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Benjamin Koppel: White Buses: Passage To Freedom
by Doug Collette
If saxophonist/composer/bandleader Benjamin Koppel has proven anything over the last few years, it is that he has no trouble finding sources of inspiration for his work. Whether it is just for the sake of blowing with a redoubtable rhythm section in the form of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade on Perspective (Cowbell Music, 2023) or illustrating his own range of style with The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue (Cowbell Music, 2020) and The Art of The ...
read moreVladimir Samardzic: Catching the Wind
by Nenad Georgievski
It is amazing that after 30 years as a bassist for various jazz, blues, and various other combos (most notably the Vasil Hadzimanov band), composer, bassist, and educator Vlada Samardzic has released his debut album under his name rather than using a band title. Catching the Wind showcases the kind of magic that appears when the right people, with the right skills and communication, come together at the right time to play on the right material. As an ...
read moreThana Alexa: ONA
by Angelo Leonardi
Ci giunge con un po' di ritardo questo secondo disco della talentuosa vocalist e compositrice Thana Alexa, ma va assolutamente considerato. Anche questo, come già il debutto Ode to Heroes, è un tributo: dalle figure musicali che l'hanno influenzata siamo passati a una celebrazione del genere femminile e al ruolo—spesso sottovalutato—che svolgono nel mondo. Nata a New York da famiglia croata, Thana è tornata nell'infanzia in Croazia dov'è rimasta per completare i suoi studi. Successivamente si è ...
read moreNicole Zuraitis: All Wandering Hearts
by Geno Thackara
Nicole Zuraitis has a heart full of soul and a voice full of sunshine. She's got a mix of things on her mind with her fourth album, everyday themes and weighty matters alike, and yet they ultimately come out sounding exuberant in her hands. The fundamental optimism is one key asset of All Wandering Hearts, even if her variety of jazzy coffee-shop balladry is no less eloquent in the spots when things get more somber. The too-spirited-for-AOR “Make ...
read moreThana Alexa, Sirintip and Owen Broder: Beaming Live Jazz From Their Living Rooms To Yours
by Michael Ricci
All About Jazz was in a unique position to help promote and broadcast the Live From Our Living Rooms Festival & Fundraiser to our readers from April 1-7, 2020 as we presented select performances over the seven days. Similar to the NEA Jazz Masters concert we broadcasted last April, I felt a personal connection to the Living Room project and was intent on seeing All About Jazz do its part to help it succeed. Organized by musicians Sirintip “Tippan" Phasuk, ...
read moreThana Alexa: ONA
by Doug Collette
A departure from Thana Alexa's first album Ode to Heroes (Harmonia Mundi/Jazz Village, 2015), ONA is also rooted in jazz, but it showcases Alexa's use of her voice as both a lyrical and experimental instrument. Commencing immediately on the title tune, this mostly original material features arrangements in various combinations of atmospheric, electronic soundscapes and exotic instrumental textures, complementing a voice which enchants as often through its feather-light air as its full-throated tones. Co-produced with master drummer Antonio Sanchez--with whom ...
read moreThana Alexa: ONA
by Geno Thackara
Thana Alexa's voice contains a world of sound, and that is without even mentioning the globe-spanning musical trappings which surround it. Hearing her is like watching a thunderstorm or maybe a wild hawk in flight. She doesn't just sing but uses her voice as an expressive precision instrument, in much the same way all the tones and electronics here are sculpted into an unclassifiably genre-defying whole. Her rich contralto can also be honey-smooth and soothing in the (relatively) rare calm ...
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