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Russ Spiegel: Caribbean Blue
by Jack Bowers
Pleasant music with ample color and variety--that's an apt description of Caribbean Blue, the latest albulm from California-bred, Florida-based guitarist Russ Spiegel, who has surrounded himself with world-class musicians and given them rein to canvass ten of his generally engaging compositions and bring them admirably to life. While everything on offer is respectable, it is the album's midsection--tracks 3-8--that rise above the others and lend the session much of its vitality and charm. After harmonica virtuoso Hendrik ...
read moreScott Reeves: The Alchemist
by Edward Blanco
Trombonist, composer and band leader Scott Reeves once performed a live concert at the City College of New York with his then quintet, which has now been documented as his newest offering entitled The Alchemist. However, new is not the operative word here, as this musical event took place on May 5th, 2005. While concentrating on compositions and recordings for his jazz orchestra over the last ten years, the pandemic provided Reeves with the opportunity to review the music he ...
read moreScott Reeves Quintet: The Alchemist
by Jack Bowers
Devastating as it has been, the global Covid-19 pandemic has produced a few upsides as well, one of which is the rediscovery by versatile Scott Reeves of a concert that his quintet performed sixteen years ago, in May 2005, at the City College of New York. With time on his hands as a result of the scarcity of gigs during the pandemic, Reeves visited his archives and found the recording, which he never intended to release owing to audio issues. ...
read moreRuss Spiegel: Chimera
by Jerry D'Souza
Guitarist Russ Spiegel has come a long way from the time when he was influenced by rock and spent a decade playing that music. The self-confessed latecomer to jazz shows firm grasp of the vocabulary as he takes different forms and builds them into a cohesive unit.
Spiegel wrote six of the tunes on this venture, letting Cherokee sit between his own compositions. He uses a wide and colorful palette, as he draws on bossa nova, hard bop and rock ...
read moreRuss Spiegel: Chimera
by Troy Collins
Chimera is guitarist Russ Spiegel's fourth album and first for Steeplechase. His previous releases include a rock record, a live big band recording and a mainstream date for Doublemoon (2001's Twilight). This sextet session finds him in the company of an adventurous and like-minded set of peers. Channeling the spirited energy of hard-bop with the progressive aesthetics of rock music, Spiegel carves out his own niche in the contemporary jazz scene.
Spiegel is joined by a cast of talented, but ...
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