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Walter Cano
Etienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie
by Angelo Leonardi
A 18 anni di distanza dal debutto discografico in Culture Shock il trombettista originario di Trinidad & Tobago, si cimenta come bandleader di un ampio organico, in una lussureggiante sintesi di ritmi caraibici e orchestrazioni che vanno dalla tradizione Swing all'hip hop. L'orchestra è un ampliamento della sua storica Creole Soul Band e ospita la cantante René Marie in quattro brani. Etienne ha iniziato a scrivere per ampi organici a partire dalla collaborazione con la stessa cantante ...
Continue ReadingEtienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie
by Chris May
Trinidad-born Etienne Charles has been fortunate in his associates during his development as a jazz musician. One of the first friends he made on arrival in the U.S.A. in the early 2000s to study at Florida State University was faculty member Marcus Roberts. Among much else, the pianist taught Charles the importance of keeping in touch with his roots. “He always said make sure you put where you're from in your music," says Charles in the press materials accompanying his ...
Continue ReadingArturo O'Farrill: Virtual Birdland
by Jack Bowers
Whenever an obstacle presents itself--even one as devastating and disruptive as a global pandemic--it's a sure bet that musicians will find a way around it, a way to keep making music even in the most grievous circumstances. Jazz musicians have been especially creative during the Covid-19 scourge, using social media, the internet and any other means at their disposal to share their music with the world. True, the paychecks aren't as large or as regular as once they were, but ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens Jr. Big Band: Soul Conversations
by Jack Bowers
Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s Big Band comes out swinging on its debut recording, Soul Conversations, thundering through Michael Dease's incendiary arrangement of the Dizzy Gillespie/John Lewis flame-thrower, “Two Bass Hit." For more such heat, however, the listener must move forward to Track 5, John Coltrane's impulsive “Giant Steps," thence to Track 9 for Charles Turner III's earnest homage to “Harlem Harlem Harlem," on which he doubles as vocalist. That's not to say that everything in between is ...
Continue ReadingJC Hopkins Biggish Band: New York Moment
by Chris M. Slawecki
On New York Moment, pianist JC Hopkins and his twelve-piece Biggish Band tend to a flame that's been burning since prior to World War II, the sound of large dance bands (with and without vocalists) who moved audiences with both sophistication and swing. Hopkins' Moment rotates Vanisha-Arleen Gould, Joy Hanson, Nico Sarbanes (who also plays trumpet), Shawn Whitehorn and Alicyn Yaffee (guitar) as lead vocalists. The opening track leaves you genuinely “Beguiled" as vocalists Nico and Joy harmonize ...
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