Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Cheryl Fisher - Quietly There
by Chris Spector, Midwest Review
Picking songs that are well known but not well worn, jazz singer Fisher does a reversal on the usual jazz diva route by making a quiet album of songs you think you know as opposed to giving Cole Porter more over exposure. With composers that rank well above chopped liver represented here, this is a quiet album for quiet times when you want to shut most of the world out. Sexy without trying, this is the real deal for jazz vocal fans that want... read more
Nelda Swiggett - This Time
by Dick Crockett, Bopndicks 10 Picks
Seattle-based pianist Nelda Swiggett has a bright smooth swinging quality to her mainstream approach and a minimalist almost bare knuckles attitude. Her key strokes are bold and assertive, as if she knows exactly the direction of her music. And you feel it, directional-determined and cool. She has written all original compositions and three with lyrics. Her vocals are care free and warm, juxtaposed to her driving style on piano. She's been... read more
Danny Green - Altered Narratives
by Paul Hormick, San Diego Troubadour
Danny Green has established himself as one of the best jazz pianists and composers in Southern California. His second CD with his trio, Altered Narratives, displays the individual talents of Green, bassist Justin Grinnell, and drummer Julien Cantelm as well as what this unit has evolved into since the band's inception five years ago.
The trio's first CD, After the Calm, had Green and his band mates dashing through some "Giant Steps" changes.... read more
Daria - Strawberry Fields Forever
by Michael Doherty, Michael's Music Log
Strawberry Fields Forever, is her tribute to The Beatles. There are a lot of Beatles tribute albums out there, as you know, in basically every musical genre you can think of. What Daria does on this album is focus mostly on the band's later years, with songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("When I'm Sixty-Four," "Fixing A Hole"), Abbey Road ("Come Together") and The White Album ("Blackbird," "Julia," "Helter Skelter"). Apparently... read more
New Standard Jazz Orchestra - Waltz About Nothing
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
Any orchestra that professes to establish a new standard had better be able to back that up. Happily for the listener, on its debut recording, Waltz About Nothing, Chicago's New Standard Jazz Orchestra can—and does. In a little more than two years, the NSJO has arisen as a worthy successor to one of the more exemplary ensembles ever to grace the Windy City, trumpeter Rob Parton's JazzTech Big Band. The equivalence seems predestined when one... read more
Nelda Swiggett - Blue-Eyed Painted Lady
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A jazzbo trio mixes it up with a couple of local (Seattle) classical luminaries for a rolling thunder of a set that smokes along mightily with elements of pop and progressive rock in it's grooves as well as it's jazz base. Delightfully left of center, this is a fearless set that pushes boundaries and keeps on going. Smart stuff for smart listeners that like music that really takes them places.... read more
George Cotsirilos - Variations
by Rick Anderson, CDHotlist.com
Guitarist George Costirilos has two big things going for him: a warm, inviting tone, and the ability to lead a trio of unbelievable tightness in such a way that it sounds loose and cheerful rather than constricted. Well, maybe one other big thing as well: phenomenal melodic inventiveness. On this album he switches between electric and acoustic guitar and between originals and standards (with an emphasis on the former), gliding effortlessly... read more
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
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