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 Review:  Self-Titled CD from Datura Road Artist:  Datura Road Label: Self-Released Website:  www.daturaroad.com The self-titled CD from Datura Road offers listeners a variety of flavors from Turkish accented woodwinds to the Italian textured strums of the mandolin and the American folk aromas of the acoustic guitar.  Eastern influences meet western elements on the recording, making for a multi-colored sonic collage that, contrary to popular belief about polar opposites, is aurally pleasing. Asian-toned instruments such as the ud/oud, bansuri and tabla are layered with the familiar western sounds of the guitar, bass, drums, and clarinet.   The intermingling of these diverse registers prove to be a complementing mix as multi-instrumentalist Matt Nobile applies a smooth voicing to the tracks.   His  vocals blend nicely into the fluid curves of the tracks, expressing a sage-like presence through the melodies....