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Edwin Livingston
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 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 ReadingJudy Whitmore: Let's Fall in Love
by Jack Bowers
Polymath Judy Whitmore has taken time away from her busy and productive career(s) to record her fifth album, Let's Fall in Love, and like the first four, it is a smooth and delightful tour of memorable themes from the Great American Songbook, sung with radiance and heart by one of the leading exponents of popular song on today's scene. Whitmore does not sing jazz (no scatting or improvising here); she leaves that in the capable hands of ...
Continue ReadingLiz Cole: I Want to Be Happy
by Richard J Salvucci
"Unfortunately, I became entangled in a variety of day jobs and set music on the backburner for a shameful number of years. Finally, I have realized that I don't want to work in an office." How often has some frustrated artist said just those words, or some variant? The music business is a tough one, and how many singers, pianists or other instrumentalist have harbored similar thoughts? Yes, everyone pays dues, but some pay more than others, and for a ...
Continue ReadingBevan Manson featuring Tierney Sutton with The Hollywood Studio Orchestra: Talking to Trees
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Bevan Manson is an artist who has a creative duality. As a pianist, composer/arranger and educator, he's been successful in classical and jazz environments. With Talking to Trees, Manson provides an array of both originals and jazz standards, most with an arboreal tint, as the title indicates. The work is a validation that his pen, guiding the talents of vocalist Tierney Sutton and L.A.'s premium players, can make the familiar fascinating and the novel intriguing. Miles Davis' ...
Continue ReadingJudy Whitmore: Come Fly with Me
by Jack Bowers
When the multi-talented Judy Whitmore sings “Come Fly with Me," it is an invitation that is almost impossible to resist, especially as the lovely and charming vocalist is also a pilot who is licensed to fly anything from jets to seaplanes to hot air balloons. On her latest album, backed by a big band and twenty-six member string section with arrangements by Hollywood top gun Chris Walden, Whitmore beckons listeners to fly with her to romantic places around the world ...
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Music
Shifty Paradigms
From: Shifty ParadigmsBy Edwin Livingston
Serenade to a Bus Seat
From: CT!By Edwin Livingston
Convergency
From: ConvergencyBy Edwin Livingston
For What It's Worth
From: Social Anthems, Volume 1By Edwin Livingston
Falling Forward
From: Pastimes (From Times Past)By Edwin Livingston
