Jason Stein’s ‘Three Kinds of Happiness’ makes all kinds of sweet noise.

by S. Victor Aaron Fred Fried comes from the George Van Eps school of guitarists, having been taught by the late guitar great himself. That’s readily apparent from his harmonically intricate style that leads with full chordal lines while simultaneously playing the enhancing bass lines. In other words, Fred FriedRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Like another longtime legend Barry Harris, guitar great Kenny Burrell cuts a live disc that proves he’s still got what it takes to live up to his immense reputation. Recorded over a week-long engagement at one of NYC’s hottest jazz spot’s, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, BurrellRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Avishai Cohen, the trumpet player, was last seen nearly two years ago in conjunction with his 2008 release Flood, a sparsely configured work where he sought to push against the outer boundaries of jazz using just his trumpet accompanied by only piano and percussion. This year’sRead More

by Mark Saleski Springsteen fans have been waiting years for the 30th anniversary release of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Waiting, and waiting, and… And then the anniversary passed, with rumours and speculation fueled by smokes signals emanating from Camp Springsteen about how the set was “nearly complete.” OfRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Like James Moody and Benny Golson, Barry Harris is a fine, old-school performer with a few standards under his belt and whom I was pleasantly surprised to find is still making viable records. Having a long legacy from 1960 on playing alongside greats such as CannonballRead More

I tend to regard unaccompanied solo records as a pretty good indicator as to how well that musician can play their instrument. Even if they play so well a capella, though, that doesn’t necessarily make it a great record. It can so easily devolve into a “look how good IRead More

by Mark Saleski I don’t have the language to properly describe most pieces of classical music, so you will rarely (if ever) see me employ words such as “sonata,” “fortissimo,” and “canon.” Besides, with this week’s passing of Polish composer Henryk Górecki, many megabytes (and ink!) have been spilled withRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Here’s another CD of advanced jazz led by its composing drummer, this time Mike Pride. One thing I’ve found with drummer-led combos, is that drummers have a natural tendency toward democracy in a band, and his Bacteria To Boys (Darius Jones, alto sax; Peter Bitenc, bass;Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Avant garde specialist Albert Beger has long been known commodity in his native Israel but not so much in America, despite having recorded with William Parker and Hamid Drake on a couple of records. Beger seeks to change that with what he considers one of hisRead More