Post Tagged with: "new release"

Vinyl

Michael Bates – Clockwise (2008)

Sometimes you know if a CD is going to be good even before you cue it up and start listening to it. The first thing I that caught my eye when I opened up Michael Bates’ Clockwise CD was the note that it was taped live on a two-track recorder.Read More

Vinyl

One Track Mind: Brian Wilson, "Midnight's Another Day" (2008)

Lodged toward the end of a nostalgic song cycle that attempts (with varying degrees of success) to recreate the soaring pop music of his California youth, Brian Wilson offers a moment of naked, welcome honesty. On “Midnight’s Another Day,” away from the florid orchestrations and dense backing vocals associated withRead More

Vinyl

The Wee Trio – Capitol Diner Vol. 1 (2008)

“The best post-punk jazz trio with vibraphone ever.” That’s the bold declaration you’ll find when you click on the link at the bottom of this article to purchase their CD. It’s also very hard to argue with that statement. James Westfall (vibes), Dan Loomis (acoustic bass) and Jared Schonig (drums)Read More

Vinyl

Garaj Mahal – w00t (2008)

Photo: Susan J. WeiandWith jazz fusion having been around for some forty years, now, it’s not so easy to be distinctive in that field anymore. Garaj Mahal manages to stick out, mainly due to massive chops by all four group members and a dizzying array of influences each group memberRead More

Aaron Parks - 'Invisible Cinema' (2008)

Aaron Parks – ‘Invisible Cinema’ (2008)

The sky’s the limit for Aaron Parks and he’s already several miles off the ground.

Vinyl

Torben Waldorff – Afterburn (2008)

Used to be that whenever the term “Scandinavian jazz” would come up, one could summarize it by pointing to the sterile, pristine folk-jazz popularized by Jan Garbarek and the ECM label from the seventies on. In recent times, it’s come to mean such a variety of styles and tendencies thatRead More

Chicago, "Stone of Sisyphus" from 'Stone of Sisyphus' (2008): One Track Mind

Chicago, “Stone of Sisyphus” from ‘Stone of Sisyphus’ (2008): One Track Mind

The title of this Chicago song, named after a Greek character who eternally pushes a rock up hill only to have it roll back down, is sadly ironic.

Vinyl

Lionel Hampton Orchestra – Swiss Radio Days: Basel 1953, Part 2 (2008)

NICK DERISO: Finding an impressive record by Lionel Hampton, known for both his harmonic and rhythmic sophistication, is easy. Finding one that delights as much as its intrigues anymore, however, is rare. His legacy, now more than ever, is secure: Born in Louisville, Ky., in 1908, Hamp would record hundredsRead More

Vinyl

Cephas and Wiggins – Richmond Blues (2008)

NICK DERISO: Cephas and Wiggins, America’s best remaining champions of the easterly Piedmont blues tradition, somehow never really made it. I mean, Robert Cray-type made it. Stevie Ray-type made it. A shame. Self-taught harp player Phil Wiggins, from Washington D.C., met John Cephas as the 1960s blues revival was inRead More

Vinyl

Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood (2008)

My, how time flies. It didn’t seem so long ago when Wynton Marsalis spotted this young trumpet talent at a Dallas high school in the mid-eighties. Since then, Roy Hargrove has recorded fourteen albums as a leader, and another co-led with Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker. For these efforts, he’sRead More