jazz2love

  Album: This Is Now Artist:  Pete Mills Label:  Mighty Ernie Records 1003 Release Date: April 3, 2026 Artist Website:  www.petemills.com Tenor saxophonist and Toronto-born Pete Mills fires up a swinging compilation of original material and one cover tune on his 2026 release This Is Now .   Joining him are drummer Matt Wilson, bassist Martin Wind, guitarist and co-producer Pete McCann, and pianist Kenny Banks Jr.   Moving in time with each other, Mills's band demonstrates a synchronicity that reels audiences in, spawning adventurous twists and honing smooth curves. The band blazes on the title track with a fun and swinging romp that slinks into a balmy samba through "Sunset STX" with STX referring to the airport code for St. Croix.  The bluesy swagger of "Daddies" has an easy-going fluidity, shifting to a succession of improvised excursions along "Up To Go Down," as Mills's sax carves out peculiar angles interlacing with McCann's guitar strin...

  For the Record from Pete Mills Label:  Mighty Ernie Records Release Date:  Street Date: September 5, 2025 Website:  https://petemills.com Tenor saxophonist Pete Mills explores the alchemy that arises when the sax is united with the Hammond B3 Organ, performed by Jon Eshelman on his 2025 offering For the Record .  Joining the pair are Tom Davis on electric guitar and Zach Compston on drums.  There is a feature that is native, innately tribal and spirited in their combination, even homelike, that emerges at the start of the recording with the title track.  Engaged in the moment, the musicians are guided by a stream of conscientiousness radar, navigating by intuition through the melodic progressions, looking to one another to build from, and being each other's catalyst.  The musicians cruise comfortably through the arrangements, making space for the impromptu jaunts steered by the sax and B3 organ.  Keeled by traditional bebop stock, the band ...

  New Release:  For the Record from Pete Mills Label:  Mighty Ernie Records 1002 Release Date:  September 5, 2025 Website:  www.petemills.com Toronto-born saxophonist Pete Mills fuses traditional bebop with modern swing and blues on his new release For the Record .  Comprised of original compositions by his quartet, which features Jon Eshelman on Hammond B3 organ, Tom Davis on electric guitar, Zach Compston on drums, and Mills on tenor saxophone, the recording effectively creates a synergistic performance, putting each instrument up front.  No musician takes a backseat in these performances and is heard bold and clear.  The rattling beats of Compston's drums form tremors along "Kenny, Ken," a track written by Tom Davis as a tribute to guitarist Kenny Burrell.  Interfacing with the ruffling motifs of Davis's guitar and frothy ripples of Eschelman's organ, Mills's tenor courses a serpentine path across the melody.  Switching to a relaxing...