jazz2love

Album:  Muagsician Artist:  Kristen R. Bromley Label:  KRBM, LLC Website:  www.kristenbromley.com Muagsician , a 2-disc, 25-track recording from Kristen R. Bromley features her talent as a guitar soloist and vocalist.  Displaying an affinity for jazz and blues, Bromley composes the rhythmic grooves, the chord patterns, and the improvised parts with pleasing precision.  The album is a collection of original selections, covers of jazz standards, and reworked arrangements of traditional folk hymns.  Eight tracks contain sung melodies performed by Bromley, accompanied by her guitar solos.  Wherever listeners go along the recording, the music showers them in warm sensations. The bluesy funk tint of her guitar strings stroking along "All Blues" exude a calmness through the ruminating ruffles that form an easygoing, rollicking rhythm.  From the frothy rustles of "Simply Miraculous" to the silky tresses of "Abide with Me; ‘Tis Eventide,” Bromley's fl...

Album:  The Song in Our Soul Artist:  The Palomar Trio Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  https://www.danlevinson.com/ The Palomar Trio is comprised of Dan Levinson on clarinet, Mark Shane on piano, and Kevin Dorn on drums, all of whom are New York-based musicians and ardent aficionados of jazz from the 1920's and '30s.  Specializing in traditional jazz and swing music, the trio revive hot jazz novelties descriptive of the Jazz Age on their 2023 release The Song in Our Soul from Turtle Bay Records. The sweltering furls of Levinson's clarinet have a vintage Cotton Club-imbued shimmer partnered with the shuffling strokes of Dorn's drums and the soft kindle in Shane's keys filamenting "Delta Bound."  The slow roll of the rhythmic beats burn with a low-flamed intensity.  Moving along, the shuffling tempo traveling across "Shanty in Old Shanty Town" has a charming ragtime clamor, as the winsome flutter of the keys enhance the sleek trembles of the c...

Album:  I Am Soul Artist:  Sofia Rubina Website:  https://www.sofiarubina.eu/ https://sofiarubina.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-soul Bridging the lanes of cool jazz, smooth blues, R&B/soul, and sonic pop, I Am Soul from Estonian vocalist Sofia Rubina is a pleasing synthesis.  Her command of the vocal melody is reminiscent of Joss Stone, and her natural fit into the melodic grooves is emblematic of jazz music's treasures like Dianne Reeves and Jane Monheit. The album is a collection of eleven tracks with six songs written or co-written by Rubina and the others are covers of works by L. Spenser Smith and Testament, George Duke, Chick Corea and Neville Potter, Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin.  Rubina collaborates with Evgeny Lebedev, an award-winning pianist and graduate of Berklee College, on the recording.  Also joining Rubina are Anton Revnyuk on bass and Ignat Kravtsov on drums, along with a string quartet featured on several tunes. The bluesy texture of her v...

Album:  Douce France Sweet France Artist:  Margot Sergent Label:  Zoho Music Website:  https://margotsergent.com/ A bilingual French-born jazz singer who doubles on harp, Margot Sergent has a magnetic quality belies her age, spinning mature stories that beckon the listener's undivided attention.  Her 2023 outing Douce France Sweet France moves through an array of tunes from the reflective mood of "Keep the Moon in Mind" to the daydreamy ambience of "The Apartment Next Door," and the joyful buoyancy of "Douce France," embracing the pleasures of life. Each tune depicts another phase of life, a different experience along the journey, and always being intimate with the audience about the encounters.  Sergent's voice is expressive, mirroring the images projected in the lyrics so audiences can follow her narration, always from a viewpoint suspended above the scenes.  "La Boheme" offers the listener a seat in the balcony as Sergent's charis...

Album:  Come Fly with Me Artist:  Judy Whitmore Website:  https://www.judywhitmore.com/ The assortment of serenades, ballads, and torchlight tunes performed by vocalist Judy Whitmore on her latest release Come Fly with Me is an invitation to audiences to come along with her through a number of classic ballroom favorites from the Great American Songbook.  Her vocals particularly shine in “On an Evening in Roma," as her phrasing lures the listener along a dreamy jaunt with a playful hook in her resonance.  The subdued spurts of Hendrik Meurkens's harmonica have an elegant scribe, adding a pleasurable texture to the melody. The starlight glitter emanating from the instrumentation in "Moonlight in Vermont" form beams of light around Whitmore's vocals as the floating strings swirl gracefully across the melodic progressions.  Meurkens returns for "April in Paris" decking the track with soaring twizzles on his harmonica.  Changing course, Whitmore performs a...

Album:  You and I Artist:  Dianne Fraser Label:  Blujazz Website:  https://diannefraser.com/ Dianne Fraser's debut release You and I is a tribute to the music of Leslie Bricusse, a 20th century composer whose music is featured in several theatre musicals and motion pictures.  Fraser captures Bricusse's familiar repertoire with the soul of a bard and the expressive voicing of a balladeer.  She reawakens timeless classics, giving them a contemporary shine. Fraser delivers an awesome mashup of “Crazy World” and “If I Ruled the World.”  The music for “Crazy World” is written by Henry Mancini for the film Victor/Victoria.  Bricusse wrote “If I Ruled the World” with Cyril Ornadel for a lesser-known musical called Pickwick.  Fraser's silky vocals cradle the verses, seamlessly sewing the two tracks into one heavenly aria.   An avid student of the French language, her performance of "Le Jazz Hot," another tune from the movie Victor/Victoria, dis...

