jazz2love

Album:  Florida Rays Artist:  The Flying Horse Big Band Label:  The Flying Horse Records Website:  https://flyinghorserecords.com The University of Central Florida has a world-renown jazz studies program.  Born from that program is a big band styled group called The Flying Horse Big Band.  The band has recorded several albums, many of which are theme based including their latest release Florida Rays.   This one celebrates the music of Ray Charles, songs that he wrote and covered through his youth and early career living in Florida, hence its title Florida Rays .  Comprised of 13 covers of jazz standards, the recording is directed by tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert, who is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Central Florida.  Rupert is also the founder of the Flying Horse Records label, which not only promotes the students of the university's jazz studies program but it's faculty as well. The band begins their tribute to Ray Charle...

Album:  Open for Business Artist:  Ric Harris Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.theharrisgrp.com Blues is a rare breed of music.  It's artists come and go like sports figures but the style of music lives on, its torch to be carried by the next generation of blues virtuosos.  Each decade has witnessed blues artists having their heyday.  Its roots can be traced to the music of William C. Handy in the 1920's, coined as the Father of the Blues.  In his wake, Al Jolson brought the spotlight on blues through the 1930s while John Lee Hooker emerged in the 1940's.  To further briefly encapsulate the blues progress, Muddy Waters and BB King reigned through the 1950's, Ray Charles in the 1960's, Bo Diddley in the 1970's, Eric Clapton in the 1980's, and Blues Traveler in the 1990's.  The genre is a combination of ragtime minstrals, spirituals, ballads, and grooving romps with a tinge of honky tonk/hillbilly swagger, all of which can be heard...