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Breaking the Bonds of Lockdown: “Atlantic Skies” by Stephen Godsall
Writing and producing one track per week in quarantine has yielded, for composer/guitarist Stephen Godsall, a new CD coming next month that bubbles with optimism, swirls with color and sports unexpected changes. Totaling 18 tracks, the album “Atlantic Skies” is a potpourri of techno/New Age/jazz vibes that takes the listener on a discovery of his... Continue Reading →
A Blistering Passion: Giveton Gelin Delivers on Trumpet
Young trumpeter Giveton Gelin holds up hope and light in his 2019 debut album “True Design,” an album that has so much heart and an extraordinarily diversified palette of moods and vibes. While the track “The Interlude” presents an aloneness and a solitary state of thought through Gelin’s beautifully spare playing, his “Inner Perception” (which... Continue Reading →
Leaning in with Boris Kozlov
Boris Kozlov has met, head-on, the gargantuan task of keeping a legacy alive while comfortably and ably expressing his own individuality. As the co-leader of the Mingus Big Band, originally formed by Charles Mingus’s widow Sue Graham Mingus after the bassist’s demise in 1979, his music and musical direction stand beautifully tall. The winner of... Continue Reading →
Paint it Jazz Noir: The Music of “Adrift in Soho” by Anthony Reynolds
The mood, texture and grain of the 2019 film “Adrift in Soho” begs for music that’s complex and compelling. Composer Anthony Reynolds makes full use of jarring dissonance, shrieking, wailing strings, the beats of a terrified heart and the occasional lyrical lick to help tell the story of Soho, London in the 1950s. With its... Continue Reading →
To Pluck the Strings of Life: “Tonight At Noon – A Love Story” by Sue Graham Mingus
I had no specific expectations of the book “Tonight at Noon: A Love Story” (DaCapo Press, 2003) other than it was going to be a wild ride with Charles Mingus and his wife. And so it was. The man was gifted yet tormented; breaking from norms of performing, writing, hearing and seeing, he discerned beyond... Continue Reading →
REBECCA ANGEL wins Independent Music Network Award for New Artist Breakout Single
Slapping the bass gives an edgy intro to Rebecca Angel’s vocals in the new take on “For What It’s Worth,” a song that became a protest anthem of the 1960s and has become strangely relevant today. Angel was previously interviewed on this blog here. Her new single is preceded by the 2018 album “What We... Continue Reading →
The Colors Unfold and Blossom in “Dual Nature” from Giorgos Tabakis with Rebecca Trescher
Guitarist Giorgos Tabakis has invited bass clarinetist Rebecca Trescher to a musical exploration of tone and interval, shading and hue in the new CD “Dual Nature.” Some tracks feature them together, bobbing and weaving; others are standalone solos. The instrumentation is an exciting and fresh treat for the ear. The ability to create textures is... Continue Reading →
John Beasley and MONK’estra Add Sizzling, Colorful Layer to “Let Them All Talk”
Music is not just an accompaniment in film or TV; it’s another voice that tells the story. The whirlwind career of John Beasley, who arranged and conducted the original music for the movie “Let Them All Talk” and countless other projects, is proof that music is its own borderless and fascinating language. Being attuned (literally)... Continue Reading →
Throaty, Gutsy and a Little Bit Wild – Gefilte Swing’s CD “Klez N’Zazou”
When klezmer – music from the Jewish settlements of Russia and Poland with a Romanian and possibly Greek influence– meets swing, better step back for a lava-like result. “Klez N’Zazou,” the latest offering from klezmer fusion group Gefilte Swing, rains down with an Eastern European kick, great licks and airtight harmonies. Founded by multi-horn player... Continue Reading →
