga. ...
read moreWoody Witt: Pots and Kettles
by Edward Blanco
With Pots And Kettles, veteran saxophonist Woody Witt cooks up a tasty menu of contemporary and modern jazz main dishes on his third album for the Blue Bamboo Music label, but his eight overall as leader. A professor of Jazz Studies at Houston Community College and an Affiliate Artist at the University of Houston Moores School of Music, Dr. Witt is not only an outstanding musician, but an educator by profession.Offering a variety of plates serving from traditional ...
read moreTianna Hall: Never Let Me Go
by C. Michael Bailey
Never Let Me Go is Houston-native vocalist Tianna Hall's third release, and first for Blue Bamboo Music, following her self-produced Lost in the Stars (2007) and Ballads and Bossas (2010). Hall has preferred the intimacy of smaller accompaniment on her first two recordings, a preference she carries to Never Let Me Go. The singer is support by guitarists Mike Wheeler and Mike Nase, cellist Lisa Vasdoganes and percussionist James Metcalfe in a style that is equal parts Hot Club, Carnegie ...
read moreHarvie S: Cocolamus Bridge
by Raul d'Gama Rose
The re-imagining of a traditional Irish ballad, “Eili Gheal Chiuin," does more than define the breathtaking skills of bassist Harvie S, as he takes wing on Cocolamus Bridge. It sets him apart as one of the very few virtuoso bassists of today. He has courage way beyond the narrow definition of the word, and has a fecund mind that is continually searching for new horizons towards which to stretch, taking with him a bass violin that sings with almost limitless ...
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