 Here's whats getting added to the Jazz 88 Music Library the week of 5/30/2011 (with a few programming tips from Joe...thanks!). As many of these as possible will be debuted on The New Jazz Thing (by me!) on Monday, May 30, 2011 between 6 and 8 PM PT, so tune in and get turned on to The New!!!
ANGIE DOCTOR & DAN SCHUMACHER – “HE SAID, SHE SAID” (A Capella vocal duet recording, with an eclectic mix of songs).
Jazz Weekly: he disc
may seem a bit short at barely over 30 minutes, but there are more ideas and wonderful sounds here that in a box set of Michael Buble’.
DON’ T MISS OUT ON THIS ONE!
DOWNIE – “JUST ASK ME” (Female vocalist, doing a mix of originals and standards, with a contemporary vibe).
BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES – “ROCKET SCIENCE” (Contemporary grooves, as per their usual style).
AllAboutJazz.com (Something Else!): With Levy's return, it's as if a time machine has
turned on, rumbled away for a moment, and what materialized in the
chamber is an album that effectively erases the history of the band with
Jeff Coffin. The whole band seems to have reappeared in 2011 exactly as
they were nearly two decades ago. Rocket Science picks up right where 1992's UFO Tufo
left off—the weird melding of banjo, harmonica, bass, and electronic
percussion. Or, rather “what should be the weird melding," because this
quartet sounds as natural together as any lineup of “traditional" jazz
instruments. It's those Coffin years, with the de rigueur jazz
saxophone, that seem so out of place now, and the music of which sounds
like a band struggling to find a real identity.
LARRY GRAY TRIO – “THREE EQUALS ONE” (Bass, guitar, drum trio, doing all originals).
HIROMI – “VOICE” (Brilliant piano trio recording, doing all but one original, on the edgy side, but generally accessible).
“When I play music, I realize that it really filters emotions,” says Hiromi. “I called this album Voice
because I believe that people’s real voices are expressed in their
emotions. It’s not something that you really say. It’s more something
that you have in your heart. Maybe it’s something you haven’t said yet.
Maybe you’re never going to say it. But it’s your true voice.
Instrumental music is very similar. We don’t have any words or any
lyrics to go with it. It’s the true voice that we don’t really put into
words, but we feel it when it’s real.” http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/albums/Voice/
FREDDIE HUBBARD – “PINNACLE” (Live Keystone Korner recording from 1980, previously unreleased).
 Resonance: Trumpet great Freddie Hubbard at the top of his game,
with West Coast all-stars digging into his sturdiest compositions - plus
John Coltrane's technically challenging piece "Giant Steps" - during a
couple of nights in San Francisco, eternally exciting though recorded 30
years ago. That's Pinnacle, Live and Unreleased: From Keystone Korner, a bounteous gift to any fan or fan-in-the-making of fiery and funky, sophisticated and melodically inspired music.
KENNY MacKENZIE TRIO – “MOVED” (Piano trio, doing all straight-ahead originals).
BRANFORD MARSALIS / JOEY CALDERAZZO – “SONGS OF MIRTH AND MELANCHOLY” (Sax/piano duet, doing all but one of their originals).
 AllAboutJazz.com (Mark F. Turner): The Swedish proverb "Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow," is one that perfectly exemplifies Songs of Mirth and Melancholy, from saxophonist Branford Marsalis and pianist Joey Calderazzo. Their bond has solidified over time, since Calderazzo took over the piano chair from the late Kenny Kirkland
in Marsalis' ensemble in 1998. While Kirkland's talent can never be
replaced, Calderazzo has proven his own deep abilities as a vital member
of the band—and in his own recordings. Marsalis' voice is commanding in
any aspect, whether playing or speaking frankly about the music
environment, and continues to resonate as a leader. Together, their
rapport illuminates this recording.
BURGSTALLER-MARTIGNON – “BACH’S SECRET FILES” (Nice jazz adaptations of classical melodies by Bach, Mendelssohn and others).
 JazzTimes.com (Ken Franckling): This quartet is on to something quite marvelous: a hybrid interplay between jazz and classical music - even opera - that should please fans of both genres, and expose the separatists to the virtues of each form. The band is co-led by former Canadian Brass trumpeter Joe Berstaller and pianist Hector Martignon, who has serious Latin jazz credentials. As they did previously with Mozart, they have an addiction to mining the possibilities found within J.S. Bach's music (five of 11 tracks come from the Bach repertoire) but also stretching their concept to the work of early 1900s avant-gardist Erik Satie, plus impressionist Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Giacomo Puccini.
SUSIE MESSINER – “I’M CONFESSIN’” (Female vocalist, singing the Great American Songbook).
KIM PENSYL & PHIL DeGREG – “MELODIOUS MONK” (Trumpeter and pianist, joined by other instrumentalist on most tracks, doing Monk tunes).
SAN DIEGO CONCERT JAZZ BAND – “WHAT A GAS!” (Local big band, swinging away).
COLIN VALLON – “RRUGA” (Piano trio, doing all originals).
ANNA WILSON & FRIENDS – “COUNTRYPOLITAN DUETS” (Female vocalist, joined by a variety of special guests, doing jazz versions of country tunes. Better than you might think).
Slant Magazine (Jonathon Keefe): When Wilson hits her marks and her collaborators are fully on board with
her intent for the project, as on "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues"
with Keith Urban, Countrypolitan Duets is an interesting and
worthwhile project that is respectful of both Wilson's jazz-singer
aspirations and her day job as an in-demand pop-country songwriter. And
it speaks to the range of Wilson's talents that, when the album is less
successful, it's generally because her collaborators let her down or
because she's played it too safe and too deliberately tasteful.
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Pat Launer's Center Stage
