KSDS 88.3 Blog

The release also features trumpeter Terrell Stafford, bassist Rob Thorsen and drummer Richard Sellers.

Here's a video of them playing Lee Morgan's Speedball last year at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library:

Here they are! These are top ten releases of 2011 we played on New Year's Eve in their entirety, as voted by you!

ELLIS MARSALIS – “A NEW ORLEANS CHRISTMAS CAROL” (Pianist, leeding a straight-
ahead session, with some vocal tracks).

MARCUS ROBERTS – “CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead piano trio).

TRI-FI – “TRI-FI CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead piano trio).

CHRIS BAUER – “IN A YULETIDE GROOVE” (Harmonica player, leading a straight-ahead
session).

BEANTOWN SWING ORCHESTRA – “A BEANTOWN CHRISTMAS” (Swinging, big band
vocal versions).

VARIOUS ARTISTS – “CHRISTMAS: I SAW THREE SHIPS” (Singers from New Orleans,
with straight-ahead versions).

CHRIS STANDRING & KATHRIN SHORR – “SEND ME SOME SNOW” (Straight-ahead
vocal album, doing all originals).

DIANE VAN DUERZEN & LISA OTEY – “MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE” (Female
vocal duo, doing straight-ahead jazz vocals).
others, with some vocal tracks).

TONY BENNETT – “THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM” (As the title implies, all your
holiday favorites performed by legendary crooner).

CYNTHIA KAAY BENNETT – “THAT’S THE SPIRIT” (Female vocalist, doing classic
Holiday tunes, and some obscure ones, as well).

HARRY CONNICK, JR. – “THE HAPPY ELF” (Mostly piano trio recording, doing all Harry’s
originals).

CHRIS DAVS – “THIS CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead, trumpet-led quartet, doing Holiday
classics).

NICOLE HENRY – “Female vocalist, with a live recording of Holiday favorites).

DAVID IAN – “VINTAGE CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead piano-led group, with some vocal
tracks).

JILLAINE – “JAZZY CHRISTMAS TO YOU” (Female vocalist, with a mix of classics and
obscure tunes).

BRADLEY LEIGHTON – “HOLIDAY OF LIGHTS” (Latin and contemporary versions of the
Classics).

ELLIS MARSALIS – “A NEW ORLEANS CHRISTMAS CAROL” (Pianist, leeding a straight-
ahead session, with some vocal tracks).

MARCUS ROBERTS – “CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead piano trio).

TRI-FI – “TRI-FI CHRISTMAS” (Straight-ahead piano trio).

CHRIS BAUER – “IN A YULETIDE GROOVE” (Harmonica player, leading a straight-ahead
session).

BEANTOWN SWING ORCHESTRA – “A BEANTOWN CHRISTMAS” (Swinging, big band
vocal versions).

Happy Holiday! We've added a LOT of new holiday music for 2011 and we are going to play it all this season!!! Listen to The New Jazz Thing, Monday, December 12, 2011 6-8PM PT and we'll get into that, Jazz Week Jazz Charts and more!

VARIOUS ARTISTS – “CHRISTMAS: I SAW THREE SHIPS” (Singers from New Orleans,
with straight-ahead versions).

CHRIS STANDRING & KATHRIN SHORR – “SEND ME SOME SNOW” (Straight-ahead
vocal album, doing all originals).

DIANE VAN DUERZEN & LISA OTEY – “MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE” (Female
vocal duo, doing straight-ahead jazz vocals).

AllAboutJazz.com (Ian Patterson): Jazz-fusion—for want of a better term—is alive and kicking in Asia, as this excellent recording demonstrates. So far, only Asian audiences have been fortunate to see this incendiary quartet on tour. Hopefully, it will go into the studio with some original material soon and launch itself beyond Asia.

CORINA BARTRA – “CIELO SANDUNGUERO” (Female vocalist, backed by a big band, doing Latin

tunes, and Latin versions of other tunes).

PowerderFinger Promotions: Corina Bartra from Peru. Corina Bartra is an original. When she proposed to blend jazz with Afro-Peruvian & Creole music from Peru, her sound was unprecedented. She has pioneered a ground-breaking fusion of jazz and Afro Latin music with her releases: Corina Bartra Quartet, Son Zumbon, Travelog, and Bambu Sun, where for the first time one could hear the incorporation of the cajon (Peruvian percussive box) and the festejo groove blended with jazz. Corina was the first vocalist to blend Afro-Peruvian criolla music from Peru with Jazz.

TONY BENNETT – “DUETS II” (Legendary vocalist, with a very eclectic mix of duet partners, singing

the Great American Songbook).

Pop & Hiss (LA Times Music Blog, Mikael Wood): Some of these May-December cuts sound great, particularly Bennett and Gaga’s “The Lady Is a Tramp,” in which he can’t stifle his amusement with her drama-kid shtick. (“I love to rowboat with you and your wife in Central Park Lake,” Gaga ad-libs pricelessly.) 

DAVID BUDWAY – “A NEW KISS” (Pianist, leading a very edgy session, with mostly originals and a

couple of standards).

Critical Jazz: A thoroughly engaging and at times electrifying performance by one of the most gifted if not sadly overlooked pianists of our time. A New Kiss makes it easy to understand how such a dynamic talent caught the ear of Liza Minnelli with Budway going to perform with such jazz legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass and Jimmy Heath.

TITO CARRILLO – “OPENING STATEMENT” (Trumpeter, leading a variety of band configurations,

doing mostly straight-ahead originals).

