Tag Archives: Jazz music

Gary Smulyan’s Tadd’s All, Folks; and Alfie!’s The Songs of Burt Bacharach

Though not much remembered now but by musicians and aficionados, Tadd Dameron (1917 – 1965) was one of the most influential composers, arrangers and pianists of the era that bridged big band swing and bebop, the 1940s and ’50s. American … Continue reading

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Chet Baker’s When Sunny Gets Blue

Chet Baker had a busy, up-and-down career as a jazz trumpeter and singer, and perhaps remains best known today as the king of cool jazz. I’m a huge cool jazz fan but don’t have much Chet Baker in my collection. … Continue reading

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Aruán Ortiz Quartet’s Orbiting

I came upon this 2012 release just this year (2014), as Ortiz was embarking on a tour that included many U.S. stops. I find this music moving and challenging in equal measures. Ortiz, a native of Santiago, the second-largest city … Continue reading

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Kirk Knuffke’s Super Blonde, Steve Johns’s Mythology, David Janeway’s Forward Motion, and Alex Norris’s Table For Three

Somehow, this was my first knowing* exposure to the music of Kirk Knuffke, and it has rapidly become one of my current favorite albums. Super Blonde is a consistently engaging set of covers and standards played by a unique quartet … Continue reading

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Anders Jormin and Christian Jormin’s Provenance

On Provenance, the Jormin brothers, Anders on double bass and Christian on piano, drums and percussion, play an album of open, airy, sometimes wintry music that blends jazz, classical and folk idioms. The two are both well known in the … Continue reading

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Gisle Torvik’s Tranquil Fjord

Norwegian guitarist Gisle Torvik’s Tranquil Fjord is indeed for the most part tranquil, but like any Norwegian fjord it is also dramatic. Sometimes in small, subtle ways, sometimes in large, obvious ways. Torvik is a prolific young musician who doesn’t … Continue reading

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Oscar Peterson & Stephane Grappelli’s Skol

Stephane Grappelli is one of my favorite musicians in any style from any era, so this live recording of him performing with a top-notch jazz band was bound to be a winner. This record was among a number that producer … Continue reading

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Anouar Brahem’s After The Last Sky

Each of Anouar Brahem’s albums, going back more than 30 years now, has a different feel, a different vibe. Although the Tunisian oud master and composer’s music is centered on Arabic folk music and classical maqams, since the early 1990s … Continue reading

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Mathias Eick Quartet’s Lullaby

Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick has played on some of my favorite ECM titles of recent years, particularly Sinikka Langeland’s spine-tingling Wind And Sun and Manu Katché’s Playground, and he has quite an extensive discography as a leader as well as … Continue reading

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Manel Fortià & Libérica’s Alé: Iberian Chants

Over the past few years Catalonian jazz bassist Manel Fortià has risen to the top tier of musicians I hold in high esteem and always enjoy listening to. Whether with his trio, or with singer Magalí Sare, or with his … Continue reading

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