Originally from Switzerland, trombonist Samuel Blaser now plies his trade on both sides of the Atlantic, commuting between New York and Berlin. A superb technician, Blaser is capable of making the trombone sing, which lends itself to a wild juxtaposition with brash-toned guitarist Marc Ducret. The adventurous improvising of that duo is accented and propelled […]
Ron Netsky
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Album review: ‘Chopin Project’
Noah Preminger and Rob Garcia “Chopin Project” Connection Works Records noahpreminger.com Consider the great composers in jazz: Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Frédéric Chopin … Chopin? He might not have known it, but with great chord structures and gorgeous melodies, Chopin has become a favorite of jazz musicians. The latest evidence is Noah Preminger […]
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Album review: ‘Dedication’
Steve Slagle “Dedication” Panorama Records Steve Slagle is a master of the saxophone slur, and on his new album, “Dedication,” he employs it brilliantly in his melodic improvisations. Slagle began his career in the mid-1970’s in the bands of Machito, Ray Barretto, and Lionel Hampton and went on to play with Jack McDuff and Carla […]
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JAZZ | Tatsuya Nakatani
Tatsuya Nakatani creates soundscapes unlike anything you’ve ever heard. A master percussionist, he employs many traditional drums, cymbals, gongs, etc., but he rarely uses them in a traditional manner. Nakatani wields his hand-crafted Kobo bow, playing the gong like a circular, metal, avant-garde cello. The range of sounds he coaxes is nothing short of otherworldly. […]
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JAZZ | Cabo Frio
Cabo Frio emerged from the Rochester scene in the early 1980’s to become one of the leading groups in the smooth jazz and fusion genre. When the group hits the stage at Anthology, with original founding member Curtis Kendrick and vocalist Becca Feder, it will pay tribute to two of the greatest acts of the […]
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JAZZ | Duck Baker
If you admire the ingenuity, complexity, and brilliance of Thelonious Monk’s compositions played on the piano, imagine what it would take to figure them out on a guitar. That’s just what Duck Baker has done using his dazzling finger picking technique and harmonic sensibility. Over the past five decades, Baker has earned a reputation in […]
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JAZZ | Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group
Saxophonist extraordinaire Dave Liebman was just getting started in the 1970’s when his John Coltrane-like style caught the ear of Coltrane’s former drummer, Elvin Jones. It wasn’t long before Liebman was turning heads at the top of the jazz world with Miles Davis’s band. With Expansions, Liebman and veteran bassist Tony Marino continue the tradition […]
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Hamid Drake masters the heartbeat of the universe
The names at the top of DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll are constantly changing in most categories from year to year. But, in recent years, one name has been stuck at the top in the percussion category: Hamid Drake. Whether he’s playing a hand drum or a full set, Drake’s dexterity, subtlety, and precision are aurally […]
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Helen Sung is on a lifelong jazz journey
After graduating in 1997 from the Thelonious Monk Institute at New England Conservatory, pianist Helen Sung has performed with greats like Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, and Clark Terry. She won the Kennedy Center’s 2007 Mary Lou Williams Piano Competition and has played all over the world. Sung, who brings her trio to The Penthouse on […]
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JAZZ | Lucian Ban and Alex Harding
Transylvanian pianist Lucian Ban has some of the fastest fingers a keyboard is ever likely to encounter. Of course that would mean nothing if Ban didn’t somehow hit all the right notes in his stunning solos. Detroit-born Alex Harding has a similar command of the baritone sax, coaxing cascades of raspy runs out of the […]
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Album review: ‘Steve Gadd Band’
Steve Gadd Band “Steve Gadd Band” BFM Jazz drstevegadd.com Listening to the new, self-titled album by the Steve Gadd Band, one thought comes immediately to mind: back-up bands are far more than back-up bands. Gadd himself is exhibit A. Perhaps the best drummer working today in pop music, his main gigs are in the bands […]
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Album review: ‘Transition’
Kairos Sextet “Transition” Dafnison Music kairossextet.com Toward the end of the fifth cut on the Kairos Sextet’s “Transition” album, a horn phrase so infectious and so tightly executed lets you know: this group is the real thing. I discovered later how appropriate that musical peak moment was. The track, “Triangle and Circles,” was written by […]
