Downbeat Magazine – September 2022 Issue Reviews: Grant Stewart – The Lighting Of The Lamps (Cellar Music Group) Aaron Seeber – First Move (Cellar Music Group) Feature: Jonathan Barber – “The Drummer as Storyteller”
Page 14 – Gerry Gibbs – Songs From My Father – feature story by Ted Panken Page 19 – Steven Feifke – Kinetic – feature story by Allen Morrison Page 44 – Oscar Hernández – Visión – review by Brian Morton Page 43 – Duck Baker / Roswell Rudd – Live – review by Howard … Read More
by Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat “Recording almost half of this jazz album remotely, singer-trumpeter Benny Benack III and pianist-conductor-arranger Steven Feifke put their enthusiasm for Christmastime and the eight days of Hanukkah to good use on wintry material played by a 16-piece band and smaller groups.” Read the full article here.
by Gary Fukushima, Downbeat “In Her Words is a conversation, alternating anecdotes from their lives like two friends over lunch. Here, the shared plate is an unconventional string quartet of violin, cello, bass and guitar, with Yeghiazaryan and Gould feeding off the band’s energetic sensitivity in their own ways.” Read the full review here.
by Scott Yanow, Downbeat “Pianist Kirk Lightsey, who has been based in Paris since 2000, first recorded in 1962 with George Bohanon, played with Chet Baker in 1965, and toured with Dexter Gordon during 1979–’83. He really came into his own in 1982–’83 with a pair of solo records for Sunnyside: Lightsey 1 and Lightsey 2. Four of … Read More
By Ayana Contreras, Downbeat Samara Joy is a self-possessed, deeply emotive vocalist, with power that usually takes a lot of living to master. But the Purchase College graduate has got it in spades. Read more here.
By Kira Grunenberg. DownBeat Conceptually speaking, the new album by pianist, composer and vocalist Lauren Lee diverges from being reactionary music made during the pandemic. That said, the fact that the album comes to reflect Lee’s every feeling during the height of lockdown, anyway, is a testament to, and a reminder of, just how significantly … Read More
By Cree McCree, DownBeat “Call it magic/ Call it ministry/ Call it music.” The opening epigraph for African Ripples, delivered by spoken-word artist Cyrus Aaron, sets the tone for an album that shines a beacon of hope at the end of a very dark year. “We play on for the living,” as Aaron observes. “Progress … Read More
by Bill Milkowski, Downbeat
By Gary Fukushima, Downbeat On the opening track of drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.’s new big band album, he plays five sharp rim shots, which catapult the band into “Two Bass Hit,” the brash John Lewis/Dizzy Gillespie composition first recorded by Gillespie and his jazz orchestra in 1947. However, this arrangement is closer to the sextet … Read More
