jazz adds february 28, 2016
By Ann Porotti
nolatet. dogs. royal potato family. Elegant and graceful, but forward, the way we like our New Orleans music; this collaboration of Crescent City equals includes three percussions– brian haas on piano; johnny vidacovich (astral project)@drums; mike dillon, vibraphone plus astral bandmate james singleton, bowing and thrumping the upright bass. new wine from bold, vigorous grapes; originals playlist, written by the band. your musical pals are pops, dogs, there’s no fire, melon ball.
thad jones/mel lewis orchestra. all my yesterdays. resonance. Giant, mighty, two-CD survey of trumpet/flugel master thad jones and drummer/orchestra leader mel lewis, and their February and March 1966 debut recordings at the Village Vanguard. the recording engineer, Columbia sophomore george klabin (later founder of resonance records), captured– with limited 2 track equipment and six mics–the music that would change the way big bands played jazz. with hank jones (p); richard davis (b); sam herman(g); plus saxes: jerome richardson, jerry dodgion, joe farrell, eddie daniels, doc holladay, pepper adams; trumpets: jimmy nottingham, snooky young, jimmy owens bill berry; tombones: bob brookmeyer, garnett brown, cliff heather, jack rains. an historic moment, captured live; packaged with fabulous notes.
curtis robinson. dancing in the street. self. Looking beyond broadway or tin pan alley , guitarist curtis “the doctor” robinson locates the great American songbook in Detroit. the quartet– leon joyce@drums, michael logan on piano, chuck webb & larry grey sharing the bass duties, plus robinson–brings to life gems like dionne warwick’s when love slips away as well as big guns what’s going on, billie jean.
ark ovrutski. intersection. origin. Ukrainian bassist/composer ark ovrutski’s ambitious and rigorous work in a quintet setting. his fab five, all headliners, bring their individualism to changing currents on this originals/jazz classics playlist; drummer duduka da fonseca on his manhattan style, trombonist michael dease on kenny dorham’s la mesha, pianist helio alves on bolero, and saxman michael thomas on the snappy twister.
ed fast & congo bop. do or die. self. Second release for Afro-Cuban/ hard bop ensemble led by Hartford, Ct. drummer ed fast. playlist mixes the unheralded–jerome richardson’s lamento di hodi— with known standards, i.e. trombonist steve davis’ arrangement of our love is here to stay. larry coryell on guitar; robust horn section: josh bruneau, chris herbert, kris jensen, frank kozyra; linda ransom, vocals.
russ nolan. sanctuary from the ordinary. rhinoceros music. Live recording from firehouse 12 jazz club, New Haven, Ct with saxophonist russ nolan. style is bop with Latin influences–listen to tango take 2, and stravinsky-inspired mambo, #3. quartet rounds out with mike eckroth, piano; daniel foose, bass; brian fishler@drums.
erena terakubo. a time for love. cellarlive. Twenty year old Sapporo, Japan alto protege erena terakubo created buzz back in 2012 with new york attitude (feat. kenny barron & ron carter). new release, produced by altoist vincent herring, features covers gershwin’s soon, mandel’s a time for love, dameron’s on a misty night. with david hazeltime on piano, B-3; david williams bass; lewis nash@drums.
uri caine. callithump. winter & winter. Solo piano; one hour in the studio, eleven songs taped, no rearranging, or fixing, a recital from jazz innovator uri caine. a rambunctious beginning drifts into filligree, bow bridge, bluesey everything is bull—-, debussey-esque raindrop prelude. bold, simple production from deluxe German label winter&winter.
jon davis. changes over time. posi-tone. Veteran studio musician pianist jon davis revisits the music that shaped him. trio format– European raised and influenced bassist ugonna okegwo and jochen rueckert@drums–swings through many davis’ originals as well as an upbeat version of my personal favorite, the peacocks.
meschiya lake & the little big horns:
bad kids club. self. Two releases from songbook stylist, and former nomadic circus star, meschiya lake. story goes: spending winters in New Orleans, meschiya learned to sing NoLa blues around the nightime fire. after that she gave up eating glass and bugs (her circus act), and began gathering the little big horns. Toe tapping fun, goofy songs, strong pipes from ms. lake, majority compositions written by jason jurzak, who also play bass and sousaphone.
lucky devil. self. from 2010, is more classic American songbook, honoring jelly roll morton, duke ellington, bessie smith + originals in early NoLa juke/blues style.
