With eleven sturdy originals and an all-star band in tow, there’s no way jazz guitar whiz Will Bernard’s ‘Out & About’ was going to disappoint.

“Conviction” is a powerful word, it connotes purposeful, assured and determined. And those are qualities that be ascribed to Kendrick Scott’s second album, Conviction. You May Also Like: Christian Scott Confirmed His Vision for Jazz With ‘Live at Newport’ Joey DeFrancesco, with Pharoah Sanders – ‘In the Key of theRead More

In 2010, bassist extraordinaire William Parker quietly released an album of recordings called Uncle Joe’s Spirit House that put a different spin on organ jazz. You May Also Like: Brian Charette – ‘Power From The Air’ (2021) Brian Charette – Once & Future (2016)

When I think of all the members of the young, exciting roster that the fledgling Brooklyn Jazz Underground Jazz Records has in its ranks, one of the first names I think of is Anne Mette Iversen. She is a serious talent at both acoustic bass and compositions. You May AlsoRead More

by Pico A new John Ellis CD drops today, which is an occasion to shout an hallelujah or two. And that’s not just because Ellis serves his jazz with heaping spoonfuls of gospel, either. A couple of years ago, one of the of brightest, ascending sax stars today decided toRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last year we spotlighted a trio of CD’s that made up the maiden releases by a new record label, the artist-run collective Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. A year later last June, there were three more BJU records to examine. And here we are less than sixRead More

by Pico Yesterday was a look back at what I thought were the best mainstream music releases of 2008. Now it’s time for the installment of this year’s “Best Of” series that’s my main bread and butter: straight ahead jazz. More records of that sort were covered in this spaceRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There seems to be this wonderful trend of late, where a newer generation of bass players are following the example of Charles Mingus and presenting themselves as serious composers and bandleaders. In the last year on this space we’ve profiled the latest releases of such luminariesRead More

For this installment of Quickies, the inaugural releases of a new label dedicated to presenting the music of talented up and coming jazz musicians are highlighted. These musicians are all members of an artist collective, the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, and this spring saw the launching of the collective’s Brooklyn JazzRead More

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 beenRead More