Josh Lawrence - Triptych
A really wonderful album from trumpeter Josh Lawrence – a
very strong-voiced talent who's got a way of being bright and sharp at the same
time, and who can always bring lots of his own compositional strengths to bear
as well! The core group is a quartet – with Lawrence blowing beautifully over
piano from Zaccai Curtis, bass from Luques Curtis, and drums from Anwar
Marshall – and the set also features some great alto from Caleb Curtis on two
tracks, balancing out the sound of Josh in this strongly soulful spirit! Brian
Charette brings some organ to the album's final track – a great remake of the
Earth Wind & Fire tune "That's The Way Of The World" – and all
other titles are Lawrence originals, with tunes that include "We're
Happiest Together", "Composition #2", "Wind",
"Earth", "Sugar Hill Stroll", and "Sunset In Santa
Barbara". ~ Dusty Groove
Big Beat – Sounds Good, Feels Good
Sounds Good, Feels Good is Big Beat’s swinging, high-energy
party of original, pop, funk, soul, R&B, and gospel tunes performed by a
19-piece orchestra made up of the some of the finest up-and-coming East Coast
musicians who are destined to populate the upper echelons of the jazz
firmament. Big Beat is a band comprising mostly younger musicians who have
taken up the big band mantle, imbuing the music with a contemporary edge while
still hewing to the traditional big band spirit. The co-leaders and founders of
the band are four young men who all graduated with Master’s Degrees in Jazz
Arranging from William Paterson University in New Jersey. They are bassist Charlie
Dougherty, saxophonist Phil Engsberg, trombonist Caleb Runly, and pianist Ryan
Tomski. In addition to their mastery of their respective instruments, each one
is a top-notch arranger and composer. The band also features vocalist Allison
McKenzie, a young woman with a powerful but lyrical voice that easily bridges
the jazz and pop worlds. She is a superb songwriter and contributed four
original tunes to this album. Based on the modern jazz tradition, Big Beat’s
innovative arrangements bring the big band sound into the 21st Century. With McKenzie’s soaring vocals and the band’s
tight-knit, spot-on musicianship, Sounds Good, Feels Good, as the name
indicates, is an album that undoubtedly sounds good and feels good.
Nick Fraser / Kris Davis / Tony Malaby - Zoning
Drummer Nick Fraser has a great sense of cyclical energy
here – a way of playing freely, but elliptically – so that there's this sense
of passage and phase in some of the music, even while all the members are
improvising with great intensity! The core trio features Fraser on drums, Kris
Davis on piano, and Tony Malaby on saxes – the last of whom blows with an
angular energy that strikes a great balance between the piano and drums. Half
the record also features two more guests – Ingrid Laubrock on tenor and Lina
Allemano on trumpet – and titles include "Zoning", "Wells
Tower", "Sketch 46", "Coda", "Charismatics",
and "Events". ~ Dusty Groove
No comments:
Post a Comment