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Results for "Dan Bilawsky"
Sarah Partridge: Bright Lights & Promises: Redefining Janis Ian
by Dan Bilawsky
How did nobody think to go here before? With a glut of fine Joni Mitchell tributes on the market and a couple of engrossing Laura Nyro nods out there, how is it that no creative spirits in the jazz or cabaret camps thought to make the full-on jump to Janis Ian before now? Hearing Sarah Partridge ...
Amanda Monaco: Glitter
by Dan Bilawsky
The multi-talented Mae West once said that “personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is." West, of course, thrived in a different era, worked in different formats, and was more than likely addressing another artistic discipline entirely with that ...
Jeff Weinmann: Alma Matters
by Dan Bilawsky
Soul matters, educational foundations matter, inclusive music scenes matter, and this album--conceptually invested in all of those beliefs--most certainly matters. With Alma Matters, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Weinmann reunites with some of his preferred collaborators from years past and times present, honoring the rich history of the Berkeley scene that's nourished and inspired him for decades on end. ...
Marilyn Scott: Standard Blue
by Dan Bilawsky
With an album title like this, some may be expecting boilerplate jazz that hews closely to some sort of straight-and-narrow musical orthodoxy. That, however, isn't what you get from vocalist Marilyn Scott. While it's true that Standard Blue is filled with familiar titles, these performances never sound platitudinous. Scott paints standards with a ...
Patrice Williamson + Jon Wheatley: Comes Love - A Tribute To Ella Fitzgerald And Joe Pass
by Dan Bilawsky
Centennial celebrations abound in 2017. In this year of years we fête many jazz greats delivered unto us one century ago--Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Mongo Santamaria, Thelonious Monk, and Tadd Dameron, to cite just a handful. That list of giants forever changed the face of this music, but it's a list that's noticeably incomplete without the ...
Benny Green: Happiness!
by Dan Bilawsky
Happiness is listening to Benny Green. He brings joie de vivre to the piano keys with his Herculean chops, in-the-pocket soulfulness, and tight arrangements, all of which can be heard in spades on this live date. The scene for this spirited recording was the Kuumbwa Jazz Center--a gem of a venue in California ...
David Feldman: Horizonte
by Dan Bilawsky
Fans of the music always remember their first aural encounters with talents of note. In the case of this writer's awakening to the wonder that is pianist David Feldman, the initial point of contact was drummer Duduka Da Fonseca's Plays Toninho Horta (Zoho Music, 2011). That date--the first of three fine outings that Da Fonseca's trio ...
Bill Brovold & Jamie Saft: Serenity Knolls
by Dan Bilawsky
It's a shame to say it, but even the most open-minded souls have a tendency to classify and ghettoize musical artists. This is the type of album that reminds us all that you shouldn't. Bill Brovold, a guitarist who came up in the New York no wave scene in the early '80s and ...
Bill O'Connell: Monk's Cha Cha
by Dan Bilawsky
Pianist Bill O'Connell has long been valued for his blazing Latin chops, enlivening bands lead by flutist Dave Valentin and legendary conguero Mongo Santamaria as a sideman and delivering his own burning leader dates on a variety of respected imprints in recent times--Zoho, Challenge, and Savant, to name just three. He's been a steady though occasionally ...
Gustavo Cortinas Snapshot: Esse
by Dan Bilawsky
Gustavo Cortinas' Esse is a place where two passions meet and merge. The drummer's fascination with philosophy served as grist for the compositional mill, inspiring and guiding his hands and mind to create this deep-thinking treatise. It's a fascinating musical realization, exploration, and distillation of the works of Hegel, Aristotle, Descartes, Plato, and other brilliant minds. ...
