jazz2love

Album:  Distant Voices Artist:  David Janeway Label:  Distant Voices Label/Steeplechase Lookout Website:  www.davidjaneway.com Pianist-bandleader David Janeway presents his third recording, Distant Voices , with a jazz trio.  Released by the Steeplechase music label, the recording features Cameron Brown on bass and Billy Hart on drums.  Included on the recording are 13 selections, four of which are tributes written by Janeway for Ahmad Jamal, Larry Willis, Cedar Walton, and Herbie Hancock.   The remaining 9 tracks are retweaked by the trio covering works by Woody Shaw, Gus Amheim, Hank Jones, Walter Bishop Jr., Arthur Altman, Gary Peacock, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Mercer Ellington.  Offshoots of bebop like hard bop and post bop are found on the recording, as well as traits of swing and Latin-imbued trimmings, making for a complimenting bouquet of jazz. Shuffling beats recur throughout the release, making for compositions that are o...

Album:  Restless Artist:  Jackson Potter Label:  Wise Cat Records Website:  https://jacksonpottermusic.com Restless , the debut release from guitarist-composer Jackson Potter features six of his original tracks and two covers, Horace Silver's "Peace" and Steve Swallow's "Falling Grace." Accompanied by Gibb Mandish on drums, Patrick Leavy on bass, Leo Folsom on piano, David Mason on alto saxophone, Joey Curreri on trumpet, and Carter Key on tenor trombone, Potter steers listeners through a catacomb of passages that all focus on creating an engaging listening experience. The album starts off with Potter's original number “Bird Flu,” a hardcore post-bop stomper loosely inspired by the playing of Charlie "Bird" Parker. Whether the listener is acquainted with Parker's works or not there is a familiarity in the rhythmic patterns and tone of the instrumentation that vibrates at the caliber of iconic bop players like Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, and Ge...

Album:  Road Trip Artist:  Slide Attack Label: SACD Website:  www.slideattack.com Audiences are familiar to bands with dueling banjos or dueling guitars or dueling fiddles but it is quite a rarity to have twin trombonists feeding off each other, forming an engaging correspondence, and luring one another into a dynamic exchange. Slide Attack maintains a tradition spearheaded by trombonists J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, who helmed such a jazz combo through the 1950's.  Slide Attack is comprised of trombonists Howard Levy and Alan Goidel, who are accompanied by Hiroshi Yamazaki on piano, Michael Goetz on bass, and Chuck Zeuren on drums.  Their latest CD is entitled Road Trip, a collection of originals and jazz classics that indeed set listeners on a road trip, traversing across the jazz spectrum, basking in a cache of Latin swing, post bop, and smooth blues. The listener is given ample portions of each musician through the tracks from Yamazaki's twittering keys to ...

Album:  Best Buddies Artists: Troy Roberts & Tim Jago Label: Toy Robot Music Website:  www.toyrobotmusic.com Post bop, swing, cool jazz, and jazz improvisation are all elements which can each be found in the recording Best Buddies from saxophonist Troy Roberts and guitarist Tim Jago.  Supported by Karl Florisson on acoustic bass and Ben Vanderwal on drums, Roberts and Jago flex their creative instincts, articulating a call and response banter that embodies the phrase freedom of expression. The quartet's symbiotic repartee demonstrates their best friends relationship as each acts like a catalyst for the others, building on one another's statements and moving the course of the melodic progressions forward.  Jago's original composition, “A New Porpoise,” is an energetic interaction among the band members.  Based on Bronisław Kaper’s iconic “On Green Dolphin Street,” Vanderwal slings a playful rhythmic patter as Roberts sax whips up a cool froth and Jago's guit...