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Etienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie

by Angelo Leonardi
A 18 anni di distanza dal debutto discografico in Culture Shock il trombettista originario di Trinidad & Tobago, si cimenta come bandleader di un ampio organico, in una lussureggiante sintesi di ritmi caraibici e orchestrazioni che vanno dalla tradizione Swing all'hip hop. L'orchestra è un ampliamento della sua storica Creole Soul Band e ospita la cantante René Marie in quattro brani. Etienne ha iniziato a scrivere per ampi organici a partire dalla collaborazione con la stessa cantante ...
Continue ReadingGodwin Louis, Laurie Anderson, and remembering Jack Mouse

by Hobart Taylor
New music from Godwin Louis, Laurie Anderson, a previously unreleased tune from Wayne Shorter and remembering pioneering percussionist Jack Mouse.Playlist Godwin Louis Thy Will Be Done" from Psalms and Proverbs (Blue Room) 0:00 Anna Butterss Shorn" from Mighty Vertebrate (International Anthem) 4:49 Nduduzo Makhathini Amathongo" from In The Spirit Of Ntu Blue Note 9:40 Host Speaks 16:06 Neta Raanan Mountain Voice" from Unforeseen Blossom Live In Brooklyn (Giant Steps Arts) 17:10 Christopher Cerrone The Air Suspended: III. Stutter ...
Continue ReadingEtienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie

by Chris May
Trinidad-born Etienne Charles has been fortunate in his associates during his development as a jazz musician. One of the first friends he made on arrival in the U.S.A. in the early 2000s to study at Florida State University was faculty member Marcus Roberts. Among much else, the pianist taught Charles the importance of keeping in touch with his roots. He always said make sure you put where you're from in your music," says Charles in the press materials accompanying his ...
Continue ReadingCecile McLorin Salvant: Mélusine

by Katchie Cartwright
Wynton Marsalis was right, Cécile McLorin Salvant is the sort of singer who comes along only once in a generation or two." A MacArthur Fellow, multiple Grammy winner, and self-described eclectic, Salvant creates projects that encompass an astonishing array of idioms and historical periods, which she interrelates inventively and interweaves with original compositions. Here, she plumbs the francophone side of her repertoire. French songs have cropped up regularly in her live shows, but less on disk. Mélusine fills the gap ...
Continue ReadingMichael Feinberg: Hard Times

by Troy Dostert
Although the Covid pandemic has been devastating to the artistic community, and certainly jazz musicians are no exception, albums like Michael Feinberg's Hard Times point to the possibility of hopeful resilience. With a top-shelf bunch of colleagues and smart compositions with rhythmically crafty arrangements, the bassist's eighth release is a winner, with a plucky spirit and satisfying grooves in abundance. Feinberg pulled this band together in October 2020, and with folks like drummer Jeff “Tain" Watts and pianist ...
Continue ReadingAndy Farber and His Orchestra: Early Blue Evening

by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Andy Farber's New York-based orchestra came together and cut its teeth as the onstage band for three hundred performances of After Midnight, a Broadway revue that paid tribute to Jazz Age nightclub luminaries from Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie to Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. As one might presume from the orchestra's provenance, echoes of Ellington and Basie can readily be discerned on its first recording since After Midnight closed in 2014--but Farber, who wrote ...
Continue ReadingJonathan Barber & Vision Ahead: Legacy Holder

by Dan Bilawsky
Drummer Jonathan Barber's Legacy Holder is a musical missive acknowledging the history that flows before and beyond his time, the ethos of the present, and a need to bind these streams into a single/singular statement or groundwork for himself and those who will follow. It is an album built on intellect, understanding, intuition and, perhaps most importantly, respectfor culture, curiosity, a capacity to love and do what's right, and the need to change. Leading Vision Aheadan aptly ...
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