jazz2love

Album:  Try This Artist:  Bill Moio Label: ITI Records Website:  billmoio.com Jazz guitarist Bill Moio’s second album as a leader, Try This , demonstrates his command of the blues/soul milieu as well as his prowess as an eloquent songwriter.  His gift is honing melodic musings into smooth ambiences that incite the mind to drift across pleasing stratospheres.  Featuring a complementing array of musicians that includes George Whitty on keyboards, Wayne Bergeron on trumpet, Andy Martin on trombone, Eric Marienthal on saxophone, Tommy Brechtlein on drums, and Jimmy Haslip and Mel Brown intermittently on bass, Moio proves himself to be a meaningful connoisseur of the blues, jazz, soul fusion.  His arrangements flow seamlessly, radiating sensitivity and grace across the melodic movements, making a likeable impression on the listener. The Latin-tinged swagger in Moio's guitar chords rippling across "Arroz Con Pollo" is heaven to the ears, enhanced by the animated ...

Album:  Safe Travels Artist:  Jerry Kalaf Label:  Self-Released Website: jerrykalaf.com Safe Travels is jazz drummer Jerry Kalaf’s 2025 album.  A soothing collection of original compositions that blend the temporal voices of a piano trio with the airy textures of a string quartet. Comprised of arrangements and orchestrations by Doug Walter, the recording features the Chicago-based string quartet ATLYS, partnering classical influences with jazz sensibilities and improvised strokes. The outcome is a musical saga, laden with sonic impressions and emotive expressions. Recorded at Studio J in Studio City, California, by Jerry Kalaf, and at RAX TRAX in Chicago, Illinois, by Andy Shoemaker, the project is meticulously finessed with structured trimmings augmented by spontaneous wanderings.  Mixed by Jerry Kalaf and Doug Walter at Studio J and mastered by Scott Fraser at Architecture in Pasadena, California, the album delivers a multi-faceted listening experience, bustl...

Album:  A Little Taste: A tribute to Dave Frishberg Artist:  Dave Frishberg Label:  Cherry Pie Music Website:  rebeccakilgore.com The female singers of jazz have a special place in audience's hearts, recalling Billie Holiday, Dianne Reeves, and Jane Monheit among others, each sharing the vibrancy discernible in vocalist Rebecca Kilgore.  In her fourth decade as a connoisseur of jazz vocals, Kilgore celebrates 9 works of Dave Frishberg on her recording, A Litte Taste: A Tribute To Dave Frishberg , with 2 additional songs that she and her husband, flugelhornist-trumpeter-arranger Dick Titterington, often performed in their long collaboration. From swinging showtunes-style trots like Frishberg and Johnny Mandel's upbeat tune "Brenda Starr" to the sonic symphonic billows of Frishberg and Mandel's caressing ballad "You Are There," Kilgore covers jazz from nostalgia to modern.  Ragtime embers sparkle across "Ah, So Pure," a 1848 melody by Friedrich v...

Album Name: Play Space Artist: Omer Lesham Label: Ubuntu Music Artist Website: omerleshem.net Originally from Herzliya, Israel and now based in Brooklyn, New York for the past decade, saxophonist and composer Omer Leshem has honed a compositional style that is influenced by a wide range of concepts, including classical European harmonies, Middle Eastern grooves, Mediterranean lyricism, and contemporary free jazz. His third release Play Space is composed of nine original scores featuring his quintet with Leshem playing tenor saxophone, Moshe Elmakias on piano, Nadav Remez on guitar, Elam Friedlander on bass, and Ben Silashi on drums.  All members are Israelis currently residing in New York City, channeling their shared ethnic roots and affinity for improvised jazz. Leshem pays homage to the British psychoanalyst Donald Winnicot on the recording, who devoted his career to studying child play.  Interpreted as the concept that a child’s imagination liberates the mind from establi...

Album:  Tribute: The Music of Gregg Hill Artist:  Rick Roe Label: Cold Plunge Records Websites:  gregghilljazz.com roejazz.com Pianist Rick Roe is joined by drummer Nate Winn and bassist Robert Hurst for his 2024 release, Tribute: The Music of Gregg Hill , a heartfelt homage to Lansing-based composer Gregg Hill.  The trio morphs twelve compelling tracks by Hill that explore bop jazz from swinging romps to caressing ballads and improvised lyricism. Starting off with the freestyle rivulets of Roe in “Elden’s Bop,” his frilly whorls and zestful playing is bolstered by the jaunty beats of Nate Winn’s robust drumming.  The track is followed up by the swinging rhythm of “Ducks Night Out,” seeing Robert Hurst’s arco bass propelling the bopping grooves as Roe's improvised doodles on the keys scroll animated notations along the melodic patterns. The trio's zealous approach continues through “Mr. Pea,” a frothy romp that showcases Roe’s lively piano work intertwined with ...

  An Italian naval officer Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the globe in the early 16th century, as a traveler of the seven seas.  Florentine astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the celestial bodies canvassing the Earth's solar system, the Milky Way, in the early 17th century, known to be a traveler of the stars.  Swiss apothecary Albrecht Höpfner invented various shades of blue in the late 18th century, noted as a traveler of colors.  Polish-French chemist Marie Curie discovered radium in the early 20th century, being a traveler of energy waves.   In the vane of such notable explorers, Barcelona-born pianist Marina Albero has made discoveries of her own in the early 21st century.  Creating new melodic formations using string and keyboard instruments.  The title of her 2024 release A Nomad of Sound reflects her explorative nature.  For the recording, she traveled from her home in Seattle, Washington, which she resettled to in 2014, and fou...