jazz2love

Album:  Live at Blue Bamboo Artist:  Chris Cortez Label:  Blue Bamboo Music Website:  bluebamboomusic.com Rife with good vibrations, Live at Blue Bamboo from guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader Chris Cortez offers audiences a sweet escape from the rigors of the real world.  Recorded live, Cortez and his ensemble craft buoyant scores, requiring nothing more from listeners than to absorb the pleasing melodies sprinkled in improvisations that complement the arrangements. Coalescing facets of straight ahead jazz, Latin swing, bop, and rhythm and blues, the recording is melody-driven, providing ample solo excursions from flutist Dan Jordan, trumpet player John DePaola, and tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert.  The shuffling pattern of Bob Thornton's keys traipsing across “Arlington Park” is augmented by the incisions made by Rupert's sax and DePaola's trumpet, amplifying the jovial mood.  The bopping rhythm of "The Visit" is a sprightly piece, changing into a ...

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:  The Ripple Artists:  Jeff Rupert and George Garzone Label:  RUPE MEDIA Website:   https://georgegarzone.com/bio Saxophonists Jeff Rupert and George Garzone let loose on their new release The Ripple , offering balmy instrumentals mixed with bopping jaunts.  Supported by pianist Richard Drexler, drummer Marty Morell, and bassist Jeremy Allen, the duo of Rupert and Garzone make music that soothes the soul and jumpstarts one's motor.  The silky treads of their saxophones cruising along "Stardust" snugly cradle the listener in clouds of comfort.   Their music is affable, putting the listener in a reclining position while displaying an appealing enthusiasm.  Music made for the intimate setting of jazz clubs, their delivery of "Without a Song," written by Vincent Youmans and Billy Rose, wafts a tapping bebop pulse as Drexler's pouncing keys craft a glittering vamp.  It is precisely what audiences expect to hear in supper clubs ...

Album:  R&D Artist:  Jeff Rupert and Richard Drexler Label:  Rupe Media Websites:  facebook.com/jeffrupertsax Saxophonist Jeff Rupert and pianist Richard Drexler come together for their second collaboration R&D, on the heels of their first offering together, Imagination in 2017.  The music captured on their latest release was a portion of two nights of music performed by the duo at the Timucua Arts White House in Orlando, Florida in June of 2015.  The standards featured on the recording demonstrate the pair's instinct to communicate meaningful exchanges with one elaborating on the other's thoughts, sometimes finishing the summary being posed to the audience.   The melodic progressions bond seamlessly as the two hewn imaginative phrases, which they parlay into reclining soundscapes. Lulling nocturnes and soothing bedtime-sounding passages emerge from the recording as Rupert and Drexler weave around one another.  Their re-imagine...