Entries from November 2015
CA(C)sar Cardoso: Bottom Shelf
“AlA(C)m” starts unceremoniously, almost mid-tune, tenor sax and guitar evoking a sultry m: Stan Getz mood. The labyrinthine structure of the title track adds to its appeal and benefits from strong playing with a feisty guitar solo. m: CA(C)sar Cardoso ‘s soprano on “A’nica” evince..
Date: No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews
·Dave Douglas Quintet: Brazen Heart
Leading a quintet whose debut recording, Be Still (Greenleaf Music, 2012) was an elegiac song cycle dedicated to his late mother, m: Dave Douglas ‘ Brazen Heart, sadly, finds the trumpeter / composer in mourning once again. Damon Douglas, Dave’s brother, passed away in June 2015.
Date: No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews
·Double Basse: This Is Not Art
Although the group moniker might suggest two bull fiddles, in fact it describes the French pairing of bassist m: Benjamin Duboc and contrabass clarinetist m: Jean-Luc Petit . No strangers to each other (Petit appears on the bassist’s leadership debut under his own name on Prim… [ read more ]
Date: No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews
·Filip Jers Quartet: Filip Jers Quartet Plays Swedish Folk
A difficult one, this: harmonica player Felip Jers and his quartet the latest in a long line of artists attempting to put a jazz slant on Swedish folk music. It all started in the 1960s when pianist Jan Johansson scored a massive hit with an EP and later an LP titled Jazz PA Svenska (Jazz In Swedis… [ read more ]
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·Beat Funktion: Olympus
The seventies brought many things: bell-bottoms, Lee Majors, Farrah Fawcett, Disco, Nixon and Carter, The Godfather, the Ramones; Billie Jean King and Phyllis Schlafly to NOW and the ERA; from the Energy Crisis to Roe v. Wade. The Seventies is an incisively provocative and commonly misunderstood era…
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·Georgia Mancio: Live At ReVoice!
The name at the top of the cover of Live At ReVoice! is that of Georgia Mancio, the London-based vocalist who appears on every one of the 12 tracks. A quick glance lower down the cover adds a dozen more names–a list of Mancio’s accompanists that reads like a veritable “Who’s Who” of the UK jazz sce… [ read more ]
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·Didier Verna: Roots and Leaves
Don’t judge a book a book by its cover or a recording by its first track. “Old Times” is certainly that, a paean to the swinging age of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France and guitarist m: Didier Verna displays his considerable talent with a nimble solo, as do each of the other members… [ read more ]
Date: No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews
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