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Dave Slonaker Big Band: Shifty Paradigms
by Jack Bowers
While Los Angeles-based composer and arranger Dave Slonaker's paradigms may be shifty, his all-star big band is about as forthright as one could wish. On Shifty Paradigms, his third recording fronting the band, Slonaker guides his peerless eighteen-member ensemble through its paces on a dynamic and always-swinging program that encompasses seven of his stellar original compositions and the venerable standard, “Bye Bye Blues." Slonaker's game plan is simple: give the band superior themes and charts on which to ...
Continue ReadingJosh Nelson / Kevin Van Den Elzen: West Coast Echoes
by Jack Bowers
Pianist Josh Nelson and drummer Kevin Van Den Elzen (with bassist Eric Sittner) revisit the glory days of West Coast jazz in the 1950s and '60s on West Coast Echoes, a generally smooth and pleasing glance backward at the “cool" school of jazz championed by such legendary artists as Shorty Rogers, Art Pepper, Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Cooper, Chet Baker, Chico Hamilton, Bud Shank, Russ Freeman and many others. The “echoes" become louder and more ...
Continue ReadingMark Winkler: Hold On
by Pierre Giroux
Throughout his extensive career, Mark Winkler has been a steadfast presence on the Los Angeles jazz scene, earning a reputation as one of the most versatile and captivating vocalists in contemporary jazz. With Hold On, his 22nd album, Winkler continues to demonstrate that artistic growth and creative curiosity remain central to his work. While many artists with such a prolific discography might be tempted to rest on their laurels, Winkler continues to push forward, creating new material and thoughtfully reimagining ...
Continue ReadingCatina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz: Lado B Brazilian Project 2
by Pierre Giroux
Catina DeLuna and Otmaro Ruíz have once again teamed up to explore the rich tapestry of Brazilian music in Lado B Brazilian Project 2. As a follow-up to their earlier exploration of this repertoire, this album sees the duo delve even deeper into Brazil's lyrical and melodic treasures, producing results that are both innovative and rooted in tradition. They have assembled a stellar band to perform Ruíz's arrangements, including two carry-overs from their first edition: guitarist Larry Koonse and bassist ...
Continue ReadingCatina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz: Lado B Brazilian Project 2
by Katchie Cartwright
In a time of disembodied digital-only releases, luxuriously well-crafted albums like Catina DeLuna and Otmaro Ruiz's Lado B Brazilian Project 2, with physical disk, album notes, lyric translations and evocative graphics, can really be the balm. The project was born in 2015 with the release of Lado B Brazilian Project (Self Produced), which received a Grammy nomination in 2016. The idea was to interpret what we might call Great Brazilian Songbook--classics by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque, Dorival ...
Continue ReadingCharles Chen: Building Characters
by Jack Bowers
San Francisco-based pianist and educator Charles Chen returns with Building Characters, his second recording in as many years, and as on his debut album, Charles, Play! (Cellar Music, 2024), he is backed by an all-star supporting cast that includes a front line of trumpeter Randy Brecker and saxophonists Bob Sheppard and Lawrence Feldman. They bolster a sharp and powerful rhythm section consisting of bassist Mike Richmond and drummer Adam Nussbaum. Missing are the members of Chen's quartet ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!
by Jack Bowers
In 2023-24, the celebrated arranger Mark Masters led his superb southern California-based ensemble into studios to record a pair of tribute albums. The first, Sam Rivers 100, was dedicated to the music of the late saxophonist on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, to that of another renowned saxophonist, Billy Harper, who is not only very much alive at age eighty-two but serves as guest soloist on both recordings. Unlike ...
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