Recording News

Yaron Herman Trio - Follow the White Rabbit (Act, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
March 13, 2011

The amount of young jazz talent flowing for Israel to Europe and America in the past few years has been amazing, and you can add pianist and composer Yaron Herman's name to that growing list of superb cross-cultural composers and improvisers. On this album, he performs in a trio setting with Chris Tordini on bass and Tommy Crane on drums. The group works together very well as an organic unit, performing as a solid trio, nearing the EST aesthetic of ...

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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Presents World Premiere Recordings of Higdon and Gandolfi

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
March 12, 2011

A number of years ago one of my local classical radio stations ran a syndicated show that presented live concert recordings of modern American classical compositions. These were generally of works not yet available on commercial releases. The quality of the presentations and the performances themselves were always of a high standard. One of the ensembles most frequently featured was the Atlanta Symphony, then under the late Robert Shaw. At that point and a bit later when I and my ...

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Marketing Fail (?): Fighting on Twitter

Source: We All Make Music
March 12, 2011

At this point, you are hopefully aware that Twitter is an effective communication and marketing tool for musicians. Granted, it doesn't do everything well, and there are certain unspoken rules one should abide by.

But is it okay to fight on Twitter? And, if you're a musician, is it maybe even a good idea?

It's clearly a good way to get attention. Twitter beef has been lighting up different corners of the music universe for a while now—Tyler the Creator ...

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How an Indie Act Gained 7 Million New Listeners

Source: HypeBot
March 12, 2011

Six months ago, the Swedish band Fulkulter launched TheUglyDance.com. It's a simple, yet genius idea. The site lets visitors upload a picture of themselves to a small body and it dances wildly on command. While you watch yourself do The Ugly Dance, a song by the same name plays in the background. That's it. Anders Tjernblom, one of the band members, had toyed with the idea of creating a dance application for a decade, and finally did it. Once he ...

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Baritone Saxophonist Brian Landrus Releases Powerful New CD "Traverse"

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
March 11, 2011

With pianist Michael Cain (piano and co-producer), bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drummer Billy Hart “A poet who has a mastery of tone, something he explores with gravity and a very gentle swing... Landrus is a voice to watch out for as he charts a creative course in music." —Raul d'Gama Rose, All About Jazz Baritone Saxophone Rising Star —DownBeat Magazine 2010 International Critics Poll Brian Landrus is quickly becoming recognized as one of his generation's most unique, passionate, and powerful ...

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Jack Lee/Bob James "Botero"

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne
March 11, 2011

The evolution of pianist/composer Bob James from accompanist/arranger and producer/label owner to successful solo artist and popular bandleader has been fascinating. His music has changed quite a bit during this period too, running the gauntlet of genres and generations. Indeed, fans of Bob James' group Fourplay are unlikely to know or appreciate his great Tappan Zee records of the late 1970s and early eighties and, likewise, anyone who digs the fabled “Nautilus" sample is not likely to find much to ...

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Lee Shaw Holds Forth Swingingly in Reutlingen

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
March 11, 2011

When you review upwards of 550 CDs a year (on my two main blogs), plus quite a few for Cadence and my third blog, you can find yourself struggling to avoid the generic sorts of descriptions one can easily fall into. Take today's selection, the Lee Shaw Trio plus guests Live at Art Gallery Reutlingen (Artists Recording Collective 2239). It's a perfectly nice date, exceptional for the rapport that pianist Shaw develops with guest baritonist Michael Lutzeier and tenor man ...

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Pitom - Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes (Tzadik, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
March 11, 2011

Pitom is a very exciting young band from Israel that remains true to the “fusion" aesthetic without succumbing to any of the pretentions sometimes associated with that word. Taking progressive jazz and melding it with elements of rock, punk, prog and traditional Jewish melodies makes for a unique and exciting sound. The band consists of Yoshie Fruchter on guitar, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz on bass, Kevin Zubek on drums and Jeremy Brown on violin and viola. Brown's stringed instruments give the ...

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