Jazz Articles about Justin Watt

About Justin Watt

Album Review

Rich Willey: Boptism Christmas

Read "Boptism Christmas" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 20, 2024

With seasonal jazz albums in rather short supply this year, it is a pleasure to welcome Boptism Christmas, a series of mostly well- known holiday tunes ably performed by multi-instrumentalist Rich Willey and his impressive North Carolina-based octet-plus-one. The “plus one" applies to Tracks 5 and 6, on which Russ Wilson joins the ensemble to sing ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer") or play drums ("Little Drummer Boyz"). Wilson sings respectably on a jazzed-up version of “Rudolph," a mega-hit ...

Album Review

Matt Olson: Open Spaces

Read "Open Spaces" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 29, 2022

Pleasurable jazz can sometimes spring forth from what many enthusiasts may consider highly unlikely sources. Such is the case with Open Spaces, an earnest and charming album on which saxophonist Matt Olson ushers a quintet of barely known South Carolinians through its paces in a generally animated session that consists of ten original compositions, every one written by a member of the ensemble. Olson and guitarist Matt Dingledine authored three songs apiece, while bassist Shannon Hoover and alto Adib Young ...