Andrew Gilbert is a Berkeley-based freelancer who has written about arts and culture since 1989 for numerous publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, East Bay Express, Berkeleyside, and KQED’s California Report. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he experienced a series of mind-blowing epiphanies listening to jazz masters at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in the late 1980s, performances he remembers more vividly than the gigs he saw last month.
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Deeply informed by jazz but unbounded by idiomatic boundaries, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens is an x-factor artist who always seems to take music … Read More “Becca Stevens: Wonderbloom (GroundUP)”
On her first two albums, Nashville pianist/vocalist Kandace Springs focused on songs of recent vintage by leading pop/jazz composers like Jesse Harris and tunes that … Read More “Kandace Springs: The Women Who Raised Me (Blue Note)”
José James was already a force to be reckoned with when he released his fourth album, No Beginning No End, in 2013. For that Blue Note … Read More “José James: No Beginning No End 2 (Rainbow Blonde)”
A vivacious vocalist with a winning, unpretentious stage presence, Denmark’s Sinne Eeg has been something of a go-to collaborator for the Danish Radio Big Band. … Read More “Sinne Eeg & the Danish Radio Big Band: We’ve Just Begun (BFM Jazz)”
With her delightful but unsettling mix of whimsy and earnest irony, Kat Edmonson is a vocalist who can get inside your head and keep you … Read More “Kat Edmonson: Dreamers Do (Spinnerette)”
Singers often describe duo performances as a wanton act of exposure, a setting that presents the voice naked and open for close inspection. Two new … Read More “Norma Winstone & John Taylor: In Concert/ Jay Clayton & Jerry Granelli: Alone Together (Sunnyside)”
Concept albums seem to come naturally to Karrin Allyson. Since she first started making records in the mid-1990s, she’s found numerous ways to organize her … Read More “Karrin Allyson Sextet: Shoulder to Shoulder: Centennial Tribute to Women’s Suffrage (eOne)”
Joe Henderson made it clear from the beginning that if he and Laurie Antonioli were going to spend time together she needed to read up … Read More “Overdue Ovation: Laurie Antonioli”
If La Tanya Hall’s second album sounds far more poised, polished, and, well, accomplished than the typical sophomore release, it’s because she’s a well-traveled artist … Read More “La Tanya Hall: Say Yes (Blue Canoe)”
Some of the most interesting singers on the scene came to performance at midlife, after building non-musical careers and/or families: artists like Gail Pettis, René Marie, … Read More “Michelle Lordi: Break Up with the Sound (Cabinet of Wonder)”
Jazz was an essential component of Nora York’s artistry, but the polymathic performer inhabited numerous realms where her high-caliber intellectual firepower and boundless emotional insight … Read More “Nora York With Jamie Lawrence: Swoon (Good Mood)”
With the timbre of his voice sounding more Sinatra-ish than ever, Harry Connick, Jr. isn’t just the chairman of the board on True Love: A … Read More “Harry Connick, Jr.: True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter (Verve)”
Perfection is overrated in music. Too many jazz artists are releasing albums that feel worked over in post-production to the point that all possibility of … Read More “Champian Fulton & Cory Weeds: Dream a Little… (CellarLive)”
Nat King Cole didn’t need a milestone birthday to elicit a flood of tribute albums. A bona fide pop star and racial-barrier-breaking icon at the … Read More “Nicolas Bearde: I Remember You (Right Groove)/ Orice Jenkins: Centennial Cole (Truth Revolution)”
Sumitra is a Los Angeles-based pianist, composer, and vocalist with a lot of stories to tell. Born in New York to parents from India, she … Read More “Sumitra: Bittersweet (Sumitra Music)”
Much like Ernest Hemingway’s famous description of how bankruptcy happens (“Gradually and then suddenly,” he wrote in The Sun Also Rises), the pervasive presence of … Read More “Live Review: 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival”
Mark Winkler wanted another bite of the apple, and Bobby Troup’s zesty book of rhythm patter, swooning ballads, and novelty numbers provides plenty of creative … Read More “Mark Winkler: I’m With You: Mark Winkler Sings Bobby Troup (Café Pacific)”
Vocalist Tony Lindsay is best known for his two-decade-plus tenure in Santana, a run that included Carlos Santana’s career-reviving monster hit Supernatural. But don’t even … Read More “Michael O’Neill Quintet with Tony Lindsay: Pacific Standard Time (Jazzmo)”
Taking in the recent loss of João Gilberto, trying to put his pervasive influence and incalculable contributions into perspective, seems just a little bit easier … Read More “Eliane Elias: Love Stories (Concord Jazz)”
The profusion of exceptional jazz singers who’ve come into their own since 2010 shouldn’t obscure the stellar vocalists who emerged in the 21st century’s first … Read More “Sara Gazarek: Thirsty Ghost (MRI)”
Since releasing her 2005 debut album, Easy on the Heart (Jazzopolis), Judy Wexler has carved out a jewel-like niche as a gracefully swinging singer who brings penetrating insight … Read More “Judy Wexler: Crowded Heart (Jewel City Jazz)”
Intentionally or not, the opening track of Somewhere is a bit of misdirection. Sounding like a suave supper-club crooner, Peter Eldridge eases into Cindy Walker’s “You Don’t … Read More “Peter Eldridge/Kenny Werner: Somewhere (Rosebud)”
Los Angeles jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton doesn’t deliver every recording wrapped in a conceptual bow, but her discography is studded with well-executed thematic projects, including … Read More “Tierney Sutton Band: ScreenPlay (BFM Jazz)”
It’s tempting to describe Claudia Villela as a musician’s musician, considering that some of her most ardent fans and supporters are also her most illustrious … Read More “Claudia Villela: Into the Fire, and Out Again”
As a co-founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, Philip Bailey has spent much of his career in the verdant delta where jazz flows into R&B … Read More “Philip Bailey: Love Will Find a Way (Verve)”
Some albums arrive without precedent, a world unto themselves. While bringing to mind the sophisticated, jazz-infused post-Tropicalia songs of Brazilian composers like Guinga, Milton Nascimento, … Read More “Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini: Setting Rays of Summer (Cressman Music)”
Patrice Jégou doesn’t yodel or throat-sing on her second album, If It Ain’t Love, but the Canadian-born vocalist leaves little doubt that she could produce a polished … Read More “Patrice Jégou: If It Ain’t Love (Prairie Star)”
There are any number of Northern California jazz festivals that have been around longer than the one in Healdsburg, but none save the granddaddy of … Read More “Concert Review: Carla Bley and Ethan Iverson at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival”
Mary Stallings tends to inspire superlatives, and Songs Were Made to Sing is sure to coax another chorus of well-deserved, overdue praise. Released on the verge … Read More “Mary Stallings: Songs Were Made to Sing (Smoke Sessions)”
Since arriving in New York from her native Santiago, Chile in 2009, Camila Meza has gradually emerged as a singular artist with boundless creative ambition. … Read More “Camila Meza: Ámbar (Sony Masterworks)”
