Seattle Jazz Scene

JAZZVOX CONCERT: John Proulx and Chuck Kistler
MAY 21, 2011

by Libby Graham

Nich Anderson, lauded vocalist with Seattle Jazz Singers, had two very big reasons to celebrate last months’s fantastic “Boys, Boys, Boys” concert, as part of the JazzVox house concert series, in Auburn, WA. Reason #1: It was a CD Release party for his stellar debut JazzVox CD “Back in your own backyard” (a showcase of new studio recordings by past JazzVox artists) and Reason #2: It marked the resplendent return of great LA-based jazz vocalist/pianist John Proulx. Nich has been hosting this incredible house concert series at his cozy condo in Auburn, WA and also the lovely home of friends Andy and Patti Carr on Camano Island for 3 1/2 years now. He continues to enthrall audiences every time, bringing in the best national/international vocal artists as well as fostering a wealth of local and regional talent.

It was a magical evening with John singing in an understated, mellow style reminiscent of Chet Baker such eclectic tunes as his heart-rendering ballad “Welcome To My World”, the wonderful Jimmy McHugh song “I just found out about love” and “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?” made popular by Nat King Cole. John encouraged lively audience participation in such numbers as his light-hearted original “Push-Hands Anna” (a tribute to his wife) and “Sing”, known by many from The Carpenter’s timeless version. He was accompanied brilliantly by local favorite Chuck Kistler who is established as a first-call bassist throughout the region. Chuck plays with command and vigor and knows how to accentuate the melody and rhythm of every song to great effect.

I always relish each morning following a JazzVox concert because it allows me to reflect on the awesome music and special people I meet again or for the first time. If you love vocal jazz in an intimate setting and want to be a part of this fabulous experience, and to purchase Nich’s fine JazzVox CD, please visit jazzvox.com.

from Jazz Times Magazine:

Katy Bourne’s route to jazz has been peripatetic to say the least. Back in the 1980s, when her focus was fully on acting and writing, she bounced from Oklahoma to Iowa to New Mexico to the Northeast. In 1992 she took an extended break, re-emerging a few years later as lead singer for two Seattle-based blues bands. Soon afterward she discovered teacher Greta Matassa and concurrently unleashed her inner jazz stylist.

Now, at last, Bourne has released her debut album, a shining introduction to a vocalist who can swing as elegantly as the young Nancy Wilson while invading a lyric with both the insightfulness of Anita O’Day and the smolder of Julie London. Bourne, superbly assisted by a top-drawer foursome of local players—bassist Doug Miller, drummer Steve Korn, guitarist Chris Spencer and, most impressively, pianist Randy Halberstadt—focuses primarily on time-honored standards, ranging from a purringly frolicsome “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” to a dove-soft “True Love.”

Toward the end of this 12-track set, she visits more contemporary material with even greater success. Dave Frishberg’s too-rarely heard “Our Love Rolls On” is fittingly unfurled in gentle waves of fatalistic contentment. “Our Day Will Come” is utterly refreshed atop a bouncy bossa beat. But the session’s apex is Bourne and Halberstadt’s seven-minute, dream-state meander through the shadows of Jimmy Webb’s “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress.”

from All About Jazz.com:

For its fourth album, the Jason Parker Quartet takes a sharp departure from its previous three efforts. Rather than simply cutting another solid straight-ahead quartet date, trumpeter Parker has added vocalist Michele Khazak, and multi-woodwind blower Cynthia Mullis, to reinterpret an entire folk-pop album: Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left (Island Records, 1969). Despite being far outside the typical jazz cannon, Drake’s music continues to receive coverage from a number of jazz artists, including pianist Brad Mehldau, proving that unexpected choices can yield truly inspired performances, and Five Leaves Left is just that, in spades.

Drake was a tortured singer-songwriter, committing suicide in 1974 at the age of 26, after a debilitating struggle with depression. His lyrics are eloquent, melancholy and substantive, and translate well to the jazz idiom, especially compared to some lighter standards. These songs are not happy and gay, but they make a beautiful libretto, and it is refreshing to hear such great poetry.

