jazz2love

  Album:  Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance  Artist:  Alexis Cole Label:  Tiger Turn Release Date:  November 6, 2026 Website:  www.alexiscole.com At 50 years of age, Alexis Cole releases the first album on which she is both the singer and pianist, calling the release Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance.   The title is pertinent to Cole's life story, having inherited her father's talent for playing the piano, and her maternal grandmother's affinity for creating an intimacy with the audience by singing and accompanying herself on the piano.  Supporting Cole is David Finck on bass and Kenny Hassler on drums, erecting an environment that is reflective of cabarets and after hours clubs. Fluent in both Latin jazz and American swing, Cole holds her audience captive with the bossa nova sashaying of "My Little Boat" and the torchlight setting of "Bye Bye Blackbird."  The delicate flicker in her keys shroud her vocals in beads of crystal thr...

  Album:  A Live Musical Tribute to Peggy Lee Artist:  Angela O’Neill and the Outrageous8 Label: Outrageous8 Records Release Date: August 21, 2026 Website:   www.angelamaeoneill.com Recorded live on September 10, 2024, at The Velvet Martini Lounge at Vitello’s Restaurant in Studio City, California, A Live Musical Tribute to Peggy Lee celebrates vocalist Angela O’Neill and her band, the Outrageous8, entering their tenth year together.  The repertoire reaches back to the band’s beginnings, performing some of the most revered melodies sung by the late, great Peggy Lee.   The Outrageous8 does not approach the material as a re-creation of Lee's recordings but rather as the big band orchestra supporting their own leading lady, Ms. O'Neill. From the big band blazes of "Outrageous ‘A’ Train," the recording rolls into the bluesy burlesque swagger of "I’m A Woman,” laden with smoldering instrumentation as O'Neill performs with all the flaming gusto of a vi...

  Album:  Royalty Artist:  Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra Label:  T2 Music Release Date:  August 7, 2026 Artist Website: https://www.springfieldsym.org/ssjo Label Website: https://t2-music.com/  Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra (SSJO) is a performing and recording big band based in Springfield, Ohio and established in 2019.   Founded by Springfield native Todd Stoll, a trumpeter, educator, and Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, SSJO attracts musicians from across Ohio and neighboring states.  The bond that holds them is a shared commitment to uphold traditional big band idioms and its stylistic language.   Its members crossover three generations that include professional musicians, educators, and emerging artists whose diverse backgrounds contribute vastly to the collaborations on their new release Royalty. Multiple motifs are layered and crisscrossed along Duke Ellington's tune "Second L...

  Album:  If I Did Not Speak Out  Artist:  Ryan Barry Label: G2 Records & Publishing Street Date: September 11, 2026 Website: https://www.ryanbarrymusic.com Label Site: https://www.g2recordsandpublishing.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rbarrymusic Ryan Barry is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose music integrates traditional hard bop language with modern swing and contemporary voices.  His bio claims he was "drawn to improvisation from an early age, [when] he discovered his passion for jazz while performing in his university big band, setting the course for a career centered on composition, collaboration, and artistic exploration."  Traits that came together on his latest release If I Did Not Speak Out. The album opens with “I’ll Close My Eyes,” composed by Billy Reid.  The arrangement gives the quintet space to interact freely as Barry’s tenor and Melsha’s trombone shape the melody, settling into a swi...

  Album:  Live at Révéler Artist:  Chris Whiteman / John Toomey Quartet Label: Self-produced Release Date:  October 2, 2026 Website:  www.chriswhitemanmusic.com The hard bop harmonizing of guitarist Chris Whiteman and pianist John Toomey on their new release Live at Révéler gives audiences a taste of fine jazz cuisine, honing a habitat of comfy fluidity and melodic phrasing.  The pair co-lead while being half of a quartet completed by bassist Randall Pharr and drummer Aaron Binder. "Footprints," a classic tune by Wayne Shorter, is an elegant display of jaunty guitar riffs latticed in twinkling piano keys.   Breezy,  smooth and gently arched, their performance is augmented by the steady pulse of Binder's drums and Pharr's bass.  The quartet shifts the mood to a bluesy swagger along "Coming Home Baby,"" a  sweet nugget by Ben Tucker and Bob Dorough, demonstrating Whiteman's nimble playing, snuggled by Toomey's pulsating keys as Binder...

  Album:  The First Noel: Jazz Hymns for Christmas  Artist:  Gwen Hughes Label:  Fairfield Records Release Date:  October 15, 2026 Website:  www.gwenhughes.com The First Noel: Jazz Hymns for Christmas is vocalist Gwen Hughes's holiday release, applying her interpretive leanings to eleven tracks, a combination of carols, hymns, and seasonal compositions. The album completes her Jazz Hymns series, traversing across songs rooted in English, French, Irish, Welsh, and R&B/soul traditions. Hughes's vocals move in synchronicity with her acoustic bass players, standing out as the driving force throughout the recording.  Her vocals move in time with Terrell Montgomery's bass quivers along "I Saw Three Ships," creating a cohesiveness that mesmerizes the listener.  Soothing and ruminating, Hughes's vocals cradle the listener, eliciting a sedate state of mind, most notably in the silky Celtic ripples of "Angels We Have Heard on High," a widely recog...