jazz2love

  Album:  A Jennifer Madsen Christmas Artist:  Jennifer Madsen Label:  Grand Central Artists Release Date:  November 6, 2026 Website:  www.JenniferMadsen.com www.grandcentralartists.com Jennifer Madsen has the voice of a magnetic cabaret singer, born with a vocal style that is made for audiences.  Her Christmas-themed release entitled A Jennifer Madsen Christmas is filled with a delightful repertoire of classic favorites that welcome the holiday season, inviting the listener to be as enamored of the joyful occasion as she is. She welcomes guest trombonist Brian Woodbury on the track "I'll Be Home for Christmas" with the pair complementing one another's calling.  Their exchange clutches the listener's sense of bonding with family and friends.  The glistening atmosphere of "I Wonder as I Wander" is haloed in the swirling tweets of Sean Jones's trumpet with pianist Brent Edstrom boosting the elevating vibration.  His keys turn solemn and re...

  Album: Comfort & Joy  Artist: Vanessa Racci  Label: VRE Records  Street Date: November 6, 2026 Website: www.vanessaracci.com  As an expressive vocalist and eloquent live performer, Vanessa Racci shapes holiday favorites with a swinging jazz character on her release Comfort & Joy .  Produced by Nicole Zuraitis, the recording is a feast loaded with unbridled zing and holiday cheer, showing Racci backed up by her arranger Ron Drotos on piano, Marcus McLaurine on bass, Dan Pugach on drums, Sean Harkness on guitar, and Geoff Burke on saxophone and flute.  Adding to the mirthful spirit are trumpet players Max Darche and Benny Benack III.  Racci combines "I’ll Be Home for Christmas" and "Silent Night," highlighting the lobbing motion of her vocals shaping elegant curves, then transitions into a suave ragtime peal along "Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You." arced by the sleek wails of Benack's trumpet.  Her duet with Benack on "Little Jack Frost...

  Album:  Santa’s Brew: A Christmas Jam Artist:  Randy Bernsen Label:  Jericho Jams Records Release Date:  November 20, 2026 Website: www.RandyBernsen.com Guitarist, composer and bandleader Randy Bernsen creates unexpected twists and textures throughout his holiday release Santa’s Brew: A Christmas Jam from Jericho Jams Records.  Cruising between the country folk trimmings of "Silent Night" to the power rock fervor of "Joy to the World," the bluesy grooves of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and the orchestral swells and bossa nova ripples of "The Little Drummer Boy," Bernsen blends acoustic tones with technology as though they are brethren, pairing familiar motifs with improvised phrasing as if they are natural colleagues.   Bernsen brings together multiple musical languages and rhythms from jazz, funk and blues to bossa nova, folk, rock, and improvised voices.  The R&B pulse of "Carol of the Bells" is embellished by the squiggling...

  Album:  On The First Noel: Jazz Hymns for Christmas Artist:  Gwen Hughes Label:  Fairfield Records Release Date:  October 15, 2026 Website:  www.gwenhughes.com Singer, songwriter and interpreter Gwen Hughes tailors holiday standards to her distinctive vocal nuances on On The First Noel: Jazz Hymns for Christmas .  She approaches each track with the sensitivity of a narrator, reaching out to listeners and swathing them in the warm timbres of her register.  Ascending and descending her vocals with an emotive penmanship, Hughes holds her audience's attention with a spellbinding grip and enduring embrace. The whispery breath of her vocals caress the listener soothingly across "Angels We Have Heard  on High," accompanied by the gentle guitar strokes of Micah Cadwell.   The trio of pianist Tyrone Jackson, bassist Jason DeBlanc, and Hughes's vocals on "All Through the Night" resonates the quietude of a blissful lullaby, kicking up the te...

  Album:  I'll Be Around Artists:  Jennifer Roberts and Tedd Firth Label:  One Man Band Music Release Date:  October 16, 2026 Website:  www.jennifergroberts.com Acclaimed vocalist Jennifer Roberts gives old fashioned, cabaret jazz a modern glint on her recording I'll Be Around .  Collaborating with Tedd Firth in the role as her pianist, arranger and Musical Director, the pair lull the listener into a blissful state of mind with their iteration of jazz standards like Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Alfie" and Fred Ahlert, Roy Turk and Irving Berlin's "I'll Get By, Count Your Blessings," switching to inspiring an uplifting vibe in their rendition of classic pop tunes like Carole King's "You've Got A Friend" and Blossom Dearie and Mahriah Blackwolf's "I Like You, You're Nice."  Their sense of synchronicity is impeccable, keeping the melodies flowing with refinement and aplomb. The duo demonstrate a visceral sensit...

Imagine one hundred years ago in America when tunes performed by Rudy Vallee, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, Gene Krupa, and Bix Biederbecke, to name a few, could be heard on mainstream free radio stations, in vaudeville shows and during silent pictures in theaters.  Serendipitously, saxophonist, composer and bandleader Chad Smith became enamored of the jazz music of the 1920's, and one hundred years later, he shows that the music of the Golden Age of Jazz remains relevant to modern audiences. Smith's 2026 recording Saxophobia presents a new spin on the compositions of saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft,, S whose recordings through the Roaring '20s are noted for popularizing the saxophone.  The inspiration for the album's title is Wiedoeft's track "Saxophobia." Smith admits, "The title of the album was difficult to choose.  I didn’t want it to be historical or boring in any way.  'Saxophobia' is one of the trademark pieces that Wiedoeft wrote and perfo...