Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Jeff Baker - Phrases
by Editor, Downbeat
Jazz vocalist Jeff Baker recruited some of the most respected musicians in jazz for his fifth album, Phrases (OA2 Records), which will be released Jan. 19. Participating in the recording sessions were drummer Brian Blade, trumpeter Marquis Hill, saxophonist Steve Wilson and pianist Darrell Grant, who served as musical director and co-producer.
The album will mark Baker's debut as a composer, with seven of the album's songs featuring his music... read more
Gordon Lee with the Mel Brown Septet - Tuesday Night
by Travis Rogers, Jr., Music Life & Times
Finally, Gordon Lee with the Mel Brown Septet has released the long-awaited sequel to "Gordon Blues," the 1989 sextet recording of the group who won Hennessy Jazz Search competition. In the end, 25 years was not too long to wait for such a splendid recording.
For well 15 years, Portland's Jazz audience has enjoyed Mel Brown's Septet every Tuesday night at the famed Jimmy Mak's Jazz club. With good food and a musicologist bartender, Jimmy... read more
Nelda Swiggett - Blue-Eyed Painted Lady
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Pianist/vocalist Nelda Swiggett leads a chamber jazz team of Chris Symer/bass, Byron Vannoy/drums, Rachel Swerdlow/viola and Walter Gray/cello through some exciting, quirky and swinging originals. Tensile and dramatic pieces such as "Thanks To Solomon" or the boppish "Hewett's Blues" have the leader using either lyrics or wordless vocals with the strings pick, pluck and bow to boppish grooves. Gentle brushes sashay on the samba'd title... read more
Laura Welland - Love Is Never Out Of Season
by Donald Elfman, Barnes and Noble
If you like your love songs served up straight, free of artifice and frill, then give a listen to Laura Welland. She's chosen 12 songs from the ballad and standard songbook and presented them in a way that focuses, most naturally, on the stories they tell. Thanks to the bright, clean sound of the production and the complementary colors provided by her accompanists -- Bill Mays on piano, producer John Clayton on bass, and Joe LaBarbera on drums... read more
Ted Piltzecker - Vibes on a Breath
by Russell Perry, WTJU
While vibraphonist Ted Piltzecker's name is on the marque, his is a light tough and this is a team effort with four horns upfront on a sweet collection of tunes by Oliver Nelson, Hoagy Carmichael, Lee Konitz and Miles Davis among others (plus three originals). George Harris wrote on Jazz Weekly, "The team charges and jabs along with [Wil] Swindler's baritone on a sleek read of Seven Steps To Heaven, and the horns get elegiac for a sublime New... read more
Svetlana and the Delancey Five - Night at the Speakeasy
by Dr. Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz
Svetlana Shmulyian is a vocalist and songwriter who is ushering the traditional Dixie/New Orleans Jazz of the early 1900s into what is now is now called Hot Jazz. Her sweet soft vocals are prominent on top of the music from her swinging ensemble the Delancey Five including all-star guitarist Vinny Raniolo and bassist George Delancey. Special guest Wycliffe Gordon adds trombone, vocals and a few arrangements to make this Night At The Speakeasy a... read more
Stephen Martin - High Plains
by Nina Cherry, Kansas City Magazine
Eight years after he recorded it, Stephen Martin feels like he's outgrown his first album.
"You spend so much time trying to get not only your individual sound but the band sound together," Martin says. "And then you walk into a studio. If you're new to it, it's a whole new world to try and figure out. It was a big learning experience for me."
Martin is a saxophonist who hit the Kansas City scene fourteen years ago, when he started... read more
Hans Luchs - Time Never Pauses
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
Chicago-based guitarist Hans Luchs draws more from the recent than far past. More John Abercrombie and John Scofield than Wes Montgomery or Grant Green. His debut recording Time Never Pauses is a collection of eight original compositions and two transformed standards reveals the continued refining of modern jazz composition well past the head-solo section-head style of hard bop and the liquid freedom of post bop into pure composition.
"Der... read more
Looking for a specific review?
This is just a small collection of the OA2 Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Search Reviews:
Recently Added Reviews:
Jun Iida - Evergreen
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Zach Rich - Solidarity
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington - Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five
by George Harris, Jazz Weekly
Paul Tynan & Aaron Lington - Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Five
by j. poet, DownBeat Magazine
Francesco Crosara - Circular Motion
by David Witter, Fra Noi Magazine
Francesco Crosara - Circular Motion
by Jan van Leersum, RootsTime.BE (Belgium)
Francesco Crosara - Circular Motion
by Matt Micucci, JAZZIZ
Ben Winkelman - Heartbeat
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Darden Purcell - Love's Got Me in a Lazy Mood
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Charlie Apicella & Iron City meet The Griots Speak - Destiny Calling
by Marco Cangiano, The New York City Jazz Record