jazz2love

    New Release:  Stomp Your Stuff from Oliver-Smith Incomparables Release Date:  August 28, 2026 Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  https://www.halsmithjazz.com/ Roaring '20s ragtime, Tinpan Alley romps, Vaudeville hootenannies, and Prohibition Era hot jazzz merge together on Stomp Your Stuff , the 2026 recording from the Oliver-Smith Incomparables.  Reimagining nostalgic material from the Chicago-based Melrose Brothers publishing catalog, and channeling the chutzpah of vintage Jelly Roll Morton, pianist Andrew Oliver and drummer Hal Smith are joined by Colin Hancock on coronet and alto sax, Andy Schumm on clarinet and cornet, T.J.  Müller on trombone, cornet and vocals, Jacob Alspach on guitar and banjo, and Dan Anderson on string bass and tuba, forming the 7-piece ensemble the Incomparables. Together, they induce a party atmosphere, curating some of the best traits of Americana-inspired, speakeasy jazz.  From its cheerful syncopated groo...

  New Release:  Treasury Volume 3 from Terry Waldo Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  June 5, 2026 Website:  https://terrywaldo.com Treasury Volume 3   is pianist, historian, cultural preservationist, and bandleader Terry Waldo's latest installment in his Ragtime Classics series.   From Creole to Storyville jazz, from bluesy tin pan alley grooves to jaunty vaudeville tempos, and from ragtime to swing, Waldo demonstrates his affection and fidelity to early American jazz, shaped by improvisation, interplay, and spirited harmonies.   Joining Waldo on the recording are:  Jay Lepley on drums and vocals, Jim Fryer on trombone and vocals, Mike Davis on trumpet and vocals, Jerron Paxton on banjo and vocals, Evan Arntzen on clarinet, Ricky Alexander on clarinet, Colin Hancock on trumpet, Nick Russo on banjo, Brian Nalepka on bass and Arnt Arntzen on banjo.  His reworking of Jelly Roll Morton's fan favorite “Frog-I-More Rag,” crea...

  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...

Christmas is a holiday that is oftentimes geared for kids.  Designed to encourage children to create a list of gifts they would like Santa Claus to give them on Christmas day.  It is a special time of the year that inspires hope and good cheer towards one another.  Stoking the belief in the legendary tales of the patron saint of children St. Nicholas and the birth of the baby Jesus Christ.   American vocalist Jonathan Karrant, however, illustrates Christmas as a time of year for grown ups, choosing songs for his album Christmas Wish that appeal to a sophisticated palate.  Portraying the holiday as a period of maturity that enables adults to look in retrospect at what transpired in the past year, and finding hope in the year to come.   It is no wonder that David Foster's 1989 tune "Grown Up Christmas List" is the first song Karrant had in mind for the setlist on his Christmas album.  He recalls, "I've wanted to make a holiday album for years...

  My America 3: My Country from Jim Self Label:  Basset Hound Music Release Date:  June 13, 2025 Website:  https://www.bassethoundmusic.com Tuba player and fluba (part tuba, part flugelhorn) practitioner Jim Self presents his 24th album My America 3: My Country with arrangements by Kim Scharnberg.  A collection of jazz-izfied country tunes that pay respect to their Americana roots, coalesce square dance meters with Dixieland decor, swing-themed embellishments, southern rock riffs, synth pop glitter, and big band swells.  Opening with Self's original work “Chomping at the Bit,”  the track is tethered to a country-folk shuffle supporting Self's meandering toots on the fluba, with guitar inserts countered by intervals of a slinking fiddle and puffing horns.  “Wabashed” is a mash up of the hillbilly anthem “Wabash Cannonball” and Ervin T. Rouse's “Orange Blossom Special,” two songs about trains with the percussive beats and chugging fiddle loops allu...

  Treasury, Volume 2 from Terry Waldo Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  May 30, 2025 Website:  https://terrywaldo.com The foxtrot, the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Collegiate Shag are all social dances that emerged out of ragtime, Dixieland bluegrass, and swing music.  Pianist and bandleader Terry Waldo is a jazz historian, who specializes in the music and dances of such turn of the century-Prohibition Era trademarks.  Audiences will find samples of this musical stock on his 2025 recording Treasury, Vol. 2 , as well as on his podcast edition of Waldo's radio show "This is Ragtime."  Subsequently, Waldo has a book about this stock, by the same title as the radio series, published by Jazz at Lincoln Center.  The music on his recording sizzles, soars, and shimmers, grilling a bubbly fare of Dixieland boot-tapping hoots, ragtime blues and swinging romps.  His rendition of "Wabash Bash" features the ruminating wails of Jerron Paxton'...

