Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Lucid Culture on Steve Horowitz “New Monsters”…
lucidculture.wordpress.com
Fun Stuff from Steve Horowitz’s New Monsters
Funny jazz – there just isn’t enough of it. Happily, there’s bass guitarist Steve Horowitz’s recent New Monsters album, which follows an often comedic trajectory into the future of where melodic jazz is going. It seems to be Posi-Tone’s entry in the youngish eclectic kitchen-sink combo sweepstakes, and it is ...Read More
A couple of new reviews for Orrin Evans and Ralph Bowen….
midwestrecord.com
ORRIN EVANS/Flip the Script: With a new trio, Evans plays piano like it’s a bebop instrument using it to anchor a straight ahead date with a lot of modern jazz overtones. Left leaning but not from the church basement, this is seasoned, high octane piano trio music that goes from racket to joyful noise to pulse pounding. Sitting down jazz for those not afraid to push the ped ...Read More
Critical Jazz reviews Ralph Bowen “Total Eclipse”…
www.criticaljazz.com
Swing is rhythmic feel or groove created by the musical interaction or chemistry between the performers. Swing or this “groove” manifests itself in a visceral response essentially music your feel with your hips and feel with your feet.
With a total solar eclipse the Sun’s corona can be seen shining in all directions around the moon. This glimpse of the coron ...Read More
Here’s the first review for Brandon Wright “Journeyman”…
steptempest.blogspot.com
“Journeyman” (Posi-Tone Records) is only Brandon Wright’s second CD as a leader yet he sounds like a veteran. He’s aided on his musical trek by his mates from the Mingus Big Band, David Kikoski (piano), Boris Kozlov (bass) and Donald Edwards (drums). The program is a blend of 6 originals and 4 covers, 3 of which are quite unexpected. &# ...Read More
Step Tempest reviews Tom Tallitsch “Heads or Tales”…
steptempest.blogspot.com
For “Heads Or Tales“, his 4th CD as a leader (and first for PosiTone Records), tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch convened a group that features Jared Gold (Hammond B-3),Dave Allen (guitar) and Mark Ferber (drums). Gold’s fine organ work, paired with Allen’s strong single-note lines and supported by Ferber’s insistent percussion, truly ...Read More
Dan Bilawsky reviews Tom Tallitsch “Heads or Tales”…
www.allaboutjazz.com
Jazz musicians are often lauded for how different they are from one another, but all of the most notable musicians who wear the jazz label actually have one thing in common: expertise in telling a story. When theory, technique and stylistic divisiveness are all removed from the equation, musicians are left with the not-so-simple task of creating aural narratives worth followin ...Read More
Britt Robson reviews Tom Tallitsch “Heads or Tales”…
www.emusic.com
Saxophonist Tom Tallitsch leads a quartet that includes organ, guitar and drums, a lineup that conjures the expectation of a grooving, soul-jazz-blues amalgam along the lines of Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Ponder. But Tallitsch is a post-bopper at heart, who plays tenor with the pivoting angularity of Joe Henderson. He is also a fine composer, interested in creating inter ...Read More
Step Tempest reviews Spike Wilner “La Tendresse”…
steptempest.blogspot.com
As the great critic Whitney Balliett once posited, jazz is the “sound of surprise” – in the case of “La Tendresse” the new CD from pianist Spike Wilner(Posi-Tone), the sense of surprise comes from Wilner’s approach to the standards that comprise 2/3rds of the program. Aided and abetted by Hartford native Dezron Douglas (bass) and J ...Read More
Mark Corroto on Spike Wilner “La Tendresse”…
www.allaboutjazz.com
Joy.
But having been told that one word reviews aren’t sufficient, how about this: Pianist Spike Wilner’s disc La Tendresse is pure joy.
Wilner can probably best be described as an old soul occupying a modernist corpus. His foundations in ragtime and stride piano inform the music heard here, but likeThelonious Monk, he uses the tradition as the architecture for ...Read More
SomethingElse reviews Tom Tallitsch “Heads or Tales”…
somethingelsereviews.com
Saxophonist, composer, musical educator, and radio show host Tom Tallitsch keeps busy wearing a variety of hats all revolving around his love of music and the love of sharing his knowledge about it to others. Every couple of years since 2005, he’s been sharing music by making a record, and this week he does so again for the forth time with the issuance of his latest alb ...Read More