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Showing posts from October, 2022

Album Review: Not Quite Yet from Paul Marinaro

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Album:  Not Quite Yet Artist:  Paul Marinaro Website:  www.paulmarinaro.com In the vane of great jazz vocalists like Engelbert Humperdinck, Johnny Mathis and Tom Jones, singer-songwriter Paul Marinaro charms and captivates his audience on his latest release Not Quite Yet .  The collection presents Marinaro's emotive voicing as he performs a handful of jazz standards and pop/rock covers. The album opens with a swinging Mel Tormé standard “Born to be Blue,” trimmed in brisk bopping beats with Marinaro's vocal strolls giving the track a persuasive character.  Turning sensual and dreamy on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa-nova gem “Someone to Light Up My Life," about the quest for new love after a breakup, Marinaro's vocals have a mesmerizing sway that continue through "Make Me Rainbows," from the 1967 Dick Van Dyke film Fitzwilly , composed by John Williams with lyrics by Alan and the late Marilyn Bergman, and contoured in a smooth rhythmic pulse. His treatment of D

Album Review: Let Go from Acute Inflections

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Album:  Let Go Artist:  Acute Inflection Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.acuteinflections.com Trained as a classical vocalist, Elasea Douglas' soulful timbres are supported by upright bassist Sadiki Pierre.  Together, they form Acute Inflections, a jazz duet whose latest release Let Go features reimaginations of an assortment of classic jazz and pop tunes, alongside a slew of original material written by the duet.  Their offering stirs uplifting sensations in the listener, targeting sweet spots and having a succor effect on their audience. The title track is an original tune that demonstrates the feminine strength and soulful beauty of Douglas' resonance with the calm, percussive strokes of Pierre's bass enhancing the melodic curves along the track.  Douglas displays a vocal style that is truly her own, truly warm and inviting with a human touch.  The duet's reworking of Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted" coalesces soul and blues with folk and acou

Steve Miller on Steve Miller: A Blues and Rock and Roll Journey Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Steve Miller on Steve Miller: A Blues and Rock and Roll Journey Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center November 11-12 at 8:00pm   Members of the Steve Miller Band and special guest jazz musicians join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee  in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater  New York, NY (October 14, 2022) – Steve Miller , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, makes his long-awaited return to Jazz at Lincoln Center to perform Steve Miller on Steve Miller: A Blues and Rock and Roll Journey at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater on November 11-12 at 8:00 p.m.  Steve’s concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center are perennial favorites as he performs a unique repertoire to celebrate his heroes from the great blues music highway. For the first time at Jazz at Lincoln Center, he will be joined by members of the Steve Miller Band : Kenny Lee Lewis on bass, Joseph Wooten on keyboards, Jacob Petersen on guitar, and Ron Wikso on drums. Special guest jazz musicians includ

Video Premier - Vanessa Racci - Jazzy Italian

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Vanessa explains the Historical Significance of Italians in Jazz https://youtu.be/pViEb5mtF7o   Italians have been a force in jazz almost since the music was born. The backbone of the first recorded jazz group, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, was cornetist and trumpeter Dominick (Nick) LaRocca, the New Orleans-born son of Sicilian immigrants. In 1917, the members wrote “Tiger Rag,” a perfect crystallization of the freewheeling thrill of early jazz. Ever since then, Italy has given jazz one influential figure after another: Joe Venuti, Louis Prima, Morgana King, Lennie Tristano, Bucky Pizzarelli, Chick Corea, Stefano di Battista, and many more. Jazz singer, Vanessa Racci, is an ambassador for that heritage. Vanessa grew up in Westchester County, New York amid an Italian-American family that steeped her in Italian song, theater music, and jazz. Vanessa developed a vocal style drawn from all three; it combines a tart, brassy, catch-in-the-throat sound with Italianate ardor, dramatic fla