jazz2love

  New Release:  Life Got in the Way from Heather McKay Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  September 26, 2025 Website:  www.heathermckaymusic.com Guitarist-composer Heather McKay's latest offering, Life Got In The Way , is a collection of Latin jazz compositions written over the past twenty years.  Each piece is inspired by a place, a person, or a moment in McKay's life that affected her profoundly.  The arrangements flow without being restrained by conventional time signatures.  The varying rhythms cause the instruments to sound disjointed like in "Boo," as the musicians move in harmony with one another, exchanging complementing remarks and lively responses at their own time signature.  The soothing atmosphere of "Narraguagus Bay" is spiked by McKay's searing guitar riffs, giving the track depth and character, and singed by Peter Fraize's churning sax as it moves through the melodic progression.  The samba groove underlining "The Playg...

Album:  Live at the Pump House Celebrating Wayne Shorter Artist: Dan Moretti & Brazilia Label:  Roots Grooves Records Artist Website:   https://danmoretti.com/ Tenor and soprano saxophonist Dan Moretti is joined by jazz quartet Brazilia to celebrate the music of Wayne Shorter on their recording Live at the Pump House Celebrating Wayne Shorter released by Roots Grooves Records.  Their interpretation of an assortment of works penned by Shorter showcase the vibrancy and lively interaction that Shorter's compositions offer musicians. Brazilia's lineup includes: Latin Jazz Grammy winner Oscar Stagnaro from Peru on bass, Maxim Lubarsky from Ukraine on piano, Ernesto Diaz from Columbia on percussion, and Steve Langone from Boston on drums. Together, they tweak Shorter's material with fresh energy and a flare for rhythmic timing. The smoothness of Lubarsky's keys invigorate "Night Dreamer" while Moretti's tenor sears a stream of nimble ripples across "Sp...

  An Italian naval officer Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the globe in the early 16th century, as a traveler of the seven seas.  Florentine astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the celestial bodies canvassing the Earth's solar system, the Milky Way, in the early 17th century, known to be a traveler of the stars.  Swiss apothecary Albrecht Höpfner invented various shades of blue in the late 18th century, noted as a traveler of colors.  Polish-French chemist Marie Curie discovered radium in the early 20th century, being a traveler of energy waves.   In the vane of such notable explorers, Barcelona-born pianist Marina Albero has made discoveries of her own in the early 21st century.  Creating new melodic formations using string and keyboard instruments.  The title of her 2024 release A Nomad of Sound reflects her explorative nature.  For the recording, she traveled from her home in Seattle, Washington, which she resettled to in 2014, and fou...

Album:  Jazz Passion & Satin Latin Artist:  Jimbo Ross Label:  Bodacious Records Website:  Bodaciousrecords.com/about-jimbo-ross Facebook.com/jimboross Jazz Passion & Satin Latin , the latest edition to violist Jimbo Ross's catalog takes audiences back to his jazz roots with selections from the Great American Songbook, jazz standards, and a few original compositions.  Partaking on this adventure with Ross are guitarist Joe Gaeta, pianist Stuart Elster, bassist Peter Marshall, and drummer Ron Wagner. The band recorded the 13 tracks at the Sonic Boom Room studio using minimal overdubbing and no track-stacking over a four-day period.  The press release supplies, "Ross plays a modified copy of a classic viola, reproduced on a 3-D printer, and dually upgraded with a 5th string to extend the upper range of the instrument, and an electronic pickup to allow it to be heard alongside the other instruments." Ross's viola is well pronounced on each track while ...

Album:  Windows Through Time Artist:  Mariah Parker Label:  Ancient-Future.com Records Website: mariahparkermusic.com Mariah Parker’s compositions on her 2024 release Windows Through Time are characteristic of her penchant to explore Latin rhythms combined with wordless chanting and melodic interfacing, compiling a bounty of sonically soaring structures.  The vivacious voicing of Paul McCandless's saxophone is complimented by the elegant stride of Parker's piano keys and the soothing vibrations of Matthew Montfort's scalloped fretboard guitar.  The rhythm section of Ian Dogole on cymbals and cajon along with drummer Mark Walker, bassists Sascha Jacobsen, Kash Killion and Gary Brown, and percussionists Daniel Feldman and Michaelle Goerlitz cup the spacious soundscapes in a steady hold, solidifying the tracks harmonious flow. Parker's track "Sol de Barcelona" has a vibrant Latin beat that transports the listener into an ecstatic state of mind.  With a flare ...

