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Carlos Vega: Art of the Messenger
by Jack Bowers
In case you didn't quite catch the “message" subtly embedded in the title of Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Carlos Vega's new recording, Art of the Messenger, here is a brief reminder that it was drummer Art Blakey who formed the Jazz Messengers in the mid-1950s and led the celebrated hard-bop ensemble until his death in 1990. The ...
Brent Jensen: More Sounds of a Dry Martini
by Jack Bowers
Two decades have passed since alto saxophonist Brent Jensen recorded his debut album for Origin Records, Sounds of a Dry Martini: A Tribute to Paul Desmond, in 2001. To Jensen's surprise, the album became so enormously popular that the possibility of a sequel was envisioned. There was, however, one large stumbling block—by 2007, Jensen had sold ...
Jim Snidero: Live at the Deer Head Inn
by Jack Bowers
Any short list of the finest alto saxophonists playing today must include the name Jim Snidero who has been a force to reckon with on the New York City jazz scene for almost four decades. Snidero earns high marks on his latest album not only for his typically sharp and fluent improvisations but also for his ...
Rale Micic: Only Love Will Stay
by Jack Bowers
Only Love Will Stay, a tasteful and even-keeled trio date, embodies seven of Serbian-born guitarist and leader Rale Micic's original compositions and a lone standard, Irving Berlin's venerable “How Deep Is the Ocean." Micic is ably supported by organist Jared Gold and either Johnathan Blake (five tracks) or Geoff Clapp (three) on drums. Micic's themes are ...
Shawn Maxwell: Expectation & Experience
by Jack Bowers
On Expectation & Experience, his tenth recording as a leader, Chicago-based woodwind specialist Shawn Maxwell is accompanied by almost thirty musicians—but never by more than three on any of its seventeen tracks. Maxwell says the compositions were written during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and the musicians were mustered singly, most in their own homes. While each ...
Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra: Twisting Ways
by Jack Bowers
For the better part of its latest recording, Twisting Ways, Canada's Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra may as well scrub the word “Jazz" from its name, as the music mostly bears scant resemblance to that time-honored genre. The overall mood may best be described as funereal, epitomizing themes of a mostly exploratory nature, interrupted all too seldom by ...
Madre Vaca: The Elements
by Jack Bowers
Ambitious? How about depicting musically four basic elements--fire, water, earth, wind--and doing so with only four musicians. On its fourth recording, The Elements, the guitar-led quartet Madre Vaca endeavors to do exactly that, and in roughly forty-one minutes. Each of the album's four selections was written by a member of the group: “Fire" by drummer Benjamin ...
The KUH Trio: Old Souls
by Jack Bowers
Here is yet another European trio whose name is an acronym, in this case, K for guitarist Edi Kohldorfer, U for bassist Frantisek Uhlir, H for drummer Jaromir Helesic, who when numbered together (or even singly) are Old Souls. Uhlir (70) and Helesic (73) are Czechs, while Kohldorfer (age unknown but has been around the block ...
Gabriel Evan Orchestra: Global Entry
by Jack Bowers
At least one dictionary defines an orchestra as “a large instrumental ensemble...which combines instruments from different families including bowed string instruments...woodwinds...brass...percussion..." and “other instruments such as the piano, celeste...and harp..." Or, in the vernacular of New York-based saxophonist Gabriel Evan, a jazz sextet with some but not all of the above. Which is an around-the-block way ...
Arturo O'Farrill: Virtual Birdland
by Jack Bowers
Whenever an obstacle presents itself--even one as devastating and disruptive as a global pandemic--it's a sure bet that musicians will find a way around it, a way to keep making music even in the most grievous circumstances. Jazz musicians have been especially creative during the Covid-19 scourge, using social media, the internet and any other means ...
