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Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Live at the Village Vanguard
by Mike Jurkovic
You may feel a whole lot better about things after checking out Live at the Village Vanguard. Now, without argument or scholarly discourse, that can be said for any of the time honored performances captured under that heady title, but here it's Christian McBride and Inside Straight and seriously, this one has fun written all over it. An instant Top Tenner for 2021. Bassist/educator/advocate, McBride needs no further introduction save to say he has heightened fun into an ...
Continue ReadingTemple University Jazz Band: Without You, No Me
by Jack Bowers
When his friend, colleague, mentor and confidante Jimmy Heath died in January 2020, trumpeter Terell Stafford's first impulse was to find a way to honor and remember the renowned Philadelphia-born saxophonist. As Stafford is director of the Temple University Jazz Band, also in Philadelphia, an obvious way would be to record a tribute album, which Stafford set about preparing. And then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, scuttling those plans and most others on the drawing board. The band ...
Continue ReadingRenee Rosnes: Kinds of Love
by Mike Jurkovic
Still riding high on the energy generated by her superwoman jazz group Artemis—Anat Cohen, Melissa Aldana, Ingrid Jensen, Noriko Ueda and Allison Miller— pianist Renee Rosnes, undaunted by the string of world crises but just as ruminative as the rest of us, elicits some of the most emotive and enthralling music of her career on Kinds of Love. Drummer Carl Allen and percussionist and vocalist Rogério Boccato set “Silk" into shadowy, tribal motion from which Rosnes and the ...
Continue ReadingGerry Gibbs: Songs from My Father
by Edward Blanco
Drummer Gerry Gibbs pays tribute to father Terry Gibbs on the amazing nineteen-track double-CD set Songs from My Father featuring a guest appearance by the ninety-seven-year-old vibraphonist on one track, among other surprises, including the last studio performance by the late jazz icon Chick Corea, who also wrote “Tango for Terry" for this homage and is the only non-Gibbs composition on the album. Son Gerry had plenty of his father's music to choose from when contemplating this project but chose ...
Continue ReadingGerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trios: Songs from My Father
by Jack Bowers
Songs from My Father. What a marvelous idea!—and not simply for the sentiment. Drummer Gerry Gibbs' father happens to be Hall of Fame vibraphonist (and sometime song writer) Terry Gibbs, who is still on the scene at ninety-seven (and, in fact, making a guest appearance on the first disc of this superlative two-CD set). Eighteen of the elder Gibbs' songs, written between 1949 and 1985 (and one more, “Tango for Terry," by the late Chick Corea) are performed by four ...
Continue ReadingBenito Gonzalez: Sing To The World
by Jim Worsley
Unbridled rhythmic fury fueled by a rich harmonic underbelly is the essence of Sing To The World. Pianist Benito Gonzalez has once again assembled a vibrant cast that flourishes on ten original creations. Inventive and energetic, the ensemble gels in the moment and establishes interplay with rich and intelligent conversation. The depth and articulation comes as no surprise, with reference to his previous works as a leader and the seven years Gonzalez spent as a member of Kenny Garrett's band. ...
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