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Karrin Allyson: From Paris To Rio
by Jim Santella
Every album from singer Karrin Allyson turns out better than the last one. This session is quite romantic. A little dose of that is needed in our lives occasionally, right? Whenever we start to take ourselves too seriously, it helps to have someone on our side, bringing us back to Earth and recalling the forces of ...
Da Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack: Hawaiian Swing
by Jim Santella
Matt Catingub sings with a swing spirit that propels dancers to the floor and away from their small cocktail tables and comfortable seats. There’s nothing comfortable about his big band’s approach to rhythm; it rocks ‘em and socks ‘em with a punch. And that’s the problem. Catingub’s album is designed to attract joyous swing dancers to ...
Randy Weston: Khepera
by Jim Santella
Like Ellington and Monk together, pianist Randy Weston blends beautiful harmony with plenty of surprises. His impressionistic album comes after intensive studies of ancient rhythms from around the world. Gathering from the spiritual or ritualistic to enjoyable jazz grooves, Weston surrounds traditional Chinese and African scenes with familiar images. His band is such that it can ...
Charles Mingus: Mingus Moves
by Jim Santella
Recorded in 1973 with one of his best ensembles, Charles Mingus’ Atlantic album has “that Mingus sound" down pat, pretty much at dead center. Piano, bass and drums roll out the beat while horns tackle the composer’s changes. There’s never a dull moment. Highly recommended, the album opens with a typically Mingus slow 6/8 dramatic “Canon" ...
Suzanne Pittson: Resolution: A Remembrance Of John Coltrane
by Jim Santella
Scat singing and original lyrics mark Suzanne Pittson’s second release, which is centered on John Coltrane’s landmark A Love Supreme album. With a piano trio and tenor saxophonist, altering her voice at times as if it were a trumpet, Pittson sings of life and love, the deep feelings we have buried inside, and how the music ...
Don Byron: Romance With The Unseen
by Jim Santella
Born and raised in the Bronx, clarinetist Don Byron has ideas to share that reflect upon many aspects common to folks all around the world. But he ties those thoughts together with a thread that weaves through America's urban centers where jazz evolved over the past century. Swinging with an all-star mainstream quartet, Byron paints pictures ...
Ralph Moore: The Complete Landmark Recordings
by Jim Santella
His exposure with Jay Leno’s Tonight Show band has brought tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore right into our living rooms and bedrooms. By reissuing two Landmark albums from 1988 and 1990 in one double CD package, 32 Jazz has reintroduced valuable straight-ahead quartet and quintet material that caught several young lions near the beginning of their careers: ...
Diana Krall: When I Look In Your Eyes
by Jim Santella
“Discovered" by bassist Ray Brown when he heard her perform in British Columbia, singer/pianist Diana Krall was introduced to singer/pianist Jimmy Rowles in Low Angeles, where she developed a unique, pleasant sound of her own. But even before that significant change, she had already formed specific preferences through her father’s piano playing influence, his jazz record ...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk / Yusef Lateef: Separate But Equal
by Jim Santella
Combining two 1970s albums in one package, 32 Jazz ties together two very unique individuals. That they both play saxophones exceptionally well is secondary to the creative thought-provoking humor each provides his audience. Kirk’s double LP was first issued in 1975, while Lateef’s standard-length session was first released several years earlier. Roland Kirk’s The Case Of ...
Bruno R: Orbis
by Jim Santella
Swedish bassist Bruno Råberg combines the best of both worlds: the folk music of his homeland with the modern mainstream jazz that he’s studied quite thoroughly since he was a youth. Råberg, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1984 and now teaches at the Berklee College ...