Origin Records: A confluence of the post-bop trumpet legacy of Miles, Hubbard, & Shaw, along with the complexities of Cuban rhythms, lyrical ballad phrasing, and boundary-breaking free exploration, "Opening Statement" is a powerful recording by one of the more prominent fixtures on the vibrant Chicago jazz scene of the past 15 years. Though having appeared on over 20 CDs alongside luminaries such as Willie Pickens, Chuchito Valdes, and even pop icon Phil Collins, this project marks trumpeter Carrillo's first recording as a leader, revealing a singular modern trumpeter with an expressive and original compositional voice. 

EDDIE DANIELS/ROGER KELLAWAY – “LIVE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS” (Clarinet/piano

duet, doing mostly standards).

Audiophile Audition: Both of these highly-respected performers are equally at home in the classical or jazz genres and most anything else. Together and separately they already account for a half dozen releases on the IPO label. And this is actually a sequel to their earlier IPO duo album, A Duet of One. This is not one of those historical concerts from the Library of Congress issued by Bridge, but a new recording made February 25, 2010 in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium.

“RYAN DAVIDSON TRIO” – (Progressive Texas Swing, if you will).

Audiophile Audition (Robbie Gerson): As a member of the six-time Grammy-nominated One O’clock Band Lab Band, Ryan Davidson shared the stage with jazz artists like Dave Brubeck, James Carter, Eddie Gomez and George Garzone. All of this was accomplished as a student at the University of North Texas, where he earned a degree as a Master of Music in Jazz Studies. Within the community of country music, he has done sessions with dozens of acts. His project with the One O’clock Lab Band (Lab ’09) received two Grammynominations. The alchemy of country and jazz is complex, but interesting.

DOUG EBERT – “POOR DOG” (Bassist, leading a quartet, doing all straight-ahead originals).

McCORMACK & YARDE DUO – “PLACES AND OTHER SPACES” (Sax/piano duet, doing all

originals, but one).

The Guardian (John Fordham): When the conversation between pianist Andrew McCormack and saxist/composer Jason Yarde began on CD two years ago, the pair showed they could read and expand each other's thoughts with an impulsive empathy. The My Duo album's followup finds Yarde concentrating on soprano sax a little less, now applying a wider tonal range to a similar repertoire of seductively hooky, Keith Jarrett-like piano vamps embroidered by adventurous sax lines, swoony lyricism and minimalist sax-pattern whirlings reminiscent of Portico Quartet. 

SAM PANNUNZIO TRIO – “GOIN’ HOME” (Straight-ahead piano trio, doing all originals, but one).

ENRICO RAVA QUINTET – “TRIBE” (Trumpeter, leading a quintet/sextet, doing low-key, but edgy

tracks).

PopMatters.com (George de Stefano): Trumpeter Enrico Rava, born in Trieste in 1939 and raised in Torino, has had a distinguished and varied career spanning five decades. He has played on nearly 100 recordings and as a leader on 40. Rava commands virtually the entire history of jazz, from classic New Orleans styles – he started out as a Kid Ory-influenced trombonist – to bebop to avant-garde, “free” playing. Rava’s career began in the early 1960s, as a sideman with Leandro “Gato” Barbieri, the Argentine saxophonist of Italian roots. Later in the decade, Rava recorded and performed with many of the leading exponents of the free jazz movement. 

MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO – “NEW ORLEANS MEETS HARLEM” (Pianist, leading a straight-ahead

trio, with a mix of tunes from composer heralding from both cities). 2009 Release

About.com (Jacob Teichroew): 

GEORGE SCHULLER’S CIRCLE WIDE – “LIKE BEFORE, SOMEWHAT AFTER” (Drummer-led

quintet/sextet, with an edgy mix of Keith Jarrett tunes and originals).

AllAboutJazz.com ( 

KARLA CORNEJO VILLAVICENCIO

): 2008 Release. It might seem like adulation of the highest order to state that by the end of the piece, heart rates will quicken and pupils will dilate, but why not praise what is praiseworthy? Increased heart rate is nothing but a physical symptom of something called love and falling in love with Like Before, Somewhat After is one physical phenomenon that even the left-brained among us can understand with ease.

SPERO (FB)– “ACOUSTIC” (Piano trio, doing mostly straight-ahead originals).

TRI-FI (FB)– “THREE” (Straight-ahead piano trio, doing all band originals).

CHRIS WEST – “TRILOGY 3” (Very edgy collection of traditional and contemporary originals).

Examiner.com: Saxophonist Chris West has released "The Surprise Trilogy" a 3 CD set of all original material, featuring some of Nashville's finest including Jeff Coffin, Don Aliquo, Rod McGaha, Derek Phillips, Pat Bergeson, Adam Agati, Greg Bryant, Charles Treadway and many others.

DEBORAH WINTERS – “LOVERS AFTER ALL” (Vocalist, backed by a big band, doing mostly the

Great American Songbook).

AllAboutJazz.com (Dan Bilawsky): On Lovers After All, the Bay Area-based vocalist establishes herself as a ballad singer with which to be reckoned. She can sing over swing with confidence ("Get Out Of Town") and sway to the subtle sounds of the bossa nova ("Haunted Heart"), but her ballad work eclipses all else. Her voice has depth and warmth that instantly soothes and seduces; her use of vibrato is rare and judicious, and her pacing, clarity and diction are perfectly suited to this particular style of song.

NOTE: THESE WILL BE THE LAST NEW RELEASES FOR THIS YEAR. NEW ADDS WILL

RESUME ON 1/9/12.