jazz2love

Album:  What Is? Artist:  Russ Anixter's Hippie Big Band Label:  Self-Released Artist Website: russanixter.com Arranger-improviser Russ Anixter shares his affinity for big band music gelled with pop/rock, blues funk, R&B, and jazz on his 2025 release What Is?   A self-released collection of Anixter's arrangements that rework an assortment of jazz and pop standards, the music is performed by his 11-piece Hippie Big Band with special guests Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet and Oz Noy on guitar.  The result blends decades of American culture from Anixter's retooling of Tower of Power's "What Is Hip," sounding like a theme song from the 1970's TV program Kojak to the cajun/New Orleans flavored jazz of "Dixie Chicken," penned by Lowell George of Little Feat and Martin Kibbee.  Bassist Steve Count and drummer Scott Neuman play in tandem, providing a firm base for the horns, which move freely and expressively.  At one point in "Dixie Chicken...

Album:  BLOOZ Artist:  Grant Geissman Label: Futurism and Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings Website:  www.grantgeissman.com BLOOZ , a slang term for blues is the title of guitarist/composer Grant Geissman's sunshine-soaked release.  With all compositions written by Geissman, he explores a panoply of bluesy shades from the Caribbean/rhumba-infused grooves of "Side Hustle" to the club rock fusion of "Carlos En Siete," highlighting the jangly ringlets of David Garfield's piano keys and the percussive beats of Tiki Pasillas on congas, timbales, and shakere.  The integrating motifs create a festive street fair/Mardi Gras-like atmosphere. The breezy ripples of Geissman's guitar chords ruminating across "Time Enough at Last" offer a lolling escape for listeners as Garfield's sprinting keys accelerate the rhythmic pulse.  Spicing up the melodic trimmings with a funky R&B thrust propelled by Tom Scott's glaring saxophone spurts along "Fat Back...

Album:  American Highway Artist:  Marty Brown Label:  Plowboy Records Websites:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/american-highway/1453761002 https://www.amazon.com/American-Highway-MARTY-BROWN/dp/B07PGX7KYK/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=marty+brown&qid=1614824878&sr=8-1 A mixture of Heartland roots rock, country western blues, prairieland folk, rockabilly, and gospel, singer-songwriter Marty Brown has all the ingredients to make music that listeners will take with them on the go.  He does so on his latest release American Highway , which is aptly titled describing the music folks hear while driving along the highways through America.    After experiencing a stint as a songwriter and producer for the likes of Tracy Byrd, Trace Adkins, and Brooks & Dunn, Brown worked with a co-pilot, Jon Tiven, who contributed to nine of the 10 tracks on the recording.  Brown revives country western soul in a way that music connoisseurs can embrace....

If American frontiersman Daniel Boone or folk hero Ansel Adams could sing and write music, people would expect they would have sounded very much like singer/songwriter/guitarist Jonivan Jones.  It stands to reason since Jones shows an awareness of the environment and mankind relatable to the way Boone did as a navigator and explorer of America's frontier and Adams did through his photographs of America's old west.  The only difference between Jones and his predecessors is that music is his source of creative expression and his contribution to cultural stimulation. "There's just SO much out there to write about," he deems.  "I write about everything:   relationships, loss, gain, death, taxes, frailty, another person's perspective, the ocean, etc."  He undertakes, "I hope to appreciate and embrace what is there so that I can continue to develop it the way some of my most respected songwriters have, I think the most valuable way to do that is to ...

Album:  Jazz En Stock Artist:  The Jazz Street Boyz Label:  JDC Musique Website:  www.jazzstreetboyz.com Listen:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jazz-en-stock/1445207062?app=music&ls=1&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 A band of self-proclaimed buskers, Jazz Street Boyz revitalize the era of Tin Pan Alley collectives when groups of street performers gathered to pitch their homespun tunes to music publishers that occupied 28th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan back at the turn of the century.  Homespun music is what the duo of vocalist/tenor guitarist/banjo player Dominic Desjardins and keyboardist/trumpet player Jérôme Dupuis-Cloutier create on their sophomore release Jazz En Stock from JDC Musique.   Based in Montreal, the duo are joined by bassist Sylvain Délisle and drummer Jonathan Gagné.  Collectively, the quartet demonstrate an open mind about making music, blending elements of Dizzyland jazz, blues, ragtime, folk, bluegrass...