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13
Album Review

Ahmad Jamal: Marseille

Read "Marseille" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Four years between studio albums is a long gap by Ahmad Jamal's standards. Not that the 87-year-old pianist has been idle since the widely acclaimed Saturday Morning (Jazz Village, 2013). He's released two live albums in that time--Live at The Olympia (Jazz Village, 2014) featuring Yusef Lateef and Live in Marciac 2014 (Jazz Village, 2015)--and remains a major draw on the world's most prestigious jazz stages. Though Marseille bears many of Jamal's hallmarks--old songs reworked, standards, a ballad--the pianist still ...

8
Album Review

Kyle Eastwood: In Transit

Read "In Transit" reviewed by Kris Perdew


Now that he is into his late 40's and has released nine albums in his 19 years as leader, no lingering doubt can remain that bassist and composer Kyle Eastwood has stepped out of the formidable shadow of his father. The latest evidence is presented here in the form of Eastwood's latest release, In Transit. Although he gained valuable experience working on the soundtracks of films such as The Rookie and Mystic River, the greatest legacy Kyle received ...

3
Album Review

Andrew McCormack: Graviton

Read "Graviton" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Graviton's nearest comparison might well be Chick Corea's early albums Return To Forever and Light As A Feather with Flora Purim. But this is much more effusive and busier with stop/start melodies as heard on “Breathe" and the title track. Wordless vocals swoop over insistent piano runs and saxophone incursions courtesy of London-born singer Eska (Eska Mtungwazi). But it's not all wordless vocals as “The Waiting Game" reveals Eska's lustrous and mellow singing style, whereas “Kalamata" utilises her ...

18
Album Review

Ahmad Jamal: Marseille

Read "Marseille" reviewed by Roger Farbey


There are few true jazz legends left alive now let alone still recording albums of the calibre of Marseille. Ahmad Jamal is one such venerable figure and the octogenarian (born July 2, 1930) has recorded an album of consistent brilliance. Jamal prefers to refer to his playing as American classical music rather than jazz and he's been regarded as a “mainstream" pianist but to stylistically stereotype him in this fashion is to do him an injustice. The title ...

1
Album Review

David Linx / Brussels Jazz Orchestra: Brel

Read "Brel" reviewed by Jack Bowers


While David Linx's name may not be writ large here in the States, the fifty-one year-old singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist is a mega-star in his native Belgium, and in 2005 was named Best Jazz Musician in Europe, which covers a whole lot of territory. On Brel, Linx sings music composed by his Belgian forerunner, the late and legendary Jacques Brel, accompanied by the world-class Brussels Jazz Orchestra (whose personnel are not listed on the bare-bones promotional copy save for saxophonist ...

9
Album Review

Gilad Hekselman: Homes

Read "Homes" reviewed by Mark F. Turner


The “heir apparent" concept does not exist in jazz. Younger artists seeking status and respect must earn it through the rigors of performing and creating music through their own voice and merit. While the talented Israeli-born New York-based guitarist Gilad Hekselman's skill has been likened to Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel, he's doing just that with impressive work--tours, dates and a number of fine recordings such as 2013's This Just In (Jazz Village). His release as leader, ...

4
Album Review

Sylvain Rifflet & Jon Irabagon: Perpetual Motion

Read "Perpetual Motion" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


The composer, poet and instrument inventor Louis Thomas Hardin, alias Moondog remains one of the most celebrated and eccentric figures in the annals of modern music. The Kansas born Hardin, who lost his sight in a farming accident at 16, went from a unique street performer in New York to a published and recorded influential musician in Münster Germany. Who better to celebrate his singular legacy than two of today's most idiosyncratic and creative saxophonists, the Frenchman Sylvain ...

56
Album Review

Sylvain Rifflet & Jon Irabagon: Perpetual Motion (A Celebration of Moondog)

Read "Perpetual Motion (A Celebration of Moondog)" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


In 1932, when he was sixteen years old, living in the heartland of depression era America, a farm accident left Louis Thomas Hardin blind. For roughly twenty-five years spanning the 1940s to the mid-1970s, he was often found on some street corner in the vicinity of 52nd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, sometimes talking philosophically to no one in particular, often standing stock-still and silent and in full Viking regalia. At times, he slept in doorways though he had ...

18
Album Review

Ahmad Jamal & Yusef Lateef: Live At The Olympia

Read "Live At The Olympia" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Ahmad Jamal's live performances have been well represented in his discography over the past sixty years. Yet despite touring the globe, all Jamal's live recordings--with the exception of the DVD concert from Lebanon, Live at Baalbeck (Birdology, 2003)--document North American and European gigs. France has always accorded the Pittsburgh pianist a royal welcome, naming him an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007;the regard is mutual, as Live at the Olympia is Jamal's fourth live recording in ...

8
Album Review

Lucky Peterson: The Son Of A Bluesman

Read "The Son Of  A Bluesman" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


When the multi-talented Lucky Peterson sings of blues in his blood, it's not merely figurative boasting; Peterson's pedigree reads like a partial history of the music. Peterson was born into the blues, growing up in a home where his father--James Peterson--played guitar, sang, and passed on his gifts to his offspring. More importantly, the elder Peterson owned the Governor's Inn--a blues venue in Buffalo where Lucky Peterson soaked up the sounds of the legends who passed through ...


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