jazz2love

  Album:  Two Piece Artist:  Jonivan Jones Label:  Buffalo Music/Jonivan Jones Music Release Date:  March 28, 2024 Website:  https://www.jonivanjonesmusic.com Jonivan Jones's offering Two Piece is a rootsy Ozark mountain blues cook-out, roasted in Americana anecdotes and barbed in country folk nostalgia.  The singer-songwriter-guitarist is joined by upright bass player Mike West, whose whistling strokes shroud the tracks in a willowy, outdoorsy ambience.  Mastered by James Plotkin of Plotkinworks, Jones pours his heart and soul into his creation, giving the songs an authenticity reminiscent of the pastoral folkscapes of Woody Guthrie and the musky, rustic palette of John Prine.  Jones's songwriting straddles the line of traditional folk and experimental blues, dipping into the psychedelic zone of prismatic colors resonating in his guitar reverberations dancing across "Drifter's Suit."  The raspy texture of Jones's vocals are kilted in f...

  George Coleman with Strings from George Coleman Label:  HighNote Records Release Date:  August 29, 2025 Website:  http://georgecoleman.com Saxophonist and improviser George Coleman established himself firmly in straight-ahead jazz music's annals as a member of jazz ensembles over a span of 7 decades, beginning with Max Roach in the 1950's and continuing with Miles Davis, Slide Hampton, Charles Mingus, and Betty Carter, to name a few.  Since 1973, Coleman has been focusing on leading his own band and featuring his own original works.  His 20th album George Coleman with Strings sees him accompanied by a 10-piece string arrangement under the direction of Bill Dobbins, and supported by a rhythm section consisting of John Webber on bass, Joe Farnsworth on drums, and David Hazeltine on piano.   Additionally, the project includes percussion virtuoso Café da Silva, whose Latin accents add silky undulations to several of the tunes like Henry Mancini's "...

  Newcomer from Emma Hedrick Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  August 1, 2025 Website:  https://emmahedrick.com Produced by Peter Eldridge A native of Indianapolis, singer-songwriter Emma Hedrick has graced stages across the US and abroad.  Making her debut with her solo project Newcomer , she forges a path as a comely jazz vocalist, part vintage blues, part modern soul, and part sparkling adult pop.  Produced by Peter Eldridge, Hedrick's warm timbres are brought to the forefront, shaping the tracks progressions and speed, cradled by instrumentation that reflects the mood she means to project.  The wistful ambience of the title track, the waltzing phrases of "The Idea of Love," the spirited vibes of "Dreamscapes," and the bopping pulse and Latin shimmies of  "In the Warmth," all original numbers by Hedrick, bring the listener into her world.  A world loaded with a vast array of melodic expressions and emotionally driven messages. Straddlin...

  Shikiori from Sinne Eeg Label:  Stunt Records Release Date:  July 11, 2025 Website:  https://sinnemusic.com Danish vocalist Sinne Eeg teams with up pianist Jacob Christoffersen on her 2025 offering Shikiori .  Setting the stage, Shikiori is the name of the 150-year-old traditional Japanese home-turned-concert venue where she and Christoffersen recorded the live album.  The set comprises of a mix of originals by Eeg and Christoffersen beside personalized interpretations of songs by Billy Strayhorn, Leonard Bernstein, and Annie Lennox.  The music is stirring, manteled by the bluesy soulful intonations of Eeg's register, resonating an entrancing lilt liken to Sade and an impaling quality reflective of Adele.  Encircled in a breezy ether, Christoffersen's pulsating playing pervades a poetic canter alongside Eeg's ruminating vocals.   “Don’t Be So Blue," composed by Eeg is a luxuriating and spacious ballad that highlights her luminous tone ...

