Gerald Clayton | Two-Shade

Gerald Clayton | Listen: Two-Shade – [Decca UK, 2009]

Gerald Clayton, Two-Shade

Gerald Clayton was born on May 11, 1984 in Utrecht, The Netherlands and moved to the United States at a young age. Gerald grew up in a musical family (his father is bassist/composer John Clayton and his uncle saxophonist Jeff Clayton) and was exposed to a variety of musical styles from a very young age. He studied classical piano with Mrs. Linda Buck and jazz piano and composition with Shelly Berg, Kenny Barron and Billy Childs.

Gerald has received numerous awards over the past years: He was the winner of the Music Center Spotlight Awards in 2001. In 2002 Gerald was presented with the “level 1″ award by the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA), was named Presidential Scholar in the Arts and received a scholarship award from the Music for Youth Foundation. He also received the Shelley Manne Award for emerging young artists from the Los Angeles Jazz Society. In September of 2006, Gerald received Second Place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Piano Competition.

Courtney Pine | Destiny’s Song + The Imagine of Pursuance

TVOne has a quarterly award winning series called “Unsung,” which airs on Sunday evenings during that period. Furthermore, when I hear the innovative, visionary and planetary sounds of true renaissance players like saxophonist Courtney Pine from Great Britain monstrous tonality and Trane influence echoes perfectly within the restrains of under appreciated artists. Perhaps, it’s the media’s fault or is it that we really haven’t heard jazz until you’ve listen to masterful voice of Courtney Pine?? ~ The Urban Flux

Courtney Pine | Destiny’s Song + The Imagine of Pursuance – [Island/Antilles New Direction, 1988]

Courtney Pine, Destiny's Song

Courtney Pine’s second album stays very much within the Marsalis-imposed boundaries of post-Miles post-bop; indeed, a Marsalis brother, Delfeayo, is the producer, and the album’s subtitle uses the patented kind of wordplay that the New Orleans dynasty indulges in. As before, Pine’s guiding star is John Coltrane, of whom he had become a fervent and skillful acolyte, tossing off endless streams of heated playing on tenor and soprano inside and outside. Pine also uses alternating expert teams of English acoustic jazz specialists — Julian Joseph or Joe Bashorun on piano, Paul Hunt or Gary Crosby on bass, and Mark Mondesir on drums — as backup.

There are some really good Pine compositions here; “Sacrifice” sounds as if it could have made it as a standard in mainstream and/or electric jazz. Although the novelty of a young black Englishman playing Afro-American acoustic jazz has long since worn off, much of this CD repays repeated latter-day listening. –Richard S. Ginell

Source: AllMusic.com

Rena Jones | Indra’s Web

“Multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer Rena Jones is a force to be reckoned with. At age 30, she boasts more than 30 collaborative albums, 3 full length solo albums, 20 years of classical violin study, and 12 years of cello—and she is considered one of the leading women in audio engineering today.” –Strings Magazine

Rena Jones | Indra’s Web – [Cartesian Binary Recordings, 2009]

Rena Jones, Indra's Web

After the success of her 3rd solo album “Driftwood”, multi-talented musician, composer, producer, and sound engineer Rena Jones has spent the last 18 months refining and mastering her unique classical take on electronic music in her new full length album: “Indra’s Web”.

In Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra’s Web is a profound metaphor for the structure of reality, representing the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things, describing a rich and diverse universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all its elements and entities.

Through her composition, Rena creates a musical metaphor of this philosophy exploring a concept of repeated modalities similar to that of Stevie Wonder’s “the Secret life of Plants”, while skillfully taking full advantage of the capabilities of modern digital sequencing software to create complex and playful glitched out grooves and transcending some of its limitations by using the warmth and depth of analogue sound.

In this concept, she presents different, yet interconnected themes that repeat themselves throughout the album, making it flow as one unique piece of modern classical electronic music.

As a classically trained violinist, cellist and composer, with extensive experience in sound engineering and digital sound design, Rena sets herself among the leading musicians / producers who are breaking the boundaries between live and electronic music. –RenaMusic

** Original Release Date: July 17, 2009 **

..:: Source: Amazon.com also please visit, renamusic.com for unique experience in electronic music ::..

