jazz2love

Album:  Owl Dreams Artist:  Dharma Down Label: Dharma Down Records DD001 Website: www.dharmadown.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/dharmadownband Instagram: www.instagram.com/dharmadownband/ Sensual and exotic, the music of Dharma Down shines a spotlight on the confluence of Arabic rhythms, folkloric tableaus, Eastern European vibrations, and modern jazz idioms.  Comprised of Duncan Hardy on alto saxophone and qanun, Mike Effenberger on piano, Scott Kiefner on acoustic bass, and John Mettam on drums, Dharma Down's debut recording Owl Dreams fascinates the listener's imagination and arouses positive sensations.  From the Klezmatic character of Hardy's vibrant raptures on the saxophone sprinting across "Bubu Jinn" to the tingling ripples of his performance on the Qanun, forming a swiveling motion through "Jalla Man," the experience is a veritable treat into lively dreamscapes.  The original scores are animated portraits of middle eastern music paired with mo...

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."...