In retrospect it’s easy to hear the evolution from Miles Davis’ mid-’60s albums to In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and On the Corner. Still, plenty of listeners weren’t happy when atmosphere took the place of composition. Groove was everything, though sometimes it could feel tentative. Studio editing, of course, also played a major role,…Read More

Fans and critics of pianist Benito Gonzalez agree: He’s a Latin McCoy Tyner. In other words, no matter how you feel about Gonzalez, an album of Tyner compositions is almost painfully on the nose. The younger pianist distinguishes his versions with a funkier rhythmic approach (in a trio with bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer/percussionist Gerry…Read More

Albums crafted around moon-related tunes aren’t anything new. Mel Tormé delivered his terrific Swingin’ on the Moon in 1960. Six years later, Frank Sinatra shaped the more somber Moonlight Sinatra. While the concept may lack originality, vocalist Allegra Levy beautifully explores the lunar theme with this soft-hued assemblage. And, following Levy’s two previous releases, Lonely City and Cities…Read More

There are a number of pianists blessed with such technique that they could play pretty much anything. Where Geoffrey Keezer has them beat is that he can also think of pretty much anything—and on this album, he does. Granted, he’s had time to gather his thoughts, having gone five years since his last album, the understatedly…Read More

Organist Jared Gold, guitarist Dave Stryker, and drummer Billy Hart, augmented by trumpeter Jeremy Pelt on three tracks, prove there’s still some life in the venerable B-3 jazz combo. The opening title track sets the tone: Gold is his usual deep-grooved self; Pelt summons a blunt-edged aggressiveness that somewhat belies his well-known Milesian proclivities; Stryker,…Read More

What’s in a name? The Black Art Jazz Collective welcomes the question. The bristling hard-bop swagger of this all-black sextet of bandleaders and first-call sidemen sends a message as palpable as the Langston Hughes quote (about the “duty of the younger negro artist”) that’s set beside Cheryl Pelt’s breakdown of jazz as a historical tool…Read More

Wynton Marsalis may be the most prominent preserver of traditional jazz, but nobody works harder than Dr. Michael White at keeping it alive. The New Orleans clarinetist has steadfastly clung to the early-20th-century way of doing things for almost four decades, but he always infuses it with freshness. On Tricentennial Rag, he celebrates 300 years…Read More

Jerry Vivino is one of those ubiquitous musicians—a longtime mainstay of Conan O’Brien’s late-night TV band and a sideman to dozens of stars ranging from Springsteen to Tony Bennett—who goes unappreciated until one day you stop to consider him and realize why everyone wants to use him. While the saxophonist is not an edge-straddling innovator…Read More

Gospel roots infuse modern jazz as often as the more celebrated route of classical training, and drummer McClenty Hunter Jr. displays a sacred understatement on his debut as a leader, The Groove Hunter. The nine-song disc features four Hunter originals, creative cover interpretations, and an ace core band with special guests, all showcasing the drummer’s…Read More

It’s easy to play standards, but damned difficult to play them well. The problem is one of familiarity: How does one take a tune that’s been played literally a million times and find something fresh in it? Some younger musicians deal with this problem by avoiding the familiar tropes of straight-ahead playing (Tom Rainey’s Obbligato…Read More