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Connie Crothers Quartet and Poet Mark Weber Live at the Stone
Source:
Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
Connie Crothers is important. Important to the music. Now Branford Marsalis, adding to the recent, rather over- weening pile-up/ discussion /furor about “what's wrong with jazz," noted in a recent interview that cats from New York talk about so-and-so being important, yet no one outside of a small group of people know about it, so how could it be important? With all due respect for Mr. B. Marsalis, whose music I admire greatly, that's easy. The most important jazz today ...
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Florencia Ruiz - Luz de la Noche (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
Occasionally I'll come across a record that sounds very pleasing to me and then realize that the music falls outside my usual areas of interest. Like, for instance, this new one by Florencia Ruiz that I've been listening to a lot in the last few days. Luz de la Noche is the name of her album, and it releases in the USA today. Ruiz is from Argentina and I can't even understand a word she's singing, as it's all in ...
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Duke Robillard - Low Down and Tore up (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
Blues records used to routinely sound like this: Loose and fun, almost anarchic in their pursuit of nothing more than good-time joy and real-time emotion. Duke Robillard, co-founder of Roomful of Blues and former member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, breathes new life into the concept on Low Down and Tore Up, to be issued today on Stony Plain Records. Now 40-plus years into his journey as a band leader and blues songwriter, Robillard has rarely sounded more visceral and present. ...
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Dave Shank Quintet - Soundproof (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
There is often a West Coast cool this recording, thanks largely to the smoothly energetic phrasings of vibraphonist Dave Shank. That's not to say, however, that Soundproof doesn't have its moments of fiery interplay. Check Saxophonist Mike Migliore (Maynard Ferguson, Bob Belden, Count Basie) as he spars interestingly with Shank on the spiky title track. Shank even flashes a few nifty Milt Jackson-ish bop moves on “Snoopin,'" which was inspired by the late composer-keyboardist Don Grolnick. The suite-like “A Minor ...
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On the New Album Release Cycle, Social Media and Finding the Time to Do Everything You Have to Do
Source:
HypeBot
Last week at SF Music Tech Summit, Ethan Kaplan said something very telling yet true: “The worst thing you can do to keep fans actively engaged... is to actually release the album.“ Think about that — just because the album comes out does not mean the campaign is over. Hell, at that point, the campaign just BEGAN! Unfortunately, too many acts waste their ammo in the weeks leading up to the Big Event, then have little salvo to offer in ...
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Jazz Legend Ramsey Lewis Releases 80th Album Today
Source:
Groove Notes
Three-time Grammy winner Ramsey Lewis, who rose to prominence in the early 1970's, released his 80th album, Ramsey, Taking Another Look today with his Electric Band. Lewis (who performed live in the KPLU studios in October 2009), signed with Los Angeles based boutique label Hidden Beach Recordings earlier this year, and Ramsey, Taking Another Look marks the first release on the label. On the ten song CD, Lewis and his Electric Band breathe new life into many of Lewis' favorite ...
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Rob Brown Trio -Unknown Skies (Rogueart, 2011) ****
Source:
Free Jazz by Stef Gijssels
By Paul Acquaro 'Unknown Skies' possesses an intriguing quality: it seems to be precisely imprecise, the strength of its cohesion built upon the tensions of it coming apart. Song heads could almost be improvisations, they seem so naturally unfolding, yet unison accompaniment belies their composition. Rhythms unfold loosely yet totally in control, and it makes for quite a masterful mix. Rob Brown's alto sax is in command here, it both soars and digs deep, beckoning you to follow but also ...
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Urbie Green: Persuasive Trombone
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Urbie Green is easily one of the smoothest and most lyrical trombonists of the '50s and '60s. He's also among the most prolific. From his days with Gene Krupa in the late 1940s until his last recording in 1997, Green was on an astonishing 603 known jazz recording sessions, according to Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. This doesn't include dates for movie soundtracks or television. By contrast, trombonist Jack Teagarden was on 507 dates and trombonist J.J. Johnson was on 355. ...
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