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Album Review: Solo from Ricardo Silveira

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Album:  Solo Artist:  Ricardo Silveira Label:  Moondo Music Website:  https://en.ricardosilveira.com                   https://musicabrasileira.org/artists/ricardo-silveira Solo , the latest CD from guitarist-composer Ricardo Silveira offers a compilation of reflective musings which are the grist for the atmospheric soundscapes.  His performance is sparse, making audiences intensely aware of each note, each lift, each inflection, and each curve made along the tracks.  The listener isn't a spectator but actually walks with Silveira through the music, experiencing the rolling knolls and melodic expressions articulated by Silveira. Silveira includes six of his original tunes, all of which he recorded on previous albums but re-imagined for his solo guitar effort.  Filling out the recording is a selection of songs written by notable Brazilian composers like Marcos Valle and Paulo Sergio Valle, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Johnny Alf, as well as an eloquent rendition of Rodgers and Hart’s “
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Album Review: Re-Connection from Greg Loughman

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Album:  Re-Connection Artist:  Greg Loughman Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.gregloughman.com After hours jazz, the type of music one will hear pouring out of the doorways of a string of nightclubs along a New York City strip in the middle of the night, is the type of escape Greg Loughman presents on his latest release Re: Connection .  His collection is reminiscent of the call and response exchanges notably pioneered by the avant garde musicians of the 1960's and '70s like Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, and Albert Ayler. The solos performed by Loughman's array of horn players in "Isolation" is gripping.  Each phrase made by the saxophones, trumpet and clarinet is intense as they intertwine into a lively conversation with Loughman's bass weaving creases into the track. One horn calls to another and a chain of response and reaction commences into an embroiling exchange.  The mass entanglement enables the listener to follow the phrasing of each performer, mo
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Album Review: White Sails Blue Skies from Tanya Dennis

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Album:  White Sails Blue Skies Artist:  Tanya Dennis Label:  PaLoma Records Website: https://tanyadennis.com Starlight and moonbeams are some of the images that singer-songwriter-violinist-guitarist Tanya Dennis' music on her 2021 release White Sails Blue Skies conjures up in the listener's mind.  Brimming with romantic ambiences throughout the recording, Dennis resonates a wise, old soul in her voicing that audiences instantly trust and discern her genuine nature. Having written seven of the ten tracks on the release, Dennis's arrangements are spellbinding. Densely populated in atmospheric ethers, the music puts listeners in a reflective mood as Dennis's vocals caress the dreamy swells of "Desolation Sound" with a soothing touch, transitioning into the island sway of "Indigo," penned by her good friend and Hall of Fame songwriter Kostas, as her creamy vocal texture is spangled in Hendrik Meurkens's buoyant harmonica twirls. Dwelling in the drea
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Album Review: Lovesome Thing, Anaïs Reno Sings Ellington & Strayhorn from Anaïs Reno

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Album:  Lovesome Thing, Anaïs Reno Sings Ellington & Strayhorn Artist:  Anaïs Reno Label:  Harbinger Records Website: www.anaisreno.com Lovesome Thing, Anaïs Reno Sings Ellington & Strayhorn is a modern tribute to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn from vocalist Anaïs Reno.  Produced by Gianni Valenti and Juliet Kurtzman and arranged by Emmet Cohen and Reno, the music was recorded in 2020 when Reno was 16 years old.  The song selection makes a statement about the artists who influenced her and the range of her vocalese. The smooth, sleek stride of her vocals blanket tunes like Ellington's masterpieces "Caravan" and "Mood Indigo" with sheets of warmth reminiscent of vintage Lainie Kazan and Dinah Shore.  Both singers were prominent vocalists through the 1960's but like these two women, Reno's singing is ageless, inherently classically versed.  Her classical versing enlivens Ellington's "Chelsea Bridge/A Flower Is a Lovesome
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Album Review: Tiptoes from Max Highstein

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Album:  Tiptoes Artist:  Max Highstein Website:  www.MaxHighsteinMusic.com Audiences will recognize there is a familiarity about Max Highstein's music.  Like these are tunes that have come into their lives before while they are standing on line in a store, sitting in a doctor's waiting room, eating dinner at an upscale restaurant, or watching a TV show or commercial.  His latest outing Tiptoes is clad with music that generates a casual feel with its warm temperament and blissful aesthetics palatable for the general public's consumption.  Highstein has been perceived as a New Age artist, and Tiptoes 's attributes fit the genre's criteria.  But the music is more overarching, owning traits emblematic of ambient jazz, sonic pop, soft rock, and R&B/soul.  Simply put, Highstein's music is a melting pot of influences that appeals to all types of societies.  The swirling notes of Highstein's sax are nestled alongside Ed Willett's furling cello coasting alon
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Album Review: The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - Vol. 1 from Rebecca Kilgore

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Album: The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - Vol. 1 Artist: Rebecca Kilgore Label: Heavywood Website: www.rebeccakilgore.com Jazz vocalist Rebecca Kilgore has 50 plus recording projects in her coffer, acting as both a leader or co-leader.  As one of the most respected interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Kilgore is a torchbearer of Prohibition Era jazz and New Millennium Jazz. The creamy texture of her vocals is reminiscent of the cabaret singers of yesteryear.  Based in Portland, Oregon, Kilgore has worked with many of the top jazz musicians in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.  For her newest recording, The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - Vol. 1 , she leads Randy Porter on piano, Tom Wakeling on bass, and Kilgore’s husband, Dick Titterington, who plays cornet on a few tunes. The recording is an eclectic mix of jazz standards that she mined from the Great American Songbook like Johnny Mercer and Rube Bloom's "Day In, Day Out,” Dinah Shore's “The Gentlemen Is a Dope,” and Richard Rodg
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Album Review: Shadows Fall from Jonathan Karrant & Joshua White

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Album:  Shadows Fall Artist:  Jonathan Karrant & Joshua White Label: JKR Website:  www.jonathankarrant.com The duet of vocalist Jonathan Karrant and pianist Joshua White come together on Shadows Fall.  Their collaboration seeps into the listeners skin, holding them in rapt attention as the program moves through a medley of jazz standards and classic pop tunes..  Karrant's vocals sink deep into the listener's soul as White's easy-riding saunter cushions the melodies in glimmering embers.  The collection has a timeless quality, sure to be relevant through the ages. Karrant's personalized delivery along "Being Me," one of Abbey Lincoln's signature pieces, is striking, accentuating poignant words and lodging meaningful inflections along the phrasing.  Karrant's and White's melodic sensibilities are genuinely in sync, honing a repartee that is magnetic and appealing.  Karrant parlays Holly Knight and Mike Chapman's song "Simply the Best,&qu
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