Recording News

Portland Bassist Ed Bennett Releases New CD "En Route"

Source: Michael Ricci
September 1, 2010

Ed Bennett, longtime bassist for Carmen McRae, and member of the Mel Brown Quartet (and Saphu Records CEO) will release his fifth title as bandleader. Ed Bennett will be having his CD Release Party on Friday September 3rd at Portland's prestigious jazz club, Jimmy Mak's, located at 221 NW 10th Ave. (between Davis and Everett). He will be performing from 8pm to 12 midnight. $10 cover charge. For reservations call: (503) 295-6542 Ed Bennett has long been considered one of ...

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Deep Cuts: Elton John, "Come Down in Time" (1970)

Source: Something Else!
August 11, 2010

By Nick DerisoThis song, taken from a brilliant album called “Tumbleweed Connection," is the reason why you have to hate Elton John's last period.John is never in half light any more—never so patient, so bravely remote, so note perfect. Back then, he put out piano music, with an active and jazzy rhythm section, and there was uncommon beauty.The emotion around “Come Down in Time," a track about lost love, is only deepened by the ...

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Greg Lewis - Organ Monk (Self-Released)

Source: Master of a Small House
August 11, 2010

Don't let the barefaced cover art on this one act as a disqualifier before disc meets laser. Organist Greg Lewis might be a bit lead-handed with his monastic imagery, but his work on the B-3 is brimming with shades and subtlety. It certainly helps that the side-persons he's chosen for the date include the redoubtable Cindy Blackman and a new name to me, Ron Jackson, on guitar. All but one of the disc's fifteen tracks come from the songbook of ...

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New Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Live in Chicago Out September 28

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
August 10, 2010

Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records is excited to announce that latest signing Kenny Wayne Shepherd is releasing Live in Chicago, available on 9/28/10.

Recorded in Chicago's House of Blues during the critically acclaimed 10 Days Out: Blues From The Backroads tour, Live in Chicago showcases Kenny and his band, Noah Hunt, Chris Layton, Scott Nelson and Riley Osbourn, along with special guests Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes" Smith, Buddy Flett, Bryan Lee and Tommy Shannon (of Double Trouble). Though an illness ...

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Michael Dease - Grace (2010)

Source: Something Else!
August 10, 2010

By PicoCurtis Fuller, one of the greatest living trombone players of all time declared “I predict that Michael Dease will become one of the world's great trombone masters." And when you hear Dease's fluid, lush style, it's not hard to see the young phenom as the legitimate successor to Fuller.Yet, Dease, who will turn 28 later this month, has a biography that says “potential realized." A masters degree in jazz performance from Julliard and multiple winner ...

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Dick Oatts - Two Hearts (Steeplechase)

Source: Master of a Small House
August 10, 2010

Ballad projects can be dangerous prospects for the sentiment-sensitive saxophonist. Dip too deep into the romance bag and the results run a strong risk of coming across as treacly or trite. Constrict the emotive spigot and the outcome can be construable as bland or aloof. Midwestern mainstay Dick Oatts is well-acquainted with negotiating such obstacles of temperament over a professional career that spans nearly four decades. Counting sideman and jam session appearances this is his nineteenth title for Steeplechase though ...

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Guillermo Klein's New Album (Plus an Exclusive Clip!)

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
August 10, 2010

Tomorrow, Sunnyside will release Guillermo Klein's latest album, Domador de Huellas, an inventive and powerful take on the music of the Argentine folklore legend Cuchi Leguizamón. The early reviews are stellar. The Times' Ben Ratliff lauds the way Klein transforms Cuchi's music while retaining its essence. NPR's Patrick Jarenwattananon analyzes Klein's entrancing introduction to “Coplas del Regreso" and admits that, like me, he's been listening to the album on repeat for the last week.

For the next day, you can ...

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New Origin CD by Saxophonist/Composer Geof Bradfield, "African Flowers," Set for Release September 21

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
August 10, 2010

African Flowers is a big, bold, inspired suite of original music by saxophonist/composer Geof Bradfield that draws on his experiences traveling and performing in Africa in early 2008. During the course of a month-long tour of Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe as a member of pianist Ryan Cohan's quartet, Bradfield absorbed, reflected, and synthesized. The powerful fruits of his creative journey may be heard on African Flowers, his second CD for the Origin label and third overall as a leader. ...

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