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Roni Ben-Hur: Fortuna
by J Hunter
The most famous lyric from Charlie Chaplin's bittersweet song “Smile" is, “Smile, though your heart is aching/Smile, even though it's breaking." Roni Ben-Hur knows that methodology, and how: Smile (Motema, 2008), Ben-Hur's benefit disc with fellow guitarist Gene Bertoncini, was originally conceived as a duet with Ben-Hur's longtime bassist Earl May, who died before recording began. ...
Chris Greene Quartet: Merge
by Bridget A. Arnwine
The Chris Greene Quartet is willing to try anything once. No matter the genre of music, put it in this group's capable hands and bear witness to music taking on a whole new style and feel. On the group's third recording, Merge, saxophonist Chris Greene leads his quartet of four years all over the musical spectrum. ...
Gerald Wilson Orchestra / Dallas Original Jazz Orchestra / University of North Texas Two O'Clock Lab Band
by Jack Bowers
Gerald Wilson Orchestra Detroit Mack Avenue Records 2009 Composer / arranger / ageless wonder Gerald Wilson, most of whose recent albums (Monterey Moods; New York, New Sound; Theme for Monterey; State Street Sweet) have been built around sectional themes, returns “home" on Detroit to paint an earnest musical ...
Michael Janisch: Purpose Built
by Chris May
Since moving to Britain from the US in 2005, bassist Michael Janisch has put much of his energy into collaborative projects involving musicians from the two countries. It's hardly a radical idea, but it's as good a shtick as any with which to carve a profile, and along with his prodigious instrumental talents, Janisch is an ...
Justin Walter: A Call To Arms
by Bruce Lindsay
Justin Walter is the trumpeter in Ann Arbor-based band Nomo and a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Manhattan School of Music. A Call To Arms is his first album as leader and a marked contrast to his recordings with Nomo, a band with a distinctive take on Afrobeat rhythms, welding them to electronics ...
Take Five With Mike Wolk
by AAJ Staff
Meet Mike Wolk:Performing music that swings, sounds cool, with great harmony and melody is my life's work. I prefer the structure of straight-ahead jazz as it gives me a chance to play the lines, phrases and licks that create an emotional response from my bandmembers and the audience.I live in Charleston, South ...
Vocalist Sylvia Brooks Releases "Dangerous Liaisons"
Some music you listen to, some music you feel. Be it smoky and sensual or fiery and fierce, we all recognize the instant when our breaths catch, our pulses race, and our hearts know. In compiling Dangerous Liaisons, Sylvia Brooks has said “I don’t feel I chose these songs, but that they’ve chosen me.” And she ...
No "Vanity" Here: Jackie Ryan, Denise Donatelli, Lisa Sokolov, Kat Edmonson
by J Hunter
One of the whinier columns ever to appear in a major jazz publication concerned “Vanity Projects"--that is, sessions bankrolled by rich men for their marginally talented spouses/girlfriends/siblings/whatever. Unfortunately, those kind of recordings do exist, and in far greater numbers than desirable. However, the author's implication was that most female vocal projects could be categorized in this ...
Deck the Halls with Big Band Carols
by Jack Bowers
With the holiday season on track and hastening toward us like a runaway locomotive, it's time once again to hunker down and prepare for the annual onslaught of “Rudolph," “Frosty the Snowman," “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," “Sleigh Ride," “Silver Bells," chestnuts roasting on an open fire and everyone's perennial favorite, “White Christmas." Not to ...
Duke Ellington London and New York 1963-1964 The Great Concerts, The Duke of Elegant - Gems From the Duke Ellington Songbook
by Andrew Velez
Duke EllingtonThe Great Concerts (London & New York 1963-1964) Musicmasters-Nimbus 2009 Various ArtistsThe Duke of ElegantHighNote2009 “First of all the kids in the band want you to know they love ...
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