Jazz Articles about George Fludas

About George Fludas

Album Review

Rich Willey: Puttin' On the Ritz

Read "Puttin' On the Ritz" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 28, 2023

When Irving Berlin wrote “Puttin' On the Ritz" in 1927 on a unique “transposing piano" tuned to his preferred key of F#, little could he ever know that one day, among the myriad numbers of covers of the tune, that it would title an album that features, among other attractions, Electronic Voice Instrument “wah-wah" solos. Putting that on hold, Rich Willey's effort apes the concept of that tune as an elegant effort. “Puttin' On the Ritz" offers ...

Album Review

Paul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet

Read "Not Quite Yet" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 3, 2023

Singer Paul Marinaro issued his acclaimed debut album Without A Song (122 Myrtle Records) in 2013. Seven years after the release of his follow-up, “One Night In Chicago" (122 Myrtle Records), and with almost a decade of performing from coast to coast at top-end clubs, including New York's Birdland, he has released Not Quite Yet, which is devoted to exploring timeless themes, such as life, love and the search for lasting connections. Accompanying Marinaro are longtime band members guitarist Mike ...

Album Review

Paul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet

Read "Not Quite Yet" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
December 26, 2022

The cover of the album is vaguely noir, with the urban greenish cast of tungsten film. A sole figure leans slightly against a building, downcast, staring into his soul, and waiting out a lit cigarette when it was still hip to smoke. The guy is Frank Sinatra and the album was In The Wee Small Hours. The year is 1955. It is difficult to believe that Chicago-based vocalist Paul Marinaro has even been born, but clearly, Sinatra will make an ...

Album Review

Eric Jacobson: Discover

Read "Discover" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
December 4, 2022

With Discover, Milwaukee-based trumpeter and jazz educator Eric Jacobson and team take us on an aural time trip back to the days when album covers were iconically black and white or monochrome and the contents within were drenched in blue-hued Hard Bop. This is a fine effort with that precise presentation. “New Combinations," which launches the date, is anything but new and sets the trajectory. One of four Jacobson originals, it is a straight-head burner directly out ...

Album Review

Eric Jacobson: Discover

by Jack Bowers
November 14, 2022

If trumpeter Eric Jacobson's name doesn't ring a bell, it could be because he is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles or any other jazz mecca. What's more, Jacobson has not recorded often; Discover is only his second date as leader or co-leader. Hindrances aside, Jacobson's is a name with which one should become familiar, as he is an excellent trumpeter and composer, and Discover is splendid from start to finish. ...

Album Review

Kyle Asche Organ trio: Five Down Blues

Read "Five Down Blues" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 31, 2021

It has been well documented that the Covid-19 pandemic has played havoc with the careers of the participants in the arts. The members of the Kyle Asche Organ Trio have also felt its sting. But fortunately they have a musical snapshot of the final time they made music together in March 2020, which forms the basis of this release entitled Five Down Blues. In this live eight track session, guitarist Asche along with Pete Benson on Hammond Organ and drummer ...

Album Review

Alyssa Allgood: What Tomorrow Brings

Read "What Tomorrow Brings" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 25, 2021

In the chemistry lab, solvents are said to be punctilious when they have been completely purified through filtering, distillation, and chromatography. Punctilious ether, if a sound, could be compared to the perfectly polished tone generated from lead crystal when struck with a platinum spoon. This is the level of refinement heard in Alyssa Allgood's voice on What Tomorrow Brings. Allgood has been filtering and distilling her tone over three previous recordings: Lady BIrd (Self Produced, 2015); Out Of The Blue ...