Fabrizio Mocata Trio – Puccini Moods
Fabrizio Mocata is a pianist and a composer based in Italy, he recently performed in Canada at the Brampton Jazz & Blues Festival. I...
Helen Sung: Anthem for a New Day
Helen Sung’s pianism is informed by elegance and an intellect that goes far beyond her young years. Both qualities cannot be learnt. The former...
Phil Bowler: Phil Bowler & Pocket Jungle
While no one was watching the bass chair Phil Bowler slipped back in and fired up his old ensemble back to life. After some...
Aruán Ortiz & Michael Janisch Quintet – Banned in London
God knows, of course, how hands will be used. This is why he endowed the human body with them, especially...
Stacey Kent: The Changing Lights
There are few vocalists who can sing with such fragrant lyricism as Stacey Kent. The fact that she can sing in several languages—and make...
Ayako Shirasaki – Some Other Time
I had the pleasure of discovering Ayako Shirasaki’s music when I wrote a review for her previous album recorded live in Hamburg. For those...
Kavita Shah: Visions
To say that Kavita Shah is an artist like no other is not really saying anything new. It is in her singular voice and...
Tom Szczesniak – Waltz For Bill
Toronto based pianist, composer, arranger and producer Tom Szczesniak has released his debut recording as leader; Waltz For Bill, an eleven track, straight ahead...
Miguel Ângelo: Branco
To understand what a musician’s musician can do with the bass today it is wise to listen to the Portuguese bassist for Oporto, Miguel...
Phill Fest: That’s What She Says
The rhythmic intricacies of Brasilian music are just one aspect of that metaphor. Then there is that beautiful concept of a feeling called alegria....
Manuel Valera Trio: Live at Firehouse 12
This recording is a fascinating, satisfying live programme which brings together three of the most active, finest musicians in New York whose work...
Dafnis Prieto Sextet: Triangles and Circles
It is rare indeed to find drummers who can think like pianists; even rarer to find one that thinks like a saxophonist, a trumpeter,...
Peter Appleyard and the Jazz Giants – The Lost 1974 Sessions
In his introduction to Peter Appleyard and the Jazz Giants: The Lost 1974 Sessions Appleyard said something that...
Ray Vega: Chapter Two
This disc ought to come with a connoisseur’s advisory: Be prepared to be amazed. As much as that sounds like something trite, it is,...
Michel Nirenberg: Retrato/Portrait
Hard on the heels of the carioca, Leo Gandelman comes the infinitely younger carioca, Michel Nirenberg, a musician steeped in choro and samba. A...
Warren Wolf: Wolfgang
There is an everlasting quality about Warren Wolf’s recording, Wolfgang. If the ingenious vibraphone virtuoso should at all be diffident about his achievement here...
Jeff Ballard Trio: Time’s Tales
Jeff Ballard has spent the equivalent of a month of Sundays casting his shadow along with bassist Larry Grenadier’s in the Brad Mehldau Trio....
Etienne Charles: Creole Soul
“In the world that we live in today, it’s impossible not to be a creole, it’s impossible not to have a blend of ideas, a blend of traditions and a blend of sound or shape that determines who we are. There is a little bit of a creole...
Guelph Jazz Festival @ “19” & Going Strong
The Guelph Jazz Festival is always a treat, always offering up a taste of fresh innovative music. On this occasion the festival looked back...
Kenny Garrett – Seeds from the Underground
Beware the wild swing of saxophonist Kenny Garrett. It is splendidly hypnotic and is the kind that seizes the wandering soul guiding it into...
