jazz2love

Album:  Jazz Republic: Taiwan, the United States, and the Freedom of Swing Artist:  Alexis Cole Label:  Tiger Turn Music Websites:  Alexiscole.com Facebook.com/alexiscolefanpage Instagram.com/alexiscole Youtube.com/alexiscole JazzVoice.com Singer-arranger Alexis Cole not only has an attractive voice, she sings songs in a manner that makes them last in the listener's head long after the track has finished.  It is not unusual to find one's self singing the lyrics after the Cole recording has ended.  That is the indelible trait of Alexis Cole's voice. Her 2024 release Jazz Republic: Taiwan, the United States, and the Freedom of Swing shows her accompanied by the Taiwan Jazz Orchestra, directed by Cheng-Yu Jimmy Lee.  The selection of jazz standards and classic pop novelties are some American favorites like Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" and "I've Grown Accustomed To His Face," a spin on Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner's "I've Grown Acc...

Album:  It's Hard To Say Goodbye Artist:  Enrico Granafei Label:  CAP Records Website:  www.enricogranafei.com http://Facebook..com/enrico.granafei]Facebook.com/enrico.granafei YouTube channel: Youtube.com/@johnmeixner1809 IG: @granafei Jazzbeat.com/project/enrico-granafei It's Hard To Say Goodbye , the fourth US release from harmonica virtuoso, classical guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and composer Enrico Granafei, is a compilation of Latin-infused jazz rhythms sauté ed in Granafei's soulful playing.  Inspired by harmonica master Toots Thielemans, Granafei illustrates the potency of the reed instrument to helm the melodic direction of arrangements as its wind-imbued texture intensifies the make-up of the scores.  Composing six of the 11 tracks, Granafei's delivery affects the listener profoundly. He titled the album It's Hard To Say Goodbye in memory of three people who were very special to him:  Toots Thielemanns, and two musicians who pla...

Album:  Forever Stories of: Moving Parties Artists:  Peggy Lee and Cole Schmidt Label:  Earshift Music Website: https://peggyleecoleschmidt.bandcamp.com/album/forever-stories-of-moving-parties Coming together in 2019, the duo of cellist Peggy Lee and guitarist Cole Schmidt are artisans of ambient jazz.  Their recording Forever Stories of: Moving Parties is a vision of fluid soundscapes accented by stimulating effects.  Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, the pair write improvised phrases that open up the listener's cerebral senses, tantalizing the imagination and offering insight into otherworldy emanations. The chord schemes move like ghostly apparitions, embodying phantom-like figments, free floating abstractions rising and withdrawing at random.  The notes posture glides upright in luminous hues.  Schmidt remarks in a press notice, "The initial concept for the record had to do with hosting a party that included all kinds of people and charact...

Album:  Motherhood Artist:  Brenda Earl Stokes Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://brendaearle.com brendaearlestokes.bandcamp.com/album/motherhood facebook.com/BrendaEarleStokes youtube.com/brendaearlestokes IG: @brendaearlestokes Pianist, vocalist, composer, and educator Brenda Earle Stokes returns with her sixth release as a leader entitled Motherhood .  The recording is an assortment of ten original compositions that explore the private side of being mother, examining identity, fear, expectations, body image, friendship, and growth. Performing in New York City opened her up to a talented pool of musicians, some of whom play on the disc, including bassist Evan Gregor, drummer Ross Pederson, and special guest, renowned trumpeter Ingrid Jensen.  Also appearing on the arrangements are vocalists Melissa Stylianou and Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis on backing vocals. Although Stokes's repertoire is rooted in jazz, she drew additional inspiration from singe...

Album:  The Sound of Love Artist:  Tania Grubbs Quintet Label:  Travlin Music Website:  Taniagrubbs.com Facebook.com/taniagrubbsjazzvocalist Taniagrubbsquintet.bandcamp.com/album/the-sound-of-love YouTube: @taniagrubbsjazzvocalist7356 Threads: @taniagrubbs IG: @taniagrubbs Soulful and expressive, vocalist Tania Grubbs serves audiences an engaging delivery of classic pop favorites, jazz standards, and a handful of original work on her 2024 release The Sound of Love .  The entire album was recorded in one day, supported by her band mates that includes pianist David Budway, guitarist Ron Affif, drummer James Johnson III, and her husband Jeff Grubbs on bass. The program opens with “But Not For Me," as Grubbs's nuanced vocals indulge in a playful interplay with the bopping drums and keys.  The cheerful mischief and frolicking exchanges will remind audiences of stage performances at lounge rooms across the Las Vegas strip.  The organic interactions are remin...

