Chicago-born composer and keyboardist Bruce Torff (brother of bassist Brian Torff) follows his 2013 album “Look Again” with “Down The Line”, a highly enjoyable and versatile recording with a stellar cast of players and some well-rounded and honed compositions. The main featured instrumentalist here is Joel Frahm on sax who graces the 11 tracks with…
One of the most important trumpeters on the European scene, Gerard Presencer, at age 18, played the trumpet on US3’s groundbreaking success record “Cantaloop”, the remake of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”. Since then, he has released several records, one of which is the 2003 release “Chasing Reality” on ACT Music. Gerard has also played with Charlie Watts…
So it seems that we won’t get any more serious winter days this season since the molehills in the gardens are too high already. Don’t quote me – quote our farmer friend. Gina can’t wait until the garden season starts again – she is already practicing her ball techniques as you can see here.
At home in Norway, pianist Eivind Austad is a household name in the young jazz scene in Bergen. Eivind is originally from Trondheim, way up north, but has made Bergen his home for the past 20 years. With “Moving” (out March 18th), his trio is now ready for an international career as well. And you…
As you probably know, the three members of KING released their debut album earlier this month and we gave them our first five-paw rating of the year. As it happens, twins Amber and Paris Strother and Anita Bias have added half a dozen European dates to their existing tour. Please make room in your calendar…
Australian producer Inkswel has come up with an eclectic new solo effort which has a lot of those cherished 80s production sounds to it. 80s soul, hip hop, r&b, house, and even disco all find a home here on this very entertaining set. Except maybe for the hip-hoppy rap “Smarter”, which features Tableek and Misumami,…
Now that he was strangely left out in the latest Grammy Awards “In Memoriam” segment to make way for pretty dull and lacklustre performances by so-called top acts, the one and only Mark Murphy will be celebrated on March 14th, which would have been his 84th birthday. Mark died last year on October 22nd and…
New Orleans-native Herlin Riley has played with Ahmad Jamal in the 80s and on a lot of recordings by Wynton Marsalis. The drummer is also a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and played on albums by George Benson, Harry Connick Jr., Cassandra Wilson, Marcus Roberts, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and a lot of…
In 2007, trumpeter Paolo Fresu (Italy), accordionist Richard Galliano (France), and pianist Jan Lundgren (Sweden) released their first “Mare Nostrum” album to great critical acclaim. Over 150 concerts and nine years later, the three musicians have finally come up with the second installment of their working group: “Mare Nostrum II” will be released this Friday. The…
At the end of “Miles Ahead”, writer, producer and actor Don Cheadle has various artists, both ex-accompanists and the new generation, celebrate a sort of comeback for the trumpet meister: musical director of the movie Robert Glasper, Antonio Sanchez, Esperanza Spalding, Kendrick Scott, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter all play a short part in this…