Parker made an exceptional pick in vocalist Michele Khazak. She has a rich, emotive—even slightly smoky—alto that perfectly complements the words’ moodiness, which she delivers seemingly from a position of emotional strength rather than vulnerability. As good as Drake’s lyrics are, Khazak’s voice is so beautiful that it’s easy to overlook them in favor of simply listening to her voice.

Of course, at the core of this date is a great quartet, with a woodwind addition, and half the record is given over to strictly instrumental numbers. Parker plays his horn open, with very warm tone and, in places, a bit of a Spanish tinge. It’s an attractive sound from a musician with a terrific melodic aesthetic. No overblown histrionics, just a great performance.

Continue reading at All About Jazz.com.

Major Alert! The Seattle Times has actually printed a review of a jazz show by a Seattle artist(s)!

There was standing-room only Saturday at the Q Café for the launch party of the Seattle record label Table & Chairs (T & C).

The roomy Interbay coffeehouse, with lovely acoustics and comfortable couches, buzzed with excitement as several acts delivered a vibrant showcase ranging from ambient synthesizer washes to jagged improvisations.

Read the entire story at The Seattle Times.

from the March 2011 issue of Earshot Jazz:

Reptet, At the Cabin
Artist Recording Collective

Reptet is less a jazz outfit than just what they are: skilled musicians with primarily Northwest-reared chops shaped over nearly a decade together. Reptet’s fourth release, At the Cabin, is out on the Artist Recording Collective label, a platform for member-based record promotion out of Kansas City. The release shows a hodgepodge of skills and styles, but members Samantha Boshnack (brass), Nelson Bell (brass), Chris Credit (winds), Izaak Mills (winds), Tim Carey (bass), and John Ewing (drums) do bring common references to the sextet. The multi-instrumentalists pull from among twenty-plus instruments and reference styles ranging from jazz, rock, and ska to avant-garde, punk, and eastern European folk music. With a plethora of performance timbres, At the Cabin stands out as snap shot of the band right now, a palm full of grooves showing each member’s character and performed as a group.

The record opens with somewhat of a suite of compositions by Boshnack. “Mayfield Safety” launches with strong marching drums from Ewing, above immovable bass brass licks from Bell and horns. The sextet shifts into an extended bridge section, then cools off and fizzles out on some skronk sax. Next is “Snow Leopard x3” and “Milky Shakes.” These first three tracks make full use of the sextet’s collective character, though do stand out stylistically as Boshnack’s – patient horn interplay supported by heavy bass grooves, some with structural rhythmic phrasings that lend a larger dimension than a sum of parts.

That character is especially present on “Snow Leopard x3” and later on Boshnack’s “Mock Arena,” a steady piece with clever, crunchy drum sounds from Ewing, and bright horns, all landing with an afrobeat vocabulary. The vibe allows soloists Bell and Mills to comment at leisure.

Further character shines on the record with Carey’s “Songitty Song” and the two Mills pieces at the end of the record. “Songitty Song” is a cohesive piece, as the name itself suggests, with a light Mingus quality. Mills brings another two clear musical points-of-view to the album. On “Trash Can Race,” the band thrashes somewhere between Zappa and Zorn, and Mills juxtaposes his flute solo over a gritty jam. After a string of rhythmic hits, the piece moves into a half-time psychedelia on the same riff, with some appropriate comping by guitar guest Mark Oi. Then “Pills” follows in the same vein but with a more ambitious time signature to riff on, vital for the ensemble, who delight in elements of the raucous eastern European folk marching music.

Reptet also delights in a particular brand of humor that surfaces on the record. Tracks “Milky Shakes” and “Agendacide,” for example, incorporate vocal riffs that seem to reference inside jokes. For a band whose existence spans eleven years, five in its current iteration, with a mix of musical personalities, a bit of home-cooked humor is likely a given. It doesn’t affect the overall appeal of the At the Cabin, and that humor is evidence of Reptet’s tendency to give permissions to each other that not all bands can afford. The result is a band difficult to qualify, but exciting in its potential to delight and surprise.