Album:  No More Excuses Artist:  Danette McMahon Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://danettemcmahon.com/bio/ Having received a scholarship to attend Houston Baptist University for music and drama, vocalist Danette McMahon blends the essence of R&B/soul with facets of torchlight jazz, Latin swing, and adult pop on her latest release No More Excuses .  Containing two cover tunes and twelve originals songs written by McMahon, the recording is laden in lyrics with adult themes, finding hope and strength amidst life's trials, losses, and heartbreaks.  She woos her audience into a comfy respite with the starry, dream-like escapes sewn across "Life Goes On" and "Come Dance with Me," as she intimates the lingering sentiment of a sorrowful past while in the next breath embraces love and strength of a positive outlook for the future. The music swings harmoniously like a tender caress that works as a balm on the listener.  Such smooth swing also surfaces ...

Album:  I Watch You Sleep Artists:  Scott Dunn, Richard Rodney Bennett, Claire Martin, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Label:  Stunt Records Website:  https://clairemartinjazz.co.uk/discography/songs-and-stories/ I Watch You Sleep is a tribute album to pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, whose passing in 2012 closed a chapter on iconic film scores and classic symphonies.  Known for his compositions featured in such motion pictures as Far From The Maddening Crowd (1967) and Murder On The Orient Express (1979), Bennett's works reached far and wide around the world.  The tribute recording is the endeavor of pianist Scott Dunn who is joined by vocalist Claire Martin, a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) along with Rob Barron on piano, Jeremy Brown on bass, Matt Skelton on drums, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Martin's vocal delivery is heavenly as she traverses across a selection of original works by Bennett joined by an assortment of co...

Album:  Unidad Artist:  Aguankó Label:  Self-Released Website:   https://www.aguanko.com Cuban bop or Cubop is not only the moniker of percussionist Alberto Nacif's dormant Latin group through the 1990's but it is a type of musical style in the jazz spectrum that is recognizable and easily persuades the body to move along to its rhythmic stride.  Think of the theme song from the TV program Sex in the City , composed by Douglas Cuomo.  Nacif tweaks percolating romps with woodwind and brass threading that finesses the Cuban-fermented bop style to a sophisticated vintage. Aguankó's 5th effort, Unidad , is filled with original Latin jazz arrangements. The recording features the core members of Aguankó, all coming from the halls of the Detroit area jazz scene.  Hitting it off with the spicy mambo-clad furls of "Kintsugi," the track is fraught with tingling percussive beats.  Followed by the cha-cha chassis mooring "Discurso," having an immediate e...

Album:  Welcome Winter Artist:  Bryan Lubeck Label:  Vineyard Music Productions Website:  www.bryanlubeck.com Welcome Winter , the latest offering from guitarist Bryan Lubeck is an acoustic assemblage of holiday classics with the title track being an original score composed by him and highlighting his Spanish guitar stylizing. The cozy atmospherics nestle the listener in fireside-imbued warmth, tinted in an amalgam of silky guitar chords and contemporary grooves.  Lubeck redefines each track with reflective musings in his chord patterns and Latin flavored intonations to a pristine finish. His interpretation of "The Christmas Song" is fashioned with breathy woodwind-textured swirls and candlelit guitar riffs, coruscating ethereal terrain.  The jangling beats of "Jingle Bells" stoke the festive flames of his bubbly guitar verses, riffing off the melodic motifs and honing twinkling improvisations.  Lubeck has a penchant to make his notes twinkle and flare...

Album:  Spheres Artist:  Scott Emmerman Label: Self-Released Website:  scottemmerman.bandcamp.com Power guitar rock seems to be a theme of days gone by but guitarist, composer, and arranger Scott Emmerman revives the custom, infusing trimmings of funky dances grooves gilded in ambient jazz hues and ribbed in soft R&B-encrusted knolls crooning along his latest release Spheres .  A refined outgrowth of power rock, Emmerman's music has an adult contemporary sheen and world class luster. Recorded in the spring of 2023, the recording features Emmerman's long-time friend, collaborator and drummer Marty Zevin.  Eight compositions out of the ten-track CD are originals written by Emmerman.   One of the other two tracks is a profusion of psychedelics, produced by lofty synth effects that create a prismatic glaze across "Judgement Day," a collaboration with Emmerman and Zevin.  The last track is a cover. as Emmerman navigates the hit song for the R&B...

Album:  Heart Mind and Soul Artist:  Randy Bernsen Label: Jerico Jams Website:  randybernsen.com Randy Bernsen exerts his prowess as a lyrical composer and versatile guitarist with this six-track release, Heart Mind and Soul , his 11th project as a leader.  The melodic motifs, as though glass-blown from his guitar, are scaffold by the clarion toots of saxophonists Bob Mintzer and Bob Franceschini, interspersed by the sleek flickers of Dan Davis's trumpet.  The rhythm section comprised of bass player Jimmy Haslip, drummer David Nizri, and keyboardists George Whitty and Uzi Nizri complement the harmonic forms. The octet create multifaceted soundscapes, parlaying an assortment of jazz fusion blends from smooth jazz clauses, bop-induced lobes, and improvised excursions.  Bernsen inseminates sizzling streaks across"Chant 881," giving the score a shot of spontaneity as his improvised fragments form unrestrained ruptures and agile curves along its progression....