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Kirk Lightsey: Live At Smalls Jazz Club
by Richard J Salvucci
The genesis of this brief (in terms of tracks; the Spotify version differs slightly) but satisfying recording merits some comment. During the salad days of the pandemic, Smalls Jazz Club in jny: New York (and many other venues) were shuttered. Many artists were forced to improvise (in more ways than one) both to find a place to play and to make a living, neither particularly easy even in “normal" times. The Smalls LIVE Foundation raised funds through what it describes ...
read moreJohn Bailey: Time Bandits
by Jack Bowers
After working and recording for decades with some of the jazz world's best and brightest talents, trumpeter John Bailey released his first album as leader of his own group in 2018, the second in 2020 and, in 2023, his third, Time Bandits, which shares a name but nothing more with Terry Gilliam's 1981 film fantasy. Bailey leads an all-star quartet on this one, firmly anchored by drummer Victor Lewis (the timekeeper on all of Bailey's albums) and ...
read moreGeorge Cables: Too Close for Comfort
by Jack Bowers
Maestro George Cables returns to the trio format on Too Close for Comfort, the twenty-first recording as leader of own groups. That means listeners are able to hear even more of his deft and delightful piano, always a welcome bonus. Cables is admirably supported throughout by bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Victor Lewis. Cables leads with the title song, which is played slightly off-kilter, modestly blurring its resemblance to Sammy Davis Jr.'s mega-hit from the Broadway musical ...
read moreRoni Ben-Hur: Stories
by Jerome Wilson
Guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, originally from Israel, has absorbed a lot of different cultures and styles into his music. That is reflected on this CD in the variety of music played here: straight ahead jazz as well as Latin and Middle Eastern folk melodies. Mexican singer Magos Herrera brings a sense of husky passion to the songs “La Serena" and “A Redoblar" that sits nicely beside Ben-Hur's warm guitar chords, Ingrid Jensen's soaring trumpet and George Cables' crafty piano ...
read moreRoni Ben-Hur: Stories
by John Chacona
Guitarist Roni Ben-Hur is an old soul. Uninterested in ostentation, the Israeli-born guitarist has been content to release a series of warm-hearted recordings that favor partnership over pomposity. Half his 12 leader dates have been duets or are co-credited. Stories isn't one of them, but it might as well be. This is an ensemble recording, patient and glowing with wisdom. Ben-Hur is helped by the elder masters he often chooses to bring gravity and wisdom to his dates. ...
read moreLarry Willis: I Fall in Love Too Easily
by Jack Bowers
I Fall in Love Too Easily is subtitled “The Final Session at Rudy Van Gelder's," as it is not only descriptively but literally the last recording session by veteran pianist Larry Willis, who died at age seventy-six in September 2019, one year after the album was completed at the renowned Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The occasion also represented a homecoming of sorts for Willis who launched his six-decades-long career at that same studio in 1965, cutting ...
read moreJohn Bailey: Can You Imagine?
by Jack Bowers
Letting his imagination roam free, trumpeter John Bailey envisions a world in which one of his musical touchstones, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, is president of the United States--one in which Gillespie's cabinet includes Duke Ellington (secretary of state), Louis Armstrong (secretary of agriculture) and Miles Davis (CIA director). The fact is, Gillespie did “run" for president in 1964, a crusade that was far more satirical than serious. Nevertheless, as was his fashion, Gillespie milked his “candidacy" for all it was worth, ...
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