Jazz Articles about Dawn Kramer

About Dawn Kramer

Album Review

Ben Markley Big Band: Tuesday Morning Feeling

Read "Tuesday Morning Feeling" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 24, 2026

When a bandleader says he plans to rely less on arranging the music of others to focus more on his own compositions and charts, the usual response is a prolonged sigh or indifferent shrug of the shoulders --which makes it all the more remarkable that when pianist and composer Ben Markley did exactly that on Tuesday Morning Blues, the third recording by the Colorado-based Ben Markley Big Band, the finished product demands not a sigh or shrug but a straight-from-the-heart ...

Album Review

Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra: Golden Lady: CJRO featuring Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield

Read "Golden Lady: CJRO featuring Tatiana LadyMay Mayfield" reviewed by La-Faithia White

by La-Faithia White
November 23, 2025

Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra is one of the premier jazz ensembles in the region featuring top-tier musicians dedicated to honoring and expanding the jazz tradition. Golden Lady is a vibrant fusion of jazz, R&B, and gospel. The project also features original compositions, including LadyMay Mayfield's “Metamorphosis," “Hold Tight" by Bob Reynolds (a member of Snarky Puppy), and Jared Cathey's “Red Cedar Road." The project bursts open with “Hold Tight," an up-tempo, big band celebration radiating with energy. Driven ...

Album Review

Wil Swindler: Space Bugs

Read "Space Bugs" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 23, 2023

Space Bugs is essentially multi-layered yet readily accessible chamber jazz admirably performed by saxophonist/composer Wil Swindler's Colorado-based Eleventet—a finely woven banquet for the ears that was handsomely recorded in May 2022 before an appreciative audience at Denver's Mighty Fine Productions. Gil Evans springs to mind when listening, as do Pete Rugolo and late- career Bob Brookmeyer. As a composer, Swindler writes that he has “always been between worlds," loving “the pristine intervals and warm timbres of orchestral ...