Recording News

Bob McHugh, Ron Naspo, and David Humm's New CD "Pure Imagination"

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

What is the jazz piano trio of today? During the past decade, we have been trying to come up with our own voice to this classic combination of instruments. In Pure Imagination we are sharing our ideas of mainstream jazz traditions with some interesting and different arrangements. We hope you agree and will include our project with your piano jazz collections. About Bob McHugh Bob McHugh has been playing jazz clubs,festivals,halls,private parties, and restaurants in the NY metro area for ...

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Jazzwax List: 10 Sax-Organ Combos

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 30, 2010

After my posts on Arnett Cobb and Lou Donaldson, I found myself with a severe craving for sax-organ combo tracks. So I started running through my library of reed and Hammond B3 albums trying to piece together a Top 10 list of favorites. [Pictured: Brother Jack McDuff]

Halfway through, I realized the task was impossible. You can't possibly narrow this genre to 10. The grooves are different from album to album and so tasty in a range of ways. With ...

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Herbie Hancock, "The Imagine Project" (CD Review)

Source: Between the Grooves with Philip Booth
June 30, 2010

Herbie Hancock is back, with another all-star recording project. The results come across as a little uneven.

Check out my review, below, or read it online, or click here to link directly to the review, published in Las Vegas City Life.

Herbie Hancock, The Imagine Project (Herbie Hancock Record)

Herbie Hancock, an eternally youthful musical explorer nevertheless celebrating his 70th birthday this month with an all-star concert at Carnegie Hall, extends that concept to his new CD, an ...

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Tuesday Morning Listen: Manu Katche, Third Round

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
June 30, 2010

In Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, Times critic Ben Ratliff writes, “the sound of so many jazz gigs I've heard in the past fifteen years...is usually the sound of albums like Coltrane's Sound or Coltrane Plays the Blues, the quartet just before or in the first stages of a modal-jazz style, just tightening, still before A Love Supreme and that later music that is so personal that to borrow from it would be obvious." I hadn't heard either album ...

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Trombone Shorty, "Backatown" (CD Review)

Source: Between the Grooves with Philip Booth
June 30, 2010

New Orleans superstar du jour Trombone Shorty is rising fast with his hard-hitting Backatown CD. Click here to read my review, as published in Relix mag. Or see the full text below.

Trombone Shorty, Backatown (Verve Forecast)

“Supafunkrock" is the name that Trombone Shorty gives his engaging blend of brass band blasts, metal guitar and deep grooves, a sound that the New Orleans native has lately ridden to appearances as himself in HBO's Treme series.

The label is ...

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Recent Listening: Linda Ciofalo

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 30, 2010

As always, the Rifftides staff is trying to keep up with new releases. It can't be done; the inflow never ceases and listening time is at a premium, but in the next few days we'll alert you to a few.

Linda Ciofalo, Dancing With Johnny (Lucky Jazz Music). The dancing partner of the title is Johnny Mercer.Ciofalo applies her smooth, rangy voice and flexible phrasing to some of his best-known lyrics. She interprets Mercer beautifully, capturing the joy and irony ...

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Beach Boy Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Source: All About Jazz
June 30, 2010

'Match made in heaven': Brian Wilson and George Gershwin. Brian Wilson says he chose the George Gershwin songs “that I thought I could do justice to."

The album title alone is enough to make pop-music pundits drool, pairing two of the 20th century's most celebrated tunesmiths: Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.

The recording itself, which arrives Aug. 17, was a “labor of love" for Wilson, 68, who was a George Gershwin fan long before he was a Beach Boy or had ...

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Raves for Mike Clark's "Carnival of Soul," out Now on Owl Studios

Source: Seth Cohen PR
June 29, 2010

Enthusiastic Coverage Greets Legendary Drummer Mike Clark's 'Carnival of Soul' “A Jazz Party With a Kaleidoscopic Array of Players" “A Fun, Thoughtful, Sometimes Virtuosic Set" Over the past two weeks, enthusiastic coverage has greeted the release of legendary drummer Mike Clark's CD Carnival of Soul - from JAZZIZ to Modern Drummer to The Indianapolis Star and more, Clark's propulsive, joyful jazz/funk collection has been praised as “a jazz party with a kaleidoscopic array of players," and as a “fun, thoughtful, ...

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