  Carnaval from Antonio Adolfo Label:  AAM Music (Cat# AAM 0719) Release Date:  July 11, 2025 Website:  https://antonioadolfomusic.com Pianist, composer, and Brazilian jazz artist Antonio Adolfo garnered international acclaim for his reharmonization of both jazz standards and Brazilian songs.  He has reimagined Milton Nascimento, Antonio Carlos Jobim, bossa nova, samba, choro, and baião compositions with a jazz framework and bop-inspired improvisations, as well as finessing works by Cole Porter and Wayne Shorter with Brazilian-tinged interpretations. On his newest album, Carnaval, Adolfo once again applies his artistry for making sauve and debonair harmonies that lighten a room's mood and elevates its community.  The festive vibrations of “Vassourinhas” (Vassourinhas Carnaval Club) is a frevo, a vibrant Brazilian dance and music style that is performed at carnivals throughout Brazil.  Composed by Matias da Rocha and Joana Batista Ramos in 1909 as a tr...

  My America 3: My Country from Jim Self Label:  Basset Hound Music Release Date:  June 13, 2025 Website:  https://www.bassethoundmusic.com Tuba player and fluba (part tuba, part flugelhorn) practitioner Jim Self presents his 24th album My America 3: My Country with arrangements by Kim Scharnberg.  A collection of jazz-izfied country tunes that pay respect to their Americana roots, coalesce square dance meters with Dixieland decor, swing-themed embellishments, southern rock riffs, synth pop glitter, and big band swells.  Opening with Self's original work “Chomping at the Bit,”  the track is tethered to a country-folk shuffle supporting Self's meandering toots on the fluba, with guitar inserts countered by intervals of a slinking fiddle and puffing horns.  “Wabashed” is a mash up of the hillbilly anthem “Wabash Cannonball” and Ervin T. Rouse's “Orange Blossom Special,” two songs about trains with the percussive beats and chugging fiddle loops allu...

  New Release:  Glimpse from Jennifer Lee Label:  SBE Records Release Date:  June 6, 2025 Website:  https://www.jenniferlee.xyz Singer-songwriter Jennifer Lee teams up with her guitarist Peter Sprague for her 4th release Glimpse .  A montage of original songs and jazz standards that showcase her prowess as a blues vocalist, the music travels between the suave sonorous of swing, the plush serenity of bossa nova, and the comfy aesthetics of adult pop, bound together by Lee's scintillating vocals.   The recording features jazz musicians from California, including:  Adam Shulman on piano and Rhodes, Gunnar Biggs, Doug Pohorski, and John Wiitala on acoustic bass, Duncan Moore and Vince Lateano on drums, Tommy Aros on percussion, Derek Cannon on trumpet, Tripp Sprague and Anton Schwartz on saxophone, Rich Kuhns on accordion, Justin Grinnell on electric bass, and East Coast flugelhornist Randy Brecker.  "Vivid Technicolor Love" echoes an adult ...

  6th Avenue from Mike Thompson Label:  Hexproof Records Release Date: May 16, 2025 Website:  https://www.mjthompsonmusic.com 6th Avenue , the debut album from Mike Thompson is a contemporary big band collection of six Great American Songbook standards and four original compositions.  Thompson is a student of vibraphone, marimba, concert percussion, jazz composition, and contemporary writing.  He has teamed up with songwriter Sam Nickson for this debut, who wrote string arrangements and co-produced the offering.  Leading a 17-piece ensemble (five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones and a four-piece rhythm section) comprising mostly of veteran players from the local Boston big band scene, Thompson displays traditional big band pageantry with billowing flourishes reminiscent of Glenn Miller Orchestra and elegant sophistication akin to the Guy Lombardo Big Band.   Special guest vocalist Charlize Vermaak performs an impassioned rendering of Cole...

