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Emmet Cohen: Universal Truth
by Mike Jurkovic
There is an old-world saying that some folks are just born with an old soul. Pianist and social media conqueror Emmet Cohen--his pandemic- founded livestream, Live From Emmet's Place, has been viewed by millions across the globe--proves, positively, that the old wisdom still stands and forever will. For within the heart and soul of every jazzman and jazzwoman, the warm essence of the music's ever-painful, resilient, triumphal past resides. A compatriot who does not mind growing up alongside ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: Around the World with U
by Jack Bowers
Drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. has a keen eye and ear for talent, which is obvious from the first notes of Around the World with U, his second recording as leader of the Art Blakey-style quintet, Generation Y. When marshaling the ensemble, Owens chose his teammates with care, and they repay his confidence by producing a splendid album that pleases from start to finish. If the aspirants had to pass an exam before the hire, there could be no ...
Continue ReadingWycliffe Gordon: Holiday Fun!
by Jack Bowers
Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon takes listeners on a pleasurable trip to his childhood and invites them to summon their own precious memories of Holiday Fun! on this splendid new seasonal recording from Arbors Jazz. Gordon has enlisted an all-star ensemble of like-minded musicians and friends to heighten the fun, stepping merrily through a litany of holiday favorites from “Winter Wonderland" to “Frosty the Snowman," “Silent Night" to “Joy to the World," before closing with the venerable “Auld Lang ...
Continue ReadingJoe Farnsworth: The Big Room
by Karan Khosla
The Big Room is about holding the fort and also about opening doors. Joe Farnsworth has logged time with Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and Cedar Walton, but here he calls on the rising generation: alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Emmet Cohen, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Recorded live at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in January 2025, Farnsworth invites his fellow bandmates to contribute compositions; the album captures an intergenerational sextet that knows how to ...
Continue ReadingCecile McLorin Salvant: Oh Snap
by Angelo Leonardi
Ogni nuovo disco di Cécile McLorin Salvant è un evento di rilievo ma da qualche anno si aggiungono stimolanti sorprese. Dagli ultimi due album --Ghost Song del 2022 e Mélusine del 2023--la cantante ha sospeso la relazione con il songbook statunitense e il repertorio legato al blues e alle radici, per presentare contenuti e soluzioni inaspettate con vari brani originali. Questo Oh Snap incrementa le nuove scelte. Tutti i temi sono personali, in una riflessione che riallaccia il ...
Continue ReadingCecile McLorin Salvant: Oh Snap
by Frank Housh
It feels like Cecile McLorin Salvant is just showing off. The 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant Award Winner follows up Ghost Song (Nonesuch, 2022) and Mélusine (Nonesuch, 2023) with Oh Snap, a post-genre effort with deeply personal lyrics that sound like they were lifted from the diaries of a rediscovered poet. McLorin recorded Oh Snap alone, learning GarageBand and AutoTune as she went. She said, “I felt I had lost a connection to music because it was something that ...
Continue ReadingAdrian Cunningham: It's About Time
by Jack Bowers
Australian-born, New York-based multi-instrumentalist (and vocalist) Adrian Cunningham brings impressive creds to his latest recording, It's About Time, raising the number of albums under his leadership well into double figures. And as if playing an array of instruments were not enough, Cunningham also writes, having composed nine of the album's songs and arranged all of them. The exceptions are George Gershwin's “Summertime" (from the folk opera Porgy and Bess) and the traditional “Battle Hymn of the Republic." ...
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