The new CD from composer Alejandro Kanek Ballesteros Coria with sax musician Luis Tena presents eleven tracks that show how a variety of influences (Latin, Afro-Cuban and techno) combine to create sounds that are full of life and deserving of exploration. “El Murciélago” is named after the famous Mexican wrestler and TV star Jesus Velazquez... Continue Reading →
A new CD from Rodrigo Faina called "Different Roots" shows his chops in composing for a wide swath of musicians. The swell and tension of the opening chords of the track “Deep, Dark and Blue” are capped off by simmering cymbals and suspenseful vocals in unison with the horns; an orchestral piece that breaks its... Continue Reading →
RECYCLE is the second EP from Homero Alvarez Sep7ett. After letting out three up-tempo tunes with Brazilian rhythms in the first EP there was, what Alvarez terms, "a need to present our other face." The new work comes from his experience as a composer for different TV, radio and theater productions. "Making music that never... Continue Reading →
Coming March 15: “Power in the Air” by Brian Charette represents album number 3 for his sextet. The NYC-based organist has amped up the wattage in songs like “Harlem Nocturne” – sassy, brassy and with a wicked drag (and an unexpected couple of punches from the flute); “Want” shows playful counterpoint with a fantastic layered... Continue Reading →
Sing a song of jazz titles From musicians near and farBig band, bebop, traditionalBring lyrics to where you are Ed Berger's photos lovingly placedIn luminous black & whiteAccompanied by free verse fromGloria Krolak from NPR, that's aight In her book from 2018, NPR host and author Gloria Krolak uses the photos of Ed Berger and... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