  Unexpected Guests from Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine  Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  August 15, 2025 Website:  https://www.bigbandjazzmachine.net Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine teams up with composer/arranger Dan Radlauer for their concept album Unexpected Guests , which includes performances by vocalist Vince Gill and Daniel Ho on ukulele, among many others across the music spectrum.  Based in Southern California, the Big Band Jazz Machine is a 17-piece jazz orchestra that Liss formed in 1979.  He is the band’s producer, conductor and artistic director, and co-produces the recording with Radlauer.  Opening with Radlauer's composition, “Renaissance Woman,” the piece features Tali Rubinstein, who overdubs four different recorders in the soli section.  The music lobes big band volleys proudly.  "I'm Counting on You," an original work by country music star Vince Gill and sung by him on the recording, demonstrates his vocal de...

  New Release:  Spooky Jazz Vol. 3 from Hannah Gill Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  August 22, 2025 Website:  https://www.hannahgillmusic.com Whimsical and sweetly pulsating, vocalist Hannah Gill dishes up a classic jazz cuisine with Halloween themed hor d'oeuvres whipped up in a swinging blues-pop palette on her 2025 release Spooky Jazz Vol. 3 .  Opening with the bluesy rockabilly grooves of "Spider in the Web," Gill spins a gossamer-like sheath around the listener, toying and teasing with her bewitching vocals.  Moving into the chic swagger of "Old Devil Moon," she basks in the swinging rhythm, and continues with a smooth burlesque resonance purring along "The Richest Guy in the Graveyard," cracking into a ragtime flair on the outro.  She has fun with these tunes, wrapping her vocals around the trotting stride of Gordon Webster's keys and the staggered beats of Philip Ambuel's bass and Ben Zweig's drums.  Rounding out her band i...

  New Release:  Very Early:  Remembering Bill Evans from Jim Witzel Label:  Joplin & Sweeney Records Release Date: August 15, 2025 Website:  https://www.jimwitzelmusic.com Jim Witzel's 4th album, Very Early:  Remembering Bill Evans is a memorial to the works of pianist Bill Evans, performed on guitar by Witzel.  His slant on Evans's material draws out the reflective and relaxing qualities of the music.  Teaming up with pianist Phil Aaron, bass player Dan Feiszli, and drummer Jason Lewis, Witzel merges collective improvisation with introspective musings and straight-ahead jazz elements found in Evans's music.  Inspired by Evans's recording Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Witzel recreates a relaxing Sunday afternoon vibe in his recompositions of Evans's material as he, Aaron and Lewis trade motifs and choruses.  Their harmonies move like poetry in motion standing out on "Israel" with the swinging stride of the rhythm section collabora...

  Treasury, Volume 2 from Terry Waldo Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  May 30, 2025 Website:  https://terrywaldo.com The foxtrot, the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Collegiate Shag are all social dances that emerged out of ragtime, Dixieland bluegrass, and swing music.  Pianist and bandleader Terry Waldo is a jazz historian, who specializes in the music and dances of such turn of the century-Prohibition Era trademarks.  Audiences will find samples of this musical stock on his 2025 recording Treasury, Vol. 2 , as well as on his podcast edition of Waldo's radio show "This is Ragtime."  Subsequently, Waldo has a book about this stock, by the same title as the radio series, published by Jazz at Lincoln Center.  The music on his recording sizzles, soars, and shimmers, grilling a bubbly fare of Dixieland boot-tapping hoots, ragtime blues and swinging romps.  His rendition of "Wabash Bash" features the ruminating wails of Jerron Paxton'...

  Album:  Live at Birdland  Artist:  High Society New Orleans Jazz Band Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  September 18, 2025 Website:  https://www.conalfowkes.com Invoking merriment and laughter from beginning to end, the High Society New Orleans Jazz Band poured it on thick and steadfast during their live shows at Birdland Jazz Club in Manhattan.  Recorded during their performances on August 22 and 29, 2024 for Live at Birdland, their production is released by Turtle Bay Records.  From Dixieland jazz to ragtime, and from Tin Pan Alley swing to vaudeville showtunes, the band demonstrates the high octane of Jelly Roll Morton, the crisp synchronicity of Bix Beiderbecke, and the buoyancy and vigorous improvising on a melody reflective of Louis Armstrong.  Co-led by  Conal Fowkes on piano and Simon Wettenhall on trumpet and occasional vocals, the band is filled out by Kevin Dorn on drums, Josh Dunn on banjo and guitar, Harvey Ti...

