Home » Search Center » Results: Album Reviews
Results for "Album Reviews"
Stephane Spira: New Playground
by Neri Pollastri
Il cinquantatreenne sassofonista parigino Stephane Spira ha una singolare biografia: pur avendo frequentato la musica fin da adolescente, è poi diventato ingegnere e fino a trent'anni ha lavorato in quel settore, vivendo a lungo all'estero; poi, rientrato in patria, ha deciso di prendersi il tempo per perfezionare la sua conoscenza del sax e solo dopo ha ...
Nat "King" Cole: Hittin’ the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943)
by Victor L. Schermer
While he achieved fame and fortune as a pops crooner of the 1950s-60s, Nat “King" Cole firmly occupies a place in jazz history. Unlike Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and others who began their careers as singers, Cole started out as a pianist, composer/arranger, and band leader, working small clubs in Chicago, soon adding vocals ...
Ezra Weiss Big Band: We Limit Not The Truth of God
by Jack Bowers
Composer / arranger Ezra Weiss's debut big-band recording, We Limit Not the Truth of God, is actually a suite written for his two young children to help them understand and embrace the often confusing and chaotic world in which we live. It is thus entirely appropriate that the album was recorded (with an audience) in a ...
Jan Alexander Trio: Of Memories To Come
by Don Phipps
Jan Alexander's Of Memories to Come is a peaceful affair, a sunny set of tunes that offers optimism and solace. While much of the album sparkles with energy and verve, there is also a soft touch to Alexander's piano technique that, like Keith Jarrett or Bill Evans, allows the sweetness of the piano to emerge.
Rich Willey Boptism Funk Band: Conspiracy
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Both before and after his first terrific recording as leader--Gone with the Piggies (Consolidated Artists Productions, 1988)--Asheville, North Carolina-based Rich Willey has been a very busy jazzman. During that period, Willey spent dues-playing time with Philly Phenoms, New York Bopsters, did a stint with the great Maynard Ferguson, authored dozens of well-acclaimed trumpet and jazz improv ...
Ed Palermo: A Lousy Day In Harlem
by Angelo Leonardi
Il 12 agosto 2018, sessant'anni dopo la celebre foto di Art Kane “A Great Day in Harlem," Ed Palermo s'è fatto fotografare di fronte allo stesso palazzo in pietra marrone. Il titolo del disco non è casuale e la copertina lo ritrae sconsolato, in un marciapiede tristemente vuoto, mentre la sequenza fotografica nel booklet lo vede ...
Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees: Mike Lorenz & the Witherbees
by Geno Thackara
File Mike Lorenz and the Witherbees under folk, jazz or film soundtrack and they will have enough of the right sound not to seem terribly out of place. Okay, this moody debut isn't actually a soundtrack, but there is no reason why it shouldn't be if the right noir mind-bender were to come along. The quartet's ...
Carrie Wicks: Reverie
by Paul Rauch
Seattle-based vocalist Carrie Wicks is back with her fourth effort on the Origin label, and while there are many similarities stylistically with her previous efforts, Reverie more draws from the original compositions of Wicks and her partners Ken Nottingham and Nick Allison. One of the commonalities between the recordings is Wicks' insight into putting ...
Woody Shaw: At Onkel Po's Carnegie Hall: Vol. 1: Hamburg 1979
by Chris May
Woody Shaw was born a decade or so after quintessential hard-bop trumpeters Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd and Freddie Hubbard, Shaw's professed role model. He came to the party late but he came bearing gifts—a strong technique, an ability to play inside and outside with equal conviction, and a lot of soul. These qualities were to the ...
Harold O'Neal: Piano Cinema
by Angelo Leonardi
Harold O' Neal è un pianista singolare. Quest'album in solo ripropone lo stile ricercato, intriso di riferimenti all'impressionismo francese e alle radici del jazz, che aveva presentato nel 2011 in Marvelous Fantasy. Durante gli studi al Berklee College e alla Manhattan School Of Music, la sua storia musicale è segnata dal sodalizio con Bobby Watson (2001) ...
