Jazz Articles

Kevin Kaska Jazz Orchestra: Shades of Rio

by Jack Bowers
February 23, 2016

Seductive melodies and danceable rhythms carry the day on Shades of Rio, a tasteful debut recording by the southern California-based Kevin Kaska Jazz Orchestra, which earns the name by using a full string section on most numbers to complement its well-upholstered twenty-three member core ensemble anchored by master drummer Harvey Mason. Kaska, a story unto himself, wrote eight numbers and all the arrangements, many with a Latin flavor, thus playing to the strength of special guest Arturo Sandoval, a nine-time ...