Lizzy  Shaps, the founder, lead singer, and frontwoman of Lizzy and the Triggermen, was infatuated with Swing Era music and its glamorous artists while growing up.  What she did not realize is how swing music has become a global phenomenon in present day circles.  Serendipitously, she is relishing being a part of it. She reveals, "I have always enjoyed listening to music from the Swing Era - but I had no idea that swing music was so alive and well in modern times until I was putting together my band." "In search of an arranger," she recalls, "I went to hear a band play at a little dive bar in Burbank that hosted swing music every Monday.  As I pulled up to what looked like a sports bar, I was shocked to find inside a room full of young people in vintage outfits dancing their hearts out to a super swinging band. It felt like being transported to another time."  "Turns out," she illuminates, "there is this whole vibrant scene of swing dancers,...

  Album:  New Jazz Standards Vol 7:  The Music of Carl Saunders  Artist:  Marina Pacowski Label:  Summit Records Release Date:  May 9, 2025 Website:  https://marinapacowski.com French vocalist-pianist Marina Pacowski pays tribute to her friend, composer and trumpet player Carl Saunders on her 2025 recording New Jazz Standards Vol. 7:  The Music of Carl Saunders.   Performing Saunder's material with Pacowski on vocals are:  Roy McCurdy on drums, John Clayton on bass,  Josh Nelson on piano, Rickey Woodard on saxophones, Ron Stout on trumpet, Larry Koonse on guitar, Ken Wild on bass, Scott Whitfield on trombone, and special guests: John Proulx on vocals and Ken Peplowski on clarinet.   A classic jazz crooner and scat improviser, Pacowski keeps the melodies focused and palliative, projecting a consolatory voicing, particularly prevalent in "Feels Like Home" as her vocals rise and fall congruent with the palpitating beats ...

  Words Underlined from Patrick Smith Label:  Lit Soc Records Release Date:  December 12, 2025 Website:  https://www.patricksmithsax.com https://litsocrecords.bandcamp.com Saxophonist-composer Patrick Smith plays with a soulful script and unwavering determination, displaying a sensitivity that is penetrative and an instinct that moves in sync with his collaborators.  His 2025 program Words Underlined is an 11-track disc that evokes introspection, willpower and solace.  The mournful wails of his sax construct an ecclesiastical edifice for "Hazel," contrasting the fiery blazes roaring across "Banff" kettled by guitarist Dan Pitt and drummer Lowell Whitty, and ignited by Smith's belting saxophone howls.  He plays a swinging ragtime-like shuffle across "I've Found A New Nemesis," nimbly moving into a hollering squeal.  Smith halos "As Years Go By" with amorous, cool jazz flutters that evoke reflection and solace as his sax soars and ebbs, sl...

  Self-Titled Release from Arid Landscapes Label:  Signal Chain Records Release Date:  September 19, 2025  Website:  https://aridlandscapes.bandcamp.com/album/arid-landscapes https://www.dan-pitt.com https://www.noahfranche-nolanmusic.com The self-titled release from Arid Landscapes, comprised of Canadian musicians Dan Pitt on guitar and electronics and Noah Franche-Nolan on piano, synthesizers, and electronics, is a compilation of voluminous and celestial excursions.  Their glacial-like soundscapes are malleable structures, fluidly mutating and traveling like ghostly shadows.  Employing techno and electronica tools, the duo craft a subtle rhythmic beat in the undertow of the sonic pulsations.  An art form reminiscent of the esoteric emanations and weightless formations shaped by Philip Glass and Brian Eno.  A combination of earthly and otherworldly communications transpire through "Weathered," stringing repetitive robotic-like phrases, ambie...