Don’t take this reviewer’s word for it: Reptet holds their At the Cabin CD release party on March 10 at the Tractor Tavern, 9pm. Eyvind Kang, Jessika Kenney, and Geoff Harper open.

from The New York Times:

CUONG VU 4-TET
“Leaps of Faith” (Origin)

The voracious sweep of postmillennial jazz has plenty of exemplars but few truer than the trumpeter Cuong Vu. Over the last decade he has upheld a dreamlike sound informed by post-bop but just as rooted in noise pop, grunge and ambient minimalism. He has an invaluable partner in the bassist Stomu Takeishi, who shares his fluency with electronics and his fondness for immersive lyricism. Together with the smart young drummer Ted Poor they have tended to an aquatic, darkly inviting, calmly exploratory style.

Each of their previous two albums featured a guest: the guitarist Bill Frisell, then the multi-reedist Chris Speed. “Leaps of Faith” has a fourth member too: Luke Bergman, who until recently was one of Mr. Vu’s music students at the University of Washington. But Mr. Bergman, who plays electric bass and also mixed and helped produce the album, isn’t an interloper here. His contribution changes the metabolism of the group — freeing up Mr. Takeishi, for one thing — without undermining its identity.

The album begins with three standards, which isn’t common practice for Mr. Vu. They land transformed, more remixed than covered, with creeping momentum and shadowy detail. But Mr. Vu is largely true to their melodies, bringing a terse caress to “My Funny Valentine” and austere clarity to “Body and Soul.” He gets teasingly atmospheric with the theme of “All the Things You Are,” laying out its distinctive intervals over a glacial groove. (He does much the same on “Something” by George Harrison, and “My Opening Farewell” by Jackson Browne.)

There are aspects of Mr. Vu’s tone that suggest the softer side of Miles Davis, or the moody poise of a Davis emulator like Mark Isham. But Mr. Vu has more subversive designs, which become clearer on the album’s three originals, notably “Child-Like” and “I Shall Never Come Back,” which develop like ominous weather systems, with sculptured distortion and drones. The title track, a collective improvisation, recasts John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” as hold music for a doom-metal help line.

“Leaps of Faith” was recorded live in Seattle last spring, but you could get pretty far into it before you register the presence of an audience. When you finally hear some applause, it sounds distant, filtered: yet another effect in an album reverberating with them.

– NATE CHINEN

from AllAboutJazz.com

The order and presentation of music on a recording or in a recital are every bit as important in the music producer’s skill set as is choosing what music to include. Had trumpeter Cuong Vu introduced his Vu-Tet’s Leaps of Faith with the title piece, or “Child-Like (for Vina),” it would have been easy to dismiss the recording as a well-intentioned experiment, descending into noise and chaos before making its point. Instead, Vu and co-producer/bassist Luke Bergman wisely introduce the album with three tried-and-true standards: “Body and Soul”; “All The Things You Are”; and “My Funny Valentine.”

But, Vu’s view of this music is light years away from that of Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker and Chet Baker. Instead, Vu drapes these familiar melodies over an often writhing, anxious undercurrent of rhythm and dynamic created by the double electric bass pairing of Bergman and Stomu Takeishi, along with drummer Ted Poor. The stark juxtaposition of the familiar with the chaotic deepens understanding of the melody. Vu introduces what he is trying to do with the familiar before venturing into the unfamiliar, to provide a better understanding of his vision.

Vu furthers his approach with the title piece, “Leaps of Faith” whose harmonic form and overall architecture are based on John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” Vu, like Charlie Parker did before him with “Embraceable You,” sets up a new melody while the band sets a dramatically different stage for the composition. In this, Vu achieves perfection in his approach.

The first three standards are studies in comparisons and contrasts. “Body and Soul” proceeds in a moody, ethereal space, one that captures the emotional landscape of the lyrics in a 2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM, 1968) sort of way. The same is true of “All The Things You Are” cast almost as a backdrop for a remake of A Clockwork Orange (Warner Brothers, 1971) only with a bright and shiny storyline. “My Funny Valentine” would sound perfectly at home in the soundtrack of Blue Velvet (Paramount, 1986), so spacious and omnipotent is the soundscape created by this odd ensemble.

