jazz2love

  New Release:  Steppin' Out from Mike Davis Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  April 5, 2024 Website: https://mike-davis-jazz.com/ Traditional ragtime transcribed in a modern language for contemporary listeners is cornetist and arranger Mike Davis's forté.  His new disc Steppin' Out has the leisurely lollygagging gait of vintage 1920's jazz and the liberating romps of flapper era kicklines, popularized through the Roaring Twenties.  Davis's music takes audiences back in time to the halls of speakeasies like 21 Club, the Stork Club, and the Cotton Club in New York City.   Recalling of artists like cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and pianist Jelly Roll Morton, the compilation is a blend of New Orleans jazz, Dixieland swing, and Tinpan Alley ragtime.  Davis sprouts a jubilant collection of standards and one original, “Half-Seas Over,” created by the band's pianist, Andy Schumm.  The arrangement nestles flaring horns beside a kickline rhy...

  New Release:  Bluer Than Blue from Sweet Megg Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  May 24, 2024 Website:  https://www.sweetmegg.com Dixieland jazz is revived by vocalist Sweet Megg on her new recording Bluer Than Blue from Turtle Bay Records.  Fusing western country with jazz swing is a special combination that is thoroughly American.  A Dixieland jazz shuffle whips through the title track with unbridled enthusiasm, switching to a Tex Mex fluster across "I Wander Where You Are Tonight."  The Tinpan Alley-inspired melody of "Someday Sweetheart" fashions a vaudeville-like shimmer reminiscent of the theme songs from the Broadway show Chicago, turning to a lulling country folk stroke along "Please Help Me I'm Falling," as vocalist Timbo joins on harmony.  The country swing rhythm of "Little Bit" is augmented by a twangy fiddle, moving into a cozy sway along "In A Sentimental Mood" igniting an intimate setting.  Collaborating wit...