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Steve Turre: Keep Searchin'
by Dan McClenaghan
Few jazz artists today are as adept as Steve Turre in straddling the “one foot in the future, one foot in the past" endeavor. On his past two CD releases, the long-time Saturday Night Show trombonist tipped his hat to a couple of past masters: to fellow trombonist J.J. Johnson with One4J: Paying Homage to J.J. ...
Freddy Cole: Because of You: Freddy Cole Sings Tony Bennett
by Andrew Rowan
Confession, they say, is good for the soul. So this reviewer must confess to only a recent realization of Freddy Cole's extraordinary talent. Simply put, he knows how to do it; this tribute to another singer who gets it--Tony Bennett--is touching. Cole's relaxed, bluesy approach, enhanced by those cracks in his voice, is ...
Frank Morgan: Reflections
by Michael P. Gladstone
Alto saxophonist Frank Morgan remains one of the coolest bebop players and an inspiration to all. The legend of his losing three decades of his musical career to drug abuse and incarceration, followed by a significant rebirth in 1985, has already been retold too many times. Morgan's post-'85 albums remain a study in lyricism, swing and, ...
Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
On the cover of Good Vibrations, Ray Mantilla is dressed in black, as if in mourning. It seems appropriate. Two of the nine songs are tributes to the late Tito Puente, and in the liner notes, he dedicates “baritone con Bata to “honor all our heroes of percussion who are here now and who have passed ...
Billy Hart: Quartet
by John Kelman
In a decades-long career that's seen him on hundreds of albums with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Pat Martino, Billy Hart has released only a handful of records as a leader. That may go some way towards explaining why he doesn't have the same cachet with the larger listening public as drummers like Jack DeJohnette. Still, ...
Billy Hart: Quartet
by Mark F. Turner
While Elvin Jones and Tony Williams might be more noted names, Billy Hart is still a drummer for the ages, with over 500 appearances on record and a list of credits that includes Shirley Horn and Wes Montgomery, as well as recent recordings by Mimi Fox (Perpetually Hip) and the Mary Lou Williams Collective (Zodiac Suite: ...
Don Braden: Workin'
by Alain Londes
Tenor saxophonist Don Braden comes out swinging on Workin' with a famous Earth Wind & Fire tune from the mid-'70s called “Can't Hide Love (from Gratitude, Sony, 1975). The audience is very much with him in this quaint New Jersey jazz club, which has a creative separation between the dinning room and the bar ...
Don Braden: Workin'
by Ken Franckling
Tenor saxophonist Don Braden works in a variety of contexts. None is more interesting than his Organic Trio with Cecil Brooks III on drums and Philadelphia native Kyle Koehler on organ, recorded live at Brooks' Jersey club Cecil's for Workin', his 13th disc as a leader. This is no soul-tinged “chicken shack session, though the playing ...
Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations
by Nic Jones
Politeness has always been a dubious quality in music. It is, however, one of the most obvious characteristics of this disc. With the exception of baritone sax and flautist Enrique Fernandez, not one of the musicians raises the heat. Instead, a bland uniformity prevails. The percussionists dovetail without injecting the kind of rhythmic impetus that would ...
Vincent Herring: Ends And Means
by Nic Jones
It will always be appealing to hear a musician develop, whether on record or otherwise, and Vincent Herring's association with HighNote has easily been the most productive of his career, in terms of documenting his growth as an artist. Where once he perhaps owed a debt of allegiance to the work of Cannonball Adderley, he now ...
