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Amandah Jantzen: Devil May Care
by Jack Bowers
Before commenting on the music, a word of congratulations — the eight photographs of Amandah Jantzen that adorn Devil May Care have equaled Maria Schneider’s record for “most pictures of a performing artist accompanying her own compact disc.” She needed both sides of the tray card to do it but managed to draw even with Schneider’s ...
The Wally Dunbar Jazz Eleven: Everything in Time
by Jack Bowers
At a time when musical excellence is too often measured by its decibel level, there remains a handful of composer / arrangers who prefer subtlety to bombast, gracefulness to brute strength. On the West Coast, for example, one can single out master craftsman Tom Talbert, whose eastern counterpart appears to be Canadian–born, New York–schooled Wally Dunbar, ...
The Toledo Jazz Orchestra: Groovin'
by Jack Bowers
While Toledo isn’t usually thought of as a hotbed of contemporary Jazz, they must be doing something right in that northwestern Ohio city on the shores of Lake Erie, as Groovin’ is the second outstanding album in the last year or two by the highly impressive community–based Toledo Jazz Orchestra. About that earlier endeavor, Out of ...
Debra Holly: I'll Never Forget You
by Jack Bowers
When a singer’s name appears above the marquee, he (in this case, she) shouldn’t be upstaged by instrumental arrangements that threaten to engulf the voice. Unhappily, that is too often the case on Debra Holly’s I’ll Never Forget You, the first album by a Jazz vocalist on Metropolitan Records. Holly, a sylphlike soprano who has performed ...
Nancy Marano / Manny Albam: If You Could See Us Now
by Jack Bowers
There may be better Jazz singers than Nancy Marano (that’s wholly subjective), but there aren’t many who are better equipped (that’s a fact). Marano has a perfectly lovely voice and knows how to use it, as she shows time and again on If You Could See Us Now! It’s enormously helpful, of course, to have wonderful ...
Gary Wofsey & His Jazz Orchestra: In Stereo
by Jack Bowers
The cover photo on this album depicts leader Gary Wofsey, eyes closed and obviously concentrating hard, trumpet in his right hand, flugelhorn in the left, playing them simultaneously, which he does on three of its ten selections. Whether something so out of the ordinary should be looked upon as an aesthetic concept or merely a gimmick ...
Rosemary Clooney: Let It Snow
by Jack Bowers
Released by North Star, this album of Christmas favorites by the fabulous Rosemary Clooney was compiled by Concord Records, presumably from more than one of the many albums she has recorded for that label over the years. Anyone who has read more than a handful of this writer's reviews will be aware of his fondness for ...
George Carroll & His Sarasota Sunsets Big Band: Life Is Better
by Jack Bowers
As a follow–up to his well–received earlier album, Life Is Good, singer George Carroll has produced Life Is Better, using on most numbers his Sarasota Sunsets big band for support. Carroll has a likable voice, midway between tenor and baritone, but his intonation and pacing are sometimes less than precise, weaknesses that are most conspicuous on ...
Bobby Vince Paunetto and the Commit to Memory Band: Reconstituted
by Jack Bowers
A dozen capably drawn charts by composer / arranger Bobby Vince Paunetto, several of which are worth committing to memory. Others, even while leaning toward “smooth" or “contemporary" Jazz, reveal more depth and character than is usually found in that genre. When present and accounted for, as it is on eight selections, Paunetto's Commit to Memory ...
The Ben Grisafi Big Band: Say You'll Always Remember
by Jack Bowers
Those who remember the “big–band era” should give thanks to Ben Grisafi and his wonderful Long Island–based ensemble for helping to keep its fading spirit alive; those who don’t should listen to this band to appreciate why so many people mourn the passing of that incomparable epoch and long for its return. Not many contemporary bands ...
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