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George Cables: I'm All Smiles
by Jack Bowers
George Cables, whose elegant piano has graced the jazz scene in New York City and elsewhere for more than five decades, has every reason to be All Smiles; at age seventy-four he is back at the keyboard, as sharp and inspired as ever, following surgery for ulcers that removed one leg above the knee. To mark ...
Richie Beirach-Gregor Huebner Duo and the WDR Big Band: Crossing Borders
by Jack Bowers
The “borders" that are earmarked to be crossed in this new album by pianist Richie Bierach, violinist Gregor Huebner and Germany's superb WDR Big Band are both geographic and musical. The collaborative effort is intended, on the one hand, to bridge the gap between people of various ethnicities and backgrounds and help bring them together, and, ...
David Kikoski: Phoenix Rising
by Jack Bowers
Pianist David Kikoski and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, among the brightest lights on New York City's jazz scene for more than two decades, have known each other for almost as many years but Phoenix Rising marks the first time they have recorded together. After listening, one observation springs immediately to mind: it's about time.
Chris Connor with Stan Kenton And His Orchestra: Connor Sings — Kenton Swings
by Jack Bowers
However listeners may receive this “new" album from Sounds of Yesteryear, there's no gainsaying its title, Connor Sings—Kenton Swings, as that secures its contents in a neat little box with no loose ends in sight. There's also no denying that these seventeen songs by vocalist Chris Connor and the dynamic Stan Kenton Orchestra were recorded more ...
Nick DePinna: Nexus Music Vol. 1
by Jack Bowers
Los Angeles-based composer-trombonist Nick DePinna dips his toes warily into the big-band pond on Nexus Music Vol. 1, a concise yet largely impressive glimpse at contemporary motifs from a large-group perspective. The album encompasses only three songs whose total playing time is a brief twenty minutes, about one-quarter the maximum length of a Compact Disc.
Gerry Gibbs Thrasher People: Our People
by Jack Bowers
Our People, the twelfth album as leader by multi-instrumentalist Gerry Gibbs, is difficult to describe and even harder to pigeonhole. Is it jazz? Not really. Is it world music? Sometimes. And sometimes even other-worldly. Stream of consciousness? Perhaps, but always with a specific plan in mind. Tone poems? Only in the sense that there are times ...
The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Along for the Ride
by Jack Bowers
On the third album as leader of his superlative New York-based Jazz Orchestra, trombonist Pete McGuinness proves again that he is one of the more astute and resourceful composer / arrangers on the scene today. From “Put on a Happy Face" through “One for the Maestro," McGuinness' impressive charts are decorous models of warmth and perception. ...
Eric Alexander: Leap of Faith
by Jack Bowers
Renowned tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander's Leap of Faith stems in part from the decision (hesitantly made) to perform in a trio setting without piano—hardly an uncommon arrangement these days but one that Alexander, a shining light on the New York music scene for more than two decades, has rarely explored, either in live gigs or on ...
Marcus Shelby Orchestra: Transitions
by Jack Bowers
Although it is not alluded to anywhere, the centerpiece of San Francisco-based composer / bassist Marcus Shelby's latest big-band album, Transitions, is the evocative four-movement suite “Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues," which pays tribute to the all-black enterprises whose shining stars were barred from displaying their talents in the major baseball leagues until ...
Mike Allen: Just Like Magic
by Jack Bowers
Mike Allen is another in an apparently never-ending line of talented saxophonists who seem to emerge, from time to time, from the Canadian provinces to ensnare the hearts and earn the admiration not only of their fellow countrymen but jazz enthusiasts in other climes as well. On Just Like Magic, Allen leads a deft and experienced ...
