Recording News

Jazz Guitarist and Composer Michael-Louis Smith to Release Debut Album Portrait of MLS

Source: Michael Ricci
April 9, 2010

Jazz guitarist and composer Michael-Louis Smith will release his debut album Portrait of MLS. The album, which be available to the public soon, consists of seven original compositions by Smith including the jazz/pop favorite “Up in the Air" and features some of the best jazz musicians in NYC including long time collaborators Stacy Dillard on tenor and soprano saxophone, Theo Hill on piano as well as new friends Gregg August on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. The album has ...

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New Release: Lisa Engelken - Caravan

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson
April 10, 2010

Lisa Engelken is trying to seduce you, and with her latest CD, she no doubt will succeed. Caravan takes us on a journey through the sometimes bumpy territory of love. The first tune, “We'll Be Together Again," starts as a sad goodbye between lovers but quickly kicks into an uptempo “see you later" - and so the roller coaster ride begins. Engelken displays a similar playfulness in both vocals and song choices throughout. After a little samba break, the Duke Ellington ...

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Honey Island Swamp Band: New Album 4/09 / National Tour

Source: JamBase
April 10, 2010

HONEY ISLAND SWAMP BAND's GOOD TO YOU DROPS APRIL 9 NATIONAL TOUR STARTS AT NOLA JAZZ FEST THROUGH SUMMER 2010

Honey Island Swamp Band Hot off the heels of a break-out year that saw the band bring home multiple awards ("Best Blues Album" and “Best Emerging Artist," Offbeat Magazine), Honey Island Swamp Band returns with Good To You, their second full-length release and first imprint on the Threadhead Records label. The sophomore release from the New Orleans Americana ...

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Bela Fleck: Africa Sessions Part 2

Source: JamBase
April 10, 2010

BELA FLECK'S AFRICAN JOURNEY CONTINUES WITH RECORDINGS IN THE MALIAN DESERT, UGANDAN HOTEL ROOMS, ABANDONED GAMBIA NIGHTCLUBS PLUS PERFORMANCES WITH OUMOU SANGARE, BASSEKOU KOUYATE, THE MUWEWESU XYLOPHONE GROUP HARUNA SAMAKE AND MORE

Bela Fleck 13-time Grammy winner Bela Fleck is proud to announce Throw Down Your Heart: Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks, the follow-up album to the two-time Grammy winning album Throw Down Your Heart (Best Contemporary World Album and Best Pop Instrumental ...

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One Track Mind: Louis Armstrong, "When the Saints Go Marching in" (1938)

Source: Something Else!
April 9, 2010

NICK DERISO: A player of both strength and generosity, Louis Armstrong's influence -- as a soloist, as a pioneer who moved folk music into the realm of artistry, as a personality -- remains incalcuable nearly four decades after his death. There are lines you could draw: No Armstrong, no Lester Young. No Lester Young, no Charlie Parker. No Charlie Parker, no rock 'n' roll. Even Dizzy Gillespie, clearly more of Roy Eldridge acolyte in life, once said: “No ...

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The Ullmann/Swell 4 - News? No News! (Jazzwerkstatt)

Source: Master of a Small House
April 10, 2010

Finding chemistry in a frontline partner, let alone a band writ-large, is no easy task. German reedist/flautist Gebhard Ullmann has an uncanny knack for doing just that. His rewarding association with trombonist Steve Swell dates back over half a decade to a fateful quartet session for CIMP. Bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Barry Altschul were the other members on that date and they bring a comparable acuity to this new studio outing. As a finely-tuned foursome they have a clear ...

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Ari Ambrose and Stephen Riley - Tenor Treats 2 (Steeplechase)

Source: Master of a Small House
April 10, 2010

Resuming right where its companion volume left off, this disc delivers another stimulating hour-plus colloquy between its co-leaders. Tenorist Ari Ambrose gets top billing on the tray card, but it's very much an affair of equals, onset to finish. Stephen Riley is the more overtly mercurial and idiosyncratic of the two frontline partners. His lushly-conceived tone and phrasing are instantly recognizable, a post-millennial alloy of Lester Young disciples running from Don Byas through Teo Macero to Warne Marsh an on ...

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Geri Allen - Flying Toward the Sound (Motema)

Source: Master of a Small House
April 10, 2010

As with Mary Lou Williams before her, Geri Allen is a pianist unencumbered by extrinsic stylistic boundaries. Williams' influential music ran a gamut from pre-swing to free, pulling in blues, gospel and folk facets to form a compositional language resolutely of her cast. Allen occupies a comparable space in her philosophy toward the ivories. This latest disc, a solo recital funded through a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, presents her broad creative spectrum undiluted by extraneous collaborators. Even so, it's a program ...

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