  Album:  Live at Birdland  Artist:  High Society New Orleans Jazz Band Label:  Turtle Bay Records Release Date:  September 18, 2025 Website:  https://www.conalfowkes.com Invoking merriment and laughter from beginning to end, the High Society New Orleans Jazz Band poured it on thick and steadfast during their live shows at Birdland Jazz Club in Manhattan.  Recorded during their performances on August 22 and 29, 2024 for Live at Birdland, their production is released by Turtle Bay Records.  From Dixieland jazz to ragtime, and from Tin Pan Alley swing to vaudeville showtunes, the band demonstrates the high octane of Jelly Roll Morton, the crisp synchronicity of Bix Beiderbecke, and the buoyancy and vigorous improvising on a melody reflective of Louis Armstrong.  Co-led by  Conal Fowkes on piano and Simon Wettenhall on trumpet and occasional vocals, the band is filled out by Kevin Dorn on drums, Josh Dunn on banjo and guitar, Harvey Ti...

  Words Underlined from Patrick Smith Label:  Lit Soc Records Release Date:  December 12, 2025 Website:  https://www.patricksmithsax.com https://litsocrecords.bandcamp.com Saxophonist-composer Patrick Smith plays with a soulful script and unwavering determination, displaying a sensitivity that is penetrative and an instinct that moves in sync with his collaborators.  His 2025 program Words Underlined is an 11-track disc that evokes introspection, willpower and solace.  The mournful wails of his sax construct an ecclesiastical edifice for "Hazel," contrasting the fiery blazes roaring across "Banff" kettled by guitarist Dan Pitt and drummer Lowell Whitty, and ignited by Smith's belting saxophone howls.  He plays a swinging ragtime-like shuffle across "I've Found A New Nemesis," nimbly moving into a hollering squeal.  Smith halos "As Years Go By" with amorous, cool jazz flutters that evoke reflection and solace as his sax soars and ebbs, sl...

  Live at Joe's Pub from Lizzy & the Triggermen Label:  Self-Released Release Date:  August 14, 2025 Website:  https://lizzyandthetriggermen.com/home Lizzy & the Triggermen is a 10-piece indie swing band who came into 2025 with the release of their live album, Live at Joe's Pub , recorded at the New York City venue in April 2024.  The live session follows their debut EP Good Songs for Bad Times in 2020.  Helmed by vocalist Lizzy" Shaps, she is accompanied by Christopher Dawson on piano, Bobby Hawk on fiddle/violin, Luca Pina on guitar, Gary Wicks on upright bass, Anthony Ty Johnson on drums, Nate Ketner on alto clarinet, Ricky Alexander on tenor and baritone clarinet, Gordon Au on trumpet, and John Allred on trombone.  Their 23-track collection pairs jazz favorites like "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses" alongside original tunes including the sensual curves of "I Know a Man" and the adult pop-ragtime...

  New Release: Alchemy from Wayne Alpern Label:  Henri Elkan Music Release Date:  December 19, 2025 Website:  https://www.waynealpern.com Endowed with the gift to set poetry to music reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Stravinsky, compounded by the acumen to interlace, juxtapose, and coalesce improvised components with the instincts of Broadway Theatre's perennial trailblazers like George and Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, composer-visionist-stylist Wayne Alpern continues to flex his creative imagination and infatuate audiences with his twelfth musical album Alchemy on his label Henri Elkan Music.  A collection of a dozen pieces of original music for woodwind quintet, the recording is produced by Judith Sherman and performed by the Grammy-winning Imani Winds, whose members are: Brandon Patrick George (flute), Toyin Spellman-Diaz (oboe), Kevin Newton (French horn), Mark Dover (Clarinet), and Monica Ellis (bassoon).  The frilly winds circling across ...

    Album: In the Wonder of the Night Artist:  Angela Verbrugge Label:  G2 Records & Publishing Website:  www.angelasjazz.com Animated, flirtatious, seductive, and soothing, Vancouver-based vocalist Angela Verbrugge can coax a smile out of the grumpiest audience member, impressing a positive effect on the most impervious listener.   Her voice is gently persuasive, penetrating the listener with an effortless touch.  Her latest release In the Wonder of the Night is a collection of Great American Songbook standards interspersed with original tunes by Verbrugge.  She is accompanied by New York City-based pianist Ray Gallon.  Their duets display a simple elegance, highlighting Verbrugge's vocal melodies and lively vocal hooks. Verbrugge projects confidence in her delivery and sharp instincts to communicate the story behind the lyrics she sings.  She is theatrical without being flamboyant, buoyant without being pretentious, authentic...

