This 2021 CD features the music of Michael Waldrop on marimba, vibraphone, and drum set. Additionally, percussionists Gordon Stout, Brad Dutz, Jose Rossy, and Marko Djordjevic are featured on several tracks. In addition to Waldrop as a composer, other composers include Jack Cooper, Nathan Daughtrey, Jonathan Middleton, Stout, and Dutz. This CD reflects the outstanding musicianship of Waldrop on a variety of instruments. The compositions are... read more
A nostalgic dip with nostalgia for a vibrant live concert? Then this 'Live At The Berlin Philharmonic' is a recommended remedy. Recorded in 1977 with the legendary brothers Michael and Randy Brecker on the front line along with pianist Hal Galper, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses.
Galper, at the time sidekick to Dave Holland and Lee Konitz, among others, just returned from three years of touring with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet... read more
4 STARS From the mouth of his young daughter came the four playful syllables that don't mean a thing in the adult world, but Portland, Oregon-based pianist Clay Giberson took the idea - and the momentous event of the birth of his child - and went into the studio to record solo, every day for two weeks. The result is Minga Minga.
Giberson's association with Origin Records has been a fruitful one, featuring a double handful of... read more
Chicago saxist Brad Wheeler plays with an infectious passion, but it's rooted as much in musical intellect as it is in his broad, swaggering tone on both tenor and soprano. Wheeler's name might ring a bell: he grew up in the Chicago suburbs and hit the local scene hard and fast in the 80's, but after he moved to Paris in 1990 his work all but vanished from these shores (though he did appear on a couple of Kurt Elling's Blue Note albums). Wheeler... read more
The lovely Decade: Memoirs is as pastoral as the photograph on its cover - not exactly the expectation for a Chicagoan, like guitarist John Moulder. The heavy folk and country vibe, the spaciousness and high-note reaches of "About Us" and its separately tracked introduction are a natural fit for Moulder's flat-picked acoustic guitar; during the introduction, he even sounds like a dulcimer. "One Last Call" goes so far as to paraphrase the vamp... read more
They could have titled this CD "LA Meets Seattle," as it brings together some stellar players from both those communities. Try on for size: Andy Martin, Lanny Morgan, Gary Foster, Pete Christlieb, Jay Thomas, Bill Ramsay, Bill Cunliffe, and on one vocal, Greta Matassa. Bursting with riveting big band charts and explosive solo work from all comers, the album features four standards and five originals. With the exception of one cut devoted to out... read more
Chuck Deardorf uses a full arsenal of basses on this album with Dawn Clemen/p-key, Matt Wilson/dr, Hans Teuber/ts-fl and guests Marc Seale/p, Gary Hobbs/dr, Thomas Marriott/fh, Jay Thomas/fh and David Marriott/tb. On electric bass, Deardorff creates a Weather Reportish mood with Seales on the tapestry of "Falling Grace" while getting elegiac on "Silver Hollow." A pair of tunes by Thelonoious Monk have Teuber's tenor join with Deardorf's soft... read more
Hollywood called...
...and Max Steiner was the first of this dynamic duo to answer, arriving there in 1929, initially working for the RKO Studios as an orchestrator and then as a composer. This was not his first affiliation with Hollywood, however; he functioned as Fox Studio's musical director, adding live music to silent films presented in New York theaters where he had already established himself on Broadway. The call to come west must have... read more
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Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Hanna Kay, Cult News (Paris)
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Budapest, Rudolf Radnai
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Dee Dee McNeil, Making A Scene
Affinity Trio - New Outlook
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Michael Dease Big Band - Return Trajectory
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Brad Goode Quintet Feat. Ernie Watts - Live Your Dream: Live at North Street Cabaret
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect