Here's what we are adding to the Jazz 88 Music Library and debuting on The New Jazz Thing, Monday, October 17, 2011...
DEE BELL (FB)– “SAGACIOUS GRACE” (Female vocalist, doing a straight-ahead mix of standards
and jazz tunes, backed by an all-star band).
FREDDY COLE – “TALK TO ME” (Male vocalist, doing a straight-ahead mix of obscure and
new standards).
Critical Jazz: Instead of taking a victory lap of exclusive club and festival dates or perhaps cooling his heels in Las Vegas, Freddy Cole releases a follow up to the Grammy nominated "Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B" that may just bring home the Grammy some argue he should have received last year. Sophisticated in style and as comfortable as a favorite pair of jeans, Freddy Cole continues to please!
MAC GOLLEHON – “ODDYSSEY OF NOSTALGIA” (Trumpet-led sessions, doing some
vintage tunes and originals, with some vocals by Amina Claudine Myers).
TIM HAGANS (FB )– “THE MOON IS WAITING” (Trumpeter, leading a progressive session. 2011 Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Composition "Box of Cannoli" on The Avatar Sessions).
AllABoutJazz.com (Dan Bilawsky): Hagans has proven to be a master compositional architect in more formal settings, but his ability to let loose with this small group is the key to its success. The Moon Is Waiting is a marvel of elastic expressions from one of the most shrewd and intelligent minds in jazz today.
LENORA ZENZALAI HELM (FB)– “I LOVE MYSELF WHEN I’M LAUGHING…” (Female
vocalist, doing a mix of original and jazz tunes, on the edgy side).
AllAboutJazz.com: the award-winning, Chicago-born vocalist, composer, lyricist, arranger, educator and former U.S. Jazz Ambassador Lenora Zenzalai Helm brilliantly illuminates the jazz world with this soulful and spectacular 13-track CD. It features music and lyrics inspired by two Chicago storytellers, and by writers Zora Neale Hurston, Neale Donald Walsch and Alice Walker, Robert Kennedy, biographers Gene Santoro and Ross Russell, poets Rudyard Kipling and Sam White, and the music and lyrics of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Jon Hendricks and Joni Mitchell.
JASON KAO HWANG – “CROSSROADS UNSEEN” (Extremely progressive collection of
originals).
AllAboutJazz.com (Karl Ackerman): The notion that the next great force in new jazz could be a violinist may seem a bit incongruous, but Crossroads Unseen is fresh, exciting and creative, and one of the best recordings of the year.
MIKE LeDONNE – “KEEP THE FAITH” (Straight-ahead organ grooves, with Eric Alexander
playing sax).
MIKE LONGO TRIO + 2 – “TO MY SURPRISE” (Mostly quintet, with some trio tracks, playing
a mix of originals, standards and jazz tunes).
FAME Review: a CD loaded up with nothing but first-rung talent: Bob Cranshaw on bass, Lewis Nash on drums, Jimmy Owens on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Lance Bryant on tenor sax. That's it. No guest sit-ins other than that '+2'. No sweetening. Just a quinteted-up trio playing its extremely sophisticated brains out.
RENE MARIE (FB, @manaymanee)– “BLACK LACE FREUDIAN SLIP” (Female vocalist, doing straight-ahead
originals).
Blogcritics.org (David Bowling): Rene Marie may not be a well-known name, but she has quietly built a catalogue of music that can match most jazz singers active today. If you are in the mood for some interesting and well sung jazz, then Black Lace Freudian Slip is an album for you.
NEW TRICKS (FB, @NewTricksJazz)– “ALTERNATE SIDE” (Pianoless quartet, doing progressive originals).
AllAboutJazz.com (Greg Simmons):
Here's something you don't read in album liner notes every day: "We recorded in Shawn's apartment...using only blankets wrapped around music stands for audio separation." New Tricks has seemingly recorded Alternate Side... in some no-frills circumstances, but there's truth in the old saying that adversity sometimes brings out the best in people. This piano-less collective, featuring a trumpet and tenor sax front line, plays an energetic brawl of traded solos, hard bop melodies, and freely constructed harmonization. Likely because of the way it was recorded, Alternate Side... has a live-in-studio feel to it—four guys just playing in a room—and they sound like they're really enjoying the session. The result is a truly creative record that trades in spontaneity rather than polish.
BILL O’CONNELL – “TRIPLE PLAY PLUS THREE” (Pianist, backed by all-star Latin
musicians, doing mostly originals).
JASON ROBINSON AND ANTHONY DAVIS – “CERULEAN LANDSCAPE” (Progressive
collection of originals).
HOLLI ROSS – “YOU’LL SEE” (Female vocalist, backed by an all-star band, doing standards
and 2 tunes she co-wrote with Claudio Roditi).
THE SPOKES – “NOT SO FAST” (Horn trio, playing an eclectic, progressive mix of originals).
TUNNEL SIX – “LAKE SUPERIOR” (Sextet, doing an edgy mix of band originals).
UMOJA – “DANCE OF THE KALAHARI” (Straight-ahead collection of originals, with Afro-
Cuban subtext).