Album:  Unidad Artist:  Aguankó Label:  Self-Released Website:   https://www.aguanko.com Cuban bop or Cubop is not only the moniker of percussionist Alberto Nacif's dormant Latin group through the 1990's but it is a type of musical style in the jazz spectrum that is recognizable and easily persuades the body to move along to its rhythmic stride.  Think of the theme song from the TV program Sex in the City , composed by Douglas Cuomo.  Nacif tweaks percolating romps with woodwind and brass threading that finesses the Cuban-fermented bop style to a sophisticated vintage. Aguankó's 5th effort, Unidad , is filled with original Latin jazz arrangements. The recording features the core members of Aguankó, all coming from the halls of the Detroit area jazz scene.  Hitting it off with the spicy mambo-clad furls of "Kintsugi," the track is fraught with tingling percussive beats.  Followed by the cha-cha chassis mooring "Discurso," having an immediate e...

Album:  Blues for Ochún Artist:  Benjamin Lapidus Label:  Tresero Productions Website:  https://benjaminlapidus.com Blues for Ochún from multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lapidus explores the fusion of jazz-inspired grooves with Latin rhythms and tribal spirituals soaked in Aftro-Cuban accents.  Comprised of an assortment of duos, trios, and quartets, Lapidus takes listeners across uplifting vistas and exotic soundscapes. The chanting sonorous of vocalist Jadele McPherson echoes hypnotically across the title track and the subsequent track "3 for Ochún," stoking the soothing swells formed by Lapidus' guitar strings.   Lapidus tells in the liner notes that the two tracks "are meant to be heard one after the other, as one long piece."  He goes on to describe, "In 1997, I first traveled to the shrine of Cuba's patron saint La Virgin de la Caridad del Cobre, who is syncretized with the orisha, [the] Yoruba ancestry/spirit [of] Ochún." "Cachita" ...

Album:  Lemon Twist Artist:  Linda Carone Website:  www.lindacarone.com A connoisseur of the jazz parlance, vocalist Linda Carone presents her sophomore release Lemon Twist , combining swing and Latin jazz textures with the sixth sense of a bossa nova sophisticate.  From blues-enriched ballads to festive Latin-imbued romps, Carone takes listeners across ambient vistas and through sublime moods.  The listening experience is truly inviting. The breezy toots of the saxophones form a soft froth of smoke rings, encircling the wistful stride of Jeremy Ledbetter's piano keys ruminating lightly across "Free and Easy," cradled in Carone's sultry vocalese.  She fills listeners in balmy sensations. luring them into the tranquilizing ambience.  "Having It All" transitions into a cat-like strut in George Koller's bass grooves, accentuating Carone's rhythmic vocal purring.   The swinging rhythm of the title track elevates the recording with a flirtatious ...

Album: The Dryad Artist: IFIHADAHIFI Label: Naked Muse Website:  nakedmuse.net It's no secret that Melbourne, Australia’s long bursts of lockdowns, the world’s longest as it turned out, had incarcerated and frustrated a great many people. Composer and keyboardist Gideon Frankel used the solitary time to peruse the stockpile of experiences he accumulated in his memory, and concentrate on crafting introspective and imaginative creations.  His refreshing hybrid of styles found on The Dryad , the new release from his ensemble If I Had A Hi-Fi, a palindrome, seamlessly fuses influences steep in jazz, Latin, world, folk, classical, reggae, and blues, producing a sonic atmosphere built from multiple cultural perspectives and characteristics.  Evocative, penetrative, enchanting, and so uplifting that listeners feel like they are floating above the melodies, Frankel heightens the sensory channels.   The feathery flutters of flutist Jamichael Frazier paint every track in stimu...

Album:  Lemon Twist Artist:  Linda Carrone Website:  https://www.lindacarone.com https://lindacarone.bandcamp.com Roots music vocalist Linda Carrone once again charms audiences with her graceful style, feline phrasing and sultry vocalese on her 2023 release Lemon Twist .  A blues stylist reminiscent of vintage performers like Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, and Peggy Lee, Carrone integrates the finery of jazz with the unpretentious melodicism of roots music embellished by a swig of Latin stimulants.     Her repertoire focuses on forgotten gems, classic ballroom jazz, swing standards, and cabaret blues.  Her treatment of the title track, written by Bobby Troup, puts a flirtatious edge on her vocals that grabs the listener's attention as she percolates, "Here is a word to the wise / The top dieticians in town insist / The best source of vitamin C there can be / Is a lemon twist."  Changing to a sultry swagger along "Having It All," Carr...