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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 SingsKenton 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 pianohardly 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 ...
Dave Morgan: Blue Is More Than a Color
by Jack Bowers
If nothing else, bassist-composer Dave Morgan's album, Blue Is More Than a Color, affirms that big-band jazz is alive and well in the Akron, Ohio, area. Perhaps more than coincidentally, Morgan's large and well-drilled ensemble plies its trade on a regular basis at Akron's Blu Jazz Club whose patrons may presumably hear previews of the seven ...
Greg Abate & The Tim Ray Trio: Gratitude: Stage Door Live @ the Z
by Jack Bowers
If somehow you haven't yet heard saxophonist Greg Abate (pronounced Uh-BAH-tay), now in his seventh decade and as sharp and eloquent an orator as ever, it is high time you did. The Rhode Island native is an earnest post-bopper from the Phil Woods / Bud Shank school of straight-on swinging, and Gratitude, Abate's fourth album with ...


