Review by John Stevenson Originally from Sao Paulo but now making her home in the US, Luciana Souza displays tremendous vocal dexterity on her 2015 CD, Speaking in Tongues. Most of the tracks are worldless, after a scatty and jazz-influenced fashion. However, Souza speaks the jazz lingo fluently, using her …
Lionel Loueke: Gaia (Blue Note) Review by John Stevenson With Gaia, Beninois guitarist Lionel Loueke follows up on his well-received Blue Note CDs, Karibou and Mwaliko. Accompanied by long-time bandmates Massimo Biolcati (bass) and Ferenc Nemeth (drums), Gaia is a Don Was production recorded live in the studio with an …
Stefano Bollani: arrivano gli alieni (Decca/Universal) Review by John Stevenson Stefano Bollani is a virtuoso jazz pianist and singer from Milan with a mischievous sense of humour. This eclectic program of originals, popular Italian tunes, jazz standards, folk songs and a Brazilian pop anthem, provide evidence of a truly variegated …
Rayford Griffin: Reflections of Brownie (RazorEdge) Review by John Stevenson Ace drummer and Clifford Brown’s nephew, Rayford Griffin, imaginatively updates a brace of selections associated with the legendary trumpeter. The funk and smooth jazz inflected arrangements are abundantly tasteful and chock full of infectious grooves. ‘Daahoud’ comes in on the …
Samuel Torres Group: Forced Displacement (Zoho) Review by John Stevenson With unprecedented levels of forced migration and internal displacement due to natural disasters and civil wars around the world, the Columbian master percussionist’s CD comes as a welcome and timely musical commentary. Commissioned by the Chamber Music America in 2012, …
Aaron Diehl: Space Time Continuum (Mack Avenue) Review by John Stevenson Like his contemporaries, Gerald Clayton and Sullivan Fortner, Aaron Diehl represents a younger generation of jazz pianists whose playing style shows a healthy respect for tradition. With Diehl, Ellingtonian elegance is twinned with the compositional clarity and economy of …
By John Stevenson The double bassist Coleridge Goode, who has died aged 100, distinguished himself on the British jazz scene for more than 60 years, playing with some of the most innovative musicians of the postwar period. Thanks to his finesse and sophistication, not to mention his technical gifts and …
Ellen Johnson: Form and Formless (Vocal Visions) Review by John Stevenson Vocalist Ellen Johnson is accompanied by guitarists Larry Koonse and John Stowell and trumpeter Nolan Shaheed on ten tunes associated with jazz giants John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins. The tunes are very carefully selected and …
Bob Brookmeyer Quartet: The Blues Hot and Cold + 7 X Wilder (Phoenix) Review by John Stevenson Long considered one of the first to champion the valve trombone in jazz, Bob Brookmeyer distinguished himself in jazz groups in the ‘cool school’ alongside Stan Getz, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. This …
Sonny Clark: The Art of the Trio (Phono) Review by John Stevenson This 2-CD set will be a boon for fans of a gentleman who barely managed to etch his place in the pantheon of hard-bop pianists. Dying in 1963 at 31, Clark was without doubt the quintessential jazz pianist’s …
By John Stevenson Phil Woods, who owed his style of playing to Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, died aged 83 on September 29th 2015. He was one of the most accomplished and admired technicians of the alto saxophone and distinguished himself in jazz and popular music. Philip Wells Woods was born in …
By John Stevenson With Aria, New Orleans-based pianist, Sullivan Fortner, makes an impressive debut on the historic Impulse label. What’s always been special about Fortner is his reverence for the Jazz and Blues tradition, ranging from the Spanish Tinge exemplified by Jelly Roll Morton, Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith’s and James …