Album:  Spooky Jazz Vol. 2:  Songs for Halloween Artist:  Hannah Gill Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  http://www.hannahgillmusic.com Facebook.com/HannahGillMusic Turtlebayrecords.com YouTube: @turtlebayrecords9686 IG: @turtlebayrecords Jazz that once echoed from the depths of cabarets like Café Society, the Stork Club, 21 Club, the Cotton Club, 3 Deuces, and Club Carousel, some of which were located on Manhattan's 52nd Street dubbed Swing Street through the first half of the 20th century, are treated with a modern glint by vocalist-songwriter Hannah Gill.  Her sophomore release Spooky Jazz Vol. 2:  Songs for Halloween from Turtle Bay Records is a compilation of jazz standards, illustrating her affinity for boogie woogie, speakeasy swing, and ragtime rhapsodies. Accompanied by Mike Davis on trumpet and trombone, Gabe Terracciano on violin, Ricky Alexander on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Gordon Webster on piano, Justin Poindexter on guitar, Philip...

Album:  Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow Artist:  The Joymakers Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  https://www.facebook.com/colin.hancock2101 IG: @ch2101 Label:  https://www.turtlebayrecords.com/our-albums/down-where-the-bluebonnets-grow YouTube: @turtlebayrecords9686 Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow , the debut release from the Joymakers, led by brass player Colin Hancock, unveiling their exhilarating arrangements of jazz standards from the Prohibition Era of the late 1920's and early 1930's.  Uniting New Orleans Louisiana (NOLA) ragtime with Dixieland jazz, riverboat bluegrass, boogie woogie, tinpan alley/showtunes blues, hot jazz, and jazz age lawn party rhythms like the Lindy hop, the Charleston, and jive, the Joymakers bridge vintage idioms with contemporary appeal. The press release tells, "The band plays all kinds of traditional jazz, but they specialize in music played in the late 1920s and early 1930s by 'territory bands' based in San Antonio, Kans...

Album:  Tides Artist:  Philip Weberndoerfer Label:  Shifting Paradigm Records Website:  https://www.weberndoerfer.com Composer-guitarist Philip Weberndoerfer delivers Tides , an exploration of tones, textures, and movement.  Supported by bassist Richard Mikel, drummer Peter Traunmueller, and saxophonist Dayna Stephens, Weberndoerfer experiments with sonic structures, lyrical phrasing, and harmonic forms, intimating private thoughts and reflections. Stephens's saxophone weaves billowy waves along "Low Gravity" that delight the aural senses and elevate the listening experience, as Weberndoerfer's riffing on the guitar enhances the feel good vibrations with the combination of a bluesy tint and an exotic, gypsy-like shimmer in his musings.  The recording shifts to a slow-burning glint through "Peace of Constance," accentuated by the soft rustle of Stephens's saxophone, as the rhythmic beats of Mikel's bass and Traunmueller's drums produce gentle, rol...

Album:  Beatin' The Odds Artist:  Leigh Pilzer's Seven Pointed Star Label: Strange Woman Records Website: leighpilzer.com Label Website: strangewomanrecords.com The current project of saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator Leigh Pilzer is creating a library of compositions and arrangements for her septet, Leigh Pilzer’s Seven Pointed Star. The group’s debut recording, Beatin' The Odds , released in March, 2024, includes eight of Pilzer’s original compositions and one by long-time DIVA colleague, bassist Amy Shook.  That one being the title track, a bebop jazz romp garnished in the flashing bellows of the saxophone flares moored by the pulsating thrums of Shook's bass and the stocky beats of drummer Sherrie Maricle, the leader of DIVA. The press release sites Pilzer's words about the recording, “the music on this recording was written between September 2017 and October 2023, a period that included life-changing events both personal (a cancer diagnosis) and uni...

Album:  The Song in Our Soul Artist:  The Palomar Trio Label:  Turtle Bay Records Website:  https://www.danlevinson.com/ The Palomar Trio is comprised of Dan Levinson on clarinet, Mark Shane on piano, and Kevin Dorn on drums, all of whom are New York-based musicians and ardent aficionados of jazz from the 1920's and '30s.  Specializing in traditional jazz and swing music, the trio revive hot jazz novelties descriptive of the Jazz Age on their 2023 release The Song in Our Soul from Turtle Bay Records. The sweltering furls of Levinson's clarinet have a vintage Cotton Club-imbued shimmer partnered with the shuffling strokes of Dorn's drums and the soft kindle in Shane's keys filamenting "Delta Bound."  The slow roll of the rhythmic beats burn with a low-flamed intensity.  Moving along, the shuffling tempo traveling across "Shanty in Old Shanty Town" has a charming ragtime clamor, as the winsome flutter of the keys enhance the sleek trembles of the c...

Album:  No More Excuses Artist:  Danette McMahon Label:  Self-Released Website:  https://danettemcmahon.com/bio/ Having received a scholarship to attend Houston Baptist University for music and drama, vocalist Danette McMahon blends the essence of R&B/soul with facets of torchlight jazz, Latin swing, and adult pop on her latest release No More Excuses .  Containing two cover tunes and twelve originals songs written by McMahon, the recording is laden in lyrics with adult themes, finding hope and strength amidst life's trials, losses, and heartbreaks.  She woos her audience into a comfy respite with the starry, dream-like escapes sewn across "Life Goes On" and "Come Dance with Me," as she intimates the lingering sentiment of a sorrowful past while in the next breath embraces love and strength of a positive outlook for the future. The music swings harmoniously like a tender caress that works as a balm on the listener.  Such smooth swing also surfaces ...

Single:  Old Mother Hubbard Artist:  Naama Gheber Release Date:  April 22, 2022 Websites:  https://www.naamagheber.com https://open.spotify.com/artist/1KObvUW72IGgUzVi9oe60n A veritable newcomer to swing, vocalist Naama Gheber demonstrates a keen instinct for cabaret blues and ragtime jazz.  Her melodic sensibilities are reminiscent of vintage Café Society's staples like Bessie Smith and Connie Haines.  Her forthcoming recording If I Knew Then , due out on November 4, 2022, is led by her single "Old Mother Hubbard" due to be released on April 22, 2022. "Old Mother Hubbard," an old nursery rhyme from the 19th century, was tweaked by Ella Fitzgerald in the 1940's.  Resurfaced rarely since then, Gheber exhumed the tune from the coffers of the past and polished it with her glimmering timbres.  Her adaptation of the melody gives the track a 21st century luster, laden with a natural fluidity and zesty, swinging rhythmic pulse.  Her smooth versing s...

Album:  I Just Want To Be Horizontal Artist:  Samoa Wilson with the Jim Kweskin Band Label:  Kingswood Records, LLC Website:  www.jimkweskin.com  &  www.samoawilson.com Vocalist Samoa Wilson and guitarist/bandleader Jim Kweskin make something special on I Just Want To Be Horizontal .  Their reimagination of classic jazz gems fuse a myriad of melodic-enriched traits, dabbling in the earthy country folk textures of Tin Pan alley jazz, mixed with the lively trotting of Prohibition Era hot jazz, and adding a glint of Broadway showtunes-style radiance.   Such sparkling qualities relatable to the jazz made famous in classic Hollywood films are revisited and revamped on Wilson and Kweskin's recording.  Inspired by Teddy Wilson's 1930's recordings that featured blues singer Billie Holiday, the music has roots in the jazz of the early 20th century with Samoa's striking vocals bringing the recording into the 21st century, carving out its right...

Album:  The Sphinx Artist:  Jonathan Ng Label:  Self-Released Website:  http://jonathanngmusic.com Old-time ragtime and swing are coalesced with contemporary jazz trimmings on violinist-vocalist-bandleader Jonathan Ng's new CD The Sphinx .  Fun and refined, the music is laden in the jaunty beats of drummer Josh Collazo and upright bassist Seth Ford-Young, and fringed in the perky swivels and swirls of Ng's violin and Albert Alva's tenor saxophone.  Their melodic patterns are augmented by a spritz of Chris Dawson's bubbly piano keys and Luca Pino's breezy guitar chords.  Comprised of snazzy covers that re-fashion timeless jazz standards along with Ng's own original composition in the title track, the recording is a fresh look on swing themes and ragtime motifs. Starting from the close of the recording, Ng's version of Hoagy Carmichael's reflective piece "Stardust" is mesmerizing as Ng's violin trades solos with Dawson's keys, each...