jazz2love

  My America 3: My Country from Jim Self Label:  Basset Hound Music Release Date:  June 13, 2025 Website:  https://www.bassethoundmusic.com Tuba player and fluba (part tuba, part flugelhorn) practitioner Jim Self presents his 24th album My America 3: My Country with arrangements by Kim Scharnberg.  A collection of jazz-izfied country tunes that pay respect to their Americana roots, coalesce square dance meters with Dixieland decor, swing-themed embellishments, southern rock riffs, synth pop glitter, and big band swells.  Opening with Self's original work “Chomping at the Bit,”  the track is tethered to a country-folk shuffle supporting Self's meandering toots on the fluba, with guitar inserts countered by intervals of a slinking fiddle and puffing horns.  “Wabashed” is a mash up of the hillbilly anthem “Wabash Cannonball” and Ervin T. Rouse's “Orange Blossom Special,” two songs about trains with the percussive beats and chugging fiddle loops allu...

Artist:  Brian Hudson Album:  Ahaya Label:  Lakeside Sound Website:  https://www.brian-hudson.com Cooking up an elevating hybrid with components of funk, rhythm and blues, pop/rock, and jazz roots, Brian Hudson produces an attractive commodity rife with spirit and soul for his 3-track EP Ahaya .  A bandleader, drummer and composer, Hudson maintains a magnetic appeal through the 3 scores, imbued with a contemporary vibe at every level from its core to its morphing layers. Supported by Adam Nitti on bass, Randy Hoexter on keys, Sam Skelton on saxophone, and Anthony Papamichael on guitar, Hudson achieves a smooth jazz sonorous that propels joy from start to finish.  "Luna Sea" opens the recording with a elegant, funky beat shrouded in ruminating saxophone toots and a steady guitar riff.  The lyrical phrasing in Hoexter's keys coasting along "Caladesi" is layered in the extemporaneous versing of Papamichael's guitar riffs, effectively creating a cheerful a...