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Susan Hinkson: Just in Time
by Katchie Cartwright
In 2025, radio programmers are apt to carp about singers who continue to cover the Great American Songbook. There are new songs and songwriters to explore, they say, and it is true. But for lovers of mainstream jazz, the mellow sound of a sensitive balladeer like Susan Hinkson singing a gem like Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's “One for My Baby" still satisfies. On a late and rainy Saturday night, many a jazz fan would be delighted to ...
Continue ReadingRex Richardson: Elegy
by Ken Hohman
Grief is often complex and multi-faceted. How we cope with it reflects as much about those we have lost as it does about ourselves. This is a reality that trumpet master Rex Richardson knows all too well, having lost his father in 2023. Elegy is Richardson's poignant tribute to his father, yet the eight songs offer a variety of personal tributes that explore the complexity of living through bereavement in unexpected ways with moods both somber and bright. ...
Continue ReadingLeslie Pintchik: Prayer For What Remains
by Jack Bowers
Pianist and composer Leslie Pintchik abandoned a promising career as an educator at New York's Columbia University in favor of writing and playing piano full-time. What has become clear since then, and especially on her eighth album, Prayer for What Remains, is that academia's loss is beyond any doubt the jazz world's gain. Pintchik leads her working trio here, with guest appearances by the esteemed soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson on two numbers and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi on ...
Continue ReadingZach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day
by Jack Bowers
For someone not that long out of college, New York City-based drummer Zach Adleman has kept a full dance card, leading to the release of his impressive debut recording, We Make: Stories for a New Day, on which Adleman leads a nimble sextet through its paces on 11 charming and upbeat songs, nine of which he composed and arranged. In 2019, the New Jersey native won the Detroit Jazz Festival's annual J.C. Heard National Drum Competition. Two ...
Continue ReadingZach Adleman: We Make: Stories For A New Day
by David A. Orthmann
From beginning to end, Zach Adleman's debut as a leader, We Make: Stories For A New Day, fires on all cylinders. The twenty-something drummer inhabits the roles of player, composer, arranger, and bandleader with the aplomb of a seasoned veteran. A hungry, assertive band includes two generations of compatible hands who produce a fresh and vital sound that mirrors the straight-ahead, acoustic jazz tradition Adleman penned nine compositions that are sturdy, substantive, and melodically rich. We have ...
Continue ReadingLeslie Pintchik: Prayer For What Remains
by Dan McClenaghan
As a doctoral candidate at Columbia University studying 17th-century English literature and working as a teaching assistant, Leslie Pintchik could have moved into a life of academia. But, an old story: jazz called. She wanted a music career. A clear-eyed financial advisor might have tried to dissuade her, pointing out the problems and pitfalls of making a living in jazz. She probably would not have listened. In 2024, with eight fine albums under her belt, she offers up number nine, ...
Continue ReadingEllie Lee: Escape
by Richard J Salvucci
The term “promising" is typically used to describe a new arrival on the jazz scene. It may be synonymous with “hard to pigeonhole," or, perhaps, not yet completely realized in some stylistic sense. In the case of Ellie (Seunghyung) Lee, the word is misleading. Lee conjures up echoes of other distinguished players, but she clearly has something original to say. Her compositions, which comprise the bulk of the material here, have a vibe of their own, which comes from a ...
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