I took a quick survey of pianist Bruce Barth’s discography, and the album titles go like this: Home: Live in Columbia Missouri, Live at Café Del Teatre, Live at The Village Vanguard, Hope Springs Eternal, Live. So when New York’s legendary Small’s jazz club asked Barth to make a liveRead More

Washington D.C. percussion specialist Nasar Abadey has earned his stripes over decades performing with some of jazz’s towering figures like Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Fortune. You May Also Like: Chicken Diamond – The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (2016) Chicken Diamond – Skeleton Coast (2018) DiamondRead More

Taylor Haskins, who’s done an impressive amount of soundtrack work, has put out an appropriately cinematic project here. Originally recorded in 2009, but just issued by NineteenEight Records earlier this month, Taylor Haskins + Recombination begins with the soaring sunrise of “Morning Chorale,” moves on into the rush-hour bustle ofRead More

The Elements of Jazz is a quartet from Miami bills themselves as “The New Sound of Miami,” with its clean and lean jazzy grooves that sharply contrast with the “new sound of Miami” from the 80s, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. The one common element is that bothRead More

Guitarist/bandleader Anthony Wilson, son of legendary L.A. composer, pianist and big band bandleader Gerald Wilson, has established himself as an artist in his own right since leading his own records from 1997 on, including a long, ongoing stint in Diana Krall’s band. Though Anthony chose guitar as his instrument andRead More

What was cool about Lester Young was that he kept evolving. All “Pres” did was: — Pave the way for bebop in the 1930s. — Presuppose, while playing clarinet with Basie back in the day, the cool California sound of Paul Desmond in Dave Brubeck’s 1960s band. — Later findRead More

Since 1999, alto saxophonist Travis Sullivan has made a record on average only about every six years or so. Perhaps it’s because he’s very much into his signature project leading the 18-piece big band Bjorkestra, a vehicle for his arrangements of songs by Iceland’s pop icon Bjork. Enjoy! (2008) isRead More

by Mark Saleski To my ears, the reference standard of piano duo recordings has to be that Chick Corea/Herbie Hancock thing. Monstrous, is what it is. This is a little different though. First, it’s Reed and Chestnut (duh). Second, there’s the presence of bass and drums (Dezron Douglas, Willie JonesRead More

The sweet, liquid and brassy sound of a trombone has been a major cog in the jazz machine since around its inception, bigger at some times more than at others. These days, it doesn’t enjoy the stature and popularity it used to, and I often wonder why You May AlsoRead More

Those looking to get a groove going inside Count Basie’s sprawling, soul-deep catalogue should start with his 1970s stuff — where, more often than not, you find Basie in accessible, small-group settings. Here’s my favorite, a trio recording originally issued by Pablo that was reissued in 2006. I immediately connectedRead More