Jazz Articles

Hard Bop Messengers: Live at the Last Hotel

by Jack Bowers
August 20, 2022

First came the Jazz Messengers, led by drummer Art Blakey, a high-powered group (usually a sextet), that performed for more than thirty-five years until Blakey's death in 1990. Now come the Hard Bop Messengers, another sextet led by trombonist John Covelli, the title of whose 2022 album, Live at the Last Hotel, is rather misleading, to say the least. First, the album wasn't recorded live but in a studio; second, the studio isn't at the Last Hotel in St. Louis ...

Rob Ryndak & Tom Lockwood: Gratitude

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 8, 2019

There's poignancy about the titles of the selections on this fine album that generates reflection. Perhaps that was the intention of the two composers, Rob Ryndak and Tom Lockwood. However, the music of Gratitude—all original, highly textural—solidifies this supposition. Incorporating a crew of fine Chicago-area musicians along with guest trumpeter Brian Lynch, Ryndak and Lockwood send up an eclectic buffet. The fine writing tends to be more contemporary than straight-ahead. There's also a significant percussive aspect to ...

Sherri Roberts: Anybody's Spring

by Geannine Reid
April 2, 2017

Vocalist Sherri Roberts brings the joy and promise of new beginnings with twelve standards, that offer a spring theme with her 2017 release, Anybody's Spring. Selections come from the jazz compositions of Clifford Brown and Tadd Dameron to the standard and not-so-standard fare of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hoagy Carmichael, and Blossom Dearie favorite Bob Haymes, the set list is a spring lover's dream come true. The San Francisco based singer is a passionate, expressive singer whose emotive prominence never supersedes ...

Matt Panayides: Conduits

by Jack Bowers
August 18, 2015

Conduits, Matt Panayides' second album as a leader, pairs his resilient guitar on the front line with the reliable tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, ably supported by bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Mark Ferber. In spite of its esoteric name, the album is unshakably bright and accessible, with everyone abiding by Panayides' muse and playing their roles remarkably well. As Panayides wrote and arranged everything, much of the session's success rests on his musical acuity, which it should ...

Sherri Roberts with Bliss Rodriguez: Lovely Days

by Dan Bilawsky
December 27, 2012

Sherri Roberts has built her reputation with a trio of well-produced albums featuring top-notch players like pianist Mark Soskin, saxophonist Phil Woods and bassist Harvie S, but her fourth album finds the Bay Area-based vocalist expanding her horizons by trimming down the personnel list. Lovely Days gives Roberts a chance to work in a more open environment that highlights the interpersonal relationship that exists between singer and pianist. Roberts has maintained an on-again/off-again gigging relationship with pianist ...

Sherri Roberts: Lovely Days

by C. Michael Bailey
December 22, 2012

Lovely Days is a “classical" piano-vocals recital. It is classical in the respect of that this spare pairing is time tested and well respected across musical genres. Bay-area vocalist Sherri Roberts downsizes from her previous three recordings to a duo setting with pianist Bliss Rodriguez. Robert's repertoire comes directly from the Great American Songbook, first half of the 20th Century, but not from the absolutely most dog-eared pages. All ballads, “What's New," “My funny Valentine" and “You'd Be So Nice ...

Matt Panayides: Tapestries of Song

by Jack Huntley
March 10, 2011

In the era of frenetic fretboard technique, the art of developing a patient groove sometimes seems lost in the shuffle, but Matt Panyides skillfully cultivates that very asset on Tapestries of Song. This is not to suggest that Panyides' music lacks for technical aptitude, as his guitar playing displays nothing but virtuosity. Specifically, Panyides' playing has the unhurried finesse of a craftsman. Teamed with Rich Perry's dexterous tenor sax, and the solid rhythms of drummer Dan Weiss and bassist Steve ...

Norman Johnson: If Time Stood Still

by Jerry D'Souza
October 3, 2010

Norman Johnson was in high school in Jamaica when he heard George Benson and became interested in the guitar. He says that he was mesmerized by Benson, and though he figured that he was too old at 16 to begin playing an instrument he went ahead. Later studying at the Hartt School of Music with Jackie McLean and Brian Keane, his influences grew to include Wes Montgomery, Earl Klugh, and Andres Segovia. Segovia fostered his love for classical music and, ...

Endless Highway: Tom Braxton

by Jerry D'Souza
December 11, 2009

Saxophonist Tom Braxton's music has been called “smooth jazz," which is somewhat unfortunate. Yes, he is a smooth jazz artist, but he also has the foresight to assimilate soul, funk and R&B into his compositions. In melding these forms he adds snap, crackle and drive, making the journey on his Endless Highway a highly enjoyable experience.

Braxton plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, and he's at ease on all of them. The tenor gives him the greatest bite, and he ...

Rob Thorsen: Lasting Impression

by Jerry D'Souza
June 8, 2009

Bassist Rob Thorsen became interested in jazz when he heard Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The acoustic bass, which he discovered when he was in his twenties, became his instrument of choice as he began his career as a performer on a cruise ship. On Lasting Impression, his fourth CD as leader, Thorsen plays compositions by Charlie Parker, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane and George Gershwin, along with his own work.

Thorsen grafts his ideas convincingly onto the ...