Vu’s trumpet veers more to the plaintive, long-noted tone of Tomasz Stanko than the tart midrange of Miles Davis and acolytes after him. Vu is best understood in the aforementioned “Valentine,” George Harrison’s “Something” and, in a fit of genre- harvesting brilliance, Jackson Browne’s “My Opening Farewell.” This music is the collision between the secure and consonant with the disruptive and dissonant: meaning it reflects real life, where there are no white picket fences, only chain-link ones protecting paradise.

from All About Jazz.com

Guitarist Brad Shepik mines a lode of styles on his compositions. Shadow and light play through his music, and he is not averse to opening the door to let a swath of sunshine in. The mood is never static, the wheel of invention is constantly churning out ideas that surprise and delight.

Shepik wrote most of Across The Way’s tunes while he was on the road, where he teamed up with vibraphonist Tom Beckham, bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Mark Guiliana to form his first quartet. The musicians respond to his every need, the empathy between them electric, as they pick up and advance ideas to illuminate the spirit of the compositions.

The music has several influences, into which Shepik breathes his own affirmations. The acoustic intro to the title track underscores his open, linear approach. His use of space is judicious, as he lets the others come in and, in doing so, allow the song to blossom. The sensibility of the composition undergoes a change as the tempo surges and the electric guitar cuts a deeper swath. Time has been probed and altered to spin an enticing web.

“German Taco” is a sunny, playful tune. Shepik grabs the concept and lets the melody billow in a run of crystalline notes. His perception is acute, and he bends emphasis almost imperceptibly. Beckham is the perfect cohort as he saturates the melody, dancing on the notes and broadening the appeal. A crisp rhythm section adds to the impact and makes this a standout.

The closing “Train Home” is largely introspective. The mellow mood and the repeated motifs create a hypnotic aura, and with the introduction of a discernible and compelling melody the seduction is complete.

Shepik has crafted a rich sonic palette of creative brilliance.

From All About Jazz.com

There is no question that women musicians have, and continue to play, a major role in jazz—from composers and band leaders such as Maria Schneider to renowned pianist Marian McPartland,—but few make their mark as saxophonists. Roxy Coss is a New York-based saxophonist who, with her self-titled debut, joins the likes of Anat Cohen, Mary Fettig, Tia Fuller, and Karolina Strassmayer, as a saxophone voice with which to be reckoned. On her debut, Coss—on tenor and soprano saxophones, as well as flute—offers up eight superb originals, performed by her sextet.

The material includes elements of R&B, classical, funk and Latin styles, with a generally relaxed, modern jazz undertone. “Wandering One” begins the set with a warm-toned flugelhorn solo from Kate Miller, setting the stage for Coss’ first solo, on a briskly swinging melody. “Lately” changes direction drastically, a heavy ballad that drags a bit in tempo, while the Latin swing is alive and well on “A New Time,” where Coss, on flute, moves to an upbeat Latin rhythm. The album’s most ambitious piece is, however, the gospel-influenced ballad, “Enlightenment,” patterned after John Coltrane’s “Dear Lord.”

Coss does her best to be diverse on this first effort, and to that end she offers the funk-tinged “The Slow Accent.” and contemporary “The Cherry On Top,” two different but equally impressive charts. Coss ends the project with soprano, on the dark ballad “I Think So,” returning to the tenor on her R&B finale, “July.”

Neither flashy nor dull, Coss plays the saxophone with a measure of swing, swagger and sensitivity—all qualities that make this debut well worth a listen.

from AllAboutJazz.com

Trumpeter Thomas Marriott keeps growing as an artist. He has released CDs at a healthy pace since 2005: an introduction for many perhaps unwary jazz fans to some warped country western flavor on Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (Origin Records, 2008); cranking an all-star quintet up in a modern mainstream mode on Flexicon (Origin Records, 2009); and letting it rip on a two-trumpet blow fest with fellow brass man Ray Vega on East-West Trumpet Summit (Origin Records, 2010). Constraints and Liberations ups his output to two releases in 2010.

