Jazz Articles about Mike Gurrola

About Mike Gurrola

Album Review

Charles Ruggiero: Plays Monk Live! At The Baked Potato

Read "Plays Monk Live! At The Baked Potato" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 18, 2026

Perhaps no other composer has contributed more standards to the jazz canon than Thelonious Sphere Monk, whose music was once considered too atypical and erratic for the mainstream. Times and tastes have changed, however, and on second glance, Thelonious Monk's compositions, even when skirting the norm, seem nowhere near as deviant as before. In 2026, it is hard to envision a list of jazz benchmarks that does not include such classics as, for example, “'Round Midnight," “Straight, No Chaser," “In ...

Album Review

Bob Reynolds: Eddie Told Me So

Read "Eddie Told Me So" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 4, 2026

When Bob Reynolds first heard tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris, he was more than impressed. “I've been inspired by his music ever since," Reynolds writes. Indeed, he was. So inspired, in fact, that there is more than a little Harris in his tenor's tone and temper on Eddie Told Me So, in which Reynolds' quartet does its best to refresh the Harris legacy for a new generation of listeners as well as for those who may have overlooked the legendary tenor ...

Album Review

Jonathan Karrant with The Joe Alterman Trio: Live In Concert

Read "Live In Concert" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
February 21, 2026

There is a unique honesty that only a live recording can reveal, and on Live in Concert, vocalist Jonathan Karrant and pianist Joe Alterman embrace that truth with confidence, grace, and genuine joy. Recorded during a performance at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, the album captures not just a series of songs but the authentic musical connection these two artists have built over the years. From the very beginning, it is clear that Karrant and Alterman share ...

Album Review

Marcello Carelli: First Impressions

Read "First Impressions" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 26, 2025

There is no sophomore slump on First Impressions, which is the second recording by the splendid young drummer Marcello Carelli's quartet/trio. It is one on which he not only anchors the rhythm section but also wrote nine of the studio date's ten bright and engaging tunes. If a musician can be appraised by the company he keeps, Carelli's status there is sky-high, as the quartet consists of award-winning tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer and pianist Russell Ferrante (who ...

Album Review

Veronica Thomas: Veronica Thomas They Say It's Wonderful

Read "Veronica Thomas They Say It's Wonderful" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 23, 2024

Broadway musicals and cinema soundtrack songs have been full-bloom gardens for material harvested by singers and instrumentalists. From the romantic to the dramatic to the humorous and novelty, artists have had the buona fortuna of such a vast treasury. Partnering with the insight of producer John Proulx, (himself a marvelous singer/pianist/composer) and a cadre of LA greats, highly entertaining vocalist Veronica Thomas superbly delivers a dozen Broadway and film standards--and a standout Proulx original--with They Say It's Wonderful.

Album Review

Champian Fulton: Flying High - Big Band Canaries Who Soared

Read "Flying High - Big Band Canaries Who Soared" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

by Richard J Salvucci
July 10, 2024

If memory serves, Woody Herman was once quoted as saying “it's tough to be a canary," or words to that effect. “Canary" of course, was just one of the many euphemisms used for female big band singers in the 1930s and 1940s. Herman's pointed observation was spot on. He thought, correctly, that most female singers were being evaluated--by male critics, of course--on their physical attributes primarily, not on their vocal prowess. This is no place to go into detail, but ...

Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Sextet Session

Read "Sextet Session" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 22, 2024

Guitarist Doug MacDonald records albums like someone who is either making up for lost time or does not have much time to spare. According to his discography, Sextet Session is at least the thirty-second album MacDonald has led or co-led, almost half of which have been released in the past couple of years or so. To keep things fresh, MacDonald has performed with almost every size group from big band to duo, but not often with as sharp and experienced ...