Jazz Articles about Amy Shook

About Amy Shook

Album Review

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Ellington Masterworks

Read "Ellington Masterworks" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 18, 2026

When the topic of Duke Ellington's masterworks arises (rarely, it is true, but not implausibly so), the leading candidates usually comprise such popular standards as “Sophisticated Lady," “Mood Indigo," “Prelude to a Kiss" and “Satin Doll"--not one of which is included in the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's chronicle of Ellington Masterworks, recorded live in April 2024 at MCG Jazz in Pittsburgh, PA. With more than a thousand of Ellington's compositions from which to choose, the SJMO and its ...

Album Review

The Scott Silbert Quartet: Dream Dancing

Read "Dream Dancing" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 4, 2025

The year 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of John Haley Sims, known around the world by his singular nickname, Zoot, a colossus of the saxophone who left this world far too soon in March 1985. Yet even though Zoot's physical presence is absent, his insuperable spirit lives on via Dream Dancing, a marvelous tribute by saxophonist and Sims enthusiast Scott Silbert and his masterful quartet.While there is no debating that there was only one Zoot Sims, ...

Album Review

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: Tappin' Thru Life

Read "Tappin' Thru Life" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 21, 2025

Tappin' Thru Life is more than the title of a jazz album; it is a philosophy, one that guided Maurice Hines through most of his 80 years and all of his epic career as an acclaimed tap dancer and entertainer. The album is based on Hines' autobiographical stage show of that name whose music director, drummer par excellence Sherrie Maricle, is also a co-founder and leader of The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, a renowned all-woman ensemble. After Hines' ...

Album Review

Leigh Pilzer: Beatin' the Odds

Read "Beatin' the Odds" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 19, 2024

Beatin' the Odds. To baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer, that is far more than a catchphrase: it is a grim yet ultimately happy reality. In 2017, Pilzer was diagnosed with cancer. After extensive treatments, her odds of surviving more than five years were reckoned as around thirty percent. But six years have gone by, and not only has Pilzer beaten the odds, she is cancer-free, back in the saddle and performing again. And not only performing but writing ...

Album Review

3D Jazz Trio: 9 to 5

by Dan Bilawsky
March 15, 2023

One can't help but learn about the meaning of style and sophistication from the 3D Jazz Trio. Since the release of its debut--3Divas (Self-Produced, 2017)--pianist Jackie Warren, bassist Amy Shook and drummer Sherrie Maricle have proven to be a collective paragon of taste. Whether swinging for the fences, setting scenes ablaze in Latin quarters, captivating with balladic charms or taking playfulness to new peaks, this band is always a model for musicality. On this, the group's third ...

Album Review

Ian Wardenski: Trust

by Geannine Reid
November 10, 2022

Ian Wardenski's Quintet returns with a follow-up to Collective Thoughts (IW, 2019). The innovative bandleader and guitarist continues to create a sound that combines the aesthetics of a chamber group with the freedom, spontaneity and improvisation of a small jazz combo. Trust features Mercedes Beckman on alto saxophone, Jerry Ascione, piano, Amy Shook, bass, Frank Russo, drums, and Tamara Tucker, voice. Wardenski furthers his collective sound by combining Tucker's agile wordless vocals with his guitar for a distinctive ...

Album Review

The Scott Silbert Big Band: Jump Children

Read "Jump Children" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 31, 2022

The best music, in jazz or any other genre, is and should be timeless. To prove the point, the Scott Silbert Big Band celebrates the songs of a bygone era on its debut album, Jump Children, refreshing a number of memorable themes from the '30s, '40s and '50s and underscoring their relevance in an ultra-modern twenty-first century environment. His goal, Silbert writes, was “to represent the fantastic musicianship of the artists [who] originally performed these works," venerated masters such as ...