Spontaneity has always been a big part of Marriott’s jazz game, but with Constraints and Liberations, it seems he has gone deeper into that mode. The set opens with his original “Diagram.” A bright splendor of two-horn harmony introduces the tune with a teaming of the leader’s open horn and Hans Teuber’s haunting tenor saxophone, leading to a shift into brass/reed conversation, with Teuber telepathically finishing Marriott’s opening statement.

Here, and throughout the set, the rhythm team—pianist Gary Versace; bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer John Bishop—maintains a low key tumult that keeps things on edge.

Continue reading at AllAboutJazz.com

REVIEW: GRETA MATASSA AT BAKE’S PLACE WITH BARNEY MCCLURE
December 3, 2010

by Libby Graham

Last Friday night at Bake’s Place in Issaquah was another exquisite evening of stellar jazz, especially with the great Barney McClure in the house! He brought in his own vintage B3 Hammond organ, and as Bake’s owner Craig Baker said, “He plays it how it’s supposed to be played”. Barney was at his smokin’ best belting out blazing hot runs and punctuating groovin’ chords and sustained notes with aplomb to augment the fabulous rhythm section comprised of local standouts Jose Martinez on drums and Chris Spencer playing electric guitar.

As if this group of extraordinary musicians wasn’t enough, the stage was also graced by the incomparable Greta Matassa who brought the house down with her powerhouse vocals and irresistible charisma. She sang a variety of styles from smoldering blues numbers to lush standards as “Like Someone in Love” and Shirley Horn’s “I could have told you so”. Greta also paid tribute to the wonderful vocalist/songwriter Blossom Dearie with her rendition of “Now At Last” and pulled out all the stops with a cookin’ Ray Charles tune “Danger Zone”.

Greta Matassa’s spontaneous and joyful interplay with Barney, Jose and Chris was so pleasing to the audience, and together they created sheer magic during this festive holiday season.

from All Music Guide:

Excellent music can come from construction and deconstruction equally. That seems to be the main point to be proven by saxophonist Richard Cole’s Inner Mission. A number of original numbers build from the ground up here, forming a complex sound from primary elements in combination with co-writer and pianist Bill Anschell. At the same time, classic pieces are deconstructed, taken apart by the riff or the note to barely recognizable parts and reworked into careful, flowing jazz. The saxophone in the Beatles’ “Come Together,” combined with electric piano, makes for an ethereal, brooding piece of nightclub ambience. “Slow Hot Wind,” on the other hand, builds from a soft tapping from drummer Matt Jorgensen into a showcase for exploratory brass solos from Cole and trumpet maestro Randy Brecker. Throughout the album, this sort of work is the norm — from very slight beginnings the group crafts a strong sound, while reworking initially strong compositions to create more interesting and new pieces altogether. Both forms of creation are composed well and performed beautifully in this case, with the bandmembers’ considerable abilities powering the compositions into exceptional end products. A lesser band couldn’t pull this off, but Cole and his crew do so with ease.

Note: Richard Cole will celebrate the release of Inner Mission at the Earshot Jazz Festival on Wednesday, October 20 at Tula’s Jazz Club.

from allaboutjazz.com

Drummer Matt Jorgensen pushes a bit out of the relative comfort zone of his longstanding Matt Jorgensen + 451 ensemble, to pay homage to his late father-in-law, abstract expressionist painter Dale Chisman, with Tattooed by Passion. With his + 451 group, Jorgensen crafted a distinctive modern-leaning sound on CDs Hope (Origin Records, 2004) and Another Morning (Origin Records, 2008). He carries that tradition forward on Tattooed by Passion.

