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Mike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live From New York!
by Dan Bilawsky
When trumpet titan Dizzy Gillespie left this earth he left no shortage of disciples behind. His now-legendary peers (i.e. saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Benny Golson), a cadre of killer Cubans (Arturo Sandoval, multi-reedist Paquito D'Rivera, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, etc.) and a pride of young lions all worked with him, learned from him, and sang his praises, ...
Professor Louie and The Crowmatix: Wings On Fire
by Glenn Astarita
Professor Louie (Aaron Louis Hurwitz) and the Crowmatix hail from the artist colony, Woodstock, NY and have backed guitarist Rick Danko (The Band) amid other projects, along with their notoriety as supreme audience pleasers during live performances. Yet part of the magic lies within the group's harmonically attractive song-forms, replete with memorable themes and the Professor's ...
Skip Wilkins Quartet: Czech Dreams
by Edward Blanco
World-class jazz pianist Skip Wilkins regularly splits his time between Eastern Pennsylvania--where he teaches at Lafayette College in Easton--and Central Europe where he recently spent fifteen months in Prague. Czech Dreams, dedicated to the Czech people, is a result of touring throughout the Czech Republic and Germany and cementing his relationship with friend and Prague-based guitarist ...
John Funkhouser: Still
by Jeffrey Uhrich
With the unpredictable sensibility and graceful prowess of a cat, John Funkhouser and his core trio draw the listener into Still, an intelligent and poignant collection of alluring tracks that display an inner sense of musical exploration and innovation. Funkhouser is masterful as both a musician and composer/arranger, maintaining a delicate balance of power ...
Victory Jazz Quartet: Origin
by Dan McClenaghan
Most of the jazz fusion groups of the 1970s threw more instruments into the mix than flugelhornist Al Moretti does on Origin. His Victory Jazz Quartet finds Moretti with his horn, fronting a simple rhythm section--keyboard, bass and drums. Fusion evolved from trumpeter Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (Columbia Records, 1969), sparkling music ...
MoFrancesco Quintetto: Maloca
by Chris Mosey
A maloca is an ancestral long house used by Indians in the Amazonian jungle to receive outsiders and exchange knowledge and ideas. Italian bassist Francesco Valente became fascinated with the idea of the maloca on a trip to Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. A close perusal of the album cover reveals him doing a ...
Ofir Shwartz Trio: Shades of Fish
by Eyal Hareuveni
On his sophomore release, Israeli pianist Ofir Shwartz leads a new trio comprised with Israeli double bassist Gal Shaya and Slovenian drummer Gasper Bertoncelj. This release features Shwartz's progression as a composer and bandleader since his debut release, Earlier in time (sHmoo Records, 2010). Shwartz's vocabulary draws inspiration from modern jazz-- mainly in its ...
Cory Wright Outfit: Apples + Oranges
by Glenn Astarita
Oakland, California based reedman Cory Wright (Anthony Braxton, Vinny Golia & Yusef Lateef delivers a manifold and juxtaposing ensemble date on Apples + Oranges. It doesn't take too long to determine that the album poses a surfeit of diagonally opposed viewpoints. Other than the highly emphatic and synergistic group-centric output, Wright's compositions hit the mark, and ...
Maciej Fortuna / Krzysztof Dys: Tropy
by Eyal Hareuveni
Polish, Poznań-based trumpeter Maciej Fortuna is a musician with many tastes. He himself divided the music that he composes, produces and releases on his own label to ethno-jazz, electric jazz, acoustic jazz, live electronics and improvised music. His new duo project with pianist Krzysztof Dys, member of reed player Wacław Zimpel's quartet is supposed to fall ...
Pascal Niggenkemper Vision7: Lucky Prime
by Glenn Astarita
Vision 7 led by French-German bassist Pascal Niggenkemper is an ensemble that approaches modern-jazz, free-jazz and improvisation from a holistic perspective, including sensibilities framed on the respective artists personalities. The interconnecting motifs are vastly expressive, including Emile Lesbros' voice overlays, recitations, scat and function as an additional instrument. The band executes a parade of disparate angles, ...

