jazz2love

  New Release:  Let's Fall in Love from Judith Whitmore Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  April 25, 2025 Website:  https://www.judywhitmore.com/ https://www.facebook.com/JudithWhitmoreWriterSinger/ @JudithWhitmore (IG/Twitter) Vocalist Judy Whitmore has honed a reputation as a prolific interpreter of songs from the Great American Songbook.  Her latest endeavor, Let's Fall In Love , has her teamed up with producer Chris Walden.  The compilation of songs featured on the recording, Whitmore's fifth solo effort, take audiences back to the Golden Age of big band music, fashioned with contemporary sensibilities where Eydie Gormé meets Brenda Earle Stokes.  Backed up by a 22-member string section, Whitmore is also accompanied by Josh Nelson on piano, Andrew Synowiec on guitar, Edwin Livingston on bass, Peter Erskine on drums, Wade Culbreath on vibraphone, Hendrik Meurkens on harmonica, Laura Brenes on French horn, and Gayle Levant on harp, as well as ...

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:  The DIVA Jazz Orchestra "30" Artist:  The DIVA Jazz Orchestra Label:  DIVA Jazz Website:  www.divajazz.com Celebrating their 30th year of swinging around the world, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra earmark the occasion with their 2023 outing The DIVA Jazz Orchestra "30," recorded live at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club in New York City.  Featuring selections from the band's music library over the years, the recording elevates the body and calls for audiences to experience pure joy. The DIVA Jazz Orchestra is described in their press release as "an ensemble of fifteen versatile, multi-generational musicians who expertly balance enthusiastic energy with sophisticated subtlety, virtuosity, and imagination." Entwining elements of swing, torchlight blues, big band, and straight-ahead jazz, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra knows how to keep their audience dancing in the aisles.  "Every Day I Have The Blues," a persevering hit for Pinetop Sparks and Me...

Album:  Islands Artist:  Dan Bonsanti and 14 Jazz Orchestra Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://www.14jazzorchestra.com/new-release---islands.html Islands , the 2023 release from composer and arranger Dan Bonsanti and his band, the 14 Jazz Orchestra, is a collection of swinging, big band jazz arrangements with 11 straight-ahead jazz tunes that merge big band bubbles with adult contemporary easiness, nuanced in jazz-imbued elegance.  Textured in jaunty keys liaised with smooth horns and cruising rhythmic beats, the recording fills the listener with pleasurable sensations that last from start to finish. A feel good recording,  Bonsanti and his orchestra attain a state of enjoyment achieved by the likes of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Guy Lombardo Big Band.  The warm aesthetics emanating from the horns along "Part of Me" bathe the listener in cozy atmospherics, then traverse into a bossa nova shimmy across "Carmencita," written by Mike Levine, B...

Album:  Celebration Artist:  Josh Levinson Big Band Label:  Wise Cat Records Website:  https://www.joshlevinsonseptet.com/news Trumpeter-composer Josh Levinson releases his fifth recording, appropriately named Celebration .  A multi-layered blending of big band, swing, hard bop, blues, hot jazz, and meringue, the tunes are deeply rooted in jazz traditions with a contemporary flare.  A veritable crowd pleaser, Levinson presents a dozen of his original works, entwining aesthetically pleasing motifs and fiery licks, parlayed into a harmonious whirlwind that keeps the audience's mood uplifted. At the core of the compositions are the horns, performed by Josh Levinson on trumpet, Mike Troy, Itay Goldberg, Greg Lapine, Matt Knoegel, and Bryan Cowan on saxophones, Roger Garcia, Mark McGowan, and Ben Seacrist on additional trumpets, Tim Shneier, Matt McDonald, Glenn Mills, and John Alexander on trombones .  The collective produces tiers of elevating spirals ac...

