Jazz Articles
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Paul Kendall: Whisper Not
by Jack Bowers
An organ trio led not by the organist, Dan Kostelnik, but by tenor saxophonist Paul Kendall. Makes no difference, as the music on Whisper Not is delightful, and Kostelnik and Kendall sound like they've been playing together for years instead of for the first time on this impressive studio date, recorded in March 2023. The trio (Rudy Petschauer is the drummer) break no new ground; they simply embrace a series of popular and jazz standards--along with a ...
read moreAntonio Gavrila: Tango Suite Buenos Aires
by Jack Bowers
Astor Piazzolla, the Brazilian master who modernized and forever changed the profile of the tango, starting in the late '50s, died in 1992, several years before pianist Antonio Gavrila was born, halfway around the world in Bucharest, Romania. To Gavrila, Piazzolla was more than a name or even a reformer; he was--and remains--an inspiration, one whose music serves as the driving force behind Tango Suite Buenos Aires, Gavrila's second album as leader and first for Zoho Music. ...
read moreVanessa Racci: Jazzy Italian
by Richard J Salvucci
Vanessa Racci describes herself a jazz / cabaret singer of Italian-American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian Americans. She has a previous album, entitled Italiana Fresca (2017, self-produced), and currently performs several shows that celebrate American jazz composers, Italian American music and contributions to jazz and pop in the US. She is a competent and entertaining singer, lively, and, by the video evidence, vivacious. She may not exactly lead a listener to forget ...
read moreIsrael Tanenbaum & the Latinbaum Jazz Ensemble: Impressions
by Jack Bowers
If you are fond of happy music from south of the equator, longtime producer/arranger Israel Tanenbaum had you in mind when mapping out Impressions, his first recording as leader after years of helping others achieve their musical dreams. Performed by a first- class ensemble, Impressions spans the gamut of seductive Latin rhythms, from guaracha, salsa and cha cha to mambo, bolero and danzon, with Tanenbaum playing splendid piano on every number (by himself on the lustrous interlude, “Another Life").
read moreBen Sher: Samba for Tarsila
by Jack Bowers
This is happy music with a Latin flair, splendidly conceived and superbly performed by guitarist Ben Sher's New York-based quartet--a flavorful treat for those who relish music from south of the border. Before appraising the themes, it is perhaps best to begin by answering the question on most listeners' minds: who is (or was) Tarsila? As it turns out, Brazilian-born Tarsila de Aguiar do Amaral (1886-1973) was a modernist painter who is considered by many to be ...
read moreBen Sher: Samba for Tarsila
by Neil Duggan
Ben Sher, an acclaimed jazz guitarist based in New York City, brings us Samba for Tarsila, in which he pays a musical tribute to the Brazilian modernist painter, Tarsila de Aguiar do Amaral (1886-1973). Her vivid abstract paintings of the Brazilian landscape have provided Sher with his inspiration for this project. To help him realise his vision, Sher has assembled a Brazilian fusion jazz quartet, featuring top-class musicians from the New York jazz scene. Gary Fisher is a ...
read moreTrio Da Paz: 30
by Howard Mandel
Only very special collaborations last 30 years, and rarely do they become more exciting and together over the decades. Trio da Paz, however, is one such long-lasting and still lightning band. The team of drummer Duduka Da Fonseca, guitarist Romero Lubambo and bassist Nilson Matta, all Brasilian jazzmen of New York City, is just as dashing today as when the three first met in 1985. So 30 , their seventh album, wastes no time glancing back. Rather, Trio ...
read moreHendrik Meurkens and the WDR Big Band: Samba Jazz Odyssey
by Jack Bowers
One could probably count the number of big-band albums featuring a harmonica player on the fingers of one hand and leave some unused. Only one other springs to mind here, and it was released so many years ago that the names have long since been forgotten. And so it is indeed a genuine pleasure to hear the virtuosic Hendrik Meurkens performing with one of the world's foremost large ensembles, Cologne, Germany's exemplary WDR Big Band. More than ...
read moreHendrik Meurkens: Samba Jazz Odyssey
by Edward Blanco
One of the leading proponents of bossa nova and samba in the jazz world, New York-based chromatic harmonica virtuoso Hendrik Meurkens continues his love affair with Brazilian music with the big band sound of Samba Jazz Odyssey, his seventh release on the ZOHO record label. This time Meurkens is joined by the world-renown WDR Big Band from Cologne, Germany where the maestro and ensemble record nine tracks and seven of his most popular compositions arranged by Grammy-nominated conductor Michael Phillip ...
read moreAlexis Cole: Sky Blossom/Songs from My Tour of Duty
by Jack Bowers
Alexis Cole is an excellent singer, an opinion endorsed by recent high-profile gigs at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center and with the Boston Pops and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Even so, she is nearly upstaged on Sky Blossom by Scott Arcangel's superlative arrangements (plus one each by Chris Walden and Mike Reifenberg) and the marvelous big band(s) lending their support. The Tour of Duty earmarked in the album's title refers to Cole's seven- year assignment (2009-15) as vocalist with ...
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