Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Extended - Harbinger
by Geraldine Wyckoff, OffBeat Magazine
Pianist Oscar Rossignoli, bassist Matt Booth and drummer Brad Webb make up the brilliant contemporary jazz trio, Extended. These talented, up-and-coming musicians stunned with the ensemble's 2017 self-titled debut, and more than live up to those artistic promises on Harbinger.
The all-original selections, each individually penned by the members of the trio, stand as a free-flowing study in the power of dynamics that is perhaps best... read more
Gordon Lee - This Path
by David Franklin, Cadence
Gordon Lee - pianist, composer, arranger, and educator - actively pursues each of his roles in the Portland, Oregon area, the home of all the performers on his latest CD. On the present recording, he alternates between two bass and drums combinations (Dave Captein and Carlton Jackson or Kevin Deitz and Ron Steen) on all tracks but Ernesto Lecuona's Spanish flavored "Andalucia" (the basis for the popular song "The Breeze and I"). There, his... read more
Nelda Swiggett - This Time
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
For her first trio recording, pianist Nelda Swiggett goes all out, using her own compositions as a base for cerebral explorations on the keys. Over an extraordinarily steady backing from Chris Symer's bass (and to a slightly less audible degree Byron Vannoy's drums), Swiggett alternately develops sparse themes into stocky grooves and tinkles little blues hybrids into Bill Evans-style balladry (as in the excellent "Heart of the Moment"). On... read more
Kelley Johnson - Something Good
by Ian Gwin, Earshot Jazz
Consisting of mostly lesser-known standards and a few re-tuned classics, vocalist Kelley Johnson's Something Good lives up to its title with a set of vocalist-trio arrangements that offer crisp, clean lines. Listeners coming to the recording by chance, invited in by its warmth and atmosphere, might notice the hints of laughter and the clink of glasses that add to the live recording like specks of dust in a sepia photograph.
Much credit goes... read more
Lynn Baker Quartet - Azure Intention
by Timothy Breckon, Examiner.com
Malcolm Lynn (Lynn) Baker has influenced many musicians you listen to in Denver but you probably do not even know it. The current head of the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music's Jazz Program and former director of admissions for Lamont as a whole is something of a modern day renaissance man. I performed under his direction for four years in Lamont's Jazz Orchestra and count myself the better for Lynn's tutelage (alternatively-count... read more
Danny Green - After the Calm
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
This is classic piano jazz trio work that falls so squarely in the pocket you're almost tempted to think this was a lost session from back in the day. With a set of all originals, the trio is right in step with each other turning in a set that's a tonic for weary ears. On the money throughout, if you don't like this, you just don't like piano trios. Nuff said.... read more
Gail Pettis - Here in the Moment
by Melissa Goldberg, O, The Oprah Magazine
Gail Pettis can't explain the difference between Lydian and Dorian scales, but that doesn't concern the 58-year-old jazz singer one bit. Because when Pettis saunters up to a microphone and unleashes her rich alto on a Nat King Cole classic, technicalities are the last thing on her mind. "Jazz is about expressing what's inside you in a real way,"she says. "When I sing, I feel like I'm doing what I was born to do. It's how I imagine flying... read more
Idit Shner - 9 Short Stories
by Shannon J. Effinger, Downbeat
****
9 Short Stories marks the latest release from Idit Shner on the OA2 label. The saxophonist and composer is currently an associate professor of saxophone and jazz studies at the University of Oregon.
In spite of the rich precedent for women players and composers in jazz, there remains a lack of opportunities for women in this music. Happily, more female artists today are growing empowered to take their careers into their... read more
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