Album:  Blues To Be There, A Salute To Duke Ellington Artist:  Planet D Nonet Label:  Eastlawn Records Website:  rjspangler.com/pd9.php Paying homage to the works of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, the Planet D Nonet focuses on the works of these artists in their later years of the 1950's on the Nonet's recording Blues To Be There, A Salute To Duke Ellington .  Led by percussionist RJ Spangler and trumpet player James O'Donnell, the Nonet hones their fluency in swing, hard bop, and blues, with each musician "finding themselves" in Ellington's scores, as Spangler paraphrases in a press release. The Nonet's alterations on the original arrangements show a perceptive slant in their interpretations, spotlighting the elegant nuances of each track.  The squiggly furls of James O'Donnell's trumpet are verbose and voluminous, ruminating smoothly along "Blues To Be There" while tindered by the jaunty toots of clarinet player Christopher Tabaczy...

Album:  Red Beats Artist:  Steve Fidyk and the Live Wire Broad Band Label:  Blue Canteen Music Website:  www.bluecanteenmusic.com and www.jazzprofiles.blogspot.com Applying the standard of five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets, and four rhythm players augmented by guitar and organ to the instrumentation featured on Steve Fidyk and the Live Wire Broad Band's latest endeavor Red Beats , the recording bears a burst of creative thinking that expands on the syntex of big band constructs.  Produced by Fidyk, the compilation consists of 9 original compositions by Fidyk as well, arranged for big band by 6 different arrangers from the DC and Philly region, namely the band's bassist Regan Brough, saxophonist Joseph Henson, trumpet player Andrew Carson, guitarist Michael Kramer, saxophonist Mark Allen, and saxophonist Jack Saint Clair. Well-versed in holding dynamic conversations spurred on by rhythm changes, chirpy interfacing and counter statements, the musician...

Album:  My America 2:  Destinations Artist:  Jim Self Websites:  bassethoundmusic.com facebook.com/JimSelfMusic The second installment to tuba player Jim Self's 2002 recording My America , which featured iconic melodies reflective of America's early songwriters like Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward's perennial "America the Beautiful" and Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King's country classic "Tennessee Waltz," changes course on his recording My America 2:  Destinations .  His second installment in his America series concentrates on iconic melodies descriptive of America's states and cities, of which Self had lived or worked like the luxurious and bucolic destinations of Kansas City and Georgia.  The recording is a collaboration between Self and arranger Kim Scharnberg, who offer the ensemble of musicians ample space for soloists to play stirring improvisations and demonstrate their fluency in the jazz language. The album starts off with Scharnber...

Album:  Hollywood Christmas Artist:  Richard Williams Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://www.richardmusic.com/   https://www.facebook.com/RichardWillliamsMusic/ Composer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Williams rings in the holiday season with his latest release Hollywood Christmas , a 22-track recording comprised of classic Christmas singalong tunes using a palette of big band, swing jazz and orchestral ambiences.  In the vane of Gene Autry, Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, and The Carpenters, Williams revisits traditional holiday music and celebrates its perennial luster. Partly driven by his Mormon faith, Williams exercises his arranging chops by putting his own touch-ups on a handful of well-known and beloved Christmas-themed songs.  Williams sets the cheerful tone of the album with the opening number, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” The song features the sauve voicing of Alex Stiles, a young vocalist whose style and vocal quality i...

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:  Isolation Emancipation Artist:  Mace Francis Plus 11 Label:  Self-Released Website:  http://macefrancis.com Trombonist and bandleader Mace Francis celebrates the virtuosity and uplifting spirit of big band music with his latest endeavor Isolation Emancipation .  Joining Francis is Plus 11, comprised of 11 musicians who stoke the embers of swing jazz, a timepiece that Francis believes is a bygone era though he proves its principle idioms transcend the ages.  Adorned in catchy rhythms and attractive harmonies, the music's appeal is noticeable from the start, crafting a slew of subliminal, melodic passages. The sinewy bursts of the brass and woodwinds, constituted of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and Tahlia Denn on French Horn is bountiful, thrusting ardently while delightfully splayed across the title track.  Harry Mitchell's piano keys bolster a gleeful prance as the steady drumbeats of Bronton Ainsworth are partnered with the bopping pumps ...

