WTJU 91.1 FM

Jazz

Roberta Brenza – It’s My Turn To Color Now (Origin): “Her delightfully casual and welcoming voice, defying gravity in a manner not unlike a legend such as Blossom Dearie or peer Kat Edmonson, has the special charm that’s easy on the ears with the potential to stir your heart. (John Ephland).” Click here and enjoy several songs with delightful different unique and style.

Thompson Egbo-Ebgo – What Remains (MNRK Music Group): “…Thompson creates a sonic narrative that draws from themes of transition, rebirth, realignment, joy, and optimism for the future. Thompson says of the new album, “What Remains honours our live performance tradition, but also gives the listener a glimpse of where the music is going.”” Listen to What Remains here. 

B.D. Lenz – It’s Just A Dream (B.D. Lenz): “Contempo-jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz returns with his 13th recording as a leader and features one of his long-time heroes, Mike Stern, on guitar along with the legendary Randy Brecker on trumpet. It’s Just a Dream began as a small writing project during Covid and blossomed into a full release with ten original compositions of Lenz’s signature blend of jazz, funk, and rock.” Click here to listen to a sample.

John Paul McGee – Gospejazzical, Vol. 1 (SUGO Music Group): “Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, John Paul McGee, at the age of four without formal training, began playing familiar hymns and church songs by ear. …He has been recognized for numerous awards and his musical career has taken him around the globe as a keyboardist, vocal arranger, producer, and songwriter working with popular gospel and secular artists from Patti Labelle and The Isley Brothers to the Clark Sisters, the NFL players choir, VaShawn Mitchell, Kim Burrell and Earnest Pugh. …His instrumental piano album released in 2014 with EPM records yielded him the #9 spot as in the top 10 Billboard recording artists.”

Michael Morreale – Stories Of Recent Vintage, V. 3 (Pepjack Records): This was Michael Morreale’s third release: As with the first two recordings, he was backed by Bill Moring (bass), Tim Horner (drums), and piano (Tony Reguses). He has recently passed on. Click here for songs from this release.

Oscar Peterson – On A Clear Day (Mack Avenue): “A previously unreleased recording of the Oscar Peterson Trio is being issued this year. Mack Avenue is releasing the album titled On a Clear Day: The Oscar Peterson Trio – Live in Zurich, 1971, which captures the legendary Canadian pianist on a world tour stop in Switzerland.Peterson is joined by bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Louis Hayes in a rare trio configuration that never performed together again.” Click here to listen from this previously unreleased performance.

Tyshawn Sorey – The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (digital only): “The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism is a blazing three-volume set recorded live at The Jazz Gallery in New York, featuring drummer Tyshawn Sorey’s trio with special guest alto saxophonist Greg Osby. Increasingly celebrated for his notated works in the contemporary classical realm – Sorey was recently called “composer of the year” by The New York Times – and generally associated with the avant-garde, Off-Off Broadway is a return to his musical roots: a celebration of collective improvisation over well-known jazz standards…The band plays with wild abandon, careering seamlessly from one song to the next, a true spontaneous combustion of master musicians uniting through the common language of improvisation.”

OZMA –

• Electric Taxi Land (digital only): “Inherited from the freedom of rock, the rigor of the swing, without forgetting a good dose of groove and a group spirit. Timeless flights, raging pests, “Electric Taxi Land” teems with winks. A modern fusion that neither Frank Zappa nor George Clinton would deny, and for which Julien Lourau and Steve Coleman would most likely feel more than sympathy … Dave Holland in quintet too!”
• Hyperlapse: “The album is a musical journey combining contemporary jazz, rock, electronic and cinematic music. It is also a travelogue. Each of the ten tracks is dedicated to a city in which the band played during their 2018 world tour. The album is “a confrontation with reality, enriched by human encounters and cultural shocks,” explains Stéphane Scharlé, band leader and drummer, who composed all the pieces.”
• Strange Traffic (digital): His third album, released in 2009, has been called “ An incisive and colorful album with original compositions nourished with live energy and projecting a mutant jazz. Lyrical and uncompromising choruses, frenzied collective improvisations, themes that sometimes flirt with blues, instrumental pop-rock, free-funk, calypso…”

Come On And Get It – Judith Owen (Come On And Get): “Welsh singer-pianist Judith Owen now lives in New Orleans. She’s recorded and toured with Richard Thompson and she supported Bryan Ferry during his UK tour. Owen became intrigued as a young girl by the risqué lyrics of female vocalists after finding records by Nellie Lutcher and Julia Lee that had been hidden by her father. Come On & Get It (Owen’s 13th album) celebrates these and kindred singers like Dinah Washington and Blossom Dearie who delivered similarly suggestive songs in the 40s and 50s.

Blues

Malaya Blue – Blue Credentials featuring Dennis Walker (Blues Heart): “Blue Credentials, the new Malaya Blue album is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Still, and as the title suggests finds the outstanding UK vocalist delving ever deeper into her blues heart. It’s certainly her most guitar driven album to date. The fruitful collaboration with legendary blues writer and producer Dennis Walker is again at its core but this time with a world class band in the studio and writing contributions from Joey Delgado, Hank Linderman and Brett Lucas.” (Liner notes) Click here to listen to their recent songs.

Rick Berthod – “Tribute To Peter Green” (www.rickberthod.com): “Blues guitarist and singer Rick Berthod pays tribute to Peter Green on his new album, focusing on those first few Fleetwood Mac records and the early singles. Joining him on this release are Ronee Mac on bass and vocals, Brett Barnes on drums and vibes, and Bill Truitt on organ and piano, along with some guests on certain tracks.” ().

Sean Pittman – Hard Road (shawnpittman.com): “Fans of The Vaughan Brothers and Fabulous Thunderbirds, Rejoice! We haven’t exactly been immersed in a large number of Texas Blues releases (save Mike Morgan) these past few years, but the good news is that this new Shawn Pittman release surely makes up for the wait. It’s a deliciously raw album that is bound to rock your socks off with all tracks in the best Texas blues tradition, rendered with impressive freshness and enthusiasm.” Click here to listen the opening song.

Cliff Stevens – “Better Days” (Red Flag): It’s a deliciously raw album that is bound to rock your socks off with all tracks in the best Texas blues tradition, rendered with impressive freshness and enthusiasm. Shawn took his present touring band, Jason Crisp on bass and second guitar and Mike King on drums, into the Wire Studios in Austin,where they recorded dozens of tracks live in the studio, twelve of which resulted in this high-energy, good-rocking  Texas blues album.” Click here to listen to the opening song

Kopestically,

Professor Bebop