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40

Article: Album Review

The Las Vegas Boneheads: Sixty and Still Cookin'

Read "Sixty and Still Cookin'" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

There aren't many albums a listener might care to revisit again immediately after an initial spin. This is one of them. The Las Vegas Boneheads, a trombone-and-rhythm nonet formed by Abe Nole in 1962, marked their sixtieth(!) anniversary by recording Sixty and Still Cookin', an album that more than lives up to its name while presenting ...

30

Article: Album Review

Michael Rabinowitz: Next Chapter

Read "Next Chapter" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

The title “world's best jazz bassoonist" is akin to “world's best tap dancer on hot coals," meaning there simply is not much competition for the honor. Even if there were, however, Michael Rabinowitz would no doubt outdistance any challengers and handily earn the blue ribbon for bassoon excellence. One reason is that, unlike others who have ...

30

Article: Album Review

Henry Godfrey Jazz Orchestra: Attitude & Gratitude

Read "Attitude & Gratitude" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

There are five songs on Attitude & Gratitude, drummer Henry Godfrey's Boston-based Jazz Orchestra's second album, and each one is a tribute to people, places or circumstances that have helped Godfrey grow as a musician and as a person. In order, they are “For McCoy" (honoring pianist McCoy Tyner and other jazz legends who ...

39

Article: Album Review

David Larsen: The Peplowski Project

Read "The Peplowski Project" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

The Peplowski Project was a labor of love for saxophonist David Larsen, a longtime admirer of fellow reedman Ken Peplowski who sits in with Larsen's impressive quartet on each of the album's eleven numbers, playing clarinet on six, tenor saxophone on five. As for Larsen, he plays his Gerry Mulligan-flavored baritone sax on ...

35

Article: Album Review

Melvin Smith: Perseverance

Read "Perseverance" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Perseverance, Florida-bred saxophonist Melvin Smith's seventh album as leader of his own group, is a hard-blowing session on which he shows (again) that he is one of the leading bop-based reed masters on today's scene. On soprano or tenor, Smith displays a clarity of purpose and storehouse of astute phrases that serve him well at any ...

32

Article: Album Review

Planet D Nonet: Blues to Be There

Read "Blues to Be There" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

The subtitle of Blues to be There, the Detroit-based Planet D Nonet's latest album (recorded in June and July 2022), is “A Salute to Duke Ellington." As with almost any bow to the Duke, it encompasses a healthy measure of Billy Strayhorn as well. Ellington wrote or co-wrote thirteen of the album's persuasive numbers, Strayhorn five ...

35

Article: Album Review

Mark Lockett: Swings & Roundabouts

Read "Swings & Roundabouts" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

The “free jazz" movement has come a long way since its introduction mid-20th century by pathfinders like Tadd Dameron, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Andrew Cyrille, Lester Bowie and their kin. The music, which favors free expression in lieu of customary chordal, rhythmic and harmonic precepts, ...

34

Article: Album Review

Mark Lewis: Sunlight Shines In

Read "Sunlight Shines In" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Saxophonist/flutist Mark Lewis, who has returned to his native Washington state after years of making beautiful music around the world, escorts a quartet of talented West Coast musicians through eleven of his upbeat compositions on Sunlight Shines In, with trumpeter Nolan Shaheed sitting in on two numbers. Although Lewis' tunes won't widen any horizons, they are ...

32

Article: Album Review

Esthesis Quartet: Time Zones

Read "Time Zones" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Time Zones is the second album by the Esthesis Quartet, comprised of four accomplished women, all whom do indeed reside in different time zones. Flutist Elsa Nilsson, originally from Sweden, lives in Brooklyn, NY; pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement makes her home in Denver, CO; bassist Emma Dayhuff lives in Chicago, drummer Tina Raymond in California, where Time ...

37

Article: Album Review

Vince Mendoza/Metropole Orkest: Olympians

Read "Olympians" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers

Eight-time Grammy-winning composer/arranger Vince Mendoza, born and raised in Norwalk, CT, has enjoyed great success overseas--in Europe, to be more precise--since releasing an album with Germany's WDR Big Band in 1994. The following year, Mendoza began collaborating with the Dutch Metropole Orkest and in 1998 was named its principal guest conductor. Olympians is Mendoza's third recording ...


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