Album:  Sky Blossom Artist:  Alexis Cole Label:  Zoho Music Website:  alexiscole.com Sky Blossom , a term in the US military used to describe a parachute opening, is the title of vocalist Alexis Cole's upcoming release.  It's by design that she adapted the term to describe her debut release with Zoho Music as formerly she was a jazz singer for the US Army's Big Band.  Now, ready to leap into the unknown as a solo recording artist, she performs a handful of swinging and pop classics from her time as the vocalist for the West Point Band’s Jazz Knights,  Cole's compilation of jazz novelties and pop favorites sparkle anew with her sultry voicing applied to "How Long Has This Been Goin' On" and her penchant for sizzling swing and upbeat scat displayed in "Joy Spring."  Her vocals make an indelible mark on her rendition of "New York State of Mind," blending facets of pop, jazz, scat, and blues into a stimulating mixture that has not been pres...

Album:  My Funny Valentine Artist:  Grace Haggerty Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.gracehaggerty.com My Funny Valentine , the new solo offering from vocalist Grace Haggerty, is pristinely put together.  An assortment of jazz standards from the perky swinging thrusts of Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" to the Brazilian smoothness of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights, Quiet Stars," Haggerty whisks listeners along a pleasing voyage that elevates the senses and stirs elation. The repetitive tossing motion of Mauro Refosco's percussion contours Haggerty's vocals in a soft kindle along "You Go To My Head," giving the track a cocktail shaker trope.  Artfully, "Quiet Nights, Quiet Stars" is seasoned in Calpyso-hued flickers as Angelo DiPippo's accordion moves in and out of the track with whirling figures that stimulates the listener's pulse.   Endowed with a whispery vocalese reminiscent of Judy Collins,...

Album:  Mazel Tov Kocktail Artist:  Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine Label:  Tallman Productions Website:  https://www.bigbandjazzmachine.com https://theirablissbigbandjazzmachine.bandcamp.com Celebrating its 40 anniversary, The Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine's 6th CD Mazel Tov Kocktail projects warm and upbeat sensations from start to finish.  Conducted and produced by Liss, the release is comprised of original compositions by saxophonist Andrew Neu, arranger Dan Radlauer, pianist Scott Arcangel, trombonist Peter Herbozheimer, and composers/bandleaders Alan Baylock and George Stone.   The recording celebrates the liveliness and bliss that big band orchestrations.  The slate of tunes is a mix of jazz standards from both the 20th and 21st centuries polished to a clarion zest. Vocalist Carly Ines makes "High Wire" and "Love You Madly" pop with an infectious exuberance that the listener can't resist.  Her scatting vocalese gives the tracks ...

Album:  Love Finds Everyone Artist:  Henry Godfrey Jazz Orchestra Label:  Self-Released Website: https://www.facebook.com/henrygodfreymusic              https://henrygodfreyjazzorchestra.bandcamp.com When melting pots like jazz collectives are done to their potential, the voices of multiple instruments move in harmony with one another while making individual statements through the clusters of billowing masses.  Such is the case of the Henry Godfrey Jazz Orchestra whose leader, drummer Henry Godfrey, conducts a grand ensemble of musicians where out of many voices evolves compatible interchanges, which form an agreeable menagerie. The Henry Godfrey Jazz Orchestra made their debut with Love Finds Everyone , self-released on July 1, 2020.  The recording features Boston-based musicians with six out of the seven compositions and all of the arrangements written by Godfrey.  Some tracks are live recordings...

Album:  Florida Rays Artist:  The Flying Horse Big Band Label:  The Flying Horse Records Website:  https://flyinghorserecords.com The University of Central Florida has a world-renown jazz studies program.  Born from that program is a big band styled group called The Flying Horse Big Band.  The band has recorded several albums, many of which are theme based including their latest release Florida Rays.   This one celebrates the music of Ray Charles, songs that he wrote and covered through his youth and early career living in Florida, hence its title Florida Rays .  Comprised of 13 covers of jazz standards, the recording is directed by tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert, who is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Central Florida.  Rupert is also the founder of the Flying Horse Records label, which not only promotes the students of the university's jazz studies program but it's faculty as well. The band begins their tribute to Ray Charle...

