jazz2love

Album:  Something Here Inside Artist:  Benji Kaplan Label: Wise Cat Records Website:  https://www.benjikaplan.com/home A blending of soulful flamenco, ambient jazz, balmy meditations, and breezy torchlight musings, guitarist Benji Kaplan performs solo on his latest release Something Here Inside .  Inspired to be a painter by his mother, Kaplan applied his skills using the hues of the rainbow spectrum to the sounds of the music spectrum.  The pastoral textures, twirling patterns, and tranquil moods he projects convey a message to  listeners that he shares without inhibition. Using a swing jazz palette fringed in swathes of Latin accents on "Anything Goes," Kaplan brings a freshness to Cole Porter's track, viewing the classic melody with a contemporary set of eyes.  The gliding strokes of his fingers have a lulling effect on listeners along "Easy To Love" and  rather uniquely, he pervades a soothing, Hawaiian-like caress along "But Not For Me."...

Album: Vortex Artist: Kenny Shanker Label: Wise Cat Records Website: www.kennyshanker.com   and www.wisecatrecords.com Saxophonist Kenny Shanker is back with his third release Vortex and his first outing on Wise Cat Records.   From the bustling, urban-like activity of the title track to the leisurely wandering stroll of “Lulu’s Back in Town” and the waltzing cantor of “Winter Song,” Shanker’s playing describes images that listeners can easily envision, each relatable to real world scenes. The bowing and refracting of Yoshi Waki’s bass along “Winter Song” adds another element alongside Shanker’s pendulum-swinging saxophone toots, while the frenzied pace of his saxophone fomenting “Hunter” is joined by the rustling movements of Mike Eckroth’s keys and Daisuke Abe’s frothy guitar riffs.   “Rumble” lowers the tempo to a cruising gait, and “Nightfall” slows the pace to an introspective musing as Shanker’s saxophone imbues a nocturnal shimmer over the melodic soundscap...