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Celso Fonseca: Rive Gauche Rio
by Chris M. Slawecki
There's something especially unique about the way a Brazilian strums an acoustic guitar. Perhaps their rhythms play from a memory, instinctive not thought, inherited through generations of moonlight strolls on the beach, soft cool breezes caressing warm soft tanned skin, memories of romance and passion. The heart of Celso Fonseca's second international release beats ...
Ithamara Koorax: Autumn in New York
by Chris M. Slawecki
Spilling over with jazz and pop classics, Autumn in New York is probably the best program yet from blossoming Brazilian vocalist Ithamara Koorax. Like almost every other female vocalist from Brazil, Koorax sounds influenced by Flora Purim--heard, for example, in her fearless hopscotch jumps across the endpoints of her entire vocal range. Also like ...
Paul Anka: Rock Swings
by Chris M. Slawecki
Pop music sure has changed since Paul Anka last helped rule the airways (as composer or performer) with such mainstays as “My Way, “Diana, “She's A Lady, and “Puppy Love.Decades later, Anka's own notes explain the Rock Swings! concept: “We all embraced the idea: to find songs from a diverse group of musicians, from ...
Lizz Wright: Dreaming Wide Awake
by Chris M. Slawecki
Lizz Wright's sophomore release is a great production of songs impeccably crafted, both soul-rending originals and poignant renditions of pop classics. Wright, who more or less emerged as a professional singer after she debuted with a 2002 series of tribute concerts to Billie Holiday, continues to demonstrate exquisite taste. As good as the songs, ...
Voices of Summer 2005
by Chris M. Slawecki
Singers come in all styles and sounds. Not everyone thinks they have the dexterity to master a saxophone, guitar or drums. But almost everyone has a voice; and almost everyone thinks that they can musically use it. Some people, of course, use it musically better than others. For example: Paul Anka Rock ...
Miles Davis: Year-Long Celebration of Five Decades and Many Miles
by Chris M. Slawecki
On October 27, 1955, Miles Davis signed with Columbia Records, where the mercurial trumpeter, composer, bandleader and conceptualist remained through most of his career. After 1955, Davis recorded and released nearly all of his greatest music through Columbia. Now part of Sony / Legacy, the label has embarked on a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary ...
Blue Note and Recording Master Re-Present RVG's Heritage
by Chris M. Slawecki
If you're a jazz fan--not even a serious jazz fan but just casual, just about any type of fan of jazz at all--there's a good chance that you own some of Rudy Van Gelder's best work. Working with such legendary entrepreneurs / producers as Alfred Lion (Blue Note), Creed Taylor (Verve, A&M, CTI) and ...
Future Fusions: Hear and Now
by Chris M. Slawecki
Many artists have been reaching toward truly fusing jazz with soul, hip-hop, trip-hop, electronic, and other non-jazz forms of music. And it's tempting to think that this fusion will happen, but happen eventually, sometime in the future. It seems more and more apparent that there may no longer be a need to wait for it. If ...
April PBS Special Honors Life, Music and Photos of Milt Hinton
by Chris M. Slawecki
You don't have to be a great person to be a great musician. It's great if and when it happens, but it seems that it rarely does. Milt Hinton seems a joyous exception to this rule. By all accounts a great person AND musician, he is celebrated with the new documentary Keeping Time: The ...
Corky Siegel: Corky Siegel
by Chris M. Slawecki
Harmonicat Corky Siegel is a four-decade veteran of the Chicago blues scene and co-leads the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band with guitarist Jim Schwall. Siegel held a long residency during the storied heyday of Pepper's Lounge in Chicago--ripping up and tearing down the blues with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon and other legends--during which he was befriended ...
