NICK DERISO: Frank Sinatra never called himself a jazz singer, but his delivery had notable shadings associated with Billie Holiday and his old boss Tommy Dorsey — from whom a young Sinatra learned the breath-control technique that made his so-very-long ballad verses achingly memorable. This release, featuring a 1962 live date, underscored just how clear those connections were. We discovered [...]

by S. Victor Aaron Kurt Rosenwinkel first got my attention as the cerebral but melodic guitarist on Brian Blade’s masterpiece Perceptual back in 2000 and then via Rosenwinkel’s own major work of art Heartcore from three years later. That vastly overlooked record was a commanding balance of musicianship, texture and composition that today remains one of the best fusion releases [...]

To call this the most successful melding of New Orleans-style rag with hard Chicago blues presupposes that there ever was one before. Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, as was his way, tills up new earth here, and with remarkable results. A stride pianist of great wit and power, Montgomery had the rare ability to keep pace with the early jazzers of [...]

by Pico Of all the sax-organ-sousaphone-drums ensembles out there, John Ellis & his Double-Wide ensemble really do stand out. That might be because there aren’t any other such ensembles out there. To get to this point where he’s leading such an unusual combo, North Carolina native John Ellis had been on a musical odyssey that took him from singing hymns [...]

NICK DERISO: Jim Hall displays an extraordinary warmth here, expanding upon his terrific 1984 duo collaboration with bassist Ron Carter on Concord, “Live at the Village West.” This is where Hall was perhaps always headed, even while he established himself as an ace sideman in associations with legends like Ella Fitzgerald (on the famous “Ella in Berlin” concert for Verve), [...]

by Pico Tribute records to living icons don’t occur nearly as frequently as the salutes to fallen musical heroes, but they do happen here and there. I was reminded of that occurrence when I covered Jeff Richman’s celebration of Jeff Beck’s music last year. Similarly, avant garde saxophone player Joe McPhee didn’t wait until one of his progressive jazz heroes [...]

by Pico After arriving in New York City in 2001 and woodshedding as a notable sideman, composer and more recently, producer, a jazz keyboard player is ready to put his best foot forward. Chicago-born Sam Barsh is a name that’s only come up in conversations about the current jazz scene in the last few years, but this bright young musician [...]

photo by Jack Vartoogian by Pico The first thing that is usually said about Jane Ira Bloom is that she is the rare jazz saxophonist who plays the soprano sax…exclusively. With so many prominent forebears who made made memorable music on the straight horn ranging from John Coltrane to Dave Liebman, it wouldn’t seem to be that big of a [...]

by Pico In the wild world of underground instrumental music, Marco Benevento is a newcomer as a leader, but he’s no stranger to the scene. The thirty-year old Berklee School of Music grad studied jazz piano under Joanne Brackeen, Kenny Werner and Brad Mehldau and set up shop in New York City seven years ago cultivating credibility gigging there. Eventually, [...]

NICK DERISO: Volume 2 gives an idea of how considerable a wake the 1940s Miles Davis Nonet left. Taking its name from Davis’ legendary 1950 recording, this welcome, if belated, compilation scoops up all of the Capitol cuts from the early ’50s by two of the nonet’s most important disciples, Shorty Rogers and his Giants and the Gerry Mulligan Tentette. [...]