Robby Ameen – Days in the Life (Two and Four Records – 2009)

Robby Ameen is one of those first call percussionists who has been chaffing at the bit to produce something all his own. Now he has his chance, with Days in the Life and he acquits himself with excellence. Things might have very well gone awry, as so often happens when self producing the first record. This, however, does not happen with Ameen, as he is careful to avoid the [...]

John Beasley – Positootly! (Resonance Records 2009)

John Beasley’s Positootly! is awash with Lydian modes. That and it is clear that Beasley has listened carefully to Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. However, he is also a singular pianist who is chirpy and breaks up his dazzling melodic runs with staccato perfunctory harmonic statements that then bend the music in another surprising direction [...]

Coto Pincheira – The Sonido Moderno Project (Self Produced 2009)

Coto Pincheira, as he prefers being called, has made an enthusiastic impression with The Sonido Modern Project, literally, the Modern Sound Project. This virtuoso pianist, to whom clave comes naturally, has attempted to pour this rollicking backbeat into a cauldron set alight by the vast array of Afro-Caribbean metaphors and rhythms. The result is a molten mix [...]

Brian Lynch Afro Cuban Jazz Orch. – Bolero Nights (for Billie Holliday)

For a fleeting moment -just one fleeting moment- it appears to be a bit of a stretch putting “bolero” and Billie Holiday together. There appears to be a tad too much “bolero” and not enough “Holiday” on Brian Lynch’s Bolero Nights (Venus Records – Japan 2009). Soon, however, the plaintive wail of Lynch’s trumpet and moan of his flugelhorn and the moody arrangements of [...]

Kalil Wilson – Easy to Love (Self Produced 2009)

It is somewhat disconcerting how few new male vocalists inhabiting the jazz idiom practice their craft with a degree of genius and virtuosity as saxophonists and other instrumentalists. It is a conundrum why not so many new artists play the first instrument–the human voice. Some posit that poeta nascitur non fit? Alternatively, is it true that vocal art is the one art that cannot really [...]

Henry Brun & The Latin Playerz – A Tribute to Duke Ellington

A musical meeting of minds with Duke Ellington must certainly be the “Holy Grail” of many a composer and arranger no matter what language and idiom the musical tribute or acknowledgement will be played in. However, every musician who attempts that feat must invariably fall through the mythical trapdoor, like in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Duke is, after all, a composer and [...]

Mario Adnet & Phillippe Baden Powell – AfroSambaJazz

Truth is told: Had the great Billy Strayhorn been even mildly interested in courting recognition for his contribution to Duke Ellington’s music, he would have occupied a much more rarified place in the pantheon of composers and arrangers – and even pianists – in the modern history of music. His reticence, even diffidence, was all encompasing. Mario Adnet could very possibly be [...]

Anna Estrada – Obsesión (Feral Flight Productions 2009)

When Elis Regina died, most Brasilians thought that the vacuum created by her loss could not be filled. Then along came Rosa Passos… and Anna Estrada. The two vocalists do not jostle for position in the vacant slot that Regina left behind. However, both fill it individually with the extraordinary breath and scope of their talent. Passos stays within the Brasilian ethos more often than not [...]

Kristina – Offshore Echoes (Patois Records 2009)

A female vocalist with a low vocal spectrum is not supposed to sound as joyful as Kristina does on Offshore Echoes. And she sounds joyful no matter what she sings. Many singers would sound solemn. However, Kristina, being the wonderful practitioner of the vocal arts that she is gives a fine account of herself. Not only is she a versatile vocalist [...]

Ithamara Koorax & Juarez Moreira – Bim Bom (Motema Music 2009)

João Gilberto did not just epitomize bossa nova, “The New Thing” that he virtually invented, but he also brought his new laconic vocalastic style to Brasilian music. So deeply passionate and idiosyncratic was his annunciation and intonation that he could wail and groan with equal lyricism. Pitch did not seem to matter as the mood and passion of the emotion often took [...]