Jazz Articles about Cory Weeds

About Cory Weeds

Album Review

Every so often, an album arrives that does not seek to be admired so much as understood. This effort by Bulgarian-Canadian vocalist, songwriter, and poet Gergana Velinova, titled Free, fits that category. Velinova spent five years writing the album's ten songs. There is not a wasted word or an unnecessary note. Another part of the project is the artistic reunion between Velinova and multi-instrumentalist and producer Kristian Alexandrov, who have known each other since their teenage years and share a ...

Album Review

Ardeshir: Introducing Ardeshir

Read "Introducing Ardeshir" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 9, 2026

For more than 35 years, starting in the mid-1950s, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers set the gold standard for small-group hard bop jazz in the U.S. and around the world, a benchmark at which Canadian tenor saxophonist Ardeshir Pourkeramati's charismatic quintet/quartet takes dead aim on the leader's superlative debut recording, Introducing Ardeshir. This is hard bop the way it should be played, with an abundance of energy and enthusiasm bolstered by resourceful solos and razor-sharp group interplay--on ...

Album Review

Champian Fulton: House Party

Read "House Party" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
May 3, 2026

There are evenings when jazz truly finds its footing: social, spontaneous, and unguarded. House Party was recorded live in March 2025 at a producer's home for Turtle Bay Records, capturing one such moment. Pianist-vocalist Champian Fulton, joined by bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka, along with guest saxophonists Klas Lindquist and Cory Weeds, dispense with polish-for-polish's-sake and instead offer something more meaningful: the sound of musicians trusting each other without prior rehearsal. The opening trio performance of ...

Album Review

Bernie Senensky: Duos

by Pierre Giroux
April 22, 2026

Duos by Bernie Senensky is a record built on patience, craftsmanship, and the quiet confidence of musicians working together. It is a carefully arranged and well-executed set that highlights one of Canada's most respected pianists performing in a duo, accompanied only by a saxophone voice from a select group of notable North American saxophonists, where any wrong note or discord will be immediately noticeable. Since arriving in Toronto in 1968, Senensky has earned admiration from musicians for his exceptional tact, ...

Album Review

Neil Gray: In the Streets

Read "In the Streets" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
February 15, 2026

Neil Gray's In The Streets is a drummer-led session that, in its traditional sense, understands the purpose of records: to document a working conception of jazz rooted in lineage, discipline, and shared memory. Seven of the eight tracks were composed by Gray and serve as portraits of people, places, and moments, conceived not as abstractions but as lived experiences. The only cover is Cole Porter's well-known standard “Night and Day." The musicians here are fluent in bebop and hard bop, ...

Album Review

Vancouver Jazz Orchestra: Vancouver Jazz Orchestra Meets Brian Charette

Read "Vancouver Jazz Orchestra Meets Brian Charette" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 21, 2026

The Vancouver Jazz Orchestra's debut album arrives with a sense of purpose that feels both timely and reassuringly traditional. Formed to showcase the city's rich pool of jazz musicians while creating a platform for composers and arrangers, the VJO proves itself not through rhetoric but through sound. This release features a confident, well-rehearsed ensemble playing music almost exclusively by Vancouver writers, united here by the invigorating presence of Hammond B3 master Brian Charette. Steve Kaldestad's “Equestrian Interlude" opens ...

Album Review

Vancouver Jazz Orchestra: Meets Brian Charette

Read "Meets Brian Charette" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 17, 2026

Through the years, Canada has produced an impressive number of world-renowned big bands including Rob McConnell's peerless Boss Brass, the Toronto and Winnipeg Jazz Orchestras, those led by trombonist Dave McMurdo, pianist Jill Townsend and trumpeter Steve McDade, and one of the world's foremost undergraduate bands, Montreal's McGill University Jazz Ensemble. On its debut recording, Meets Brian Charette, the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra proves beyond any doubt that it deserves inclusion in that special fraternity. Simply put, the VJO ...