Bootsie Barnes &
Larry McKenna, The More I See You (Cellar Live)
Philadelphia
has always been a hotbed of jazz. The city that has produced more than its fair
share of excellent musicians – and remains the epicenter of the B-3 organ
tradition. This project teams Philly’s two reigning tenor sax titans – Bootsie
Barnes and Larry McKenna – in an organ quartet with B-3 player Lucas Brown and
drummer Byron “Wookie” Landham. The two octogenarian saxophonists are in fine
form here on a mix of Great American Songbook standards and jazz chestnuts, as
well as a pair of originals. They go head-to-head on seven of nine tracks, with
McKenna featured solo on “You’ve Changed” and Barnes on Kurt Weill’s “My Ship.”
The give-and-take by all of the band members in excellent. My favorite tracks
are the two originals: Barnes’ hard-swinging “Three Miles Out” and McKenna’s
closer, “Don’t Redux the Reflux.”
Al Basile, Me & the Originator (Sweetspot)
Singer-songwriter,
cornetist and poet Al Basile has long straddled the line between
traditional jazz and the blues. This latest recording, principally a blues
project, can best be categorized as “beyond category.” Basile took a dozen of
his poems, then wrote songs related to or inspired by them. Another chapter of
the story if you will. And he preceded them all with a clever story about a
trunk found in an attic – filled with poems by an anonymous wordsmith he calls
“the Originator.” They are poems that the protagonist in this tale turned into
music. On Me & the Originator,
each song by Al and his band is followed by him narrating the poem related to
it. This is best listened to straight-through to savor its full effect. One
tune in particular stands out. “She Made Me Believe It” will have you sitting
up to listen close and chuckling at its clever message. That one got me, but
believe me, they’re all gems. Longtime collaborator Duke Robillard produced the
session and plays guitar throughout.
Amy
Cervini, No One Ever Tells You (Posi-Tone)
It’s bluesy, gritty and swinging. And it’s one of the finest jazz
vocal projects I’ve heard in a while. Amy Cervini’s latest CD, No One Ever Tells You, digs into songs
about love, despair and strength. Her exquisite blues-tinged takes on a wide
range of popular songs and blues standards are bolstered by the band here. It
features guitarist Jesse Lewis, pianist Michael Cabe, bassist Matt Aronoff and
drummer Jared Schonig. B-3 player Gary Versace adds much on four tracks, including
Cervini’s opening original, “I Don’t Know” and a organ-vocals duet on “One For
My Baby (and One More For the Road).” She’s turned gems from the songbooks of
Blossom Dearie, Lyle Lovett, Percy Mayfield, Frank Sinatra and Bessie Smith,
and others, into her own anthem.
Uli Geissendoerfer
Trio, Long Way Home (Vegas)
There
is something special about the power trio in jazz, consisting of
high-energy players who blend their talents into something even greater than
the sum of their three parts.The resulting music is often intense, swings
likes mad – but is also capable of delicacy and nuance when the situation calls
for it. Such is this project from Las Vegas-based pianist Uli Geissendorfer’s
project with bassist Dave Ostrem and drummer Angelo Stokes. Favorite tracks:
the bluesy “Urban Cowboy” and the quirky “Monk’s Mouse”. The project opens and
closes with Beatles material that has some Geissendorfer twists. The opener
pairs “Here Comes the Sun” with a vamp extension of the pianist’s design. The
closer makes a medley of “Blackbird” and “Come Together” that blends mixed
meters and other juxtapositions.
Alto
saxophonist Christopher Hollyday had a significant profile as a teenage jazz
prodigy from the mid 1980s into the early ‘90s. Then the hard bopper vanished
from the jazz scene. He married, moved from New England to San Diego and became
a music educator. Now he’s out of the classroom and is performing again, often
in groups with trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. This is his first recording in more
than 25 years. Telepathy draws its
title from the musical connection he has with Castellanos. Together they soar
in unison and separate solos on a half-dozen jazz chestnuts and popular
standards, supported by pianist Joshua White, bassist Rob Thorsen and drummer
Tyler Kreutel. The bop tracks include Freddie Hubbard’s “One of a Kind,” Bud
Powell’s “Hallucinations” and Charlie Parker’s “Segment.” The standards are “Everything
Happens to Me,” “Autumn in New York” and “I’ve Got the World on a String.” This
is a dandy.
Here are some other 2018
gems you should check out, which I haven’t had time to review this year:
- Antonio Adolfo, Encontros (AAM)
- Bobby Broom, Soul Fingers (MRI Entertainment)
- Rob Dixon, Coast to Crossroads (self-produced)
- Jared Gold, Emergence (Strikezone)
- Brad Goode Quintet with Ernie Watts, That’s Right! (Origin)
- Carlos Henriquez, Dizzy Con Clave (Rodbros)
- Art Hirahara, Sunward Bound (Posi-Tone)
- Dan Moretti, Invoke (Dodicilune)
- Ben Paterson, Live at Van Gelder’s (Cellar Live)
- Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Back to the Sunset (Dafnison)
- John Proulx, Say It (self-produced)
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