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Dawn Clement / Steve Kovalcheck / Jon Hamar: Dawn Clement / Steve Kovalcheck / Jon Hamar
by Dan Bilawsky
A trio sans drums offers the opportunity for a capacious clarity that you can't find anywhere else. And this particular collective with pianist Dawn Clement, guitarist Steve Kovalcheck and bassist Jon Hamar embraces that possibility while highlighting an inviting style all its own. Splitting compositional duties and showcasing an empathetic sixth sense that involves baton-passing bonhomie, dovetailing joints, melodic volleying, conversational chemistry, steady support and sympathy, these three demonstrate what egoless creativity is all about. There is ...
Continue ReadingJack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork
by Nicholas F. Mondello
"Those who know, know" happens to be a soon-to-be-overused phrase to describe the hip, the “In," and “the very elite of aware." Now in his Mid-80s, Jack Jones has maintained a stellar, cross-media career, all on a foundation of a once-in-a-lifetime voice. Mel Torme, one not easily prone to hyperbole, called Jones, “the best pure singer in the business." Torme and others in the Vocal Pantheon knew. With ArtWork, Jones joins forces with the late multi-instrumentalist and ...
Continue ReadingJack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork
by Jack Bowers
If a singer's reputation is so impressive that he or she is able to enlist a full orchestra (with bassist John Clayton conducting) and the late organ maestro Joey DeFrancesco as featured soloist, that is certainly enough to warrant attention. The singer in this instance is two-time Grammy winner Jack Jones, the orchestra an assemblage of some of the Los Angeles area's finest musicians, enlarged by a thirty-member string section. On one hand, Jones remains a smooth ...
Continue ReadingJeff Hamilton Trio: Merry & Bright
by Jack Bowers
After thinking for many years about producing an album of holiday songs, drummer Jeff Hamilton finally took the plunge in March 2021, recording with his trio the delightful Merry & Bright whose seasonal perspective is far more contemporary than traditional, with only one of its ten selections ("O Tannenbaum") predating the mid-twentieth century. The mood is for the most part temperate and easygoing, a charming showcase for Hamilton's superlative brush work and deft interplay by all hands. ...
Continue ReadingJim Knapp Orchestra: It's Not Business, It's Personal
by Jack Bowers
The Jim Knapp Orchestra's CD It's Not Business, It's Personal, recorded in February 2009, was set to be released on November 19, 2021—six days after Knapp died at age eighty-two in Kirkland, Washington. Apart from his role as bandleader, Knapp was a trumpeter, composer, arranger and longtime faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Described by Grammy-winning composer/pianist Jim McNeely as “a brilliant musician, great teacher and a humble, sweet [and] generous man," Knapp was widely recognized ...
Continue ReadingJeff Hamilton Trio: Catch Me If You Can
by Jack Bowers
Any trio anchored by drummer Jeff Hamilton has a clear head start when compared to any would-be rivals. That's because Hamilton's unerring and tasteful timekeeping and resourceful use of brushes and sticks would be any trio's dream come true. In this case it's Hamilton's own trio, recording at least the sixteenth album under that name, the bulk of them with the superb Israeli-born pianist Tamir Hendelman at his side and, this time, with bassist Jon Hamar replacing longtime partner Christoph ...
Continue ReadingJon Hamar: Hymn
by Hrayr Attarian
Seattle bassist Jon Hamar's third release as a leader is an intimate and collaborative effort. The textured harmonies with hints of western Classical influences that are heard on his prior CDs have further matured on Hymn, thanks, in no small part, to his choice of sidemen. Reed multi-instrumentalist Todd DelGiudice (a past collaborator who sticks to alto throughout this record) takes an approach inspired by saxophonist Charlie Parker on the whimsical “The Big Fat Hen" and his ...
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