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New York Bass Quartet: Air
by Pierre Giroux
Bassist Martin Wind is the real deal. Although he may not have the profile enjoyed by some of the bold-faced names in the profession such as Christian McBride, Ron Carter or Esperanza Spalding, he has built his reputation as a skilled, versatile player since emigrating to the US in 1995 to study at the NYU jazz program. While Wind's discography is not lengthy, he has done some commendable work with Bill Mays and Frank Kimbrough. This release Air puts the ...
read moreCharles Tolliver: Connect
by Chris May
Put out more flags. Connect, the first release from trumpeter Charles Tolliver in over a decade, is a monster. From the Saturday-night goodtime opener Blue Soul" through to the intense, Spanish tinged, serpentine closer Suspicion," the album finds Tolliver still at the top of his game in a recording career which began in the mid 1960s. He fronts a US quintet which brings with it the grit and groove of a mid-1960s Blue Note hard-bop band while sounding totally 2020. ...
read moreFor Those Who Chant
by Peter J. Hoetjes
Luis Gasca was one of the hottest trumpet players in California during the 1970s, recording a handful of albums fueled by the drugs, the culture, and the excitement of that time and place. Though they all featured large ensembles, only one of them allowed some of the era's most legendary musicians to blur the lines separating jazz, latin, and rock and roll. Everyone should have two favorite cities; their own and San Francisco," claimed Gasca. It was there, ...
read moreTony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad
by Nicholas F. Mondello
The translation of Adam" from Hebrew--from which the surname Adamo springs--means from the ground" or soil." It also derives from the Hebrew word for red, a la red clay." Perhaps that is why any work from Tony Adamo is rare earth--gritty, and flaming crimson. Was Out Jazz Zone Mad Adamo's latest, his first for Ropeadope, is all of those things and more.Adamo is the Heavyweight Champion of hipspokenword," wherein lingo meets vocalizing at the corner of jazz and ...
read moreTony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad
by Chris M. Slawecki
Some African cultures preserved their history not by the written but by the spoken word, kept by oral cultural historians known as griots. On Was Out Jazz Zone Mad, vocalist Tony Adamo aspires to serve in this same role, as a verbal historian of both official and unofficial African-American jazz and blues culture. This type of jazz jive might wear quickly thin but Adamo writes about jazz and jazz musicians with such detailed intimacy and vision that his words snap, ...
read moreLetizia Gambi: Blue Monday
by James Nadal
As the world continues to shrink--musically speaking of course--the melding of American jazz with Mediterranean melody is another spin cycle that makes appreciation of this evolving art form so interesting. With high expectations, Neapolitan vocalist Letizia Gambi, which hails from a theatrical family, and has extensive jazz education, releases Blue Monday, an exuberant and ambitious production that takes jazz on a romantic Italian holiday. After a collaboration with drummer extraordinaire Lenny White in 2009 led to Introducing Letizia ...
read moreLenny White: Lenny White Live from '97
by Chris M. Slawecki
Lenny White played powerful funky drums on some of the best records in jazz and jazz fusion history, including Freddie Hubbard's triumphant Red Clay with Creed Taylor (CTI, 1970), Miles Davis' (in)famous Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970), Romantic Warrior (Columbia, 1975) from his tenure in the Return to Forever rhythm section, and more.Lenny White Live from '97 captures the drummer leading a first-call cast of electric and fusion jazz players through a thoroughly magical night during White's Japanese tour ...
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