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Jazz Articles about Tamir Hendelman
Judy Whitmore: Isn't It Romantic
by Jack Bowers
Sometimes it is a pleasure to listen to an album simply because the quality of the music is so consistently gratifying. And if the music is sung as well as Judy Whitmore sings it on Isn't It Romantic, well, that is icing on the cake, as are the superb performances by her supporting cast, especially pianist Tamir Hendelman and saxophonist Rickey Woodard. The music is taken for the most part from the Great American Songbook, and much ...
Continue ReadingDoug MacDonald: I'll See You in My Dreams
by Jack Bowers
There is at least one constant in guitarist Doug MacDonald's long and rewarding career: he likes to stay busy, whether hosting live gigs or inhabiting a recording studio. MacDonald's latest quartet session, I'll See You in My Dreams, is at least his twenty- ninth as leader of groups of various sizes and shapes. It is also a homecoming of sorts, as MacDonald is reunited here with the co-leaders of one of his earlier employers, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, namely bassist ...
Continue ReadingJudy Whitmore: Isn't It Romantic
by Pierre Giroux
It seems that for most singers at some point in their career, delving into the Great American Songbook is “de rigueur." And why is that? Perhaps it's because the melodies are captivating, the lyrics are meaningful, and the quality of the compositions has proven to be timeless. In any event singer Judy Whitmore has added her name to that long list of vocalists who have taken the up the challenge with her third release. There are ...
Continue ReadingJeff Hamilton Trio: Merry & Bright
by Jack Bowers
After thinking for many years about producing an album of holiday songs, drummer Jeff Hamilton finally took the plunge in March 2021, recording with his trio the delightful Merry & Bright whose seasonal perspective is far more contemporary than traditional, with only one of its ten selections ("O Tannenbaum") predating the mid-twentieth century. The mood is for the most part temperate and easygoing, a charming showcase for Hamilton's superlative brush work and deft interplay by all hands. ...
Continue ReadingGraham Dechter: Major Influence
by Pierre Giroux
The guitarist Graham Dechter offers his first new album in almost a decade. Major Influence was recorded prior to the pandemic with the dream rhythm section of Dechter's earlier recordings: pianist Tamir Hendelman, bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. In early fall 2021, the band can now begin to contemplate returning to touring. While the unit's previous releases contained mostly titles from the American Songbook and jazz standards, this effort consists of compositions that were ...
Continue ReadingStaci Griesbach: My George Jones Songbook
by William H. Snyder
Some might question why write an All About Jazz review of an album featuring songs made popular by George Jones? Duke Ellington had the answer when he said, “There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind ... the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it's successful; if it doesn't it has failed." Staci Griesbach and her colleagues have made good music ...
Continue ReadingGraham Dechter: Major Influence
by Jack Bowers
If you're a jazz guitarist who plans to record a quartet CD, you obviously want the most able and supportive rhythm section you can possibly find to lend its weight. For Los Angeles-based Graham Dechter, assembling such a peerless trio to enhance Major Influence, his third album as leader and first in nearly a decade, posed no problem whatsoever: Dechter's bandmates in the world-class Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra would do quite nicely. Yes, there may be rhythm sections whose talents are ...
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