Jazz Articles about Kevin Winard

About Kevin Winard

Album Review

There are several ways of judging the success of a recording. Perhaps a hearing makes the listener, if a musician, want to sit in and jam. That is a good sign. Then there is the “sit still test." For many, the direct, emotional and physical connection between music and brain leaves them simply hanging out, absence of motion impossible, sitting still not an option. Grant Geissman's Blooz happily passes both tests. Turn the volume up and a blues party comes ...

Album Review

Beverley Church Hogan: Sweet Invitation

Read "Sweet Invitation" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
August 3, 2022

In 1984, an American writer named Harriet Doerr published a compelling novel called Stones for Ibarra (Penguin Books). The novel, partly autobiographical, was about rural Mexico. Ms. Doerr's novel was her first. It won a National Book Award. Doerr had attended university for a bit but dropped out to raise a family. She was 74 years old when the book was published. Of course, there was a small sensation, because few of us break into print in our ...

Album Review

Beverley Church Hogan: Sweet Invitation

Read "Sweet Invitation" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 9, 2022

The entertainment business only rarely offers second chances. However, that does seem to be the case for singer Beverley Church Hogan. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, she began singing as a pre-teen, managed to have a regular gig on the radio and then, by her late teens, was singing in clubs and U.S.O. styled military shows. At 21, she relocated to Los Angeles, was offered a recording contract by Capitol Records but, for a variety of familial reasons, turned ...

Album Review

Dan Olivo: Day by Day

Read "Day by Day" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
July 3, 2022

“Hey there, cutes, Put on your dancin' boots, And come dance with me." Frank Sinatra could get away with that and much more because he had a great voice, great musicians, great arrangers, and great bandleaders. The entire package. Frank defined a certain kind of 1950s and 1960s Vegas hip, and if you had a problem with it, too bad. He influenced a lot of singers and players, and once he was gone, there were no ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman

Read "Late Bloomin' Jazzman" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
June 24, 2022

Veteran singer, platinum-selling lyricist and songwriter Mark Winkler delivers his twentieth album as leader, Late Bloomin' Jazzman, beginning with a George Gershwin standard, ending with a Gershwin tribute and, in between, presenting romantic ballads, a bit of swing and a touch of bossa. An educator at UCLA who teaches the art of songwriting, Winkler brings this remarkable talent to the fore on this album, providing his own lyrics to seven of the twelve songs which he suddenly realized “talk about ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman

Read "Late Bloomin' Jazzman" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
May 31, 2022

Anyone who can hold their own on a stage on in a studio with Cheryl Bentyne cannot be all bad, right? Even if one's taste runs more to Harry Connick, Jr than to Mark Murphy, it is difficult not to get seriously into Mark Winkler. Oh, he can sing, for sure, but even if he could not carry a tune, he is a lyricist for the ages. Not all ages, mind you. But for those of a certain age, sensibility, ...

Album Review

David Finck: BASSic Instinct

Read "BASSic Instinct" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 28, 2022

There's so much variety on BASSic Instinct, bassist David Finck's sixth recording as leader, that it's almost like grooving on half a dozen or more albums for the price of one. Ensembles run the gamut from duo to octet, with vocals added on three of its thirteen engaging numbers. Besides governing the rhythm, composing three of the numbers and arranging all of them, Finck shoulders melodic duties on five tracks and solos effectively throughout. As suits his temperament, every number ...