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Mike Allen: Just Like Magic
by Jack Bowers
Mike Allen is another in an apparently never-ending line of talented saxophonists who seem to emerge, from time to time, from the Canadian provinces to ensnare the hearts and earn the admiration not only of their fellow countrymen but jazz enthusiasts in other climes as well. On Just Like Magic, Allen leads a deft and experienced ...
Eric Hofbauer's Five Agents: Book Of Water
by Jerome Wilson
This CD marks the beginning of an ambitious project for guitarist Eric Hofbauer, five connected recordings based on the Chinese philosophical construct of the Five Agents, wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each of these recordings is to have a different instrumental lineup, but for this first one, Book Of Water, he uses an explosive jazz ...
Dave Howard: Infinite Blu
by Mackenzie Horne
Guitarist Dave Howard was raised on a robust diet of jazz, classic rock, and the blues. He is the type of individual who stubbornly throws himself into the cross- genre deep end, ears first, and refuses to come up for air. Praying at the altar of fusion at midmorning, lunch at the Hard Rock Café, and ...
Tierney Sutton Band: Screenplay
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Cinema-related “standards" have been fertile territory for musicians to harvest ever since Al Jolson walked miles for smiles. With Screenplay, 8-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Tierney Sutton—here as the Tierney Sutton Band—takes a fascinating retrospective, delivering fifteen tunes we have often heard— but never this creatively. The result is a showcase that is unique, engaging, and—in terms of ...
Sara Correia: Sara Correia
by Chris May
The late, great bandoneon player Ástor Piazzolla famously said: “There is not one note of happiness in the tango." That is also true of fado, tango's Portugese cousin. Both are the Latin equivalents of African American blues: intense, cathartic expressions of anguish with, in their traditional forms, precious little light at the end of the tunnel. ...
MaiGroup: Metamorphosis
by Chris Mosey
Metamorphosis, a word of Greek derivation, describes the dramatic change of physical form that occurs when, for example, a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Estonian jazz bassist Mai Leisz (pronounced Lease) uses it to describe her own psychological transformation “as a person and as a musician, from a girl to a woman, from a music student to ...
Triio: Triio
by Anya Wassenberg
Blending composition and free improvisation on their eponymous release, Triio—a sextet led by Toronto-based double bassist/composer Alex Fournier—offer a distinctive sound, whimsical track titles, and a surprise around every corner. “ESD" is a vibrant track that opens with a trippy piano line which uses the darker tones of the lower octaves to moody effect. ...
Dave Morgan: Blue Is More Than a Color
by Jack Bowers
If nothing else, bassist-composer Dave Morgan's album, Blue Is More Than a Color, affirms that big-band jazz is alive and well in the Akron, Ohio, area. Perhaps more than coincidentally, Morgan's large and well-drilled ensemble plies its trade on a regular basis at Akron's Blu Jazz Club whose patrons may presumably hear previews of the seven ...
Avishai Darash: Samskara
by Mark Sullivan
Israeli pianist-composer Avishai Darash made a deliberate effort to combine his Middle Eastern heritage with western influences in this music. The album title comes from Indian philosophy: “Samskaras" are the sum of all mental, physical and psychological impressions left in the body of an individual. Darash takes the opportunity to revisit some of his earlier material, ...
Partisans: Nit De Nit
by Roger Farbey
Definitely not to be confused with the Welsh punk rock group of the same name (albeit with the added definite article in the title), Partisans have been around for well over two decades. Their debut album Partisans was released jointly under Julian Siegel and Phil Robson's names on the EFZ label in 1997. Since then, as ...
