jazz2love

  New Release:  Beatitude from David Bixler Label:  Tiger Turn Release Date:  April 26, 2024 Website:  https://www.davidbixler.com Saxophonist, composer, and leader David Bixler approaches jazz as a means to disseminate hope for a better day to come.  His 2024 release Beatitude spreads this message proudly and tacitly through his eight original pieces.  He expresses in the press release, "I speak for myself when I say every time I approach the piano, the bandstand and my colleagues, I do so with the understanding that I am approaching an altar, fellow ministers, and a congregation that needs ministering too."  The prevalent theme throughout the recording is promoting solace in the music and the cozy companionship demonstrated in the instrumentation.  His track "Balm" overflows with a cozy companionship quality, buoyed by the conversational interplay his sax holds with Jon Cowherd's piano keys as Ike Sturm's bass pulls sustain a reflective am...

  New Release:  Wes 101 from Kristen Bromley Label:  Kristen R. Bromley Music Release Date:  April 18, 2025 Website: www.kristenbromley.com Wes 101 is jazz guitarist-composer Kristen Bromley's fifth installment as a leader and frontwoman. The compilation includes seven originals by Bromley, showcasing her standing as a motivating force in the jazz blues forum.  Her work is a tribute to the legendary jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, applying a modern perspective to his manipulation of octaves. The dynamic quivers in her playing nestles a soft penmanship along her ballad "Cherished Moments," projecting a Latin-imbued aura, ruminating tenderly and reverently, sharing a kindred spirit with Montgomery's timeless nougat "Mistly."   Moving into a swinging constellation of gyrating keys from Melanie Shore's organ, and a steady surge of bopping knolls by David Ian Baker on bass and Matt Coleman on drums, “Swing It for the Maestro” is an adaptation of Montgomery...

  Wake Up Call from Rick Roe Label: Cold Plunge Records Release Date:  December 19, 2025 Websites: https://www.gregghilljazz.com https://www.roejazz.com Pianist, leader and arranger Rick Roe, while in the company of Nate Winn on drums, Robert Hurst on bass, and Marcus Elliot on tenor and soprano saxophones, has cultivated a nouveau straight-ahead jazz style on his newest addition Wake Up Call:  The Music of Greg Hill .  Roe and company make alternations to jazz composer Greg Hill's compositions that set these tracks along a path of spiraling aerials and stimulating improvisations.  The main course of the album is the window brightening hues of "Sunspiration," escalated by the swinging fluctuations throttling the title track, and then rolling into the stargazing harmonies of "Wide River."   The bopping beats of "The Return of Mr. Pea" propel Roe's jutting keys and Elliot's zigzagging tenor into a nouveau stratosphere.  For the dessert, Winn'...