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Jazz Articles about Luca Alemanno
Will Brahm: Distance to Empty
by Karan Khosla
Distance to Empty is a phrase that carries a familiar feeling--something you might glimpse glowing on the dashboard as you pull away from a final pit stop before a long journey. Will Brahm, metaphorically and musically, poses these questions: How far can you go with what you have? What is left in the tank? What is possible, and what awaits at the edge of it all? Brahm is a Los Angeles-based guitarist and composer whose music moves fluidly ...
Continue ReadingBevan Manson featuring Tierney Sutton with The Hollywood Studio Orchestra: Talking to Trees
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Bevan Manson is an artist who has a creative duality. As a pianist, composer/arranger and educator, he's been successful in classical and jazz environments. With Talking to Trees, Manson provides an array of both originals and jazz standards, most with an arboreal tint, as the title indicates. The work is a validation that his pen, guiding the talents of vocalist Tierney Sutton and L.A.'s premium players, can make the familiar fascinating and the novel intriguing. Miles Davis' ...
Continue ReadingSimon Moullier Trio: Inception
by Angelo Leonardi
Il giovane vibrafonista vincitore dell'ultimo Critics Poll di Down Beat nella categoria rising star, torna al trio e agli standard con cui aveva pubblicato nel 2021 Countdown. Ritroviamo quindi Luca Alemanno al contrabbasso e Jongkuk Kim alla batteria che avevano lasciato spazio al quartetto di Isla dove Simon Moullier presentava molte sue composizioni. Inutile ribadire che il trentenne francese -con studi al Berklee College of Music e oggi residente a Brooklyn-è l'astro nascente del vibrafono, tanto quanto lo ...
Continue ReadingJulie Kelly: Freedom Jazz Dance
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Freedom Jazz Dance from Los Angeles singer, Julie Kelly offers an interesting array of selections that emanate from that musical road less traveled. And, as in life, sometimes that road yields nuggets of delight that would most likely never make it to the tried and “true way." Peter Nero and Carroll Coates' “New York on Sunday" opens things and is a lilting snap on 2 and 4 groove with Kelly joyously covering it and Josh Nelson slickly ...
Continue ReadingJosh Nelson: LA Stories: Live at Sam First
by Robert Petersen
Josh Nelson's LA Stories: Live at Sam First was recorded in February 2022 at Sam First, which has quickly become the heartbeat of L.A.'s jazz community. With this album, Nelson continues a love letter to Los Angeles he began with his 2017 release, The Sky Remains, which was part of his Discovery Project multimedia series. In a city where history is too often forgotten, Nelson puts it center stage. In “Tiburcio," Nelson conjures the life of the 19th ...
Continue ReadingMichael Ragonese: Stracci
by Pierre Giroux
It would probably be a hyperbole to say that young jazz pianists are “a dime a dozen." Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there are some stellar younger jazz pianists working today, such as Emmet Cohen, Kenny Banks Jr., and Paul Cornish, and that if you are going to play in this league, you must have a style which sets you apart from the rest. Michael Ragonese possibly falls into that category as evidenced by his latest ...
Continue ReadingMichael Ragonese: Stracci
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Michael Ragonese is called Rags, a nickname given to him in childhood that stuck. His sophomore effort is entitled Stracci which means rags in Italian--a more musical sound than its English equivalent. It is a piano trio outing, a top-notch one. Ragonese's musical backstory is a common one. He began in classical studies and after a time felt constrained. He was introduced to jazz via a Bill Evans album--no better place to start--and he switched his focus. ...
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