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Hannah Gill: Spooky Jazz. Vol. 2
by Kyle Simpler
In most cases, seasonal albums get shelved after the holiday passes, but Hannah Gill's Spooky Jazz Vol. 2 is an exception. Although it might appear to be a novelty record centered on Halloween-themed songs, the music here transcends the holiday, offering a collection of tunes enjoyable throughout the year. Although the selections here are overall light-hearted and whimsical, this is by no means a comedy record. Much like Slim Gaillard's music, Hannah Gill's material entertains and ...
Continue ReadingHannah Gill: Everybody Loves a Lover
by Pierre Giroux
Hannah Gill has a passion for jazz and draws her inspiration from the likes of Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day and Ella Fitzgerald. On this debut release Everybody Loves a Lover, Gill takes on eleven swing-era standards, and while staying true to the original music, she infuses them with her style, which is inflected with blues and soul. Supporting her on this album is a septet of talented musicians who share her enthusiasm for danceable rhythms and melodic riffs. They are ...
Continue ReadingBen Rosenblum Nebula Project: A Thousand Pebbles
by Jerome Wilson
Ben Rosenblum's Nebula Project is a group which incorporates sounds from all over the world. Gospel, Brazilian rhythms, European folk dances, and other kinds of music all mix freely with jazz in this exciting and unpredictable set. The horn players, trumpeter Wayne Tucker and reed players Jasper Dutz and Xavier Del Castillo, all do excellent work in realizing the leader's freewheeling concepts. “Bulgares" has Tucker's trumpet and Dutz's bass clarinet darting out in a whirling Bulgarian rhythm over ...
Continue ReadingBen Rosenblum Nebula Project: A Thousand Pebbles
by Jack Bowers
This is music for the open-minded. On A Thousand Pebbles, his fourth album as leader, New York-based pianist & accordionist Ben Rosenblum's seven-member Nebula Project traverses a number of musical landscapes, from Bulgaria to Brazil, Ireland to Israel, and realms beyond, offering a pleasurable smorgasbord of contemporary jazz that is always engaging and never shopworn. Rosenblum the composer wrote all of the album's eleven numbers save one, Antonio Carlos Jobim & Chico Baurque's melodious “Song of the ...
Continue ReadingBen Rosenblum Nebula Project: A Thousand Pebbles
by Alberto Bazzurro
Il giovane pianista e fisarmonicista (qui più la seconda della prima pelle, diremmo, almeno come incidenza sul sound d'insieme) newyorchese Ben Rosenblum firma con questo A Thousand Pebbles il quarto album a suo nome e il secondo alla testa del Nebula Project, sestetto (qui rinforzato da Xavier Del Castillo) versatile e capace di generare un clima solare e spesso festoso, intriso di umori latini e comunque popolari in senso lato (Rosenblum, che non di rado si sovrappone su entrambi i ...
Continue ReadingBen Rosenblum Nebula Project: Kites and Strings
by Alberto Bazzurro
Si parte con un episodio che potremmo definire post-bop, “Cedar Place," uno dei sette a firma di Ben Rosenblum, integrati da “Somewhere" di Leonard Bernstein, “Philadelphia" di Neil Young e un tradizionale bulgaro, ma in fondo è una falsa rivelazione, perché a seguire questa che è l'opera prima del giovane pianista e fisarmonicista newyorchese si sdipana su toni decisamente variegati, in cui il grande ceppo jazzistico è certo perfettamente avvertibile, ma i vari episodi sono più compositi, qua e là ...
Continue ReadingBen Rosenblum Nebula Project: Kites and Strings
by Jerome Wilson
Ben Rosenblum uses a lot of different instrumental elements on this release. For starters, he himself plays both piano and accordion, and his sextet also features trumpet, reeds and guitar. In addition, vibraphone and trombone show up on some tracks. That creates a blend of various textures and sounds which bring variety to this program of bright jazz compositions. Rosenblum's accordion flows together nicely with the sounds of Wayne Tucker's trumpet, and Jasper Dutz's bass clarinet on the ...
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