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

For a musician who has devoted his life since early childhood toward his craft and studied for many years as well as earning his stripes in the bars of the great jazz cities of the world, the release of that first album has to be a feeling of relief, elationRead More

As I type this review, I’m listening to not necessarily All Wrapped Up, the new record by organist Jared Gold, but also Unity by Larry Young. I know, it doesn’t make sense, since it’s Gold’s record being reviewed here, not Young’s. But something struck me about All Wrapped Up whenRead More

Orrin Evans arrived amidst a wave of new jazz performers in the early 1990s. Unlike many of those young lions, however, he managed to bob up from that era’s ultimately empty retro-conservatism. You May Also Like: Johannes Wallmann, jazz pianist and bandleader: Something Else! Interview Bill Evans – Time Remembered,Read More

Posi-Tone Records, the label that has done more than anyone else lately in putting out records by the brightest new talent in mainstream and modern jazz, introduced the pianist and composer Noah Haidu to the world last week. Slipstream went on sale March 22, a debut that doesn’t present mereRead More

by Nick DeRiso Turns out, it actually does mean a thing, even if it ain’t got that swing. For something like 80 years now, that old Duke Ellington cliche worked as the clarion call of big band music, but its mantra has also become its curse. You May Also Like:Read More

photo courtesy of Posi-Tone Records by S. Victor Aaron It seems like it was not even a year since we were last here chatting up a new Ralph Bowen CD, and checking back, there actually is less than twelve months between his last one, Due Reverence and this one dueRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The beginning of the year is usually a quiet period for music releases. Coming on the heels of the frantic holiday shopping season and the various “best of (prior) year lists” that assist in yuletide purchasing decisions, you’d think there wouldn’t be anything worthwhile coming outRead More

by S. Victor Aaron What a stellar year it’s been for Posi-Tone Records. They’ve generated record after record of honest-to-goodness mainstream jazz done with taste, style, with exceptional sidemen and flawless production. After reviewing zero releases prior to 2010, we’ve now given our impressions on a dozen releases, eleven ofRead More

Maybe it’s just me, but I think we’re in the midst of a full-fledged revival in jazz organ, led by a newer generation of players who have gone beyond mimicking the tried and true voicings of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Richard “Groove” Holmes. In that group of innovative newRead More