Friday, August 14, 2015

NEW RELEASES: THORBJORN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO - TOO MANY ROADS; ERIC ALEXANDER – THE REAL THING; JOHN TAYLOR - 2081

THORBJORN RISAGER & THE BLACK TORNADO - TOO MANY ROADS

This is one of Denmark's hardest working and most sought after bands. They have played as many as a hundred live gigs a year for the past ten years, become one of the country's hottest music exports, and have released seven albums. Now Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado (formerly the Thorbjørn Risager Band) are coming out with their eighth album, Too Many Roads. Until recently the band released its records on a variety of Danish labels, but has now signed a contract with Ruf Records. This new collaboration reflects Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado's great international potential, placing the band in the fine company of artists such as Walter Trout, Candye Kane, and Omar and the Howlers. For this latest recording, the band assembled a strong team for its recording session at the Medley Studio in Copenhagen, with Søren Andersen as engineer and Jesper Yebo Reginal in charge of mixing. This time the band has chosen to produce the album themselves. ~ Amazon

ERIC ALEXANDER – THE REAL THING

More than one jazz critic has claimed that listening to tenor saxman Eric Alexander unfettered and at length, is one of the greatest treats in jazz. This imposing improviser is reunited here with his mentor, the veteran pianist Harold Mabern and joined by another hot favorite, the legendary and amazing guitarist Pat Martino on three of the eight tracks. Add in the still stunning engineering of Rudy Van Gelder and the swing engendered by bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth and you have a formula for excellence, if ever there was one. Martino and Alexander perform together often in a variety of venues and their collaborations have produced some of the most inspired playing on disc. ~ Amazon


JOHN TAYLOR - 2081

'A family project' is how Alex Taylor, singer-songwriter as well as John s son, labels the English pianist s latest album. A project made all the more poignant by the shocking news of John Taylor's death, in July, aged 72. And that is exactly what it is, considering that John, who wrote the music, and Alex, who wrote and sang the lyrics, are joined by Leo Taylor on drums. Oren Marshall on tuba, whose surname is not Taylor but who is most assuredly very close to the Taylor family, completes the quartet. '2081' draws inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut s short story 'Harrison Bergeron', published in 1961. John Taylor was commissioned to write the music by BBC Radio 3 for the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Originally written for octet, it was then readapted for quartet. Alex Taylor explains: 'Vonnegut s story depicts a dystopian future in which everyone is equal. Nobody is allowed to be smarter, better looking or more physically able than anyone else. Those individuals who are gifted with intellect, talent and so on are made to bear handicaps '. At times, John Taylor s musical realm is reassuring and consistent with his own standards, while, at other times, it conveys the mysterious, unsettling future depicted by Vonnegut, by pursuing a hybrid sound, mingling jazz, pop and a moody soundtrack vibe. This pursuit definitely benefits from the sonic scenarios opened by Marshall s tuba, as well as the drumming style of Leo Taylor (already launched on a brilliant career on the indie-rock scene with his band The Invisible), who very often introduces modern, offbeat hypnotic rhythms here. ~ Amazon


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