Album:  Spooky Jazz Vol. 2:  Songs for Halloween Artist:  Hannah Gill Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  http://www.hannahgillmusic.com Facebook.com/HannahGillMusic Turtlebayrecords.com YouTube: @turtlebayrecords9686 IG: @turtlebayrecords Jazz that once echoed from the depths of cabarets like Café Society, the Stork Club, 21 Club, the Cotton Club, 3 Deuces, and Club Carousel, some of which were located on Manhattan's 52nd Street dubbed Swing Street through the first half of the 20th century, are treated with a modern glint by vocalist-songwriter Hannah Gill.  Her sophomore release Spooky Jazz Vol. 2:  Songs for Halloween from Turtle Bay Records is a compilation of jazz standards, illustrating her affinity for boogie woogie, speakeasy swing, and ragtime rhapsodies. Accompanied by Mike Davis on trumpet and trombone, Gabe Terracciano on violin, Ricky Alexander on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Gordon Webster on piano, Justin Poindexter on guitar, Philip...

Album:  Small Things Artist:  Jackson Potter Label: Shifting Paradigm Records Website:  jacksonpottermusic.com Small Things , the sophomore project from guitarist-composer Jackson Potter demonstrates his growth as a guitarist, composer, and arranger since moving to New York City in 2021.  His disc features several jazz luminaries, including Alex Ridout on trumpet, Troy Roberts on tenor saxophone, Hamish Smith on bass, and Marcello Cardillo on drums.  Additionally, saxophonist Jaleel Shaw and vocalist Sophia Formella perform on the title track. Potter's offering displays a free-style playing reminiscent of pianist Bill Evans, saxophonist Stan Getz, and guitarist Wes Montgomery.  The environment merges bop, straight-ahead jazz, and fusion into dynamic creations.  Potter is a musician's musician, showing others of his ilk the potential that the guitar offers to work as a contributing element within the jazz combo framework. Illustrating a charismatic play...

Album:  Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow Artist:  The Joymakers Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  https://www.facebook.com/colin.hancock2101 IG: @ch2101 Label:  https://www.turtlebayrecords.com/our-albums/down-where-the-bluebonnets-grow YouTube: @turtlebayrecords9686 Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow , the debut release from the Joymakers, led by brass player Colin Hancock, unveiling their exhilarating arrangements of jazz standards from the Prohibition Era of the late 1920's and early 1930's.  Uniting New Orleans Louisiana (NOLA) ragtime with Dixieland jazz, riverboat bluegrass, boogie woogie, tinpan alley/showtunes blues, hot jazz, and jazz age lawn party rhythms like the Lindy hop, the Charleston, and jive, the Joymakers bridge vintage idioms with contemporary appeal. The press release tells, "The band plays all kinds of traditional jazz, but they specialize in music played in the late 1920s and early 1930s by 'territory bands' based in San Antonio, Kans...

Album:  Across the Field Artist:  Visions Jazz Ensemble Label:  Patois Records Website:  www.visionsjazzensemble.com Led by trumpeter Sam Butler and tenor saxophonist Garrett Fasig, the Visions Jazz Ensemble embarked on an ambitious task to turn a collection of college fight songs into modern jazz tunes on the ensemble's 2024 release Across the Field.  Produced by Brent Wallarab, Wayne Wallace, and Greg Reynolds, Butler and Fasig corralled a group of graduate music students from Indiana University, the duo's alma mater, and formed the ensemble, embarking on a quest to celebrate and revitalize jazz music's roots anchored in college anthems. Many of the songs chosen for the recording were written at least 100 years ago, according to the press release, and many are based on marches that influenced early New Orleans street music.  Butler and Fasig chose songs they connected with, could tweak with modern jazz treatments, providing fresh takes on each tune. Start...

Album:  Wintersongs Artist:  Laila Biali Label:  Self-Released Websites:  www.lailabiali.com www.facebook.com/LAILABIALIMUSIC www.instagram.com/lailabiali www.x.com/lailabiali www.tiktok.com/@lailabiali www.youtube.com/lailabiali https://lailabiali.bigcartel.com/product/wintersongs Wintersongs is vocalist and pianist Laila Biali’s 10th recording as a bandleader.  Her first release in almost 2 years.  It is perceived as a proverbial love letter to winter.  The offering projects sonic images for the listener.  A sonic gala where the listener is caught in the midst of a breeze blowing across snow-capped mountains, floats above a field of whistling trees as they are jostled by nature's wind, cradled by the warmth of the sun's rays draping across rolling pastures.  Such images are pictured in the symphonic passages of Biali's music. Starting the listening experience with "Drifting Down Ice," the soft and plush soundscape moves sleekly, knitting h...

Album:  Vulnerability Artist:  Eric Bell Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://ericbellmusic.com Vulnerability , the debut recording from pianist-composer Eric Bell is a compilation of multi-faceted soundscapes adorned in reverb guitar, jaunty keys and sleek saxophone toots.  Accompanying Bell are bass player Cole Sainburg, drummer Nico Vasquez, guitarist Dean Anbar, and tenor saxophonist Eric Hirschhorn. "Start" opens the disc with glittery synth effects creating a bevy of cinematic raptures.  A choreography is formed with Anbar's guitar riffs supporting Bell's repeated ostinatos played on piano and Hammond organ.  Bell follows up with "The Way You Look," quilted in percussive beats kneaded by improvised doodles on the saxophone, seguing into glistening keys. Bell's interpretation of Wayne Shorter's "Witch Hunt" is sheath in a cascade of jaunty keys and bopping beats.  The musicians produce an interactive environment as one musician acts...

