Recording News

Artie Shaw: 1938-45 RCA Sessions

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 4, 2009

You can hear it in virtually everything Artie Shaw recorded in the late 1930s and early and mid-1940s. There, in track after track, is the restlessness, the confidence, the envelope-pushing and the Shangri-La search for a sound only Shaw could hear. Today, it's hard to understand why Shaw grew so peevish and dissatisfied with every band he assembled. Many observers have blamed Shaw's persistent unease and setting of impossible standards as self-loathing brought on by personal frustration and a media-fed ...

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New CD by "Santa Cruz" - Leading Danish Fusion Band

Source: Michael Ricci
November 2, 2009

SANTA CRUZ Jazz-rock fusion

Alex Riel (drums) Poul Halberg (guitar) Frans Bak (keys) Hans Ulrik (sax) Bo Stief (bass) During the 1980s SANTA CRUZ was one of the most successful jazz-rock fusion bands in Denmark. Today their only release from those days, the LP Daylight from 1985, has a cult like status in the country. Since then each of the band members has been leading their ...

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#5 Is Live for Rare Blend

Source: Michael Ricci
November 2, 2009

Scheduled for December 14th, 2009, instrumental music group Rare Blend will release their 5th CD album Sessions, an impressive 14 track disc of live recordings from stage and studio. Unlike the groups previous CDs, Sessions highlights Rare Blends one takes, and in the moment jam-fusion instrumentals. Sessions features new songs and improvisations from shows in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and in-studio improvs recorded at Odyssey Studios in Cleveland. Also included are selections from a taping for the Crooked River Groove television ...

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New York Treasures from the 90s Revisited in Solo Piano Versions

Source: Michael Ricci
November 2, 2009

By Anderson Riley Tunes by jazz musicians Ben Monder, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Cheek, Reid Anderson, Fernando Huergo, Drew Gress, Yusuke Yamamoto and Guillermo Klein are displayed on this solo piano album of a rare kind. Fellow New Yorker, pianist Mika Pohjola, decided to record tunes by his friends from the jazz scene. These songs were played by Pohjola at various sessions with some of the composers, when the songs were new in the late 1990s and they all lived in ...

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Keith Jarrett: Standards in Sweden I & II

Source: Michael Ricci
November 2, 2009

By Mika Pohjola Gary Peacock has had many great trio initiatives. One of the greatest is this trio with Keith Jarrett on piano and Jack DeJohnette on drums (another one is with Paul Bley and Paul Motian). It is remarkable that all three members of this trio are capable pianists, and Peacock additionally a drummer from his early years; however, Jarrett may be the strongest pianist. The trio is a late 20th century phenomenon in equally late bebop renditions of ...

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Putumayo Releases "A Family Christmas"

Source: Michael Ricci
November 2, 2009

Few things evoke more holiday spirit than festive Christmas songs. On A Family Christmas, Putumayo offers a collection of yuletide favorites by a fascinating array of artists that every family is sure to enjoy while trimming the tree or sharing a holiday dinner.

A Family Christmas features classic songs by Leon Redbone, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Seattle-based artist Johnny Bregar, singer-songwriter Martin Sexton, country music star Deana Cater, The Christmas Jug Band featuring bluesy singer-songwriters Angela Strehli and Maria Muldaur, ...

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Bruce Barth's Suite Live

Source: See! Hear! by Richard Kamins
November 1, 2009

Pianist Bruce Barth has long been one of my favorite musicians.  He's worked with a slew of great musicians, from James Moody to Branford Marsalis, Phil Woods to Andy Statman (his work on Statman's The Hidden Light is simply gorgeous.) In the early 1990's, Barth toured and recorded with trumpeter Terence Blanchard and his time with that ensemble became the impetus for his own solo career. He's a pianist who certainly has loads of technique yet rarely “shows off"--instead, his ...

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Carlo Chapelle CD Celebration at Davenports November 7th at 3:00 P.M.

Source: Lampkin Publicity Service
November 1, 2009

Lampkin Music Group/LMGPOP is proud to announce Carlo Chapelle's “Shade of Blue" A Celebration of the Release of his debut CD Davenport's Saturday, November 7th @ 3:00 p.m. Musical Director: Beckie Menzie Lampkin Music Group/LMGPOP is proud to announce the recording debut of Chicago based singer, Carlo Chapelle. Shade of Blue recorded over three years in Chicago and Indiana features an eclectic group of songs including several standards. With his CD debut, ...

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