Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Jeremy Levy Jazz Orchestra - The Planets: Reimagined
by Customer Review, Amazon
The ensemble writing and playing here is unbelievable! This music contains some very challenging stuff. The band includes top LA studio musicians. The soloists fit perfectly in each piece! The solists include Andy Martin, Alex Budman, Michael Stever, Tom Luer, and Andrew Synowiec.
The mix is great. You can clearly hear each section. This album is big fat punchy big band excellence!
Nothing is recycled or typical here. Jeremy pulled out... read more
Dan Cavanagh - Heart of the Geyser
by Andrea Carter, Jazz Police
The only reason I did not review this recording weeks ago is that I kept listening to it. I left it in the CD changer and let it sing to me at least once each day for the two months. Needless to say, this unpretentious trio release will surely be among my top picks of 2012. But who is Dan Cavanagh? An honors graduate of the music program at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he studied under vibraphonist/composer Dave Hagedorn, pianist... read more
Will Goble - Consider the Blues
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Bassist Will Goble delivers the blues in many dark and light hues here on a mix of originals, covers and traditional. He teams up with the thick tenor of Gregory Tardy, nimble piano for Louis Heriveaux and Dave Potter's simpatico drumming for some clever arrangements and deliveries. The post bop original "Johnson's Magic Umbrella" has some Monkish corners for Tardy to veer around, while Heriveaux's modal touch on "The Ant's Went Marching..." and... read more
Daria - Strawberry Fields Forever
by Dr. Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz
You can't argue with a program based on the Beatles songbook. It's been exploited by countless musicians successfully. On Strawberry Fields Forever Daria puts a mild, jazzy, country/pop twist on the classic tunes. Her voice is pleasant, crisp and inviting. Our favorites are "Come Together" and the swinging "Can't Buy Me Love". Beatles fans will enjoy yet another incarnation of their favorites while jazz fans may be enticed to expand their... read more
Svetlana and the Delancey Five - Night at the Speakeasy
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
The name Svetlana and the Delancey Five sounds like a Cold War cadre of marauding spies. Moscow-native Svetlana Shmulyian is the real article and brings a certain "other-worldness" to a jazz repertoire existing somewhere between 1920 and the Rapture. The band's Night at the Speakeasy is their debut for the West Coast OA2 Record label. With that title, it is just too easy to assume that this recording is simply an expose of the older forms of... read more
Unhinged Sextet - Don't Blink
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
The consensus is that the only reason to call this crew Unhinged is because they are in different parts of the country and convene once a year to record. This is too much of an ensemble to be unhinged so if you are looking for some pots and pans music, look elsewhere. This is a swinging bunch of jazzbos that show their impressive debut wasn't the product of a life time of wood shedding with nothing to follow it up with. Tasty, swinging full... 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
Chamber 3 - Grassroots
by , Jazz Society of Oregon
The Seattle/German collective Chamber 3 seems to burst with urgency. Propelled by the Emerald City's Matt Jorgensen on drums, Grassroots is an explosive exercise in stormy postbop, with fine playing from all involved. Particularly inspired is German saxophonist Steffen Weber, who spins an inspiring blend of bebop and angular lines with a smooth, smoky tone. Though he's less eager to hog the spotlight, guitarist Christian Eckert brings an... read more
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