  New Release:  LateNights from Brad Schrader Label: Self-Released Release Date: November 21, 2025 Website:  www.latenightsjazz.com After hours jazz with a candlelight ambience is what vocalist Brad Schrader offers for his 2025 self-released LateNights , bringing together "a cross-section of standards – and not-so-standards – with fresh arrangements to make things easy and interesting. Our superb band of jazz veterans builds a chill groove under and around the vocals, drawing the listener in to the track,” explains Schrader in the press release.  Classic jazz at its most amicable pipes through the tracks, creating a fireside atmosphere through "I Wish I Knew" and transitioning into a light, swinging rhythm along "It's Alright with Me." a signature piece by Cole Porter.  His sensitive articulation is reminiscent of vocalist Mark Winkler, intimating thoughts and images to the listener with poignant pauses and emotive vocal inflections.   His interpretati...

  Live at Joe's Pub from Lizzy & the Triggermen Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  August 14, 2025 Website:  https://lizzyandthetriggermen.com/home Lizzy & the Triggermen is a 10-piece indie swing band who came into 2025 with the release of their live album, Live at Joe's Pub , recorded at the New York City venue in April 2024.  The live session follows their debut EP Good Songs for Bad Times in 2020.  Helmed by vocalist Lizzy" Shaps, she is accompanied by Christopher Dawson on piano, Bobby Hawk on fiddle/violin, Luca Pina on guitar, Gary Wicks on upright bass, Anthony Ty Johnson on drums, Nate Ketner on alto clarinet, Ricky Alexander on tenor and baritone clarinet, Gordon Au on trumpet, and John Allred on trombone.  Their 23-track collection pairs jazz favorites like "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses" alongside original tunes including the sensual curves of "I Know a Man" and the adult pop-ragtime...

  New Release: Alchemy from Wayne Alpern Label:  Henri Elkan Music Release Date:  December 19, 2025 Website:  https://www.waynealpern.com Endowed with the gift to set poetry to music reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Stravinsky, compounded by the acumen to interlace, juxtapose, and coalesce improvised components with the instincts of Broadway Theatre's perennial trailblazers like George and Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, composer-visionist-stylist Wayne Alpern continues to flex his creative imagination and infatuate audiences with his twelfth musical album Alchemy on his label Henri Elkan Music.  A collection of a dozen pieces of original music for woodwind quintet, the recording is produced by Judith Sherman and performed by the Grammy-winning Imani Winds, whose members are: Brandon Patrick George (flute), Toyin Spellman-Diaz (oboe), Kevin Newton (French horn), Mark Dover (Clarinet), and Monica Ellis (bassoon).  The frilly winds circling across ...

  So Do It from Jimbo Ross Label:  Bodacious Records Release Date: October 17, 2025  Website:  https://bodaciousrecords.com/about-jimbo-ross Live performer and viola player, Jimbo Ross, builds his longevity with his 2025 offering So Do It .  Opening the recording with Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low,” Ross pillars the straight ahead, up-tempo jazz groove with a bevy of twists and curves crisscrossing along the melodic structure, keeping it evolving with molten activity.  Ross follows a similar recipe fomenting nimble patterns with his viola, catapulted by the Chattanooga chugging beat bolstering "Twisted Blues," a Wes Montgomery standard.  His interpretation of Lee Morgan’s fan favorite “The Gigolo” is blanketed in earthy textures from the bustling riffs of his viola to the glistening doodles of Stuart Elster on the piano.   From the warm strokes of Joe Gaeta on guitar to the pummeling beats of Ron Wagner on drums and the frothy bounce of Peter Marsh...

