By Steven Graham, MarlBank Last month I was wondering if the upcoming Jonathan Barber album Legacy Holder will be a game changer for him. Since then I’ve been listening to more Legacy Holder tracks and the signs definitely point in that direction. Read the full review here.
By J.D Considine, Downbeat Canada has produced a striking range of trumpet greats, from Maynard Ferguson to Kenny Wheeler. And in recent years we can add the singular Ingrid Jensen, free-jazz poet Lina Allemano, singer/trumpeter Bria Skonberg and avant-garde experimentalist Steph Richards to that list. Rachel Therrien might not have garnered as much attention as … Read More
By Rob Shepherd, PostGenre It can be incredibly difficult to be creative at the culinary arts. Insufficient attention to detail or excessive or inordinate amounts of particular ingredients potentially create a bland or inedible product. Masterful creation requires a background on how to best use materials and a desire to mix them in the best … Read More
By C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz Russian-American singer Svetlana Shmulyian has blended an East Europe/Russia combination of elegant determination and delicate grit into the American Songbook on her debut recording Night at the Speakeasy (AO2 Records, 2016), and then film music on Night at the Movies (Starr Records, 2020). The artist surprised listeners by … Read More
By Richard B. Kamins, Step Tempest Colombian-born pianist, composer, and arranger Carolina Calvache issued her debut album on Sunnyside Records in April of 2014, a program of original pieces that featured a sextet including drummers Antonio Sanchezand Ludwig Afonso, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, and bassist Hans Glawischnig. “Sotareño” is an impressive album, as … Read More
By Michael J. West, JazzTimes The cover of tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III and Matthew Stevens’ second co-led album is hilarious: It’s literally the same as the first In Common, but with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Nate Smith’s faces replacing those of Joel Ross, Harish Raghavan, and Marcus Gilmore. Is it … Read More
By CJ Shearn, New York Jazz Workshop Welcome to the New York Jazz Workshop In Conversation at home podcast. The music you are hearing is “The Resistance” off vocalist Thana Alexa’s brand new recording ONA (Self produced, 2020). Her sophomore album celebrates not only the journey of herself as a woman, but women everywhere. Listen to … Read More
By Stephen Graham, MarlBank Listening to Marie Kruttli‘s fine trio record The Kind of Happy One yesterday I was interested to hear more of the drummer, Jonathan Barber. As luck would have have it he has a new record out with his Vision Ahead band. Listening to the glinting almost folkloric sheen to the title … Read More
By Jim Hynes, Glide Magazine Saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matt Stevens are taking their successful 2018 project In Common to another round, this time surrounding themselves with three different players on In Common 2. It’s the same process with Smith III and Stevens writing the compositions and then seeking out like-minded musicians to … Read More
By Matt Micucci, JAZZIZ Saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matthew Stevens team up again to co-lead a new In Common project. Read the full feature here.
