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Kiki Valera: Vacilón Santiaguero
by Richard J Salvucci
In Cuban Spanish (and, for sure, there is no generic Spanish in Latin America), vacilón means, well, one hell of a good time. And that is what you can expect from this punchy collection, a great time a la Santiago de Cuba, the capital of one of Cuba's southeastern provinces. It is the land of Bacardí ...
Edition Redux: Broadcast Transformer
by Mark Corroto
Ken Vandermark has long made it a priority to dedicate nearly all of his compositions to other artists. From painters and photographers to writers, poets and fellow musicians, his influences span a wide artistic spectrum. Film, in particular, has been a significant source of inspiration for this long-time Chicago resident. While Vandermark has composed two commissioned ...
Paul Kendall: My Shining Hour
by Jack Bowers
If you were to randomly draw the names of “most charming and best-loved American popular standards" out of a hat, chances are you could not fare much better than Pennsylvania-based baritone saxophonist Paul Kendall has by design on My Shining Hour, a splendid album whose playlist encompasses no less than eight singular and seductive melodies from ...
Nanami Haruta: The Vibe
by Dan McClenaghan
The news of a trombonist fronting a small jazz ensemble brings the name J.J. Johnson (1924-2001) to mind. He pioneered that form of jazz expression. Before he stepped onto the scene the big brass horn stayed mainly in the background, eclipsed by trumpets and saxophones. Many have followed in Johnson's footsteps: Curtis Fuller, Steve ...
ES Trio: The Foreign In Us
by Hrayr Attarian
German saxophonist and clarinetist Edith Steyer is a consummate improviser. Her spontaneously created work defies genres, blending jazz, ethnic, and Western classical influences. On April 6, 2023, Steyer appeared at the Elastic Arts venue in Chicago together with two of the city's most distinctive musicians, pianist Mabel Kwan and percussionist Michael Zerang. The material from this ...
Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet: Situation
by Jerome Wilson
This is the third album by the Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet and, on it, they continue to refine their integration of jazz, country and classical styles into a more expansive and complex whole. Their use of vibraphone, pedal steel and harp, in addition to the more common instruments of guitar, saxophone and bass, gives ...
Rob Mazurek Quartet: Color Systems
by Alberto Bazzurro
In parallelo con lavori che spaziano dal solo all'orchestra, Rob Mazurek, uomo-musica ormai giunto sulla soglia dei sessanta ma non per questo meno vorace e curioso di un tempo, ci regala questo album in quartetto (e che quartetto!) imperniato su sei brani comprensivi di altrettante dediche (del resto non è una novità). La sua tromba cementa ...
Stefano Onorati, Fulvio Sigurtà: Extended Singularity
by Neri Pollastri
Basandosi su un'intesa consolidata e sulla loro vena compositiva, Fulvio Sigurtà e Stefano Onorati, accompagnati da Gabriele Evangelista al contrabbasso e Alessandro Paternesi alla batteria, realizzano un album piuttosto atipico per il panorama nazionale, in quanto né “mediterraneo," né ispirato alle novità d'oltreoceano, ma aperto, modale e fortemente narrativo senza esser melodico. Il lavoro ...
Brent Laidler: Hidden Gems
by Patrick Burnette
Guitarist Brent Laidler has released mainstream jazz albums infused with a cheerful attitude throughout his career. They tend to feature all original tunes, but unlike most jazz releases featuring (cursed with?) the All-Original Syndrome, his tunes are catchy, accessible, and sometimes even mood-enhancing. Given that hundreds--if not thousands--of small group jazz albums are released each year, ...
David Caffey Jazz Orchestra: At the Edge of Spring
by Jack Bowers
With his album, At the Edge of Spring, composer and arranger David Caffey and his Colorado-based Jazz Orchestra not only defy the widely-held belief that big bands are dead, they emphatically blow that axium out of the water. This is an ensemble with no discernible weaknesses, as proficient and powerful as any that have come before ...
