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Dawn Clement: Delight

by Paul Rauch
Pianist / vocalist / composer Dawn Clement has appeared on plenty of recordings, both as a sideperson and leader, but she has perhaps never quite accomplished what she has here with Delight, on the Origin Records label. There are balances achieved with this record that fans of the long-time Seattle, now Denver-based Clement can eagerly wrap their collective arms around. Her intrepid curiosity and virtuosity have been a given in the jazz world for many years, playing with ...
Continue ReadingChristmas Hedgehogs and Foxes

by Patrick Burnette
Every musician, it seems, does a holiday album sooner or later, and visions of residuals dance in their heads. But given the flood of releases each year, it's hard to stand out, and the canon of Christmas favorites is already pretty crowded. How to make your mark? You could try to do one or two distinctive things well. Or, you could try a little bit of everything. Listen as Mike and Pat dissect three brand new holiday offerings and a ...
Continue ReadingMeet Matt Wilson

by Cheryl K.
In this hour, an interview with drummer Matt Wilson. Currently, he's on the road with his Christmas Tree-O bringing joy through zany holiday music to cities and towns in the US and in support of their holiday release Tree Jazz: The Shape of Christmas to Come. Playlist J.D. Allen Ave Maria" from A Garland of Holiday Songs (Savant) 4:17 Matt Wilson Christmas Tree-O Up On the Rooftop" from Tree Jazz: The Shape of Christmas to Come (Palmetto) 3:57 ...
Continue ReadingMelinda Rose Rodriguez and Frenchy Romero: I'm On My Way

by Nicholas F. Mondello
Longtime friends from their Miami days, vocalist Melinda Rose Rodriguez and pianist Frenchy Romero offer their debut collaboration, I'm on My Way. It is a ten-track collection of known fare, as well as original compositions from Rodriguez. The album is a festive musical playground for the two artists, both of whom will be performing in elite U.S. Army Bands in Washington, DC. Curtains rise with Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," an easy-swinging appetizer with Rodriguez delivering ...
Continue ReadingJeff Lederer: Guilty!!!

by Mark Corroto
Note to conservative Republicans: stop reading this review now. Note to self: There cannot be but a handful of folks who are both MAGA and jazz and improvised music listeners. Jeff Lederer's Guilty!!! recalls a time when jazz was at the forefront of the zeitgeist. Max Roach, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus were creating music about and during the civil rights movement. Elsewhere Neil Young was protesting the four dead at Kent State, while Graham Nash was recruiting ...
Continue ReadingMelinda Rose & Frenchy Romero: I'm On My Way

by Dan Bilawsky
A co-led date from vocalist Melinda Rose and pianist Frenchy Romero seemed to be preordained. The two grew up mere blocks away from each other in Miami, connected as teens and bonded immediately over a love for jazz, and developed a strong rapport at a weekly jam session. As their lives moved forward, they stayed in touch and played out during breaks in their undergraduate days, kept the gigging going when they were each in graduate school in Illinois, and ...
Continue ReadingMatt Wilson: Good Trouble

by Jerome Wilson
Drummer Matt Wilson continues his tradition of recording humorous and humanistic jazz here with the debut of a new quintet, Good Trouble, which includes both old and new associates. This group has a two-saxophone front line with Wilson's long-time colleague, Jeff Lederer on tenor sax, and Tia Fuller on alto sax. They complement each other well as they blow through the strutting rapture of Albert's Alley" and the dancing shuffle beat of Ornette Coleman's Feet Music." The group's ...
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