Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson - Waltz New
by Marilyn Lester, New York City Jazz Record
Like a good marriage, when two musicians achieve a meeting of the minds, a certain harmony occurs, yielding work embodying that happy synchrony. Such is the case with Waltz New. Guitarist Tom Dempsey and bassist Tim Ferguson have been playing together for more than 20 years and this is their fourth album, a tribute to the late Jim Hall (1930-2013). Waltz New presents six of Hall's compositions, plus several standards and Dempsey's lilting... read more
Liam Sillery Quintet - Minor Changes
by Forrest Dylan Bryant, FoJazz
Every once in a while an album like this crosses my path: on a small label, with a bunch of people I've never heard of. Generic-sounding song titles. An unassuming cover, neither garishly amateur nor slick. At first glance, completely forgettable. But then I put it in the CD player, and it's immediately gratifying -- both familiar and vibrantly fresh.
Although Sillery plays trumpet and flugelhorn, his primary influence is tenor saxophonist... read more
Jarod Bufe - New Spaces
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Music and tunes birthed in the eclectic sidebar of a well known Americana road house, smoking jazz can emerge from unlikely places as long as the air is nurturing. A Chicago sax player playing like a New Yorker let's his cool school admiration parade in fine form. Backed by Chicago's incipient A team on the rise, this is a right on set for the jazzbo with daddio leanings that likes to groove from his chair. Well... read more
Mai-Liis - Kaleidoscope
by C. Michael Bailey, Wild Mercury Rhythm
By the time Canadian vocalist/composer Mai-Liis (my LEASE) recorded her debut recording Mai-Liis On Life (OA2 Records, 2021), it had taken her 30 years to become an overnight sensation—and she may be skeptical of that. Refreshing is the fact that there is not one jazz standard on either her debut or its follow-up, Kaleidoscope. That fact alone places Mai-Liis in a class by herself. As a songwriter, critics have compared her to Joni Mitchell,... read more
Michael Kocour - East of the Sun
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS Here's another well-planned and immaculately recorded solo album by pianist Michael Kocour, his second such enterprise for OA2 Records (the first, Wherever You Go, There You Are, was released in 2015). As its title suggests, East of the Sun consists almost entirely of gems from the Great American Songbook with one zircon (guitarist Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You," a signature song for the late Ray Charles) thrown in at the... read more
Unhinged Sextet - Don't Blink
by David A. Orthmann, All About Jazz
Unhinged Sextet is a strong candidate for the best band you'll never hear in a live performance. The members of this cooperative ensemble are spread out across the country, earning their daily bread by training the next generation of musicians, with an emphasis on jazz studies, at various universities. They join forces for brief periods in between other commitments, woodshedding material and recording, before returning to their respective home... read more
Daria - Strawberry Fields Forever
by Dick Metcalf, Improvijazzation Nation
I'm not a really strong fan of "cover" albums, but Daria's swingin' high-talent vocals on these classics from the Fab 4 caught my ear as soon as I started spinning them... her take on "When I'm 64", for instance, is really upbeat & timely... very cool! I've no doubt that all four Beatles would be snappin' their fingers right along to the beat on Daria's jazzy rendition of "Cant Buy Me Love"... very nicely arranged, and you'll hear her total... read more
Stan Bock & The New Tradition - Feelin' It
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
Feelin' It demonstrates that there is still a lot of life in the notion of marrying strong funk and r'n'b grooves to Jazz. Tim Gilson's bubbling electric bass is crucial in maintaining the drive. He grounds both the strutting funk of "Feelin' It" and "It's Not That Easy" as well as the broad, crawling pace of "Let's Fall In Love", a tune enlivened by Stan Bock's and Renato Caranto's soloing. "Up In The Air" has a choppy New... read more
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