Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Gordon Lee and the Gleeful Big Band - Flying Dream
by Tim Duroche, Willamette Week
Big bands (and good ones at that) are rare these days. This release, Lee's first foray into large band work, is a delectable entry equally indebted to the modern big bands of Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Bob Brookmeyer or Maria Schneider and modern classical music (that's where Lee's "friendly dissonance" gets its genes). Like Schneider, Lee dabbles in a rich Gil Evanescent color palette-particularly in the low brass writing. Lush, patient use of space... read more
Jay Lawrence - Thermal Strut
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger, All About Jazz
Drummer Jay Lawrence has a long and serious resume which includes teaching, composing, arranging, and working with everyone from Sammy Davis and Cher to Phil Woods and James Moody. While he's been on more than ninety recordings, this is his first as a leader -- and it's a corker.
This is partly because Lawrence couldn't have chosen better shipmates for his maiden voyage: Lynn Seaton, an always-in-demand bassist whose playing is unusually... read more
Kelley Johnson - Something Good
by C. Michael Bailey, C. Michael Bailey Tumblelog
Kelley Johnson's Something Good is a jazz vocals offering that brims with genuine talent presented with laughter and authentic good cheer. It helps that Johnson is an excellent singer, possessing that conversational quality in her delivery that makes a song seem like a story over coffee. Supported by a piano trio augmented with a horn (tenor and soprano saxophones and trumpet courtesy of Jay Thomas) Johnson shows superior capability in... read more
Rich Pellegrin - Solitude: Solo Improvisations
by Grant Grays, Earshot Jazz
Solitude has been a central theme of the human condition for the past fifteen months. With the planet under lockdown to temper the spread of COVID-19 we have all spent time alone in abundance. While loneliness has been an unavoidable feature of this moment, we have also been afforded the opportunity to explore the feature of aloneness. Aloneness does not connote the negative aspects of solo existence, but rather describes the joys of... read more
Rich Pellegrin - Episodes IV-VI
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
(****) Pianist Richard Pellegrin offered up his first installment of Three Part Odyssey (OA2 Records) in 2011. It's a musical journey inspired by travels through Europe and North Africa. Employing a superb quintet, three "Episodes" blossomed from a first-rate collective approach. Pellegrin and his group follow this up with Episodes IV-VI, featuring a slightly more reflective mode, added to the same originality, top level... read more
Randy Napoleon - Rust Belt Roots: Randy Napoleon Plays Wes Montgomery, Grant Green & Kenny Burrell
by Lawrence Cosentino, City Pulse (Lansing)
Guitarist Randy Napoleon wanted his latest album, "Rust Belt Roots," to conjure up a world before the Internet and satellite radio, when each region of the country had its own jazz sound. Close your eyes and you feel the pulse of Midwest dynamism — breezing along on the freeway, taking in the glimmering lights of a steel plant or an oil refinery, people watching on a bustling riverfront.
The music's subtle moods don't announce themselves... read more
Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington - Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Six
by Russell Perry, WTJU
Both trumpeter Paul Tynan (Nova Scotia) and baritone player Aaron Lingston (San Jose) have serious classical music chops and both are master jazz players. For this, their sixth collaboration, they have chosen a chord-less trumpet - baritone - bass - drums quartet and it has nothing to do with the famous Gerry Mulligan / Chet Baker or Art Farmer sound. This is much more about harmonies than counter-points. The leaders split the writing... read more
Angela Verbrugge - Somewhere
by C. Michael Bailey, Wild Mercury Rhythm
Canadian singer Angela Verbrugge is three deep in a promising discography with Somewhere. This recording follows her well received The Night We Couldn't Say Goodnight (Gut Strings Records, 2019) and Love for Connoisseurs (Gut Strings Records, 2022). Verbrugge's third recording is a more extended play release than a full-fledged album (seven selections in all), but this in no way diminishes its value for enjoyment. The singer prefers the small... read more
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