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Christopher Burnett: The Standards, Vol. 2 (Live at The Drum Room in Kansas City)
by Kyle Simpler
During its heyday, The Drum Room in The Hotel President was one of Kansas City's most popular jazz venues. Performers such as Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, and Benny Goodman all played there. The Drum Room closed during the late seventies but was brought back to life a few years later and, between 2006 and 2007, The Christopher Burnett Quartet performed there on the first Saturday night of each month. That was Burnett's first outing as a bandleader and his tenure ...
read moreArthur White and Merge: Unify
by Jim Worsley
A man of many hats, tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator Arthur White needed a sombrero gigante to both shade the bright southern California sunshine and to embrace the enormity of his latest big band project. Students, faculty and graduates from Cal Poly accounted for the largest portion of this thirty piece band, with faculty members from Cuesta College also on board. This bevy of youthful vitality was integrated with the experienced and multi-talented chops of Randy Brecker and Ada ...
read moreChristopher Burnett: The Standards, Vol. 1
by Kyle Simpler
Modern jazz can certainly take a variety of different forms, but standards still remain the foundation for many players. With The Standards Vol. 1, Christopher Burnett brings modern and traditional elements together in an excellent meeting. His approach is to bring a traditional approach to each song, whether it's a well-loved favorite or an original composition. Burnett is a Kansas City native with an impressive professional background. After serving 22 years in the Army, where he was able ...
read moreArthur White and Merge: When You Find It
by Jack Bowers
Turnabout, the saying goes, is fair play. The turnabout in this case is that of saxophonist Arthur White who, after years of teaching others the precepts of jazz at the University of Missouri, Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and, most recently, as director of Jazz Studies at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA, decided the time had come to turn the tables, so to speak, and put himself “on record" as someone who can not only talk the talk ...
read moreArthur White and MERGE: When You Find It
by Jim Worsley
The spirited yet soft and melodious title track, “When You Find It," creates an early atmospheric vibe that sets the tone for what is to follow. Arthur White wastes no time in establishing his saxophone dynamics, while leaving pianist Ken Kenner a lot of room for a creative run against the understated and nourishing rhythm section of bassist Sam Copeland and drummer John Kizilarmut]]. Guitarist {{m: Mark Tonelli seamlessly negotiates their gradual build before White wraps a bow at the ...
read moreDan Arcamone: Psalm
by Mark Sullivan
A fusion guitar album with a difference: Connecticut guitarist/composer Dan Arcamone wrote pieces based on some of saxophonist John Coltrane's most complex chord progressions ("Giant Steps," “Countdown," “Satellite," and “26-2")—all dating from his Atlantic Records period, and sometimes called “Coltrane changes." He and his trio (bassist Panagiotis Andreou and drummer Steve Pruitt) then treated them as if they were open, modal tunes. The resulting music has the spiritual tone of an album like Coltrane's A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965), but ...
read moreJeff "Siege" Siegel Quartet: London Live
by Troy Dostert
An enticing record from four under-recognized jazz veterans, Jeff “Siege" Siegel's London Live features drummer Siegel and his long-standing partners pianist Francesca Tanksley and tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay, plus new addition bassist Uli Langthaler, for eight expansive, well-played tracks that combine healthy respect for the jazz tradition with a hint of an adventurous edge. The members of the quartet possess decades of experience in the jazz world. Siegel was a member of Sir Roland Hanna's group in the ...
read moreWilliam Flynn/Tim Fischer: Cross Country
by Don Phipps
Like a couple of old friends traveling through memories, thoughts and ideas, guitarists William Flynn and Tim Fischer have fashioned their album Cross Country as a conversation of grace and beauty. Flynn, a professor of Jazz Guitar at Wichita (KS) State University, and Fischer, a professor of music at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Coastal Carolina University offer up an album of blues-bop originals, each wonderfully arranged so that the two guitarists can stretch the melody while providing tuneful, sensitive and ...
read moreWilliam Flynn: Traveler
by Mark Sullivan
Wichita-based guitarist, composer and educator (Professor of Jazz Guitar at Wichita State University) William Flynn presents a brief program of evocative originals, accompanied by his quartet with pianist Addison Frei, double bassist Young Heo and drummer Matt Young. The mention of Wichita inevitably recalls the title of the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays composition (and album) “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls." In this case it is an apt comparison, as Flynn's music shares similar bucolic atmosphere and song-like melodicism.
read moreSam Boshnack Quintet: Nellie Bly Project
by Paul Rauch
Samantha Boshnack is more than a musician and composer. She is a storyteller who walks us through the history of things. With Nellie Bly Project, she tells the story of daredevil journalist, writer, and feminist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (1864-1922), known by her pen name, Nellie Bly. The compositions, a four movement suite, are like a journey through the history of the struggles of women throughout American history, a struggle that continues today, and that Boshnack describes as a daily part ...
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