by S. Victor Aaron Like Jason Stein, Gutbucket co-founder Ken Thomson is a bass clarinetist — he’s an alto saxophonist, too — and both like to play along the margins of jazz, but Thomson’s conception of music freely spills over into other styles as well. His latest project, Ken ThomsonRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Although she’s made bop-oriented records for over twenty years, Holly Hoffmann is not as well known as she probably should be. A flautist of the first order, she’s the logical heir to Frank Wess’ legacy. Bill Cunliffe is accomplished in the jazz world himself, having wonRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Here’s the setup: a successful real estate tycoon suddenly decides to revisit his original passion, music, and pulls in three of Canada’s most prestigious jazz musicians and a top-notch producer to make his first record, one full of done-to-death standards. And you’re thinking, this is probablyRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Bands led by horn players tend to work well if there’s a lot of rapport between the horn players. That’s not an issue for The Britton Brothers Band, whose trumpet player (John) and saxophonist (Ben) have the same parents. For this debut, these young cats builtRead More

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

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 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 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