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George Cables: I'm All Smiles
by Jack Bowers
George Cables, whose elegant piano has graced the jazz scene in New York City and elsewhere for more than five decades, has every reason to be All Smiles; at age seventy-four he is back at the keyboard, as sharp and inspired as ever, following surgery for ulcers that removed one leg above the knee. To mark ...
Camila Meza & the Nectar Orchestra: Ámbar
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With Ámbar, the Chilean-born New York vocalist, instrumentalist and composer Camila Meza, here recording with the marvelous Nectar Orchestra, sends out a dozen tracks of intriguing, highly-textured culturally-rich music. The material, creatively superb and impeccably performed all around, not only reinforces the fact that Meza is an acknowledged Downbeat Magazine Rising Star, but also vividly demonstrates ...
Nick Mazzarella Trio: Counterbalance
by Troy Dostert
Although he is well-accustomed to working in other settings, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is perhaps at his strongest in a trio format: specifically, the sax-bass-drums configuration that allows for both maximum harmonic freedom and focused rhythmic interaction. In 2017 his Meridian Trio (featuring bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Jeremy Cunningham) released Triangulum (Clean Feed), an excellent ...
Andrew Rathbun: Character Study
by Jerome Wilson
The political and social landscape of the last couple of years has inspired music that expresses anger, sorrow, solidarity and other strong feelings. For saxophonist Andrew Rathbun, the times have brought up reflections on what “character" means and what is the place of integrity, honesty and conviction in the modern world. Some of this was addressed ...
Jared Pauley: On Capitol Street
by Roger Farbey
Hailing from Charleston, West Virginia, but now resident in NYC, Jared Pauley's first musical experiments were with the guitar but he abandoned this in favor of piano as a teenager. His influences include Herbie Hancock, George Duke and Chick Corea and his first purchased albums were Miles Davis' Milestones (Columbia, 1958), Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (Columbia, 1973) ...
Richie Cole: Cannonball
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With Cannonball, Richie Cole and his crew deliver fourteen selections, each of which is associated with the album's namesake, Julian Cannonball Adderley. Cole has admired Adderley since their meeting when Cole was a student at Berklee School of Music. The album is a terrific salute and it once more confirms Cole as a leading flamekeeper of ...
John Lamkin: Transitions
by Karl Ackermann
Dr. John R. Lamkin, II has dedicated much of his career to bringing music to students and the community while recording little, so his many Mid-Atlantic fans will welcome Transitions, his first release in decades. His only prior album was Hot (Self-Produced, 1984), where the trumpeter wrote all but one composition. As Director of Bands and ...
Sferos: Set It Up As Silence
by Jerome Wilson
Sferos is a trio of New York-based musicians--guitarist Juanma Trujillo, drummer Dayeon Seok and saxophonist Hery Paz. Their music is a blend of atmospheric textures and jazz-rock energy that bears a slight resemblance to the work of experimental guitarists like Terje Rypdal and David Torn but, at its best, has its own unique sound.
Shahzad Ismaily: sea legs / hum back
by Mark Sullivan
A split album with the first ever solo release by American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily (who has played with artists like guitarist Marc Ribot, singer/songwriter Tom Waits and experimentalist Laurie Anderson), plus a solo euphonium program by Belgian Niels Van Heertum: one side each in the LP version. Ismaily begins the set with a single ...
Bob Sheppard: The Fine Line
by Roger Farbey
Ironically, probably the only reason that Bob Sheppard isn't a household name (other than in jazz households) is because he's such an in-demand sideman. Splitting his time between Los Angeles, and New York he also teaches jazz at The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. But he's worked, amongst many others, with such jazz ...
