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Marbin: Strong Thing
by Geannine Reid
Marbin consists of saxophonist Danny Markovitch, drummer Everette Benton Jr, guitarist Dani Rabin, and bassist Jon Nadel. Marbin has previously released seven albums: Marbin (Self-released, 2009), Breaking the Cycle (MoonJune, 2011), Last Chapter of Dreaming ( MoonJune, 2013), The Third Set (MoonJune, 2014), Aggressive Hippies (Marbin Music, 2015), Goatman and the House of the Dead (Marbin ...
GoGo Penguin: Ocean in a Drop
by Geno Thackara
While William Blake saw the world in a grain of sand, and the poet Rumi wrote that each person is not a drop in an ocean but rather the opposite, GoGo Penguin's ever-expanding sonic world hints at similar multitudes yet to be experienced. It rarely sounds like “just" piano, bass and drums in these hands, and ...
Kiki Valera: Vivencias En Clave Cubana
by Paul Rauch
Son Cubano is a genre of music and dance originating from the hill country of eastern Cuba during the 19th century. Its origins are a blend of African and Spanish influences. Son vocal style and meter are of Spanish tradition, while its identifiable clave rhythm, call and response, and percussive elements are of Bantu origin.
Paula Harris: Speakeasy
by Walter Atkins
At first blush, SF Bay Area vocalist, music writer and band leader Paula Harris' new Speakeasy CD is a generous 16 song set (12 tracks + four bonus cuts). The album bustles with bluesy and jazz-flavored songs about bad boys and the women who find them irresistible. However, there is a lot more going on here ...
Tribe: Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990 - 2014
by Chris May
Hot on the heels of Detroit trombonist and co-founder of the Tribe Phil Ranelin's Phil Ranelin Collected 2003—2019 (Wide Hive, 2019), comes another funked up spiritual-jazz beauty from the collective. The music on both albums is about as good as jazz ever gets and, given the social divisions being encouraged by reactionary politicians on both sides ...
Kelley Suttenfield: When We Were Young: Kelley Suttenfield Sings Neil Young
by Troy Dostert
Although most jazz vocalists would shy away from an album's worth of rock tunes penned by Neil Young, Kelley Suttenfield tackles the task with aplomb on When We Were Young, providing skillful renditions of eleven cuts ranging from the well-known to a couple of the most obscure of Young's compositions. Suttenfield's low-key, insouciant delivery is a ...
Mercury Rev: All is Dream
by Jakob Baekgaard
"A year is just a drop in time." This is what singer Jonathan Donahue sang on “A Drop in Time," a song from Mercury Rev's celebrated album All Is Dream. It has now been eighteen drops or years since the band released the album in 2001 and now it's time for a reissue. ...
Satoko Fujii - Joe Fonda: 4
by Karl Ackermann
When pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda first teamed up on Duet (Long Song Records, 2016), neither was familiar with the work of the other. Three short years later, “other" no longer applies, as the instantaneous rapport Fujii and Fonda found has led to a growing portfolio of cutting-edge music. 4 is the latest entry ...
Marc Copland: And I Love Her
by John Kelman
There was a time when Marc Copland was releasing multiple albums every year, sometimes as many as three or four, like in 2009, when the veteran pianist (who began his musical life as a saxophonist) released his second solo piano album, Alone (Pirouet); an intimate duo date with veteran bassist Gary Peacock, Insight (Sketch); and the ...
Jean Toussaint: Live At The Jazz Cafe 091218
by Chris May
Most times, the transatlantic flow of jazz musicians is from east to west. Less frequently, as with Jean Toussaint's relocation from New York to London, it is contrariwise. Hot from four years as a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers's Jazz Messengers, Toussaint arrived in Britain in 1987. He soon established himself as a ...
