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Showing posts from June, 2020

Album Review: Set Your Heart Free from Donna Singer

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Album:  Set Your Heart Free Artist:  Donna Singer Label:  Emerald Baby Recording Company Website:  www.donna-singer.com Vocalist Donna Singer presents jazz that communicates a universal language that speaks to people's hearts.  Her latest CD Set Your Heart Free blends big band-inspired scores with elements of blues, swing, and soul.  Supported by Ranses Colon on bass, Brad Keller on piano, Adolfo Herrera on drums, Yamin Mustafa on trumpet, Melton Mustafa, Jr. on saxophones, and Greg Minnick on guitar, Singer gravitates to songs that reflect about life's pinnacle moments on the recording, always moving towards expressions that leave the listener feeling positive. "To Be A Child" is warm soul jazz number that Singer treats with a maternal sensitivity as Melton Mustafa, Jr.'s saxophone weaves elegant spirals along the track, lifting the listener's spirit.  Yamin Mustafa's trumpet adds lively frills along "Why Should Kids Have All the Fun" as th

Rewiew: SIngles from Jonivan Jones

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Artist:  Jonivan Jones Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://jonivanjonesmusic.com https://jonivanjonesmusic.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQxZ7zcnJZV2lZ7xOPr4mw Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jonivan Jones gives audiences a preview of his forthcoming recording by offering singles from the CD featured on his bandcamp site and youtube channel.  Each track is individual, standing alone and harking of the homespun roots rock comforts familiar to audiences.  The country folk penmanship of Jones' guitar compliments the raw edges of his vocal nuances,  chiseling "Handsome Pitbull" into a bluesy rock romper as he nestles the wailing whirls of his harmonica into the track.  The Americana-twang in his guitar chords rivet into the locomotive chugging of his harmonica, imprinting "After the Sunset" with a prairieland sway while  "Open Plains" fashions a country folk crimping into the thick bass beats, embellished by Jones' chunky gui

Album Review: Rainbow Baby from Cathlene Pineda

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Album:  Rainbow Baby Artist:  Cathlene Pineda Label:  Orenda Records Website:  http://www.cathlenepineda.com Rainbow Baby from pianist, composer and bandleader Cathlene Pineda combines personal reflections with a classical flare.  Earning a master’s degree in jazz piano and composition from CalArts, Pineda charms audiences with her music, melodically woven and elegantly strewn. Pineda plays with such gentleness that the listener is consumed by the calm currents.  Soaring above the baseline is the furling toots of Kris Tiner's trumpet, playing a soft serenade along "Carriers I" and coursing a frilly phrasing through "Wonder Weeks."  The trumpet provides the tracks with dimension and a narrative voice that when combined with Pineda's keys on "The Collective Memory" breathe a lively dialogue.  The balladry swells of "Milo" produce a warm lament as the twinkling glint of the keys illuminating "1Nine" give the track an uplifting

Album Review: An Introvert's Dream from Émilie Samson

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Album:  An Introvert’s Dream Artist:  Émilie Samson Label:  Self-Released Website: https://www.emiliesamson.com An Introvert’s Dream is a collection of original songs and arrangements written by Montreal born singer Emilie Samson.  The recording is her debut EP, showcasing her attributes as a composer, arranger, and torchlight singer.  From her warm, smooth vocalese on "If You Never Come To Me" to the perky prancing of her rhythmic vocals on "Nobody's Heart," Samson proves she is more than a student of straight ahead jazz but an inveterate practitioner of the medium. Her reimagination of the Beach Boys' pop hit "Wouldn't It Be Nice" brings out the dreamy romantic hues of the melody.  Her treatment of the song has a feminine touch that is silhoutte by the reclining rivulets of Robinson De Montmollin's piano keys.  With lyrics sung in French, the torchlight ambience of "La Belle Dame Sans Regards" is garnished by Sean Burke'