jazz2love

Album:  Within Us Artist:  Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge Label:  Summit Records Website:  https://www.chuckowen.com Composer-bandleader Chuck Owen builds vibrant landscapes with his 19-piece orchestra The Jazz Surge.  Their latest recording Within Us is a compilation of nostalgic swing and big band energy merging with modern practices and creative phrasing.  Owen's compositions and arrangements are steep in traditional jazz parlences while exercising a playful character that integrates influences of contemporary and classic American folk/roots music, blues-infused rhapsodies, and ambient torchlight. The melodic paradigms of the opener "Chelsea Shuffle" are modelesque while maintaining a spontaneous playfulness.  Vibraphonist Warren Wolf adds dimension to the spiraling woodwinds and brass instruments.  The mood turns solemn in "Trail of the Ancients" displaying a Celtic lilt in Sara Caswell's violin.  The track coalesces folksy textures with ...

    Album Review:  Self-Titled CD from Datura Road Artist:  Datura Road Label: Self-Released Website:  www.daturaroad.com The self-titled CD from Datura Road offers listeners a variety of flavors from Turkish accented woodwinds to the Italian textured strums of the mandolin and the American folk aromas of the acoustic guitar.  Eastern influences meet western elements on the recording, making for a multi-colored sonic collage that, contrary to popular belief about polar opposites, is aurally pleasing. Asian-toned instruments such as the ud/oud, bansuri and tabla are layered with the familiar western sounds of the guitar, bass, drums, and clarinet.   The intermingling of these diverse registers prove to be a complementing mix as multi-instrumentalist Matt Nobile applies a smooth voicing to the tracks.   His  vocals blend nicely into the fluid curves of the tracks, expressing a sage-like presence through the melodies....