jazz2love

Album:  This Way Artist:  Tom Ranier Website:  https://tomranier.com This Way , the latest release from Tom Ranier is a balm on the listener's senses.  He composed six of the eight tunes on the recording and plays the piano and synthesizer, as well as soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes. His music tells stories through images projected in the instrumentation.   Joined by Trey Henry on acoustic and electric basses, Ralph Humphrey on drums, and Thom Rotella on guitar, Ranier's music is easy listening jazz imbuing audiences with a natural high. The pensive strokes of his keys coasting along "Yes, Kloose" move at a languid pace transitioning into the melodic wisps of Randy Brecker’s signature piece "Secret Heart," trelised in the tender crimping of Rotella's guitar strings.  Ranier creates a introspective-style monologue along "Trio Vision" that gives audiences insight into the thoughts roaming through his mind, then conveys a somber mood in ...

CD:  Awakening Artist:  Gary Dean Smith Project Label:  MFRecordz Website:  https://www.gdspmusic.com/ Groove-oriented, the music of the Gary Dean Smith Project elevates and ligthens up the darkest of moods.  The quintet's latest release Awakening is purely feel good music.   From the dance-funk swivels of Jeff Lorber's keys augmented by the vaunting pumps of Jimmy Haslip's bass in "Lucky" to the smooth scoring of Gary Dean Smith's guitar chords crimping "This Yearning," GDSP takes their cues from an innate sense of rhythm liken to the R&B masters before them. "Lenny's Lament" is an easy listening tune with the soft tremors of Donald Young's trumpet alternating with the buoyant bubbles of Smith's guitar notes. Moving in a seamless flow, the music has a contemporary glint. The earthy texture in Mer Sal's vocals are robust, suspended above the syncopated thrusts of Steve Fitzgerald's drums and silhouette in the j...