Tight grooves are a part of Jorgensen’s approach, which isn’t surprising for a drummer. But more importantly, for the group sound he creates, are his choices in the guys sitting in the chording instrument chairs; players who can roll into that disciplined groove if need be, or break out on a tangent to play with astounding abandon: keyboardist Ryan Burns on the + 451 sets, and guitarist Corey Christiansen on the disc in hand.

Opening with the groove-centric “Space, Plane and Line,” the group slips into some clean two-horn harmony, featuring + 451 alum, saxophonist Mark Taylor, and Jorgensen’s oft-times collaborator, trumpeter Thomas Marriott, in front of Christiansen’s crisp chording and the leader’s initially metronomic beat. Each horn solos, then Christiansen takes a turn with burning restraint—small, hot blue flames bursting into a crescendo blaze.

The title tune continues in the same mode. The group dynamic is the same—Marriott’s warm trumpet tone giving way to Taylor’s biting saxophone tang, then Christiansen’s burning incandescence driven forward by Dave Captein’s beefy bass and Jorgensen’s tight-yet-quirky percussion.

“Colorado” has a relaxed, wide-open-spaces atmosphere and a country twang reminiscent of the mood on Marriott’s strange but outstanding Crazy: the Music of Willie Nelson (Origin Records, 2008). Jorgensen experiments with much success here and on two more tunes, enlisting a string quartet to add a richness and subtle shine to the quintet’s sound.

The the more intense “Big Chief With a Golden Crown” charges down an arrow-straight highway at ninety miles-an-hour on a solid bass/drums drive train, leading to a brief dreamy interlude that wails with a hard rock energy into “Primal Scrip,” giving Christiansen a chance to rip with soaring freedom in front of a pounding, sludgy rhythm.

On the closer, “Savage Grace,” the strings return, along with clarinetist Richard Cole. The extra instrumentation adds a panoramic feeling to an initially pensive tune that bursts outward with Marriott’s brassy solo. An ambitious and beautiful ending to Matt Jorgensen’s finest recording to date.

NOTE: Matt Jorgensen will be performing Tattooed by Passion (with strings) at The Triple Door on Tuesday, October 26, as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival

from AllAboutJazz.com

Having built a reputation as an exceptional reedman in Seattle, Dave Anderson presents a sparkling debut on the melodically rich Clarity, alternating between alto and soprano saxophones on eight original compositions and two covers. Having performed extensively throughout North America with luminaries like Jim McNeely, Clark Terry and the late great Mel Tormé, Anderson moved to Seattle in 2005 from his native Minnesota, forming Dave Anderson Quartet after a one-nighter at Egan’s Ballard Jamhouse. The group consists of pianist John Hansen; bassist Chuck Kistler; and drummer Adam Kessler, with Thomas Marriott taking to the flugelghorn in a guest appearance on “Wabi-Sabi.”

Anderson’s compositions are impressive, offering a varied selection of tones and harmonies, though he chooses to open the set with Joe Henderson’s spicy samba, “Y Ya La Quiero,” exploring it with his soprano voice, masterfully accompanied by Hansen. The frontline duet of Marriott and Anderson (again on soprano) on “Wabi-Sabi,” is something sweet and special, while “Stalemate” is the first tune to display Anderson’s alto chops, and presents Kistler’s first solo.

Hansen is certainly no slouch here either, providing more of his crisp clean lines with an extended run on the reverend up-tempo burner “Troubled Angel,” where the leader weighs in on another strong performance, again on the alto. One of the album’s many highlights is the intimate piano and soprano duet on the lofty “The Aviator,” offering both musicians the opportunity to explore individual flight patterns over the clear blue skies of Clarity. “Osby-an,” and “Free”—played with two distinctly different tempos and rhythms—provide convincing evidence of Anderson’s skills as a composer.

Continue reading at AllAboutJazz.com

from All About Jazz.com.

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath is highly respected by his peers and by serious listeners, but he isn’t well known outside the jazz world in the way that Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane are. He played with those legends and many more. He formed The Heath Brothers in 1975 with his siblings, drummer Albert “Tootie Heath and bassist Percy Heath, and has penned numerous tunes that have become classics, including “CTA” and “Gingerbread Boy.” Like Gillespie before him, he reaches beyond jazz in his endless artistic search, having penned suites, compositions for string quartets and a symphonic work.

