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Tomas Janzon: X-Changes
by Jack Bowers
Don’t get me wrong; I love guitars — but I honestly can’t tell one guitarist from another. So unless they’re also great composers — in a league with Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Rodgers and so on — I need to hear them play familiar melodies in order to express some sort of informed opinion. Tomas Janzon, who ...
The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: Can I Persuade You?
by Jack Bowers
The title song on the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra's latest album was written by the late Julie Cavadini whose untimely passing at age thirty--one in 1988 deprived the Jazz world of one of its more promising big--band composers. Cavadini, to whose memory the album is dedicated, also wrote the lovely and harmonically radiant “Simple Wish," another of ...
The Joe LoCascio Trio: Close to So Far
by Jack Bowers
I must have reviewed too many piano trio albums recently. Here’s another one, led by pianist Joe LoCascio, and I’m thinking as I test the water, yeah, it’s nicely played so why am I unmoved by it? But wait a minute; here’s a number with promise — the title track, “Close to So Far.” That one ...
Various Artists: The Legacy Lives On
by Jack Bowers
The album’s title refers, we surmise, to the straight–ahead idiom developed by modern Jazz’s founding fathers and bequeathed to their contemporary successors who are carrying it into the new millennium. As is true of most compilations, this two–disc set from Mack Avenue Records is an up–and–down experience with a number of engaging selections and others that ...
Jazz @ Six: Out of the Blue
by Jack Bowers
Jazz @ Six is a six–member co–op group comprised of faculty members at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas. These are teachers who can — play, that is — an opinion that even the most casual survey of Out of the Blue quickly affirms. Pianist Stefan Karlsson, UNLV’s director of Jazz Studies, is present on every track, ...
The Stefan Karlsson Trio and Friends: Music Box
by Jack Bowers
Recorded in 1997, Music Box is the first album by pianist Stefan Karlsson’s trio (Tom Warrington, bass; Ed Soph, drums), which is hard to believe in light of their conspicuous rapport and the high level of musicianship throughout. The talented threesome has since recorded a second album, No Place to Go But Up, and backed a ...
Walter Blanton and Dharma: Voyage from the Past
by Jack Bowers
Grab your pencils and paper, students; there’ll be a pop quiz later. From Brian Sanders’ liner notes to Voyage from the Past: “Dharma begins with the notion that the relationship between composition and improvisation is circular rather than linear; that each process inspires the other. Dharma furthers our sense that music is conversation: participants [are] free ...
Mark Elf: Dream Steppin'
by Jack Bowers
Mark Elf has adopted a minimalist approach on Dream Steppin’, placing his expressive guitar front and center in a trio setting with old pros Neal Miner on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. Unlike Elf’s previous eight albums on his Jen Bay label, there are no other front–liners or guest artists, and to be honest, none ...
Bess Daniels: Buttons on Pause: Music Still Plays
by Jack Bowers
Six of the seven numbers on this brief but otherwise impressive album were written by singer Bess Daniels who came late to performing but reveals a stronger grasp of Jazz’s subtle nuances than many who’ve been scuffling in the trenches for years. Daniels is what one would call a natural, as she’s had little or no ...
Kurt J: Make a Bet
by Jack Bowers
One never knows quite what to expect when called upon to review discs by “unknown” musicians from overseas. Will the music be straight–ahead and accessible or free–form and impenetrable? Happily, Swedish multi–instrumentalist Kurt Järnberg’s new album lands squarely in the former camp. What’s more, it’s a delight to hear as, thanks to overdubbing, Järnberg “accompanies” himself ...
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