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Marcello Carelli: First Impressions
by Jack Bowers
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 ...
Continue ReadingYellowjackets: Fasten Up
by Pierre Giroux
Since their auspicious debut in 1981, the Yellowjackets have stood as both standard bearers and restless innovators of the jazz fusion movement. The group is anchored by founding pianist and keyboardist Russell Ferrante, long-time collaborators drummer Will Kennedy and saxophonist Bob Mintzer and, the most recent addition (for nearly a decade), bassist Dane Alderson. With their release Fasten Up, they once again demonstsrate that their creative engine runs on both memory and momentum. The album opens with a ...
Continue ReadingLorraine Feather's Language Turns A Witty Phrase
by Ken Dryden
I got to know Lorraine Feather through reviewing several of her CDs, amazed by her gifts as a lyricist and singer, who was equally at home with witty songs and tender ballads. I first met Lorraine when she was performing at the late lamented Manhattan club Danny's Skylight Room with pianist Shelly Berg. We would chat during IAJE conferences and I was delighted when she invited me to write the liner notes for this CD. This release stands the test ...
Continue ReadingThe Yellowjackets: Parallel Motion
by Peter Jones
Of the original 1977 members of the Yellowjackets, all but keyboards man Russell Ferrante departed long ago. But saxophonist Bob Mintzer, who joined in 1991, is still there and, to a large extent, the idea also lingers on: we hear echoes of it in the work of Snarky Puppy, for example. That idea was/is Californian jazz-funk. But how do you keep it sounding fresh after 45 years and 26 albums (27 if you count the one with Bobby ...
Continue ReadingGrant Geissman: Blooz
by Richard J Salvucci
There are several ways of judging the success of a recording. Perhaps a hearing makes the listener, if a musician, want to sit in and jam. That is a good sign. Then there is the “sit still test." For many, the direct, emotional and physical connection between music and brain leaves them simply hanging out, absence of motion impossible, sitting still not an option. Grant Geissman's Blooz happily passes both tests. Turn the volume up and a blues party comes ...
Continue ReadingMarilyn Scott: The Landscape
by Jim Worsley
Some artists feel obligated to put out a new record every one-point-three years, or whatever their factory warranty calls for (mileage may vary). Others are more interested in quality than quantity. On her first record since Standard Blue (Prana, 2017), jazz vocalist Marilyn Scott has something to say about The Landscape. More than the title track, Scott's concerns with our landscape is the scope and focus of seven original compositions, all co-written with pianists Russ Ferrante or Scott Kinsey. Scott ...
Continue ReadingRobben Ford: Pure
by Doug Collette
It's only fitting guitarist Robben Ford assigns a closeup of his chosen instrument to the cover of Pure. His devotion to the axe is at least equal to, if not greater than, the ardor he elicits from fretboard fanatics. But then that's a deserved devotion as the man demonstrates in less than two minutes at the very outset of his first instrumental studio album since Tiger Walk ( Blue Thumb,1997): the one-time member of Tom Scott's L.A. Express and Miles ...
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