CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at new CDs by Alan Broadbent, Lisa Hilton, Pat Metheny and Dick Titterington….

Jazz's creme de la creme, 2014-style

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Newport 2013

The Jazz Journalists Association's 18th annual Jazz Awards winners list is headlined by pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Hancock is being honored for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz. In addition to being a busy composer and performer, he's the driving force behind UNESCO's International Jazz Day, chairs the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and gave this year's six-part prestigious Norton Lectures series at Harvard.

 

Shorter was named Musician of the Year and his 2013 recording, Without A Net (Blue Note) was voted Record of the Year. 

Cecile McLorin Salvant was named Up and Coming Artist of the Year and Female Singer of the Year. Here is a link to the winners in all 32 categories of musical excellence.

Award winners in the JJA's Journalism and Media categories will be announced June 11 at the annual JJA Jazz Awards party in the Big Apple.

A swinging evening for jazz clarinet and more

Allan Vaché
 

Clarinetist Allan Vaché's mainstream jazz quintet closed out the Charlotte County Jazz Society's 2013-14 concert series Monday night at the Charlotte County Cultural Center with a swinging evening of Tin Pan Alley and jazz standards.

The repertoire ranged from Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Bob Haggart to the Benny Goodman songbook, with one brief foray to Brazil for Antonio Carlos Jobim's lovely bossa nova "Look to the Sky."

Hip jazz for hip listeners

Giacomo Gates

Singer Giacomo Gates' wide-ranging musicality, humor and swing were on full display Saturday night at JD’s Bistro & Grille as he opened the Port Charlotte FL venue’s Jazz Masters series of special jazz events.

Gates fit the bill perfectly with his approach to jazz, including his instrument-like scatting and use of vocalese. The latter technique, popularized by Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks and Oscar Brown Jr., puts lyrics to classic instrumental jazz solos that enable a singer like Gates to present a jazz standard with new dimensions.

The art of the jazz duo - playing alone together

Howard Alden

Guitarist Howard Alden and pianist Lenore Raphael blended their considerable talents Friday night in a South County Jazz Club concert that concluded its 2013-14 season segment at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota.

The New York-based players dug deeply into Great American Songbook standards, and a gritty take on Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia On My Mind," before concluding their 90-minute performance with a Raphael original. The latter was her Oscar Peterson tribute, "Blues for O.P."

CDs of Note - Short Takes

This vocals edition takes a closer look at new CDs by Barb Jungr, Stacey Kent and Susanna Smith….