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29

Article: Album Review

Dayna Stephens: Closer Than We Think

Read "Closer Than We Think" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

A few brief observations: first, New York-based Dayna Stephens is an excellent saxophonist. Second, the other members of his quartet on Closer Than We Think, Stephens' twelfth album as a leader, are similarly proficient. Third, Stephens clearly had a specific plan in mind before entering GB's Juke Joint to record the album in May 2023, one ...

30

Article: Album Review

Silvano Monasterios: The River

Read "The River" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

To enhance his musical excursion along The River, composer, arranger and pianist Silvano Monasterios invited eight talented companions on board to share the ride. He did not make it easy for them. As envisioned by Monasterios, this river is by turns placid or turbulent, sparse or overflowing--but invariably tricky to navigate and tame. ...

34

Article: Album Review

WDR Big Band: Bluegrass

Read "Bluegrass" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Violinist Darol Anger literally had a dream, one in which he was performing his bluegrass music not with the David Grisman Quintet or another small group but in front of a full-fledged big band--and in Germany, of all places. Even though it was a dream he thought would never come true, it was so vivid and ...

35

Article: Album Review

Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra: Mad Scientist Music

Read "Mad Scientist Music" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Trombonist Ben Patterson's high-powered Jazz Orchestra from the Washington, D.C. area returns virtually intact from 2024's well-received Groove Junkies (Origin Records) with another bold and hard-hitting session that is all but guaranteed to please anyone whose musical antenna leans toward fresh and exciting big-band jazz. Its title, Mad Scientist Music, coined by Harry Schnipper, owner of ...

34

Article: Album Review

Zhengtao Pan Jazz Orchestra: Scenery in My Story

Read "Scenery in My Story" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Zhengtao Pan, born in Shanghai, China, less than twenty-five years ago, was already well-known as a designer of video games when he chose to move to Boston, MA, to study jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. Scenery In My Story is Pan's debut recording as leader of his Jazz Orchestra, and as its title ...

32

Article: Album Review

University of Nevada-Las Vegas: Let The Good Times Roll

Read "Let The Good Times Roll" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

If energy and enthusiasm were enough to earn a prize, the University of Nevada Las Vegas Jazz Ensemble 1 would surely have one in hand to salute its newest album, Let the Good Times Roll, a textbook lesson in buoyant and heavy-duty big-band jazz. While co-directors Dave Loeb and Nathan Tanouye enlist no fewer than seven ...

32

Article: Album Review

Jake Hertzog: The Ozark Concerto

Read "The Ozark Concerto" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Jake Hertzog's ambitious Ozark Concerto showcases his lithe electric guitar in a well-intended but only moderately successful seven-movement opus, accompanied for the most part by the 23-member Arkansas-based Ozark Jazz Philharmonic (whose existence may seem improbable but is nonetheless true). The concerto premiered in April 2024 at the UARK Jazz Festival on the Fayetteville campus of ...

30

Article: Album Review

Elon Musk-Donald Trump Chainsaw Gang: MUSKrats

Read "MUSKrats" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

If you're tired of the same-old same-old musical merry-go-round, here's a group that really shakes things up and RIPs them apart on its debut recording, MUSKrats, firing brutally and haphazardly at every melodic convention and literally taking no prisoners--aside from an occasional immigrant--as it blasts its way toward a musical coterie in which only charlatans and ...

30

Article: Album Review

Chris Varga: Breathe

Read "Breathe" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

It is always refreshing to hear a talented vibraphonist seducing the mallets while leading a band, as is true on Breathe, Chris Varga's second recording, and the first in the U.S., following 2023's Vichara on South Korea's Mung Music label. Varga, who has been living and performing in Seoul for more than two decades, returned “home" ...

31

Article: Album Review

Rodney Jordan: Memphis Blue

Read "Memphis Blue" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

On Memphis Blue, acclaimed bassist Rodney Jordan bows deeply to his Tennessee hometown via a series of charming and largely blues-tailored themes that are designed to trace the city's unique character and heritage. Jordan wrote four of them, including the album's title song and animated tributes to trumpeter Roy Hargrove and drummer Art Blakey.


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