jazz2love

  New Release:  Hard Bop: For The Record from Greg Chako Label: Mint400 Records Release Date: September 4, 2026 Website:  https://gregchako.com Hard Bop: For The Record is the 25th offering from composer-leader-guitarist Greg Chako, a piano-less two-horn quintet recording that places Chako's guitar at the center of the ensemble while demonstrating his commitment to the hard bop language and traditional jazz idioms.  Inspired by the classic quintets of Horace Silver and Art Blakey, the album features shards of swing alongside hard bop, blues, and chillout jazz, most notable in the tribute tune "Bop for Bud," paying homage to pianist-composer Bud Powell.  Chako's improvised thrumming on the guitar is embellished by the frilly tooling of Brooks Giles's saxophone on "Mr. Higgins," a nod to drummer Billy Higgins that is keeled by the steady pulse of David Lloyd's bass and Alex Merk's drumming, while Spencer Mark's lyrical phrasing on the trombone...

Album:  Aspenrose: Live at the Opera House Artist:  Herb Silverstein Label: Silver Tunes Website:  www.herbsilversteinjazz.com Pianist and composer Herb Silverstein's online biography reveals that "In the early 1980s, one of Herb’s sons introduced him to a recording of Chick Corea, and this began a long love affair with jazz music."  His bond with stride piano, bebop, and improvised music has motivated him to release his 17th recording Aspenrose:  Live at the Opera House , recorded with Michael Ross on bass and produced by Silversten.  Containing twelve original compositions written by Silverstein, the listener immediately becomes aware of Silverstein's ability to create lyrical phrases that are comforting and therapeutic for the aural senses.  His practice as an Otologist (the branch of medicine concerned with the ear) and as an Otolaryngologist (the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the ears, nose, and thro...