Albums
05/07/13 By Christopher Loudon
Champian Sings and Swings
Sharp Nine
She was tutored in jazz by Clark Terry while still a tyke and gained youthful appreciation of big bands from Red Holloway, Butch Miles and other Basie-ites. In other words, 27-year-old pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton was taught to swing by experts and...
05/06/13 By Mike Joyce
One
NFN
Lest anyone jump to a logical conclusion while playing Jonathan Kreisberg’s ingeniously arranged new solo CD, One , a listener’s note is included: “Although subtle (and not so subtle at times) guitar effects were utilized by Jonathan on some of the material...
05/06/13 By Michael J. West
Sean Moran Small Elephant Band
NCM East Records
Most of Tusk sounds like Frank Zappa’s chamber music. It’s got favorite Zappa instruments (guitar, clarinet, vibraphone and drums); atonal, gnarled compositions; and blinding speed and staccato percussion. Sean Moran’s acoustic guitar style even uncannily...
05/05/13 By Steve Greenlee
The Nows
Clean Feed
Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley make a good match. The English drummer and the American trumpeter (respectively) are a pair of iconoclasts, and on The Nows they create strangely alluring modern improvised music that contains not one iota of anything musical...
05/04/13 By Jeff Tamarkin
Hymns/Spheres
ECM Records
Keith Jarrett was only a year removed from The Köln Concert —which became the best-selling album in jazz history to that time—when in 1976 he released Hymns/Spheres , a two-LP solo album recorded on the Karl Joseph Riepp “Trinity” Baroque pipe organ at the...
05/04/13 By Christopher Loudon
A Quiet Thing
Mad-Kat Records
A dozen years have passed since Madeline Eastman partnered with the late Tom Garvin for the sublime voice-and-piano Bare: A Collection of Ballads . Since then, Eastman’s go-to pianist has been the equally skilled Randy Porter. Eastman and Porter have recorded...
05/03/13 By Britt Robson
Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet
Basin Street Records
In a World of Mallets highlights the growth of Jason Marsalis as a full-fledged vibraphonist. Sure, he worked on the instrument for years before releasing his first vibes album, Music Update , in 2009, but he hedged his bets with a handful of overdubbed...
05/02/13 By Jeff Tamarkin
Southern Exposure
Resonance Records
Richard Galliano is billed as a special guest on Southern Exposure , but it’s difficult to imagine the album without the French accordionist’s input. Though violinist Christian Howes and the fellow Americans that comprise his rhythm section—pianist Josh...
05/01/13 By Christopher Loudon
Miles Tones
Savant
It has long been widely accepted that Kurt Elling is heir apparent to Mark Murphy. But an equally strong case can be made for Giacomo Gates. Indeed, while Elling has advanced to a somewhat distant—some might say higher—plateau, Gates remains truer to Murphy’s...
05/01/13 By Christopher Loudon
Passion of a Lonely Heart
Motema
Though Jana Herzen is best known in the jazz community as founder and president of Motéma Music, currently home to the likes of René Marie and Gregory Porter, the respected label was actually established so that Herzen could release her debut album, Soup’s...
Also in Albums
- Acoustic Axis
- Afro-Cuban Grooves
- Afro-Cuban/Brazilian Vox
- Bassics
- Basslines
- Bassology
- Big Bands
- BlueTones
- Bones
- Brass Tracks
- Brazilian Tinge
- Briefs
- Countercurrents
- Crescent City Sounds
- Currents
- Dem Bones
- Drum Beat
- Dutch Treats
- Eighty-Eights
- Fused
- Fusion
- Grooves
- Guitartistry
- Holiday CD Roundup
- Mighty Clarinets
- Northern Lights
- Organics
- Organized
- Pianism
- Saxophonics
- Spheres
- Strung Out
- The Archivist
- Top 50 CDs of 2005
- Trioism
- Trumpet Voluntary
- Undertones
- Vibes
- Vox