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Perfection: Wes Montgomery - Lolita
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Pianist Barry Harris composed the song Lolita in 1960. He first recorded it for his album Barry Harris at the Jazz Workshop, recorded live at San Francisco's Jazz Workshop in May 1960. Barry's recording is alternating between bop and Latin. Guitarist Wes Montgomery picked up on this feel when he recorded the song in 1963 for his Portrait of Wes album, released by Riverside in 1966 after Montgomery had moved on to Verve. Organist Melvin Rhyne gave the version a ...
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Ravita Jazz’s Releases 'Alice Blue'
Source:
Ravita Jazz
Ravita Jazz released Alice Blue in May of 2025. In the liner notes, jazz journalist and author Raul d'Gama Rosewrote: “Throughout Alice Blue the poetics of musical tradition are impressively maintained. The balance of melody, harmony and rhythm present in compositions and improvisation make this an album worth adding to your collection.” Bassist, composer, educator, and radio host Dr. Phil Ravita leads Ravita Jazz, a dynamic ensemble rooted in modern jazz traditions and creative innovation. As one of the Mid-Atlantic’s ...
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Pianist-composer Yoko Yates Deepens Her Evocative, Original Vision With 'Eternal Moments,' To Be Released September 19 By Banka Records
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
Pianist-composer Yoko Yates expands on her unique musical concept on her Eternal Moments, her stunning sophomore album, set for a September 19 release on Banka Records. Retaining the quintet from her 2022 debut Mystic Life—flutist Jamie Baum, multi-reedist Sam Sadigursky, bassist Aryeh Kobrinsky, and drummer Jeff Hirshfield—it also includes 10 original post-bop jazz compositions that explore Yates’s enmeshed fascinations with visual imagery, autobiography, and the natural world. Eternal Moments is thus a natural, entirely organic follow-up to the much-lauded Mystic ...
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Instrumental Debut From Kai Craig Offers A Compelling Story Of The Passion For And Commitment To The Rich History Of Jazz
Source:
Angie Lemon PR
For Kai Craig, music is a pathway reaching deep into the past and far into the future, spanning generations and international boundaries with ease. The young drummer/composer has already dived deep into the jazz tradition, assisted by the mentorship of Martin France in his native UK and US legend Gregory ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson in Europe and the USA. Now he’s ready to present his debut album, produced by Hutch in a Cologne studio and featuring some of the most extraordinary young ...
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Midnight Channel Drops Their First Vocal Single 'Must Be Nice' — Listen Now
Source:
Midnight Channel
Midnight Channel—the genre-defying jazz collective from Lethbridge, Alberta—has released their brand new single “Must Be Nice,” now streaming everywhere. The sultry, Latin jazz-inspired track marks a bold new direction for the band as their first-ever vocal release, turning loneliness into something lush, danceable, and strangely comforting. Built around a mid-tempo cha-cha rhythm, “Must Be Nice” blends soft acoustic guitar, warm horn arrangements, and layered percussion with a stunning detour in the bridge you have to hear to believe. The result ...
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Backgrounder: George Braith - 'Extension' (1967)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Imagine recording an album and waiting three years for it to come out. That's what happened to saxophonist George Braith with Extension (Blue Note), after recording it in 1964 The delay surely had something to do with the fact that he had already released two other LPs for the label—Soulstream (1963) and Laughing Soul (1966). Or it could have been that the album sounded remarkably like Larry Young's Into Something and Unity, released around the same period. Who knows? The ...
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Yuchtet’s Debut Album 'Earworm' Is A Modern Big Band Jazz Statement Worth Hearing
Source:
Chris Bush
Brooklyn-based composer, drummer, and bandleader Leo Yucht released earworm, the debut album from his jazz group YUCHTET. The six-track, 45-minute record is now available for streaming everywhere and on limited edition translucent blue swirl vinyl pressed by PMP in Nashville, TN. Blending influences from classic big band jazz to modern trap, earworm invites listeners on imaginative journeys across time and genre – evoking a jazzy, cool ride around New York City in “Citi Bike Anthem" or a frantic cannon battle ...
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Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet's 'El Muki,' Due August 15 From Saponegro Records, Celebrates The Group's 20th Anniversary
Source:
Terri Hinte Publicity
The Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet is set to release its 20th-anniversary recording, El Muki,on August 15. This album, the group’s 7th, commemorates their two prolific decades as champions for Afro-Peruvian jazz music. More importantly, it’s an expression of the transformative power of the music—a sound rooted in the real human experience found when people on the streets of Lima and New York come together. Inspired by El Muki, a mythical figure from Andean culture in Peru that is said to ...
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