Album:  Christmastime in Rio Artists:  Romero Lubambo and Pamela Driggs Label:  Sunnyside Records Website:  https://www.romerolubambo.com Ringing in the holiday season, vocalist Pamela Driggs and her husband, guitarist Romero Lubambo, present Christmastime in Rio to audiences.  The 12-track holiday special is a selection of ambient, fireside melodies that will enliven spirits and elicit good cheer.  Joining the couple is their daughter Luisa on vocals in addition to Peter Martin on piano, Vitor Gonçalves on accordion, Joe Locke on vibraphone, Itaiguara Brandão on bass, and Rafael Barata on drums. Lubambo's breezy guitar strokes illuminating "Christmas Love Song" encircle Driggs's vocals in whispery flutters like sparkles radiating from tinsel on a tree.  Driggs cradles the lyrics with a perceptive regard for family ties, emblematic of a nightingale.  Her phrasing displays a sentimentality with warm timbres that are magnetic.  She expresses a...

Album:  A Nomad of Sound Artist:  Marina Albero Label:  Self-Release Website:  https://marinaalbero.net Serene and soothing, the music of pianist-composer Marina Albero projects an intimacy with her audience, illustrated in her 2024 self-released effort A Nomad of Sound .  Swells of improvised excursions and classic bop-infused emanations emerge along the shuffling, crinkling and rippling of the recording, as an inviting repartee surfaces among Albero and her compadres.  Supported by Amina Scott on bass, Pedro Segundo on drums, and mult-instrumentalist Yusa, the melodic transitions are seamless, integrating the suaveness of swing and the creative strokes of cool jazz. "Old Song" surges with billowing saxophone toots that blaze vigorously, as Albero's keys heighten the simmering jazz aura, having the effect of creating a smoldering atmosphere loaded with emotion and fervor. Albero's daughter Serena takes the vocal reins in "19 y 42," intensifying the simmeri...

Album:  Cambio Artist:  Neff Irizarry Label:  Blue Canoe Records Website:  https://neffirizarry.com An exploration of textures and rhythms, guitarist-composer Neff Irizarry features these two facets openly throughout his 2024 recording Cambio , making for soundscapes that mobilize the listener's mind and perception.  Influences of classical and improvisational training are prevalent in Irizarry's delivery while he is accompanied by bassist Jimmy Haslip, vibraphonist Martin Fabricius, and percussionist Ricardo Padilla.  Produced by Jimmy Haslip, Irizarry offers an assortment of original works that fuses world music with improvisational jazz and classic Latin rhythms. The recording jumps off with a celebratory mood, shaped by a flutter of animated shimmies filamenting "Adelante (Come Forward)," then change course through "Cuatro Minutos (Four Minutes)," laden in the lowlit sparkles of Fabricius's vibes.  The rhythm section threaded by Haslip and Padilla ...

Album:  All Is Merry And Bright Artist:  Donald Vega Label:  Imagery Records Website:  www.donaldvega.com Pianist and composer Donald Vega applies his distinctive artistic brush strokes to classic Yuletide tunes on his 2024 release All Is Merry and Bright from Imagery Records.  Produced by multi Grammy winner engineer and producer Jim Anderson, Vega is joined by Pete Van Nostrand on drums and Clovis Nicolas on bass.  The trio coalesce classic motifs with a flare for magnetic and innovative phrasing. Vega's poignant keyboard punctuations are scattered across tracks like "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," sprinkling the tunes with sparks of buoyancy and impromptu impressions.  The bubbly facets enhance the Yuletide experience. The solace emanating from Vega's keys along "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is inviting with warm aesthetics that are universally pleasing.  His rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" exud...

Album:  Quartet Vol 1 Artist:  Takeshi Asai Label:  Fono Bono Records Websites:  http://www.takeshiasai.com http://epk.takeshiasai.com/ Pianist-composer Takeshi Asai puts modern day sagas to music.  His latest release Quartet Vol 1 from Fono Bono Records parlays a string of stories into emotionally stirring compositions that incite audiences to reflect, to escape, and to daydream.  A savant at creating atmospheric soundscapes, Asai encapsulates decades of experiences into 9 original tracks, each expressive and each a log taken from a memoir. Upbeat and sublime, "Minor Holiday" brandishes a bopping groove tailored by bass player Bob Gingery and drummer Brian Woodruff, as Hashem Assadullahi's alto sax dazzles with improvised chord patterns.  Asai's keys joins in the cheerful mood with a pulsating vamp, culminatiing into a gamut of pyrotechnics.  The recording slows to a daydreamy atmosphere through "On-Hold Music." as Assadullahi's sax weaves loung...