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David Finck: BASSic Instinct
by Jack Bowers
There's so much variety on BASSic Instinct, bassist David Finck's sixth recording as leader, that it's almost like grooving on half a dozen or more albums for the price of one. Ensembles run the gamut from duo to octet, with vocals added on three of its thirteen engaging numbers. Besides governing the rhythm, composing three of ...
Alexander Claffy: Good Spirits
by Jack Bowers
Bassist Alexander Claffy's quintet dashes from the starting gate on Good Spirits with a fiery reading of McCoy Tyner's propulsive “Inner Glimpse," setting the tone for a bright and animated session whose spirit is undeniably good. The album was recorded “live" (no audience) at GB's Juke Joint in New York City “at the height of the ...
Sam Kirmayer: In This Moment
by Jack Bowers
Montreal-based guitarist Sam Kirmayer leads a well-modulated sextet on In This Moment, wherein all ten of the album's numbers were written by Kirmayer. That is both a strength and a weakness. On one hand, Kirmayer's themes are, for the most part, light, sunny and squarely in the jazz tradition; on the other, none of them is ...
Tommy Vig 2022: Jazz Jazz
by Jack Bowers
In a musical career spanning more than seven decades, Hungarian-born vibraphonist and percussionist Tommy Vig spent many productive years as a composer, arranger, performer, leader and sideman in the U.S.A., and planted his jazz flag in many precincts, from straight-ahead to semi-classical, avant-garde to atonal, He touches almost every base on Jazz Jazz, recorded in his ...
Grace Fox Big Band: Eleven O'Seven
by Jack Bowers
In the long history of jazz, it is rare for a teenage musician to establish a big band, let alone lead one. In fact (historians will have to verify this), it may never have happened. One thing is certain—no teenage woman has ever formed a big band and become its leader. Until now. Meet trumpeter Grace ...
Tom Keenlyside: A Night at the Espresso
by Jack Bowers
As is true in many professions, jazz musicians must learn their craft before exposing it to audiences. Some, such as Canadian woodwind specialist Tom Keenlyside, remember where and when that happened. His musical education began for the most part at the Espresso Coffee House in Vancouver. Keenlyside has not forgotten that, even after more than fifty ...
Darren Johnston: Life in Time
by Jack Bowers
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Darren Johnston traveled to Chicago in May 2021 to record Life in Time with three of his favorite musicians: saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall who form their own working trio in the Windy City. The generally charming studio date encompasses ten original compositions, six by Johnston, four by Bradfield. ...
Jared Sims: Against All Odds
by Jack Bowers
Any tenor saxophonist with the surname Sims is certain to draw the attention of a seasoned reviewer, if only out of curiosity. The first name in this instance is Jared, not Zoot (well, not John). As it turns out, Sims has an impressive resume as a performer, writer, educator and leader; Against All Odds is at ...
Alexander Brott: The Aesthetic Attitude
by Jack Bowers
For guitarist Alexander Brott, the coronavirus pandemic that arrived in 2020 and led to the closing of most indoor venues, jazz and otherwise, was not all bad. With gigs almost non-existent, it gave the Swedish-born, Canadian-based and former New York City mainstay a chance to kick back, relax and start writing. He did so from his ...
Blue Road Records Band: Ira: The Tribute Album
by Jack Bowers
The “Ira" whose name appears above the marquee here is the late Ira Sullivan, a remarkable musician known as much for his versatility as his creativity. Sullivan, whose career spanned seven decades until his death in September 2020 at age eighty-nine, is warmly saluted on Ira: The Tribute Album by the six-member Blue Road Records Band, ...
