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Results for "Stephen Latessa"
New Birth Brass Band: New Birth Family
by Stephen Latessa
There are few musical experiences as visceral as hearing a brass band in full flight. Seeing a top band in person is a physically demanding bout with the deepest vibrations and the airiest calls. Perhaps more than most musical groups, brass bands can suffer when pinned down on disc. Not only does the listener lose the ...
The Four Bags: Offshore
by Stephen Latessa
It is difficult to determine whether an album cover affects how you feel about the music contained within, or if some cover art is just particularly representative of the musical content. Either way, Russian artist Erik Bulatov's painting Red Horizon perfectly fits the music created by the Four Bags on Offshore. Certainly the whirling whimsy of ...
Wildman Glassmeyer Moran: BIFT
by Stephen Latessa
BIFT features free improvisation from Jason Wildman (drums, percussion), Matt Glassmeyer (saxophone, buzzaphone, and miscellaneous sounds), and Sean Moran (guitar). The music has one foot in classic fusion and the other in the music of the future, with seemingly electronically generated sounds that I can't always place. Clockwise From is like a case study ...
Gian Tornatore: Sink Or Swim
by Stephen Latessa
Sink Or Swim is the debut album by saxophonist Gian Tornatore. He and his band, featuring Jon Anderson on piano and Fender Rhodes, Zack Wallmark on bass, and David Christian on drums, create music rife with exploratory brooding. Particularly with the pulses of the Fender Rhodes in the mix, the album calls to mind the late ...
Ben Waltzer Trio: One Hundred Dreams Ago
by Stephen Latessa
Pianist Ben Waltzer is a multimedia force to be reckoned with. In addition to recording and gigging with his trio, Waltzer also finds the time to pen articles for the New York Times and has appeared as the musical director for fashion designer Issac Mizrahi's show on the Oxygen television network. Impressively, with all of these ...
Laurie Antonioli: Foreign Affair
by Stephen Latessa
The title of this album is particularly apt in that it was recorded in Slovenia, finding San Francisco native Laurie Antonioli performing with a Serbian bassist (Nenad Vasilic), an Albanian guitarist (Armend Xhaferi), a German saxophonist (Johannes Enders), and a drummer from New York (John Hollenbeck). From this multinational band comes a program that is equally ...
Cormac Kenevey: This Is Living
by Stephen Latessa
This debut by Irish singer Cormac Kenevey is almost the very definition of pleasant. Kenevey has a light, pleasing voice that is well suited to airy, romantic material. Likewise, his band, led by pianist Phil Ware, keeps things moving smoothly and melodically. Listening to This Is Living, one can imagine someone's grandmother coming across Kenevey performing ...
Lower Monumental: Mayday Session
by Stephen Latessa
When I was living at home, there were certain types of music that would cause my mother to knock on my bedroom door as she walked past and ask, “what are you listening to? in a tone that seemed to wonder whether she had a reason to be worried. The Mayday Session is that type of ...
Igor Lunder Sextet: Igor Lunder Sextet
by Stephen Latessa
The self-titled debut album by the Igor Lunder Sextet features exceedingly tasteful and smooth performances of material composed and arranged by guitarist Lunder, which is uniformly melodic and tranquil. The first listen tends to be absorbed with little effort into one's consciousness. The next few listens reveal the artful arrangements and subtle skill of the musicians.
Joshua Kaye Quartet: Live!
by Stephen Latessa
It's amazing how much vitality can be imparted to hoary old chestnuts like “Summertime or “Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise when additional percussion is supplied. Suddenly, those familiar old melodies open up and reveal unexpected currents of possibility. The Joshua Kaye Quartet's Live! features takes on a number of standards, including the two mentioned above, ...
