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Vicki Burns: Lotus Blossom Days
by Jeff Winbush
Whatever else can be said about jazz, there is little disagreement that it is best experienced in a live setting. Listening to Vicki Burns' Lotus Blossom Days is as close to a front-row seat in a New York nightclub as many of us are likely to get in these times of high fuel costs and crowded airports. Burns is not attempting to blow the roof off with vocal gyrations and tricks. She never oversings as she tries to ...
Continue ReadingAdam Shulman: Just The Contrafacts
by Pierre Giroux
For those who may be scratching their heads about the word contrafact, in the jazz medium it designates a musical composition in which a new melody is overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure. This form really became prominent in the bebop era, where the artists (who were generally short of financial resources) could create new compositions over which they could improvise and record without worrying about paying royalties for copyrighted materials. During the depths of the ...
Continue ReadingShannon Gunn: On A Mountain
by Pierre Giroux
Leave it to Canadian record producer and tenor saxophonist Cory Weeds to discover a hidden gem of an album. Vocalist Shannon Gunn recorded On A Mountain in May 2001 but it languished unreleased until now. Backed by a stellar group of both Canadian and US musicians such as pianist Renee Rosnes, drummer Billy Drummond, bassist Neil Swainson, trumpeter Brad Turner, tenor saxophonist Pat Labarbera and percussionist Rick Lazar, it is an eclectic mix of Gunn originals, and other numbers that ...
Continue ReadingShannon Gunn: On A Mountain
by Dan Bilawsky
Across the years, vocalist Shannon Gunn's raison d'être was the stage. A mainstay of the Canadian jazz scene for several decades, both as an influential educator and performer, she staked her claim in front of countless audiences and acquired plenty of admirers in the process. But when this respected musician passed away in July of 2020, there was little left behind to document the kind of beauty she delivered on a regular basis. Gunn never released an album under her ...
Continue ReadingJim Snidero: Strings
by Jack Bowers
Another saxophonist with strings. Ever since Charlie Parker first took the plunge in 1950, a goodly number of disciples has followed suit. Alto player Jim Snidero's deep dive, Strings, was actually recorded two decades ago, in 2001, and released to widespread acclaim on Milestone Records. The remastered edition, on Savant Records, is even better, thanks to enhanced sound and arco bass parts that breathe new life into Snidero's engaging compositions (he wrote and arranged every number save the lone standard, ...
Continue ReadingJim Snidero: Strings
by Dan McClenaghan
The initial recording of Jim Snidero's Strings ran into a roadblock. The session was scheduled at System Two Studios in Brooklyn, New York, on September 11th 2001. That was the date the world changed, with airplanes flying into buildings in New York City. Strings was postponed. The music eventually came together in October and November of that year, and saw its release on Milestone Records in 2003. Now, in 2021, after nearly a decade out of print, the ...
Continue ReadingCharles McPherson: Jazz Dance Suites
by Jerome Wilson
Alto saxophonist Charles McPherson has a reputation as one of the last true followers of the bebop tradition but this release shows that his talents stretch beyond that. The music consists of scores he wrote for the San Diego Ballet where his daughter Camille is a solo dancer. It encompasses two full suites and an excerpt from another. “Song Of Songs" is a set of compositions based on impressions about love drawn from the Song Of Solomon. The ...
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