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Fred Haas and Bob Hallahan: I Thought About You
by Mike Neely
Fred Haas is a musician one can only hope will keep recording because not even the jazz media is eternally obtuse. His recording I Thought About You highlights his tenor saxophone accompanied by pianist Bob Hallahan. This CD is a world away from a breezy throw together session. It documents a subtle, sophisticated exchange by two ...
John Sheridan and his Dream Band: John Sheridan: Dream Band, Make Me Dream Some More
by Mike Neely
Pianist, arranger John Sheridan has put together an octet with a rhythm section that has a lively bounce. He’s got bright soloist stepping out of shifting sections that really swing. This is an octet with a big band sound that’s having infectious fun, theme-y fun. John Sheridan:Dream Band, Make Me Dream Some More cover a line-up ...
Didier Lockwood: Tribute To Stephane Grappelli
by Mike Neely
French violinist Didier Lockwood’s new CD brings together three of Europe’s outstanding jazz musicians in a lively Tribute To Stephane Grappelli. The classically trained Lockwood is accompanied by the Danish bass master Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen and noted French guitarist Bireli LaGrene in a set that would do Grappelli proud. Lockwood is the recipient of the ...
Willie Akins Quartet: Alima
by Mike Neely
Saxophonist Willie Akins and his quartet play straight ahead jazz with plenty of heart. Their Alima is a satisfying performance by a group of musicians who display a chemistry that could only arise out of the mutual respect of attentive listening. Akins plays a warm tenor, at times reminiscent of Hank Mobley and early John Coltrane. ...
Fred Haas & Gene Bertoncini: Interplay
by Mike Neely
Saxophonist Fred Haas and guitarist Gene Bertoncini have recorded a high wire act of a duet CD entitled Interplay. This is intimate music that leaves these two players out front with only their own resources and each other to depend on. They succeed, wonderfully. It is a musical lesson to listen to Bertoncini play behind Haas’s ...
Bucky Pizzarelli: April Kisses
by Mike Neely
Bucky Pizzarelli's April Kisses opens a door to a musical era when the jazz guitar was a solo and duet instrument of lively refinement. This is the pre-electric, pre-Charlie Christian era of Eddie Lang, Carl Kress, Django Reinhardt, and George Van Eps. Pizzarelli follows Van Eps' innovation of adding a bass string to his guitar which ...
Harry Skoler: A Work of Heart
by Mike Neely
Throughout A Work of Heart clarinetist Harry Skoler displays an intimate, chamber swing sensibility that sings above a finely meshed group of musicians. Skoler is not interested in pyrotechnics; he is interested in the emotional nuances of ten carefully chosen compositions. On five of the tracks Donn Trenner has arranged strings tastefully and affectively. He is ...
Chuck Folds and his Sweet Basil Friends: Chuck Folds and his Sweet Basil Friends Remember Doc Cheatham
by Mike Neely
In his solo work, Chuck Folds plays piano with a gentleness and grace that arises from the popular songs of faraway decades. He can then effortlessly shift into a rollicking New Orleans style solo, competing with the extraverted trumpets of Irvin Stokes and Spanky Davis. All of this fun can be heard on the new release: ...
Steve Lacy Three: Steve Lacy Three: N.Y. Capers and Quirks
by Mike Neely
Steve Lacy’s long recording career has been one of uncommon consistency of thoughtful, risk taking jazz. Steve Lacy Three: N.Y. Capers & Quirks is a trio recording adding to this great soprano saxophonist’s body of work an excellent often “free jazz” performance recorded live in 1979. Still in his early twenties, Lacy was recognized as a ...
Tal Farlow Trio: The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow
by Mike Neely
The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow not only presents Farlow at his swinging best but also features the brilliant pianist Eddie Costa in one of his too few recordings. In many ways this is a duet recording with Farlow and Costa playing off of each other above a traditional bass accompaniment. In this case “play" is ...
