By Richard B. Kamins, Step Tempest Vocalist J D Walter has been in and around the contemporary for the better part of two decades but lately, he’s been missing. Turns out he was dealing with several physical issues that included vocal cord surgery. An inventive singer and arranger, one can just imagine how the sabbatical … Read More
By Ron Netsky, Rochester City Newspaper On Charles Pillow Ensemble’s “Chamber Jazz” album, the Eastman School of Music professor plays flute, alto flute, clarinet, alto and soprano saxophone, oboe and English Horn — all of them brilliantly. Pillow has also written four of the tunes and arranged all eight beautifully for 20 musicians, including seven … Read More
By John Chacona, Lets Call This You have to give vocalist Lauren Henderson a lot of credit for generosity. For large portions of her short, nine-song, 43-minute CD “The Songbook Sessions,” she’s veritably upstaged by her band. On the other hand, you don’t hire drummer Allan Mednard, bassist Eric Wheeler and pianist Sullivan Fortner if … Read More
By Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs’s Blog For some time, and particularly during these Corona-Virus-days, hot beds of jazz in big cities is fading away. For lack of performance spaces and even worse, lack of audiences, even before the Covid19, jazz musicians were leaving. The Northeast Ohio Music Scene has suffered greatly due to the … Read More
By Tom Lucci, WICN Vocalist Lauren Henderson’s fifth album brings her to the Great American Songbook. “Not another standards album,” you say, but this collection really stands out. Henderson, who has roots in Panama and grew up in Marblehead MA, has honed her musical craft on several fine albums of largely original material. On The … Read More
By Ann Alex, Bebop Spoken Here We never sleep at BSH, not even during a pandemic, so I now find myself reviewing from a digital download. A hazard of this is that the tracks aren’t quite the same as stated in the publicity sheet, so there are a couple of extra tracks here for good … Read More
By Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition The emergence of chamber jazz as a musical genre has been much more prevalent in the last few decades. Blending classical music with jazz improvisation both challenges, and soothes, fans of both musical expressions. There is a pastoral beauty of classical chamber music, that mixes well with the swing that … Read More
By Matthew Wright, Jazz Journal A bit of a curate’s egg here – bassist Goods’ tribute to the late pianist Mulgrew Miller consists of Miller’s compositions, with the exception of the brief title track. It’s a mixture of relaxed, atmospheric grooves, contemporary R&B and high-energy funk. The interplay and arrangements are tight, but there’s the … Read More
By Jim Hynes, Glide Magazine Legacy Holder is the second album for drummer, composer and bandleader Jonathan Barber who leads a quintet comprised of pianist Taber Gable, guitarist Andrew Renfroe, alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, and bassist Matt Dwonszyk. Vocalist Mar Vilaseca sings the R&B tinged opener, “The Call.” The album delivers a truly cohesive sound with the emphasis on ensemble playing. … Read More
By Geno Thackara, All About Jazz Though Andy Milne actually hasn’t recorded in the classic trio format before, you’d never know it just from The Re:Mission. He’s been no slouch in many other settings, from supporting Cassandra Wilson or Steve Coleman to the genre-mashingly ambitious Dapp Theory quintet. Having always had a dream of trying … Read More
