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Art Baden: How Much of It Is Real
by Troy Dostert
Continuing its well-established mission of documenting some of the noteworthy Russian musicians in today's jazz, the Rainy Days label offers another up-and-comer, tenor saxophonist Art Baden. Joined by three seasoned veterans, Baden provides both fire and sensitivity on his debut disc, How Much of It Is Real--and it is a promising effort all-around. Bassist Jay Anderson, vibraphonist Joe Locke and drummer Jeff Tain Watts will need no introduction to serious followers of mainstream jazz, and they give Baden ...
Continue ReadingNikos Chatzitsakos: Tiny Big Band 2
by Jack Bowers
Cleaving to the premise that one Tiny Big Band deserves another, bassist Nikos Chatzitsakos is back with Tiny Big Band 2, the second album by his feisty nonet and a follow-up to the well-received Tiny Big Band! (self-produced), recorded in 2022. This time, Chatzitsakos uses two vocalists instead of one, rotating them on half of the album's eight tracks, and brings back only three of the earlier album's instrumentalists, plus himself. The returnees are cornetist Robert Mac ...
Continue ReadingNikos Chatzitsakos: Tiny Big Band!
by Jack Bowers
Bassist Nikos Chatzitsakos' Tiny Big Band, formed in 2018, is basically a nonet with vocalist Lian Zac added on three of the album's eleven tracks, trumpeter Robert Mac Vega-Dowda sitting in on five, vibraphonist Vid Jamnik on four, guitarist Gianmarco Ferri on two. The accent is on straight-ahead contemporary jazz, exemplified by seven standards from the Great American Songbook and a quartet of handsome themes whose jazz credentials are exemplary. The ensemble plays with assurance and enthusiasm, ...
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