“People live here.” That is what I used to tell my daughters every time we’d go to a town. North, south, east or west, each city, suburb, town or wide spot in the road is the home of someone, and…
Month: August 2016
READY FOR SOMETHING NEW? Ryan Choi: Whenmill, Three Dancers
Just when you thought there was nothing new and exciting to hear, along comes Hawaiian artist Ryan Choi. He plays the baritone ukulele, but don’t think that means Don Ho or The Tiki Room. This rich sounding string instrument in…
John Beasley: Presents MONK’estra Vol. 1
LA fixture John Beasley has been having this big band perform clever readings of Monk tunes locally for a few years; he finally decided to share it with the rest of the world. It’s a beaut! The band includes some…
RISING TIDE…The Beach Boys: Becoming The Beach Boys-The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions
As Peter Lorre’ said to Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, “Here is something not even you have ever seen.” For the first time, the original recordings of the Beach Boys from 1961-63 are coming to life. Fresh from Hawthorne, CA, Dennis…
THE BLIND CAN SEE…The Blind Boys of Alabama: Spirit of the Century, Higher Ground
The Blind Boys of Alabama have been around since the 30s, but they got a resurgence of popularity about 15 years ago. These two albums come from that Reformation, and they are essentials for anyone wanting to understand the soulful…
Alessandro Fadini: A Dark and Stormy Day
Pianist Alessandro Fadini brings together a subtle and spacious team of Josiah Boornazian/as-ss, Jakob Dreyer/b and Lu ke Markham/dr through a subtly swinging session that is filled with lovely pastels. Boornazian’s alto is Konitz-cool and lyrical, opening the album with…
NELS (RE)CLINE…Nels Cline: Lovers
Debuting on Blue Note Records, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline is no stranger to jazz, having teamed up with Julian Lage for some intriguing sounds. Here, Cline hits the ground running, as we’ve got two discs, with the guitarist doubling down…
DIVERSE ORIGINS…Corey Christiansen: Factory Girl, Dan Cray: Outside In, Joonsam: A Door, Joel Miller: Dream Cassette
Seattle-based Origin Records has stretched out from being focused on post bop jazz to including some roots-styled sounds as well. Their latest four releases display the wide range of their catalogue. Guitarist Corey Christiansen gets rockin’ with Zach Lapidus/key, Jeremy…
Silvano Monasterios: Partly Sunny
Pianist Silvano Monasterios teams his trio of Jonathan Dadurka/b and Rodolfo Zuniga/dr with various guests through some exciting self-penned pieces. Monasterios is quite diplomatic in his composing and performing, allowing on many pieces Dadurka’s bowed bass to state the theme,…
Mats Eilertsen: Rubicon
Lots of spacious and reedy sounds here with bassist Mats Eilertsen leading reedy team of Eirik Hegdal playing baritone and soprano sax, with Trygve Seim/ts-ss and rhythm with Thomas Dahl/g, Rob Waring/vib, Harmen Fraanje/key and Olavi Louhivuori. You get some…