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Chris Standring: Wonderful World
by Jack Bowers
Wonderful World, the fourteenth album as leader by British guitarist Chris Standring, was no doubt recorded with the best of intentions. And make no mistake, the music is warm and lovely, furnishing an opulent showcase for Standring's mellow guitar. Aside from that, however, there's not a whole lot to say. Standring's “orchestra" consists of a nineteen-member ...
Marieke Koopman: Chapter One
by Jack Bowers
Vocalist Marieke Koopman grew up in a musical family in The Netherlands. Although the music was baroque (her father is a percussionist, her mother a harpsichordist), Koopman was somehow drawn toward jazz, especially swinging jazz. “The first time I saw a big band perform live, I was mesmerized," she writes. And she made a promise to ...
Joshua Jern Jazz Orchestra: Lockdown
by Jack Bowers
After taking a pleasant and romantic Midnight Stroll in 2019, trumpeter/composer Joshua Jern's Chicago-based Jazz Orchestra (like almost everyone else) began a coronavirus-decreed Lockdown but has emerged two years later from that self-imposed hiatus swinging harder and more often than ever. As before, most compositions and all arrangements are by Jern; and as before, the orchestra ...
Scott Reeves Quintet: The Alchemist
by Jack Bowers
Devastating as it has been, the global Covid-19 pandemic has produced a few upsides as well, one of which is the rediscovery by versatile Scott Reeves of a concert that his quintet performed sixteen years ago, in May 2005, at the City College of New York. With time on his hands as a result of the ...
JC Sanford: Imminent Standards Trio Vol. 1
by Jack Bowers
Trombone-led trios are few and far between, but Minnesota-based JC Sanford, a protégé of the late great Bob Brookmeyer, gives it a go with bassist Jeff Bailey and drummer Phil Hey on Imminent Standards Trio Vol. 1, whose title does not derive from imminent, as in “soon-to-be," but as in “Imminent Brewing," the trio's monthly performing ...
Frank Morelli / Keith Oxman: The Ox-Mo Incident
by Jack Bowers
East meets Midwest on The Ox-Mo Incident, wherein Denver-based tenor saxophonist Keith Oxman shares the front line with bassoonist Frank Morelli, whose day jobs include teaching at the renowned Juilliard School in New York City and several other citadels of higher education. Although it's a long trek from Juilliard and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (one of ...
Mike LeDonne: It's All Your Fault
by Jack Bowers
Even though listed on only four tracks, organist Mike LeDonne's superlative Groover Quartet performs on every one of the nine selections on LeDonne's admirable new recording, It's All Your Fault--and that's a good thing, as each member of the quartet (LeDonne, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein, drummer Joe Farnsworth) is an accomplished soloist and ...
John Stein: Serendipity
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist John Stein's Massachusetts-based trio strides in with charm and confidence on Serendipity, a frame of mind that prevails throughout an album whose name was inspired by a concert-that-wasn't but eventually was, thanks to live-streaming, during a massive and deadly global pandemic. That concert, planned for an outdoor venue in New Bedford, was derailed by Covid-19 ...
George Cables: Too Close for Comfort
by Jack Bowers
Maestro George Cables returns to the trio format on Too Close for Comfort, the twenty-first recording as leader of own groups. That means listeners are able to hear even more of his deft and delightful piano, always a welcome bonus. Cables is admirably supported throughout by bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Victor Lewis. ...
Tony Monaco - Hendrik Meurkens - Reid Hoyson - Mark Lucas: Strollin'
by Jack Bowers
To apprehend the essence of Strollin', listeners need look no further than this superb new album's picture-perfect name. Even when burning rubber, the four maestros in this co-op quartet leave the impression that they are simply strollin' through the changes of eleven well-chosen tunes, seldom working up a sweat as they breathe radiant life into each ...
