Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Barney McClure Trio, featuring Mike Denny - Spot
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Organist (also pianist, but not on this album) Barney McClure pumps out an excellent set in combination with guitarist Mike Denny, with some reference to the great Jimmy Smith/Wes Montgomery combinations of the past (though more in spirit than in composition). This is Northwest jazz with an added kick from the small Alaskan contingent of the scene. McClure plugs along with some excellent Hammond chops throughout, working off the simple riffs of... read more
Cheryl Fisher - Quietly There
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
Cheryl Fisher's voice exudes mature subtlety. Her sound is sensitive and well-formed and she's adept in making what she sings sound convincing in the manner of one of her mentors, Shirley Horn. Her instrumental support changes from track to track here. John Stowell provides deep electric guitar buzz to the tumbling "Flowers In The Sink" and a light-fingered acoustic bossa nova sound on "He Never Mentioned Love". His acoustic work on "Some... read more
Ben Winkelman - Heartbeat
by Lance Liddle, BeBop Spoken Here
Winkelman's sixth album as a leader, recorded during the pandemic whilst awaiting the birth of his first child, is quite delightful. Nine originals that don't appear to be contrafacts although these tunes themselves could become contrafacts of the future.
It's gentle and laid back, more Bill Evans than Peterson with perhaps a dash of melancholia thrown in courtesy of Chopin or Debussy.
Drums are discreet, bass supportive and totally part... read more
George Cotsirilos - Mostly in Blue
by Andrew Gilbert, San Jose Mercury News
For much of his career, George Cotsirilos harbored an uncomfortable secret. By night, the veteran jazz guitarist kept company with some of the Bay Area's most revered improvisers, swinging with quiet efficiency while delivering thoughtfully burnished solos.
But he was so scrupulous about keeping his daytime activities on the down-low that many of his musical peers had no clue about his entanglement in the criminal justice system. Now he can... read more
Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson - Waltz New
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Guitarist Tom Dempsey and bassist Tim Ferguson deliver a tribute to the cool tones and textures of Jim Hall on this seductive session. Tenor saxist Joel Frahm and drummer Eliot Zigmund round out the team as they mix originals with Hall compositions and a couple standards. Of the latter, Frahm is warm and lyrical on Skylark" and the team bounces with delight on Ron Carter's "Receipt Please, while "Alone Together" (famously recorded by Hall) has... read more
Jay Lawrence - Thermal Strut
by Tom Morgan, Percussive Notes
Anyone who loves jazz piano trio in the tradition of Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal or the Jeff Hamilton Trio will enjoy this wonderful jazz CD from drummer Jay Lawrence, a veteran of Nevada showrooms who has worked with everyone from Sammy Davis Jr. to Roy Clark and whose jazz credits include Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Bob Mintzer and Hank Jones. The other members of the trio are pianist Tamir Hendelman and bassist Lynn Seaton.
From the first... read more
Joan Hickey - Between The Lines
by Paul Abella, Chicago Jazz Magazine
Ever heard on of those discs where everything sounds like something you've heard before, but you can't quite put your finger on it? Joan Hickey's latest disc, Between The Lines, is one of those really interesting records that just plain sounds familiar.
Of course when your disc starts off sounding a bit like VSOP and wraps up with the one-two punch of a solid nod to the Dave Holland Quintet and a slab of some happening bebop, you're... read more
Mai-Liis - Mai-Liis On Life
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
If Elizabeth Gilbert wanted to be a jazzbo, the results might have been something like what we have here. Coming into her own after years of stops and starts, Mai-Liis isn't a thrush or a cabaret type mainly using jazz to give her voice a voice. It's jazz for women of a certain age that want to hear a voice that knows what they are... read more
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