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Jackson Evans "Song Noir" CD Release Party at Blowin Smoke BBQ in Savannah on July 31
Source:
Michael Ricci
On Sunday, July 31 jazz guitarist Jackson Evans will release his first recording as a solo artist at Blowin Smoke BBQ in Savannah, Georgia. The album, titled Song Noir, features a collection of original jazz compositions paired with a few jazz standards. The songs range in energy from the quirky, forward moving Adventures of Maximilian to the tender ballad Have a Drink on Me. Standards include a slightly irreverent take on Cole Porters Night and Day and a gentle handling ...
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The Frank Giasullo Quartet Releases "Kensal Road"
Source:
Gloria Krolak
During its recent tour of the UK, The Frank Giasullo Quartet took a day to record six new powerful and moving Giasullo compositions and his one must-hear arrangement of the traditional “House of the Rising Sun." The straight ahead jazz set, strongly influenced by Giasullo's classical training, are as lush and elegant as anything he has previously written, but more introspective and tinged with nostalgia, as the titles “Looking Back," and “From A Hilltop" indicate. Pianist, composer, arranger, and educator ...
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New Release/MP3/Tour: The Funk Ark: 'From The Rooftops' (ESL Music)
Source:
Press Junkie PR
The Funk Ark is a world funk ensemble based in Washington DC. The group draws on influences from the African and Latin funk/dance music scenes of the 1960s and 70s and the result is a gritty and soulful mix of inspired Afrobeat and big band funk. The eight-piece band is fronted by keyboardist and songwriterWill Rastwho, well known as a sideman with a veritable encyclopedia of artists both locally and internationally, such as Mya, Federico Aubele, Natalia Clavier, Ocote Soul ...
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Cheer-Accident - No Ifs, Ands or Dogs (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
Being in a town known for some mind expanding and often quirky acts (Tortoise, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Vandermark 5, etc.), Cheer-Accident stands out in their hometown Chicago. I guess you could pigeonhole them into experimental rock, but their music covers the gamut of (to name a few) Squeeze, Frank Zappa, Yes, Henry Cow and even the Beach Boys. It's almost cliche to write an article about this band by tossing in a potpourri of disparate acts in an attempt ...
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Sam Barsh - I Forgot What You Taught Me (2008)
Source:
Something Else!
By Mark Saleski This album had two strikes against it before I heard a single note: 1. the almost nude shot on the back cover, Barsh covering what mama gave him with a melodica and 2. keyboards. OK, the photo isn't really a big deal. I mean, obviously Barsh has quite the sense of humor and doesn't take himself very seriously. Keyboards? I can mostly live without them in jazz, especially when they take on the lead role. (Yes, there ...
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Laura Ellis - Femme Fatale (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
The deeply talented Laura Ellis gets going quickly on Femme Fatale, as if in midsentence, on the knowing and lightly ribald “I've Been Kissed Before." As she sings a lyric about moving past previous relationships into new adventures, a brightly swinging horn section featuring Terry Harrington and Bob O'Donnell hit bright retorts, like a lover's friendly quarrel. The mood—neon-lit, after midnight, not unlike a black-and-white private eye movie—is set. In fact, each of the next nine tracks (like “I've Been ...
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Recent Listening: Shipp, Crow, Chamorro
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Matthew Shipp, The Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear). This album will not show up on the soft jazz and easy listening charts. Shipp is strong medicine. The first disc of the two-CD set has the audacious avant-garde pianist with his trio, the second playing alone. Theycapture concert performances in 2010. In each, Shipp blends separate pieces of music in an uninterrupted flow so that the audience doesn't realize for a moment or two that he has melded the end ...
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Jackie Deshannon's New Album Revisits Classic Hits
Source:
conqueroo
Included are newly-recorded, timelessly produced versions of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart," “Bette Davis Eyes" and other originals, plus one song apiece by Jack Nitzche/Sonny Bono and Burt Bacharach/Hal David. LOS ANGELES, Calif.—"Think of your fellow man, lend him a helping hand, put a little love in your heart." That was the opening mantra of Jackie DeShannon's “Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which she penned with her brother Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday. The 1969 single ...
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