Jazz Articles about Joey Mazzarella

About Joey Mazzarella

Album Review

The Brian Martin Big Band: Old Home/New Home

Read "Old Home/New Home" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 23, 2025

Brian Martin, who as a working musician wears many hats--trombonist, composer, arranger, educator and band leader among them--has taken those hats from his native Iowa and given them a new mailing address in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Which is a big deal. Big enough, at least, for Martin to have devoted much of Old Home/New Home, the Brian Martin Big Band's debut recording, to the ins and outs and ups and downs of leaving one's friendly confines to plant new ...

Album Review

Rick Stepton: The Placebone Effect

Read "The Placebone Effect" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 12, 2021

On an August day and in midst and darkness of a global pandemic, five New England jazz musicians under the leadership of trombonist Rick Stepton entered a Massachusetts studio and let it all fly. The result? The Placebone Effect, a fine collection of workhorse standards along with a Stepton original, performed with verve, style, taste and sly good humor. Stepton has long been a recognized figure in the jazz world both as a fine, swinging trombone player ...