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Nat King Cole: Straighten Up and Fly Right – The Best of Hittin’ the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943)
by Mark Sullivan
Hittin' the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943) (Resonance Records, 2019) is a treasury of Nat “King" Cole's earliest recorded work, documenting his mastery of jazz piano and vocals long before he became a popular singing star. But at seven CDs or 10 LPs, it's a lot of music, perhaps too much for a casual or curious ...
Daniel Herskedal: Call For Winter
by Geno Thackara
Everyone has to go home sometime. Daniel Herskedal and his tuba have covered a good many miles both figurative and literal over the course of seven albums, particularly with the travel-themed triptych of Slow Eastbound Train (2015), The Roc (2017) and Voyage (2019) that preceded this recording. Where each of those had its own small cast ...
Tord Gustavsen Trio: The Other Side
by David Bruggink
In spiritual parlance, the other side" often refers to a realm beyond death. Tord Gustavsen is no stranger to integrating music to religious practice, performing frequent Musikkmeditasjon" concerts in Norwegian churches. It would be reductive, however, to describe his music in New Age terms. Gustavsen is a master composer and improviser, and The Other Side is ...
Jazzagenturen: The Stockholm Corona Sessions Volume One
by Jim Worsley
The Swedish jazz collective Jazzagenturen, founded by Pontus de Wolfe, reached deep into its collective soul and stood up to the downsides of the Covid-19 coronavirus early on. This large ensemble entered a studio on April 2nd. Twelve hours later they emerged having recorded fifty songs. The Stockholm Corona Sessions are being released in five volumes, ...
Jonathan Barber & Vision Ahead: Legacy Holder
by Dan Bilawsky
Drummer Jonathan Barber's Legacy Holder is a musical missive acknowledging the history that flows before and beyond his time, the ethos of the present, and a need to bind these streams into a single/singular statement or groundwork for himself and those who will follow. It is an album built on intellect, understanding, intuition and, perhaps most ...
Lulu Fall: Between Two Worlds
by Phillip Woolever
This enjoyable album is distinguished by Fall's multi-layered vocal inflections, which shine amidst myriad flourishes of afro-centric rhythms that reach well beyond typical dance tracks or pop tunes. With roots in Cameroon and Senegal, the well-established NYC singer-songwriter has worked at the apex of musical theatre, including roles in Passing Strange and the revival of Hair. ...
Tigran Hamasyan: Atmosphères
by David Bruggink
A cross-cultural collaboration between Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen, guitarist Eivind Aarset, sound manipulator Jan Bang, and Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan, Atmosphères seems to be a quintessential ECM release in certain ways. It exhibits qualities that come readily to mind when imagining the ECM aesthetic: sonic minimalism, musical gestures with exquisite subtleness and thrilling, sometimes discordant, experimentation. ...
Swingadelic: Bluesville
by Jack Bowers
If you're partial to music that is sunny and freewheeling and almost commands a smile, you should have no trouble warming to Bluesville, the eighth recording by New Jersey-based Swingadelic, now twenty-two years old and counting. As its name implies, the orchestra (more often than not a mini-big band a dozen or so strong) re-creates an ...
Dave Stryker: Blue Soul
by Jerome Wilson
Germany's WDR Big Band has welcomed a great variety of musicians such as Fred Hersch, Michel Camilo, Ambrose Akinmusire and Jimmy Heath as guest soloists over the years. On this occasion they provide an invigorating backdrop for the springy and soulful guitar of Dave Stryker. The set list on this CD finds Stryker and ...
Randy Porter Trio: Porter Plays Frishberg: Unsung
by Paul Rauch
Pianist/composer/lyricist Dave Frishberg may not be a household name in the world of jazz, but those in the know, musicians and listeners alike, appreciate the often whimsical artist. His works are associated with an A" list of vocalists, including Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Anita O'Day, Shirley Horn and Diana Krall. The 87-year old Frishberg now resides ...

