Reviews

Going Nowhere Dred Scott Trio

05/25/12    Albums    By Sharonne Cohen

Dred Scott Trio
Going Nowhere
Ropeadope

This hard-hitting self-produced album by pianist Dred Scott’s trio, released alongside an experimental solo recording entitled Prepared Piano , features seven original tracks penned by the leader and an adventurous take on Miles Davis and Victor Feldman’s...

Together Betty Bryant & Mark Christian Miller

05/25/12    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Betty Bryant & Mark Christian Miller
Together
Bry-Mar

The first studio union of longtime pals Betty Bryant and Mark Christian Miller is the sort of charmingly unassuming album that is often overshadowed by splashier efforts. Bryant, now 82, has been a staple of the L.A. supper-club circuit for decades. All...

Fractals Rick Stone Trio

05/24/12    Albums    By Mike Joyce

Rick Stone Trio
Fractals
Jazzand Productions

The late composer Jerome Kern had a hand in making guitarist Rick Stone’s Fractals a postbop treat. First, there’s the album’s title track, a vibrant, angular reconfiguring of “All the Things You Are” that swings despite its abstract designs. Then there’s...

Live in Basel Pete Robbins Transatlantic Quartet

05/24/12    Albums    By Bill Milkowski

Pete Robbins Transatlantic Quartet
Live in Basel
Hate Laugh

Alto saxophonist-composer Pete Robbins forged a tight partnership while touring Europe with Irish electric bassist Simon Jermyn, Canadian drummer Kevin Brow and Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug. Their highly interactive chemistry is documented on this live...

Gil Evans Centennial Celebration, Highline Ballroom, NYC, May 21, 2012

05/23/12    Concerts    By Bill Milkowski

Gil Evans Centennial Celebration, Highline Ballroom, NYC, May 21, 2012

Family, friends and former bandmates honor late jazz great on centennial

Sonny Fortune Quartet: LIve in Atlantic City

05/23/12    Concerts    By Karen Brundage-Johnson

Sonny Fortune Quartet: LIve in Atlantic City

Celebrating Sonny’s 73rd Birthday

The L.A. Sessions Mark Sherman

05/23/12    Albums    By Mike Joyce

Mark Sherman
The L.A. Sessions
Miles High

If vibraphonist Mark Sherman sounds thoroughly relaxed yet engaged on this quartet offering, consider the company he’s keeping: guitarist John Chiodini, drummer Charles Ruggiero and keyboardist Bill Cunliffe, this time around on Hammond B3 organ. Of course...

The Concert Sinatra Frank Sinatra

05/22/12    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Frank Sinatra
The Concert Sinatra
Concord Records

In late 1960, with the launch of his Reprise label, Frank Sinatra began the most prolific period of his entire recording career. By the time he got to The Concert Sinatra in early ’63, he’d delivered eight Reprise albums (and had already sold up shop to...

Silent Movie Melissa Stylianou

05/22/12    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Melissa Stylianou
Silent Movie
Anzic

In New York, New York , director Martin Scorsese’s ambitiously flawed homage to Manhattan’s postwar music scene, saxman Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) explains to vocalist Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) that a “major chord” is when everything in your life...

WIth the Cedar Walton Trio Piero Odorici

05/22/12    Albums    By Bill Milkowski

Piero Odorici
WIth the Cedar Walton Trio
Savant

Veteran tenor saxophonist Piero Odorici, an in-demand player on the European jazz scene, makes an impressive showing on his Stateside debut. Accompanied by Cedar Walton and the pianist’s regular working rhythm tandem of bassist David Williams and drummer...