Album:  Lovers and Love Songs Artist:  Willie Jones III's All-Stars Label:  Night Is Alive Website: https://nightisalive.com/albums/lovers-and-love-songs/ Jazz drummer Willie Jones III takes audiences on a journey of romantic tunes through the decades on his latest CD Lovers and Love Songs from the Night Is Alive label.  His band, the Willie Jones III's All-Stars, abbreviated to WJ3 All-Stars, display a dexterity and gentleman-like rapport reminiscent of the great big band era.  Their contribution to the format signifies a modern chapter in the memoirs of straight-ahead jazz. Ralph Moore's saxophone plays many of the main motifs through the tracks, taking the lead along "I've Never Been In Love Before," showing a narrative voice that meanders into elegant twists as Steve Davis's trombone twines gently around the phrases and Terell Stafford's  trumpet puffs luxuriously, forming dulcet ringlets.  The flow of the instruments is enjoyable.  The Latin...

Album:  Set Your Heart Free Artist:  Donna Singer Label:  Emerald Baby Recording Company Website:  www.donna-singer.com Vocalist Donna Singer presents jazz that communicates a universal language that speaks to people's hearts.  Her latest CD Set Your Heart Free blends big band-inspired scores with elements of blues, swing, and soul.  Supported by Ranses Colon on bass, Brad Keller on piano, Adolfo Herrera on drums, Yamin Mustafa on trumpet, Melton Mustafa, Jr. on saxophones, and Greg Minnick on guitar, Singer gravitates to songs that reflect about life's pinnacle moments on the recording, always moving towards expressions that leave the listener feeling positive. "To Be A Child" is warm soul jazz number that Singer treats with a maternal sensitivity as Melton Mustafa, Jr.'s saxophone weaves elegant spirals along the track, lifting the listener's spirit.  Yamin Mustafa's trumpet adds lively frills along "Why Should Kids Have All the Fun" as th...

Album:  Mood Walk Artist:  Fred Randolph Label:  Creative Spirit Records Website:  https://fredrandolph.com Moon Walk , the fourth CD from bassist-composer Fred Randolph as a leader applies Big Band swing panache with bebop flare.  Inspired by the likes of Clifford Brown, Chick Corea, and John Coltrane, Randolph's team of players perform what one expects from a jazz outing with tunes that shuffle and waltz,  engage in quick steps and stargazing, the recording touches numerous precepts of the jazz repertoire. The honeyed wisps of Sheldon Brown's flute infuse "Strange Game" with a cushiony texture as Brian Rice's percussive chimes shower glittering sprinkles across the track.  The ethereal feel of the composition acts like a balmy salve on the aural senses, evoking a stargazing ambience.  The CD changes course on the title track, blowing out with vibrant Big Band hued shrapnel as the wailing toots of the horns give the composition depth and add ...

Album:  Truth Artist:  The Seth Weaver Big Band Label:  Outside in Music Website:  www.sethweavermusic.com An award-winning trombonist, vocalist, composer, arranger, and educator, Seth Weaver leads a 17-piece swing orchestra on his debut release Truth from Outside in Music label.  Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Weaver's band works as a unified team while demonstrating the dexterity and virtuosity of individual band members.  Weaver's band continuously produce congenial aesthetics for the listener. Starting off, the serpentine scrolls of Addison Frei's piano keys pave a poetic missive through "Here's That Rainy Day," fringed by the soft glittering doodles in the cavalcade of horns.  A natural blues crooner, Weaver's vocals add sentiment and dimension to Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's melody.  The track is distinguishable, toggling between the elegant crests of Weaver's vocals and the soaring altitude of the horns. Weaver...