LABEL DEBUT FEATURES ROY HARGROVE & ERIC ALEXANDER, AMONG OTHER SPECIAL GUESTS Order on iTunes Order CD While growing up in Tel Aviv, pianist Roy Assaf spent untold hours listening to his brother’s collection of jazz recordings, fascinated by the musicianship of the players and wondering about his own, to-be-developed …
By: Edward Blanco Jeff Hamilton has long-established himself as an elite jazz drummer building an impressive resume with the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman’s Young Thundering Herd and later as co-leader—with Grammy-award winning bassist John Clayton—of the Grammy-nominated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. But leading a jazz trio …
By Bill Donaldson OMG Chick Corea is 70? Unbelievable. Has has the impishness, invention and grace of a wild-haired thirty-year-old. Obviously, Corea’s interests are wide-ranging, as documented by his weeks-long seventieth birthday celebration at the Blue Note in New York. During the month of November, 2011, Corea performed duos with …
By: Edward Blanco Venezuelan-born pianist Luis Perdomo has been a stalwart of the New York jazz scene since the early 90s and with Universal Mind—his fourth album as leader—accomplishes a dream he thought would never happen—recording with legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette. Perdomo had first heard the drummer’s work as a …
Glenn Astarita The band moniker alludes to a term used for a declining stock enjoying a brief recovery. But saxophonist Matt Steckler links this notion into “creative rebirth and renewal even as a time, tradition, and masters’ move on.” Therefore, the Boston-based sextet abides by conventional methods while injecting a …
Glenn Astarita Recorded May 4-17, 2010, at the historic Blue Note in New York City, this program is a baseline of sorts, framed on piano great Bill Evans’ interminable legacy. However, one of the differentiators here pertains to the respective artists’ signature voices. In other hands, a set like this …
By: Edward Blanco After a long history performing as a sideman on over 30 albums where he has recorded for such artists as Joe Locke, Alex Sipiagin, Brian Lynch, Wayne Escoffery, Hans Glawishing, and the Mingus Big Band among many others, drummer and composer Johnathan Blake finally releases an impressive …
GRAMMY-WINNING COMPOSER TERENCE BLANCHARD’S SCORE FOR LUCASFILM’S RED TAILS SET FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 7TH Film is Golden-Globe nominated Composer’s 52nd film score and stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Ne-Yo and more Los Angeles, CA— The score for Lucasfilm’s RED TAILS by world-renowned film composer and musician Terence Blanchard, …
The general public is invited to the Les Brown Centennial Weekend in Tower City, PA on March 23 – 25. This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Les’ birth. The Les Brown Dance is on Friday, March 23, 7:00 pm at Kevin’s Place in Lykens. It features 2 hours …
By: Edward Blanco Heartmony is Bulgarian-born guitarist Hristo Vitchev’s fourth album as leader and a constant on all of his music, is Brazilian-born Weber Ribeiro Drummond, a Latin Grammy-nominated classical jazz pianist who later changed his last name to Iago in honor of the Roma people (Gypsies). Both men are …
