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Afro Blue: We Shall Overcome
by Jack Bowers
The vocal group Afro Blue was founded (in 2002) by its director, Connaitre Miller, Jazz Voice Coordinator at Howard University in Washington, DC. Miller's approach to vocal jazz is patterned after that of such celebrated groups as Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, the Manhattan Transfer and Take 6, a blueprint that has served Afro Blue well and ...
Luciana Souza: Storytellers
by Angelo Leonardi
Ci sono dischi che raggiungono un equilibrio così prezioso tra gli ambiti strumentali e vocali (in un clima di lirismo, ricchezza interpretativa e freschezza) che regalano nuove emozioni a ogni ascolto e non vorresti staccartene. È quanto accade all'album appena pubblicato da Luciana Souza, inciso con la WDR Big Band diretta da Vince ...
Francesco Cusa Trio, Francesco Cusa & The Assassins: The Uncle (Giano Bifronte)
by Vincenzo Roggero
The Uncle, lo zio, ovvero Gianni Lenoci, così veniva chiamato dagli amici intimi il pianista, compositore, pensatore prematuramente scomparso nel settembre dell'anno passato. Ma il legame tra Francesco Cusa e l'artista barese era di quelli che andavano ben oltre le convenzioni di una pur solida amicizia. Non solo, allora, un doppio CD a lui dedicato il ...
Zeñel: Extreme Sports
by Chris May
The coupling of jazz and dance music is hardly a new one and, contrary to the dictats of the jazz police, neither is it antithetical. Jazz began as dance music and enjoyed its most widespread popular success during the jitterbug-crazed swing era. But 21st century electronic dance music does present a unique challenge. By its nature, ...
Tomeka Reid Quartet: Old New
by Ian Patterson
Tomeka Reid cut her teeth in Chicago, recording with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and Nicole Mitchell, but the cellist's 2016 move to New York seems to have fired her creative juices even more. The prolific Reid has appeared on nearly twenty recordings in that time, notably including the Art Ensemble of Chicago's We Are On The ...
Roberto Magris: Suite!
by Karl Ackermann
Italian pianist/composer Roberto Magris could not have anticipated the urgent need for a positive message when he recorded Suite! in 2018. The newly released double album reflects Magris' belief that a better world is coming and his certainty is conveyed in a sprawling program of poetry, original compositions, and some surprising covers. He has recorded as ...
The New York - Paris Reunion Quintet: Live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, Basel
by David A. Orthmann
Many of us dearly miss those life-affirming nights in jazz clubs when a band can do no wrong, blowing as if there's no tomorrow, and temporarily washing away the workaday realities of existence. The New York-Paris Reunion Quintet's Live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club, Basel takes some of the yearning and emptiness out of waiting ...
Etuk Ubong: Purpose Of Creation / Etuk's Ritual
by Chris May
Lagos-based Etuk Ubong is part of a long line of fiery Afrobeat-rooted trumpeters which stretches back to Tunde Williams, a founder member of Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band in the 1960s. The lineage's foundational provenance is centred around players such as Lee Morgan and early period Freddie Hubbard. Ubong made his own-name debut in ...
Roberto Magris: Suite!
by Dan McClenaghan
Italian pianist Roberto Magris began his jazz career in the late 1970s, releasing a handful of excellent albums on Soul Note Records. He picked up steam in his collaboration with Kansas City's JMood Records in 2008 on Kansas City Outbound. As a pianist and a bandleader, Magris seems to have soaked up numerous influences--mid-sixties Blue Note ...
Isabelle Olivier / Rez Abassi: OASIS
by Jerome Wilson
The combination of acoustic guitar and harp is seldom heard in jazz and improvisational circles but it is explored here in exciting fashion by harpist Isabelle Olivier and guitarist Rez Abbasi. Accompanied by Prabhu Edouard on tabla and David Paycha on drums, they bring their instruments' sounds together in a variety of musical textures ranging from ...
