jazz2love

  Album:  Thank You Notes: The Music of Gregg Hill Artist:   Paul Keller Orchestra Label: Cold Plunge Records Release Date: March 27, 2026 Websites: https://www.coldplungerecords.com www.paulkellerjazz.com www.gregghilljazz.com   String bass player and bandleader Paul Keller helms an 18-piece orchestra on Thank You Notes: The Music of Gregg Hill .   Packed with interpretations of Gregg Hill's original works,   Keller's orchestra captures the opulence of classic big band vitality, liaising with a modern playfulness and easy-going repartee.     The classic big band finish of "Bopportunity" is liken to the orchestras of the 1960's with a contemporary arc.   The spirited vibe of Finkbeiner's trumpet trotting through "Dollah Hollah" has a striking flair, as though building a story about the day in the life of a single individual.   The listener can easily imagine the character being played by the late actor Jack Lemmon, mirroring the actor'...

  New Release:  Waking Dream from Randy Napoleon Label:  OA2 Records Release Date:  August 15, 2025 Website:  www.RandyNapoleon.com An amalgam of modern bebop, meditative blues, and straight-ahead jazz, composer, guitarist, and leader Randy Napoleon teamed up with four additional guitarists, who are all former students of his:  Luke Sittard, Chris Minami, Jocelyn Gould, and Ben Turner for his recording Waking Dream .  Consisting of original tracks written by Napoleon and Gregg Hill, the recording explores diversity in syncopation, melodic phrasing, and harmonic forms.  The atmospheric serenity shrouding the title track exudes a tenderness, which is contrasted by the complex intricacies of "The Speckled Frog," as each instrument moves to a different beat between Quincy Davis' syncopated drumming to the streaking flare of Anthony Stanco's trumpet and the curt bopping pulse of Rodney Whitaker's bass.  "The Singer" displays a Latin accent in the ...

  New Release:  Catalyst from Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet & Elden Kelly Label: Cold Plunge Records Release Date:  May 16, 2025 Website: https://davesharpworldsquartet.com Catalyst is the latest release from the Dave Sharp World Quartet joined by guitarist Elden Kelly.  Together, they fuse Afro-Middle Eastern rhythms combined with traditional Eastern European flavors, Far East textures, Cuban-Brazilian twine, world rock trimmings, and modern jazz-inspired harmonies, as the group partakes in interpreting compositions by Gregg Hill, the executive producer of Cold Plunge Records. The arrangements season Hill's jazz-oriented compositions with eastern hemisphere characteristics, giving them an exotic tint and rhythmic traction in the gypsy-draped twirls.  The group interlaces classic orchestral features with various cultural dance styles, interpreted through the lens of a modern perspective.  Comprised of violinist Henrik Karapetyan, oud player Igor Houwat, ba...