Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

This CD on the Capri label from the American Jazz Institute (AJI) revisits some tunes associated with Ellington sidemen. Composer, arranger and bandleader Mark Masters is head of AJI.  He took an illustrious group and presented concerts this spring.  Then the group went into the recording studio and made this (more…)

Veteran vibraphonist Peter Appleyard, at age 84, has teamed with well-known sidemen pianist John Sherwood, guitarist Reg Schwager, bassist Neil Swanson and drummer Terry Clark to record lovely jazz standards. They used lesser-known vocalists; each vocalist got to sing one song.  Ten vocalists—ten songs.   These are all jazz standards recognizable (more…)

This CD released by ArtistShare on May 13, 2012, the centennial of the birth of composer Gil Evans, is in large part due to the efforts of Ryan Truesdell.  He is the first person outside the Evans family to be granted full access to the musical archives. Gil Evans was (more…)

Guitarist Jack Grassel and vocalist Jill Jensen team on this recording to present a delightful mix of straight-ahead jazz.  This is a live recording of high quality.  This is a husband and wife team.  He had studied with both George Van Eps and with Tal Farlow.  She is a talented (more…)

Veteran guitarist/vocalist Marty Grosz has done it again!  He and Arbors Records have assembled a talented group of musicians to perform the music of James P. Johnson.  Marty did the arranging for musical numbers and wrote the informative and clever liner notes as well. On piano he had music educator/historian (more…)

Seventy-seven year old trombonist Curtis Fuller’s discography is a who’s who in jazz.  Likely his best known performance was at age 22 when he recorded with John Coltrane on the Blue Trane album for Blue Note. His first recording as leader was with Red Garland in 1957.  To mention a (more…)

Established vocalist and jazz educator Stephanie Nakasian teams with pianist/composer/jazz educator Harris Simon for this collection of jazz standards.  Bassist Chris Bridge and drummer Billy Williams complete the Simon trio. The collaboration of the jazz educators at College of William and Mary led to some gigs which were recorded live.  (more…)

This CD pairs jazz pianist Lenore Raphael with seven-string guitarist Howard Alden. According to liner notes, Howard was a guest on Ms. Raphael’s internet radio show, Lenore Raphael’s Jazz Spot.  There was a unique rapport, so Howard was invited to go into the studio and records this duo CD. Selections (more…)

This CD is truly international in that it celebrates musical collaboration of a German chromatic harmonicist and a Mexican bassist. Add to the mix Anat Cohen and Israeli clarinetist, American trumpeter Jim Seeley and Russian pianist Misha Tsiganov.  The title “Celebrando” meaning celebrate in Spanish and Portuguese also has meaning (more…)

I wasn’t familiar with vocalist Jane Sheckter even though this is her fourth album. What caught my eye was the illustrious list of sidemen: bassist Jay Leonhart, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, saxophonist Harry Allen, cornetist Warren Vache’ and violinist Aaron Weinstein.  Ms. Sheckter has a pleasing and energetic vocal delivery in (more…)