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Rodney Jordan: Memphis Blue
by Jack Bowers
On Memphis Blue, acclaimed bassist Rodney Jordan bows deeply to his Tennessee hometown via a series of charming and largely blues-tailored themes that are designed to trace the city's unique character and heritage. Jordan wrote four of them, including the album's title song and animated tributes to trumpeter Roy Hargrove and drummer Art Blakey. Jordan has the first two minutes, forty-five seconds of “Memphis Blue" to himself before pianist Louis Herivaux and drummer Quentin Baxter lend their ...
Continue ReadingBlack Gold Orchestra: Genesis
by Jack Bowers
Two years after it was formed by drummer Larry Wilson in 2021, the impressive Atlanta, Georgia-based Black Gold Orchestra has released its debut album, Genesis, a handsome medley of original compositions by Wilson and saxophonist Frank Houston complementing others by Cedar Walton, Horace Silver, Charles Earland and OutKast (a.k.a. Andre Benjamin). Even though the themes by Walton ("Firm Roots"), Silver ("Nutville") and Earland ("The Creation") are explicit highlights, Wilson's four compositions stand up well beside them, as ...
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