The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, under the dual directorships of drummer Clarence Acox and multiple reedman Michael Brockman, enticed Heath into their fold for the timeless and marvelous Jimmy Heath: The Endless Search Suite. It is an orchestral offering that leaps out of the speakers with a rich fanfare of gorgeous harmony and tight rhythmic zest. Then Heath solos, and proves himself—for those unfamiliar—a giant of melodic invention and improvisational energy; in his eighth decade, and still kickin’ it. For comparison’s sake, Heath the soloist is probably closest to a fellow under-sung tenor man, George Coleman—another all-too-brief Davis cohort. Both saxophonists stay firmly within the mainstream, with extraordinary intelligence, invention and no-holds-barred verve.

Besides Heath’s efforts, there is no shortage of premier soloing happening in the Seattle Repertory Orchestra. On the suite itself, Brockman wields an alto axe that cranks up the intensity a notch, giving way to a bright and shining trumpet turn by Jay Thomas. All this in the eight-plus minute “Part I.” It stays just as stellar in “Part III: Where It Started.” Heath, pianist Randy Halberstadt, the inimitable tenorist Hadley Caliman, and an especially inspired David Marriott, Jr. on trombone, all take things to the highest level of jazz improvisation.

Continue reading at All About Jazz.com.

Gail Pettis, “Here In The Moment”
by Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat, August 2010

* * * *

A former orthodontist, Pettis finds new vistas of emotion in the words and music of standards and surprises on her second album. Her wonderful version of “I Thought About You,” usually identified with Ella Fitzgerald, reflects the melancholy of a sad-faced train passenger with an intimacy that few singers in any genre have knowledge of. Another ballad, “How Did He Look?” a favorite of cabaret singer Mabel Mercer, is rendered poignantly with an easy elegance built of curiosity and lingering heartbreak over a lost love affair. This granddaughter of a Mississippi bluesman freshens Cole Porter’s “Night And Day” with exhilaration over sharing “sweet love” with her partner. Similarly, the directness of feeling she reveals about a blossoming romance does more than ample justice to Etta James’ old r&b hit “At Last.” All the other songs, too, whatever the tempo or mood, each graced by the surety of her delivery, have an unmistakable air of honesty about them. Minor compliant: Pettis’ two pianists and bassists are clearly talented by their solos don’t so much develop the songs as mark time between verses.

(excerpt of a two album review, Gail Pettis and Pamela Rose)

More about this CD at OA2 Records

from All About Jazz.com.

NewYork-based trumpeter/composer Nathan Eklund assembles a fiery, swinging quintet for Coin Flip, his fourth release as a leader and first for Seattle’s OA2 Records. The nine track disc is as much a showcase for Eklund’s convincing abilities as a composer and arranger as it is for his dynamic trumpet playing.

Eklund demonstrates an immense trumpet tone with technical agility, rooted in the post-bop tradition. Echoes of the late trumpet giants Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw can be heard on the meter-shifting opener “Rooicka’s Castle” and the groovy “Professor Dissendadt,” a tune reminiscent of a CTI Records date from the early 1970s.

Continue All About Jazz.com.

from BBC Music:

This is a marathon album, despite running for only 45 minutes; a dense, fast meteorite on an edgy sky, brief enough to be indulged in all its frowning intensity. Throughout, Speak build huge constructs of volumes and dynamics. The music never sits still; it’s a snake that twists and turns in the juxtaposition of noise and quietness, light and darkness. Yet the band is tremendously cohesive, shifting as one from heavy improvisational territories down to eloquent writing with a message of unresolved tension. There isn’t a recognisable soloist; the structure is always at the core, with each musician skilfully contributing to the edifice. Indefatigable, Luke Bergman on bass and Chris Icasiano on drums are as much centre stage as Vu’s reverb-laden trumpet or Andrew Swanson’s muscular saxophone.

Continue reading at BBC Music: