jazz2love

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...

Album:  Ain’t It Grand Artist:  Glenn Crytzer Orchestra Label:  Blue Rhythm Records Website:  www.glenncrytzer.com Ain’t It Grand , the latest project from the Glenn Crytzer Orchestra, makes audiences feel like they are attending a Jazz Age Lawn Party circa 1930’s.  The sizzle of the horns, the rattle of the drums, the pearlescent texture of the piano keys, and the caressing tone of the vocals are hallmarks of America’s Jazz Age, spanning from the Roaring ‘20s to the post-Prohibition period of the 1930s.  The music is reminiscent of the days of Cab Calloway, Paul Whiteman, and Artie Shaw, when 53rd Street in Manhattan, renamed swing street, was the hub of cabarets and dancehalls featuring boogie woogie, hot jazz, lively blues, ragtime,  Dixieland, and swing. A collection of old-time favorites, forgotten treasures, and originals, the 2-disc compilation is a chock full of merriment from start to finish.  “Who’s Yehoodi” is a prime example of a ...

Album:  Jazz En Stock Artist:  The Jazz Street Boyz Label:  JDC Musique Website:  www.jazzstreetboyz.com Listen:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jazz-en-stock/1445207062?app=music&ls=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 A band of self-proclaimed buskers, Jazz Street Boyz revitalize the era of Tin Pan Alley collectives when groups of street performers gathered to pitch their homespun tunes to music publishers that occupied 28th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan back at the turn of the century.  Homespun music is what the duo of vocalist/tenor guitarist/banjo player Dominic Desjardins and keyboardist/trumpet player Jérôme Dupuis-Cloutier create on their sophomore release Jazz En Stock from JDC Musique.   Based in Montreal, the duo are joined by bassist Sylvain Délisle and drummer Jonathan Gagné.  Collectively, the quartet demonstrate an open mind about making music, blending elements of Dizzyland jazz, blues, ragtime, folk, bluegrass...

News Release from www.outreach.navy.mil and Facebook.com/NavyOutreach NAVY BAND COMMODORES PRESENT EDUCATIONAL WEBCAST “JAZZ ORIGINS” U.S. Navy Band Commodores jazz ensemble “Jazz Origins,” an interactive educational webcast Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, at 1 p.m. EST Live-streamed from Defense Media Activity in Fort Meade, Md. The United States Navy Band Commodores jazz ensemble presents "Jazz Origins," episode two of the Navy Band’s “Origins” series. A jazz combo will explore Ragtime, Harlem Stride, Blues, Second Line, Dixieland and other musical styles that led to the formation of jazz, the great American art form. The live webcast will take place Tuesday, Jan.22, 2019, at 1 p.m. EST and can be viewed at https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/17594 The webcast will be archived at the same link for those unable to watch live.      Jazz is America’s music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy’s premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big ban...