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Neil Swainson: Fire In The West
by Pierre Giroux
It hardly seems possible, but it took thirty-five years for Canadian bassist extraordinaire Neil Swainson to lead a sparkling quintet in this new recording of Swainson original compositions entitled Fire In The West. His prior recording from 1987 was called 49th Parallel and received little attention at the time. However it was re-released as an LP in 2020 by Reel to Real Records and it generated some welcomed critical reviews. Accompanying Swainson in this outing was a blue-chip rhythm section ...
Continue ReadingTom Keenlyside: A Night at the Espresso
by Jack Bowers
As is true in many professions, jazz musicians must learn their craft before exposing it to audiences. Some, such as Canadian woodwind specialist Tom Keenlyside, remember where and when that happened. His musical education began for the most part at the Espresso Coffee House in Vancouver. Keenlyside has not forgotten that, even after more than fifty years as a guiding light on the British Columbia jazz scene, and pays tribute to his academic roots on A Night at the Espresso, ...
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 ReadingSteve Maddock: The Blues Project
by Pierre Giroux
In the mid 1960's, there was a Greenwich Village, NYC pop band called The Blues Project which was primarily informed by folk, rhythm & blues, jazz and pop music of the day. One of their early success was entitled “Flute Thing," a tune from the group's 1966 album Projections (Verve / Folkways). Keyboardist / vocalist Al Kooper, a founding member of The Blues Project, wrote “Flute Thing." He went on, in 1967, to found the pop-rock band Blood, Sweat & ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra: Night Devoid of Stars
by Jerome Wilson
Daniel Hersog is a Canadian trumpet player and composer, here presenting his first big band album, a set of sweeping and progressive orchestral jazz which reflects the current state of the world with shifting moods of unease and cautious optimism. Hersog has a expansive style of writing that draws as much from classical music as jazz. His compositions here are written to feature two main soloists, tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger and pianist Frank Carlberg, much as Gil Evans ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra: Night Devoid of Stars
by Jack Bowers
Daniel Hersog is the latest arrival in a long-running parade of world-class jazz composer-arrangers from Canada, albeit not in the image of Rob McConnell, Phil Nimmons or Rick Wilkins but more akin to some of his mentors including (but not limited to) John Hollenbeck, Ken Schaphorst and Dave Holland. Night Devoid of Stars (named for a premise by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), Hersog's debut recording as leader of his Jazz Orchestra, consists of half a dozen of his original ...
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