  Tatum's Swingin' Session!!! from Shout Section Big Band Label:  Self-Release Release Date:  September 10, 2025 Website:  https://www.shoutsection.com/albums Shout Section Big Band (SSBB) is an 18-piece ensemble dedicated to big band swing, Great American Songbook classics, and pop songs from multiple decades, performing for audiences in the Chicago area and throughout the Midwest.  Tatum's Swingin's Session!!! is the band’s fifth album, a 14-song assortment showcasing vocalist Tatum Langley, a Chicago-based singer and band member for several years.  The repertoire encompasses classic favorites by such luminaries as Cole Porter, Cy Coleman, The Carpenters, and The Beatles.  Joining Langley is the band's founder and conductor Brett Dean on trumpet, Ben Crino on guitar, and Nick Roach on trombone, along with trumpeters Andrew Egizio, Will Schmalbeck, and John Dorhauer, and saxophonists Ted Holtz, Bill Rank, Andy Schlinder, Michael Kennedy, and Jimmy Fa...

  Multi-lingual jazz vocalist Sacha Boutros reimagines 100 years of popular music by French and American composers on her 2025 effort Paris After Dark .   Demonstrating her flare for jazz, blues, soul, adult pop, and swing, Boutros shares her interpretation of tunes taken from the Great American Songbook as well as from classic French pop catalogs, singing alternately in French and English with a little Italian.  The 10-track collection is Boutros's fifth full-length album and the second in a series of After Dark recordings, initiated by New York After Dark in 2013, and soon to be followed by Las Vegas After Dark and Mexico After Dark .  Each recording shows her fondness for these cities, representing their spirit at night with music heard in the cafés, clubs, taxis, and on the streets.  This latest addition to the series gives the listener an impression of Paris at night with its smooth cocktail-imbued ambiences and the refined textures of Boutros's voca...

  So Many Memories from Loren Schoenberg and his Jazz Orchestra Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date: November 7, 2025 Website:  https://www.lorenschoenbergjazz.com Recalling the Big Band era of the later half of the 1930's, bandleader-tenor saxophonist-pianist Loren Schoenberg and his 15-piece Jazz Orchestra recapture the melodic luster, harmonic elegance, and radiant opulence of speakeasy, Post-World War I, Post-Prohibition Age, Café Society jazz on their compilation So Many Memories.   Having served for 40 years overseeing the Benny Goodman Archives at Yale University and a longtime Juilliard jazz history professor, Schoenberg mints a selection of nostalgic tunes from yesteryear, encouraging listeners to delve into America's memory bank.  The 16-track collection features previously unheard arrangements penned from 1936-39 by swing era composer/arranger Eddie Sauter, and created for bandleader and early jazz vibraphonist Red Norvo and his wife, singer Mildr...

  We Had A Moment from Deborah Shulman Label:  Summit Records Release Date:  October 24, 2025 Website:  http://deborahshulman.com Deborah Shulman is an evocative singer and penetrative interpreter of jazz and pop standards. For her sixth offering, We Had A Moment , she chose songs that express the irony, grief, grace, and love that she has experienced over the years.  She approaches each song with heart for its message and an emotional connection to its content.  The album evolves like a gripping novel, each track depicting a chapter that examines a pivotal event in the story told, as its narrator moves forward through the forest of life's journey.  Each track stops at a junction in the forest, opening with her remake of Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle."  Here, the press release claims, "relates to her struggle in the music industry."  The next track “No Moon at All," written by David Mann and Redd Evans, is another junction in the for...

  The Nutcracker Remix from the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (CCJO) Label:  Self-Release Release Date:  October 31, 2025 Website:  www.cincinnatijazz.org The Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchesta (CCJO), a 17 piece ensemble, presents The Nutcracker Remix ,  a 12-track album featuring nine reimagined tracks from the Tchaikovsky's timeless suite "The Nutcracker" ballet, alongside three bonus Christmas-themed tracks sung by frequent CCJO collaborator Mandy Gaines, which include the candlelight shimmers of "Christmas Time Is Here," a bluesy soul spin on "Merry Christmas Baby," and the cushiony, lulling swells of Gaines’s original number “Christmas This Year."  Preceding is the orchestra's reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky's original compositions with a jazz twist, incorporating many different styles including bop, western swing, smooth jazz, and jive, all of which are sequenced fluidly and cozily into a roaring rendition of gyrating h...