Trumpet and flugelhorn artist Matt Lavelle studied with Ornette Coleman back in 2005 and subsequently took on the alto clarinet as well. The avant-garde musician who also has his own blog, teams up with John Pietaro, the vibraphonist and percussionist for an album of the music of Thelonious Monk. Both are known for their more…
I don’t have any children but I can easily find joy and pleasure in Lori Henriques‘ children’s album “How Great Can This Day Be” because there are lots of interesting influences and arrangements which put this work beyond the “for children only” niche. The opening title track reminds me of the best Bob Dorough songs…
Pianist, producer and composer Meeco a/k/a Michael Maier delivers his fourth album “Souvenirs Of Love” next week. He has been under the radar more or less – but not in jazz and soul musician circles. Just a quick look at the line-up of the new record tells you why he is a respected producer and…
It’s a drummer’s record. What Questlove, James Gadson and Chris Dave do with their instruments pushes the music on the long-awaited (14 years) album in all kinds of directions. Together with a sophisticated and cool drum programming, they create some amazingly funky, soulful, shuffling and jazzy tunes here. For me, the album starts to really…
She is not copying the great Miss Nancy Wilson nor does she want to follow in Wilson’s footsteps: for her fourth CD, singer Cynthia Felton, who is also the founder of the Ethnomusicology Library of American Heritage, pays tribute to one of the best storytellers in music her way. And trying to choose 11 songs…
The guys from Outta Sight Ltd. have come up with another great compilation of soul-inflected jazz tunes. The CD is called “On A Cool Day. The Soulful Side of Cool Jazz”. And although there has never been an accurate definition of Cool Jazz, it is widely known as coming onto the scene in post-Bebop 50s…
Iiro Rantala, the brilliant pianist from Helsinki who is equally at home in Jazz, Classical, and Film score composing, brought his new project to Berlin’s A-Trane last night. His album “Anyone With A Heart”, released earlier this year on ACT, features the croatian cellist Asja Valcic and the polish violinist Adam Baldych. During his first…
“I don’t listen to my music but I would put this on”, said a good-humored Joni Mitchell in an interview last week with talk show host Tavis Smiley. She was referring to her monumental 4-CD Box set “Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced”. It took her two years to…
For many years, Rodney Kendrick was the musical director and pianist for Abbey Lincoln. The 54 year old pianist and keyboarder wanted to express, as he states in the liner notes of his new trio album “The Colors Of Rhythm” (Impulse), “the sweet and the sour, the dark and the light, the bad and the…
The 71 year old released his first album back in 1964: “Samba Demais”. And it was as early as the mid 60s that he had his first hits like “Samba De Verao”, also known as “Summer Samba”. His international career in the ensuing decades incorporated Jazz, Pop, Electronic, Soul and Reggae and his songs were…