Jazz Articles about Neal Miner

About Neal Miner

Album Review

Naama Gheber: Old Mother Hubbard

Read "Old Mother Hubbard" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 13, 2022

New York-based Israeli vocalist Naama Gheber released her debut Dearly Beloved (Cellar Live) two years ago this month, in April 2020, right at the front of the gaping maw, we came to know as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or COVID-19. In spite of this, Gheber's recording garnered favorable reviews at All About Jazz, as well as elsewhere. Dearly Beloved was an announcement of a supple and gifted talent emerging. With the Covid pandemic arguably behind us, ...

Album Review

Mike Melito/Dino Losito Quartet: You're It!

Read "You're It!" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 2, 2020

The album cover says “Mike Melito / Dino Losito Quartet." What it does not say is that drummer Melito and pianist Losito have at their beck-and-call an awesome secret weapon, Philadelphia-based tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna, a phenom from the Lester Young school of elegant swinging whose voice on the horn is as debonair and persuasive as any you are likely to hear. It is hard to imagine while listening to McKenna glide easily through cadences from ballad to barn-burner that ...

Album Review

The Mike Melito / Dino Losito Quartet: You're It!

Read "You're It!" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
October 24, 2020

Moderation is a virtue which pervades You're It!, a date co-led by drummer Mike Melito and pianist Dino Losito. It is a pleasure--and a relief—to hear a bop-influenced recording in which jazzmen (three in their middle years and one octogenarian) transcend influences and forge their own standards of performance. The record is impressive in part because of an absence of frenzied, inelegantly swinging tempos, individuals clamoring for attention, and the vociferous sound of competing egos. Rather than peddling artificial excitement ...

Album Review

The Mike Melito/Dino Losito Quartet: You're It!

Read "You're It!" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 23, 2020

The bold-face names on this release are drummer Mike Melito and pianist Dino Losito. However, the name of the performer treasure is buried in quasi-mice type on the bottom of the front cover, and that is tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna. He is the difference maker. The two principals are from upstate New York and have worked together for many years along with NYC bassist Neal Miner. Their interplay demonstrates a symbiotic relationship and consequently they have a sense ...

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Album Review

Neal Miner: Happy Hour

Read "Happy Hour" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
November 2, 2009

A thirty-two measure intro to “Bye, Bye, Baby" typifies the traits which animate Happy Hour, bassist Neal Miner's recent release on his Gut String Records imprint. After drummer Joe Strasser's snapping fingers establish a firm, uncluttered pulse, pianist Michael Kanan and Miner play a single chorus of eight-, four-, two- and one-bar exchanges. Their flawless execution of courtly, bebop-oriented lines simulates a continuous chain of thought. Like all of the tracks on the record, this neat prelude to Jule Styne's ...

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Album Review

Neal Miner: The Evening Sound

Read "The Evening Sound" reviewed by John Barron

by John Barron
June 8, 2007

Blurred by the multi-cultural, cross-genre jazz of today's global era, the sounds of specific geographical regions have become less prevalent on contemporary recordings. Neal Miner's The Evening Sound is an exception. Born and raised in Manhattan, and a fixture on the Big Apple jazz scene, the prominent bassist/composer has produced a disc of all-original material that is undeniably one-hundred percent New York. Inspired by the various facets of life in the city and conceived during years of sessions at the ...

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Album Review

Dino Losito: Dino Losito (Like That)

Read "Dino Losito (Like That)" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
August 7, 2002

The selection of tunes on this disc were the portent of very hip things to come. This fine trio has woven a tapestry of jazz that swings tastefully, like a porch glider on a summers day, (with a song like “Skylark") And then taking off into orbit on a tune like “Our Delight" the next. Dino Losito is a bop oriented musician that has a firm grasp on the roots of “modern jazz". As in all good Pianists, there is ...