Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Here’s the first review for our latest release by saxophonist Ralph Bowen “Standard Deviation”…
www.criticaljazz.com
Ralph Bowen goes slightly left of center while delivering his finest effort in Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation is the fifth release on the incredibly consistent Posi-Tone label. The irony here being that Bowen has always been a model of consistency, an artist as technically proficient as he is artistically gifted. Bowen’s other four releases have been met with ...Read More
Midwest Record on Peter Brendler “Outside the Line”…
http://midwestrecord.com/MWR793.html
PETER BRENDLER/Outside the Line: For a bass player looking to move jazz sounds forward into uncharted territory, “Walk On the Wild side” is a good jumping off point to bring listeners into the tent with something familiar but still outré after 40 years and let them wander the rooms from there. A high octane modern jazz set, Brandler and crew play a ...Read More
The Jazz Page raves up Jared Gold “JG3+3″…
thejazzpage.com
On his 7th release, Hammond B3 organist Jared Gold augments a core organ trio with a three piece brass section and the result is outstanding. JG3 + 3 sounds the way a big league jazz recording is supposed to sound. Joining Gold are Dave Stryker on guitar and Sylvia Cuenca on drums, along with Patrick Cornelius on alto sax, Jason Marshall on baritone sax and Tatum Greenblatt on ...Read More
Audiophile Audition reviews Steve Davis “For Real”…
http://audaud.com/2014/02/steve-davis-for-real-posi-tone/
Steve Davis – For Real – Posi-Tone
Steve Davis – He always “brings it”…
Steve Davis – For Real – Posi-Tone PR8116, 58:09 ****:
(Steve Davis – trombone; Abraham Burton – tenor sax; Larry Willis – piano; Nat Reeves – bass; Billy Williams – drums)
Steve Davis is one dependable cat. We’ve previously r ...Read More
Steve Davis “For Real” is KIOS album of the month…
kios.org
Here’s a release that is going to write it’s own review, a session so inspired and intuitively right-there that it all bubbles to the surface propelled by the buoyant trombone sound of Steve Davis. This quintet session is Davis’s seventeenth album as leader and a gem among a steady succession of strong recordings.
Certainly one of our great contemporary jazz artists, S ...Read More
NextBop calls Orrin Evans Captain Black Big Band new CD Mother’s Touch “a sizable leap in scope and sound”…
nextbop.com
It was last October that I had the chance to catch Orrin Evans and his Captain Black Big Band. The venue was NYC’s famed Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club, and the occasion the birthday centennial of jazz’s greatest space case, Sun Ra. I’d known Evans from his flurry of small group releases over the past few years, particularly his wonderfully adaptive and melodic touch at the piano. Thos ...Read More
AAJ posts another review for Captain Black Big Band “Mother’s Touch”…
www.allaboutjazz.com
New York-based pianist / composer (and two-time Grammy Award nominee) Orrin Evans served notice with his first big-band album for Posi-Tone Records that there was an impressive new ensemble on the scene, a message that is firmly underscored by the second, the cryptically named Mother’s Touch., whose tone and temperament mirror Evans’ contemporary point of vie ...Read More
StepTempest features detailed coverage for Orrin Evans “Mother’s Touch”…
steptempest.blogspot.com
Hard to believe it’s been just over 3 years since Posi-Tone Reecords released the self-titled debut CD from the Captain Black Big Band. Culled from 3 live dates, the music was hard-hitting, raucous, even fevered at times but filled with soulful melodies, smart arrangements and great solos.
8 months after that release (11/11), pianist, composer, founder and leader ...Read More
AAJ’s Dan Bilawsky reviews “Mother’s Touch”…
www.allaboutjazz.com
The studio-versus-stage argument will forever rage on in music, but it really shouldn’t. Each setting has its advantages and disadvantages. The jazz community has forever favored the stage, as many feel that jazz is meant to be experienced and created in the moment, with artist(s) feeding off the room and creating here-and-gone sounds. That preference is completely und ...Read More
Captain Black Big Band gets some great local coverage from the Philly Inquirer…
articles.philly.com
It’s a challenge to keep even a small band going for any length of time in the current jazz climate, and maintaining a big band that splits its time and membership between two cities is even harder.
But pianist Orrin Evans has done just that, helming his Captain Black Big Band for more than four years since its beginnings at Chris’ Jazz Cafe in late 2009. So why d ...Read More