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Pat Bianchi: Something to Say: The Music of Stevie Wonder
by Jack Bowers
When considering pop artists whose music might readily lend itself to a jazz milieu, Stevie Wonder's name isn't one that springs readily to mind. Organist Pat Bianchi, however, felt that Wonder had Something to Say in a jazz context, so he set about canvassing Wonder's art and reimagining it in terms of an organ trio, accentuating the composer's singular gift for melody and harmony and replacing the lyrics with solos by organ, guitar and (in two instances) tenor saxophone.
Continue ReadingGemma Sherry: Music To Dream To
by Jack Bowers
Vocalist Gemma Sherry's fourth album, Music to Dream To, recorded in July 2020, closely follows her third, Let's Get Serious, released less than a year earlier. This latest album expresses Sherry's love for the music of South America in general and Brazilian bossa nova in particular, with half a dozen engaging songs that sway to an irresistible bossa (or samba) beat. Two numbers—"The Telephone Song" and “Keep Talking"—are repeated ("acoustic version," the track listing points out), and even counting the ...
Continue ReadingGemma Sherry: Let's Get Serious
by C. Michael Bailey
A perfect response to challenge and change. In the parlance of the agrarian American South, Gemma Sherry is “makin' hay while the sun shines. Let's Get Serious is the singer's light-as-air, coquettishly coy wink at the COVID-19 pandemic—a wink as opposed to any other response, as Sherry is a true Lady. The title of her third full-length (in 2020 alone) recording is deliciously ironic as the tone is anything but. Globally, this release is best defined in the ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bollenback: Portraits In Space And Time
by Dan Bilawsky
Guitarist Paul Bollenback is valued by listeners and musicians alike for his incisive and inventive guitar work, wholly in the tradition while simultaneously branching out beyond the same old same old. His playing has been a key ingredient--in some cases, the key ingredient--in much of organ kingpin Joey DeFrancesco's recorded output, saxophonist Jim Snidero's highly praised Savant dates, vocalist Chris McNulty's post-millennial releases, and elsewhere, but it's his own albums that truly provide a full picture of his talent(s). Bollenback ...
Continue ReadingStevie Holland: Before Love Has Gone
by AAJ Italy Staff
L'ascolto di Stevie Holland mentre interpreta standard famosi oltre a due canzoni di Gary William Friedman (autore pure di tutti gli arrangiamenti) e “Riverboat Gambler" di Carly Simon fa dimenticare tutto quello che avviene intorno. Poi al secondo ascolto si riesce a focalizzare sull'alto livello di produzione, della perfetta incisione e di come tutte le note, sue e dei musicisti, siano al posto giusto. Mica poco. La Holland scrive nelle ricche note di copertina che questo disco è pieno di ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bollenback: Invocation
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il chitarrista Paul Bollenback ha alle spalle oltre quindici anni passati con Joey DeFrancesco in un organ trio che ha lasciato una traccia interessante, anche se certamente non fondamentale, nel jazz degli anni novanta. Questo è il suo secondo album per l'etichetta Elefant Dreams e la formazione in quartetto, con la tromba di Randy Brecker nella front line e senza le tastiere nella sezione ritmica, riesce sapientemente a sottolineare i meriti di questo chitarrista che non ha il piglio e ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bollenback: Invocation
by Tom Greenland
Journeyman guitarist Paul Bollenback's Invocation is just that: a shout-out and a summoning forth of the muses, representing a high point in a consistent and substantial oeuvre. This sophomore release for Elefant Dreams is a departure from the guitarist's R&B cover-heavy material found on several of his five earlier recordings for Challenge. Like Brightness of Being (2006), its immediate predecessor, Invocation features the wordless vocalese of Chris McNulty, who doubles the melody on “Alter Ego" and harmonizes with trumpet and ...
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