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Jazz Articles about Drew Vandewinckel

About Drew Vandewinckel

Album Review

The Brighton Beat: Victory At Last

Read "Victory At Last" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
August 9, 2025

For the musically uninitiated and socially marooned, there is a perpetual sense of danceable immediacy to the big, fun Brighton Beat sound. The exact reason for that is that, at any moment--no, make that every moment--there is the potential to shake-your-money-maker around the moon and back again. Measure by measure by measure, the dance floor is going to get worn down to the studs. It is truly liberating. Utilizing a far greater freedom to enlist the studio as ...

Album Review

JC Hopkins Biggish Band: New York Moment

Read "New York Moment" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 13, 2020

On New York Moment, pianist JC Hopkins and his twelve-piece Biggish Band tend to a flame that's been burning since prior to World War II, the sound of large dance bands (with and without vocalists) who moved audiences with both sophistication and swing. Hopkins' Moment rotates Vanisha-Arleen Gould, Joy Hanson, Nico Sarbanes (who also plays trumpet), Shawn Whitehorn and Alicyn Yaffee (guitar) as lead vocalists. The opening track leaves you genuinely “Beguiled" as vocalists Nico and Joy harmonize ...