Fourplay are celebrating their 25th anniversary with the new album “Silver”. It is the third album which features guitarist Chuck Loeb in addition to the original members Bob James, Nathan East, and Harvey Mason. Chuck wrote the very Pat Metheny-like opener “Quicksilver” with its light and breezy vocals. Many of the tracks have a silver…
Coming straight out of the Dave Frishberg/Mark Murphy school if you want any comparison, but with his own inimitable and highly original style, singer and lyricist Mark Winkler releases his 14th album to date. This comes a couple of years after his successful duet album with Manhattan Transfer singer Cheryl Bentyne (“West Coast Cool”) and…
Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala refers in the notes to his John Lennon tribute album to Lennon’s honesty in his songwriting and that he really believed the things he sings about. Iiro has tackled different topics and collaborations in the past; the most intriguing probably his “Lost Heroes” album. His new solo project opens with the…
Cécile has made quiet a jump in the past years: from studying in Aix-en-Provence to receiving a Grammy nomination for her album “Woman Child”. She sings in French and English and has been the voice of various Chanel ad campaigns. The last time I saw her perform live was at New York’s Lycée Francais on…
Danish Jazz singer Sinne Eeg releases her 7th album, a vocal-bass duet with Thomas Fonnesbaek on acoustic and electric bass. Her last album “Face The Music” has won the Jazz Vocal Album of the Year award from the Académie du Jazz in France. Obviously, you can’t help but compare this new effort with the master…
This is only the third album this year that receives a five-paw rating from Gina. It finds exactly the right balance between Jazz and Soul or, as drummer, producer, arranger, and composer Terri Lyne Carrington says in her liner notes, highlights the Soul in Jazz and vice versa. The album is the latest with her all-women…
It is really hard to believe that Incognito already celebrated their 35th anniversary last year. But then again, if you think about it, they have accompanied me musically ever since the early 80s so there you go… Founder and band leader Bluey assembled his group plus a few guest vocalists for a party-like concert on…
Only a few of the so-called Smooth Jazz artists have survived over the years. Most certainly those who take chances to spread out a bit or try some edgier sounds. Saxophonist Boney James comes up with a new album and even though he is among those artists whose records from 10 or 15 years ago…
Guitarist Lee Ritenour has assembled an impressive cast of musicians for his latest album “A Twist Of Rit”, which is bascially a collection of re-works of some of his older compositions. Four tracks alone are from his debut album “First Course”, recorded in 1975. “Wild Rice” gets a Funk-Rock treatment here with a cool Fender…
From Philadelphia comes a great singer and songwriter who comes very close to the great Donny Hathaway. The opening “Bleed Me Dry” from Aaron Parnell Brown‘s new album “The Tin Man” reminds me of early 70s Donny records, complete with cute, gospelly background vocals by Shayna Steele and a bluesy sax solo by Andy Snitzer….