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Owen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center: Vol. Two
by Pierre Giroux
Owen Broder's Hodges : Front and Center Vol.Two is a respectful yet refreshing tribute to Johnny Hodges, a saxophonist with an iconic sound while injecting a contemporary vitality into the mix. Hodges' influence looms large throughout the album, guiding Broder's approach to the music. In this quintet's musical journey, Broder, on both alto and baritone saxophone, is accompanied by trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Barry Stephenson and drummer Bryan Carter. In both his playing and composing, Hodges showed ...
read moreNick Finzer: Legacy
by Pierre Giroux
In the realm of jazz, the legacy of J.J. Johnson looms large and immutable, casting an indelible shadow over the trombone's narrative. It is with reverence and a touch of audacity that trombonist Nick Finzer undertakes the task of honoring this titan with his album Legacy a centennial celebration of JJ Johnson. Joined by a stellar ensemble featuring Renee Rosnes, who served as the pianist in Johnson's quintet from 1989 to 1997, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Lewis Nash, Finzer ...
read moreOwen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center: Vol. Two
by Dan McClenaghan
At times, while listening to random classics in the collection, one can have the idea that everything in jazz evolved from the late '40s to early '50s bebop. But before bop was swing. Duke Ellington stayed with swing through bop, funk, and fusion. And so did alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (1906-1970), who played in Ellington's band from its early days, the late-1920s. A much-admired player with a distinctive tone and a beautiful way with a melody, Hodges also ...
read moreDan Pugach Big Band: Bianca
by Jack Bowers
Dan Pugach is an Israeli-born, New York-based drummer who doubles (quite well) as composer and arranger on Bianca, his second recording for Outside In Music. Pugach anchors a splendid big band comprised of some of the New York area's finest musicians on an album whose subtitle is “Music for Paws and Persistence." The “paws" were those of the Pugach family's rescue pit-bull, Bianca, who passed away in 2019 and left a gaping hole in their lives, as ...
read moreDial and DeRosa: Keep Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Keep Swingin', a splendid new album from pianist Garry Dial and drummer Rich DeRosa, features “the music of Charlie Banacos." Charlie who? you may ask. And the answer is, there are jazz educators, and then there was Charlie Banacos, whose talent and ingenuity in the classroom influenced and inspired countless jazz musicians for more than fifty years. During that time, he designed more than a hundred courses of study and wrote half a dozen books on composition and improvisation.
read moreLucas Pino: Covers
by Jack Bowers
Covers is a quartet date in which New York-based tenor saxophonist Lucas Pino “covers" half a dozen generally pleasing songs written by his contemporaries, alongside one each by Charlie Parker ("Relaxin' at Camarillo") and Duke Pearson ("New Girl"). Pino's smooth, articulate tenor saxophone is reinforced by guitarist Alex Goodman, bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Allan Mednard. This represents something of a departure for Pino who usually records with larger groups--including his No Net Nonet--and seldom covers other ...
read moreNicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins
by Dan Bilawsky
Love is not for the faint of heart. Its tides are unpredictable, bound to different souls, intensifying and ebbing in parallel to the feelings and favors of each individual who exerts their gravitational pull on an evolving romance. Musically charting those waters--depicting the full scope of that sea through song--is no simple feat. Yet some supreme talents, like this one, make it happen and make it look easy. Nicole Zuraitis--a first-rate songwriter, powerhouse vocalist and grade-A pianist--proves to be an ...
read moreJavier Nero Jazz Orchestra: Kemet (The Black Land)
by Jack Bowers
On Kemet (The Black Land), trombonist/composer Javier Nero pays homage to a highly advanced African civilization that flourished before the Egyptian kingdom was established and thousands of years before the Greek and Roman empires that are hailed today as the pillars of modern/western culture. Even though Kemet is all but forgotten in 2023, Nero (whose name in Italian literally means “black") says that scholars from surrounding societies including the Greeks were once sent there to study the arts, sciences, literature, ...
read moreAlex Weitz: Rule of Thirds
by Jack Bowers
Tenor saxophonist Alex Weitz's third album, Rule of Thirds, is a quartet date with guests--on seven of its nine tracks. In addition to playing tenor, Weitz wrote all but one of those numbers, Cole Porter's seductive “Love for Sale." Like many saxophonists these days, Weitz has excellent technique, which means he plays a lot of notes, and does that quite well. To his credit, he doesn't lean exclusively on that aspect of his talent, slowing the pace on several numbers ...
read moreOwen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center, Vol.1
by Pierre Giroux
Johnny Hodges was a unique instrumentalist whose alto saxophone playing was readily recognizable due to his tone, phrasing, and melodic engagement in improvisation. For the greater part of his musical life, he was anchored in the middle chair of the Duke Ellington Orchestra's saxophone section. However Hodges never turned down an opportunity to stretch out in a small group setting on such albums as Back To Back and Side By Side. Additionally, there were several sessions with organist Wild Bill ...
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