jazz2love

Album:  Try This Artist:  Bill Moio Label: ITI Records Website:  billmoio.com Jazz guitarist Bill Moio’s second album as a leader, Try This , demonstrates his command of the blues/soul milieu as well as his prowess as an eloquent songwriter.  His gift is honing melodic musings into smooth ambiences that incite the mind to drift across pleasing stratospheres.  Featuring a complementing array of musicians that includes George Whitty on keyboards, Wayne Bergeron on trumpet, Andy Martin on trombone, Eric Marienthal on saxophone, Tommy Brechtlein on drums, and Jimmy Haslip and Mel Brown intermittently on bass, Moio proves himself to be a meaningful connoisseur of the blues, jazz, soul fusion.  His arrangements flow seamlessly, radiating sensitivity and grace across the melodic movements, making a likeable impression on the listener. The Latin-tinged swagger in Moio's guitar chords rippling across "Arroz Con Pollo" is heaven to the ears, enhanced by the animated ...

Album:  Dreams Lost and Found Artist:  Halie Loren Label:  Nettwerk / Justin Time Records Website:  https://halieloren.com/ Jazz vocalist Halie Loren approached her 2024 release, Dreams Lost and Found, focusing on songs that speak to the listener about "finding new visions for love and life, allowing some dreams to die to make space for new dreams to be born," according to the press release.  Finding what she was looking in the classic folk pop repertoire and jazz vocals catalogs, Loren offers a delightful array of tunes that entice her audience to release entanglements of the past and leap into the present.  Well versed in soul pop, torchlight jazz, and coffeehouse folk, Loren provides her audience with an enthralling fare. Jumping out at the listener is Loren's rendition of "C'est Le Printemps," written by Jean Sablon, Jean Geiringer, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein.  Her nuanced vocals make the lyrics come alive, revealing a charming animat...

Album:  Feel Again Artist:  Elena Maque Website:  https://www.elenamaque.com The confluence of soul and cool jazz is illustrated beautifully and meaningfully on vocalist-saxophonist Elena Maque's latest release Feel Again .  Diametrically different, the two styles of music have a true pathfinder in St. Petersburg, Russia born and Seattle, Washington based Maque whose tender vocal resonance can beguile a baby to sleep and equally brandish steamy vibrations that stir uplifting moods in listeners. Her remake of "And I Love Her" by the Beatles emotes a hypnotic sensuality that brings out a feminine allure, wrapped in the smoky mist of Leonardo Amuedo's guitar and the soft rustle of Brad Dutz's percussion, adding a bossa nova texture to the melody. Amuedo's guitar solo ignites a poignant, fiery blaze whose sinewy flame is slowly doused in the closing of the tune.  The sensual swerves of Maque's saxophone cruising along her original track "Weightless" ...