Roberta Piket wears the Great American Songbook like it’s her second skin, but has the versatility and curiosity to pull off free jazz and something even less often heard: jazz chamber music. She’s also had the rare honor of being asked to play on a Lionel Hampton CD and clicked immediately in a collaboration with... Continue Reading →
If the highest compliment to a musician is to say that his or her band transports the listener, then bandleader Vince Giordano is a travel agency extraordinaire unto himself, providing a one-way ticket to a fascinating time and place. His vintage-style 1920s/30s music instantly brings the audience to a raucous, uninhibited party where enjoyment reigns... Continue Reading →
You may recall my July 7, 2017 post about jazz artist Sir Shadow, who appears unscheduled and unannounced throughout New York City and creates single-line art depicting musicians. As coincidence would have it, today hubby and I met with my brother and sister-in-law for a wonderful jazz brunch right off Washington Square Park at NYU.... Continue Reading →
Wistful and in need of emotional closure, the title song “Long Distance” from Sara Decker’s CD of the same name is a bluesy interplay between her vocals and the expressive piano. It’s a modern story of a love affair conducted via social media. The song conveys the emptiness and disconnectedness of such an electronic relationship... Continue Reading →
Surrounding herself with extraordinary musicians, Lauren Henderson brings on the heat with fierce vocals and communicates a sense of longing for somebody we love. With a brand new amazing CD called “Armame” and an even newer one about to be released, Henderson’s range of expression is unstoppable. Just step aside and let her music happen... Continue Reading →
The Roger Barbour Quartet swings as cool as ice on “Misty” in an outdoor concert in Pittsburgh, PA. And in quintet formation, he uses delicacy and sweet tones to launch into Turrentine’s “Sugar.” Though Barbour, a trumpet and flugelhorn player, now mostly plays event music and community concerts, he has a fifty-year tradition of hard... Continue Reading →
A one-man recording has to be darn near excellent to stand on its own, particularly when it comes to jazz piano. Stefano Travaglini absolutely delivers with his new CD “Ellipse.” The track “Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise” takes wide liberties with the jazz standard and, in pianist Travaglini’s hands, becomes a fugue that finds... Continue Reading →
Enhanced by a velvety minor key, “Winter Moon” has an airy coolness that singer Rebecca Angel serves up on a silver platter. She’s accompanied by a subtly funky organ and backed with a moody, moving percussion. The track appears on Angel’s upcoming album “What We Had,” which delves into past loves, loss and new emotional... Continue Reading →
A snazzy and passionate flute player who performs in the Westfield, NJ Sweet Sounds Downtown event, Ali Ryerson is an author (Jazz Flute Practice Method Book), contributing writer (Flute Talk and DownBeat), educator (an annual, week-long master class at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in California) and an amazing performer. Her new CD is “Café Colombo”... Continue Reading →
Debbie Burke - jazz author 
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