Brian Blade Fellowship

Brian Blade Fellowship | Brian Blade Fellowship – [Blue Note Records, 2008]

Brian Blade Fellowship

Brian Blade has put together a recording that communicates at a spiritual level. For me, the highlight of the recording is Dave Easley’s pedal steel guitar solo on ‘Mohave’. It’s astonishing, and one of the best solos I’ve ever heard. His passionate guitar is literally crying for joy. John Cowherd’s piano is thoughtful, melodic, and swinging when necessary.

Although there are many textures in this music, it all fits together beautifully. And the musicians all seem to be on the same page. It’s one of those sessions that you can listen to a hundred times, and find something new every time. In other words, this is music that won’t get stale!

Brian Blade’s playing is sensitive, complex, and fiery, as are the compositions. Blade is one of the very best drummers to come along in quite a while.

This is music that hit me on a very deep level. It took 3 or 4 listen’s before I could even understand it, but it was worth it. It’s music that spoke to some very deep feelings within me, and every time I listen to it, I feel inspired. This CD is beautiful, complex, and very interesting. –Kenneth James

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..

Komeda Project | Requiem

Komeda Project | Requiem – [WM Records, 2009]

Plenty has been written about European musicians approaching the American jazz tradition; it’s far rarer to hear about American musicians bringing their heritage to distinctly European projects. Capitalizing on the critical acclaim for its debut “Crazy Girl“, pianist/composer/arranger Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna – the driving force behind Komeda Project – bring trumpeter Russ Johnson back for their new CD “Requiem”. What makes Requiem different, however, and a significant evolution over Crazy Girl, is the enlistment of über-bassist SCOTT COLLEY and the equally ubiquitous drummer NASHEET WAITS.

Like Crazy Girl, Requiem’s primary focus is to bring the music of the late, legendary Polish composer/pianist Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary’s Baby; Knife in the Water) into the new millennium with fresh arrangements, but this time the approach is far more open-ended. Sacrificing the “comfort zone” of a group familiar with the music, Winnicki and Medyna opted, instead, for the first encounter “sound of surprise” that comes from working with master musicians like Colley and Waits. “The profile of the repertoire on Crazy Girl was different,” says Medyna. “The songs were selected more for gigging, so they were more straight-ahead.”

Nick Colionne Supports Breast Cancer Foundation

Nick Colionne at the Coltrane Jazz and Blues Festival

Guitarist Nick Colionne has been described as “one of the finest performers to come along on the jazz scene in a long time” by JazzReview.com. His newest CD “NO LIMITS“, on the prestigious label E1 Records, debuted to rave reviews and the first single, the title tune “No Limits“, went Top 10. Nick will be featured on the cover of the November | December issue of Wine and Jazz Magazine with the focus of his cover story being his charitable work. In association with this, he has adopted The Pair Tree, a local non-profit dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research and with the magazine, Epiphone Guitars and Tobin James Cellars as sponsors, he will donate all of the proceeds of a nationally based sealed bid auction to The Pair Tree.

..:: Source: The Pair Tree Foundation ::..

Roberto Occhipinti | The Cusp

Roberto Occhipinti | The Cusp – [Alma Records, 2007] – Weekend Spin – [Music Review]

Roberto Occhipinti, The Cusp

As I mature, it seems in my listening habits, curiosity, and hunger for jazz and whom it derives from has a tendency to lean in the direction of fascinating new artists like acoustic bassist, composer and arranger Roberto Occhipinti. That said, the Toronto, Canada born musician stirs up a tasteful blend of music on his 2007 offering titled “The Cusp” which brings relevance to this music I dearly love called jazz.

On “The Cusp,” out of the box Occhipinti shakes things up with the intoxicating, and relentless Rumba titled “David’s Onda.” Occhipinti cleverly challenges you with the attractive timbre of his voice throughout “The Cusp.” Underneath it all, his acoustic voice is warm, brisk and inviting as he draws from an immeasurable palette of Latin laced jazz compositions, lush arrangements with his indelible interpretation of ["Ana Maria"] he stretches, and bends your imagination with a unending stream of enchanting melodies and savoring tempos flow generously without boundaries.

In retrospect, what we have here is a satisfying collection of great songs performed by an impeccable ensemble joined with 13 piece orchestra. Exciting, now that’s what’s up! If you love jazz with heavy Latin influences, then this gem which also compliments his previous Grammy winning project “Yemaya” … both recordings are worthy and highly recommended. Therefore, in a sober mind and spirit the “The Cusp” easily quenches my thirst and hunger for great jazz.

Absolutely, that’s what jazz is all about … well at least for me it is!

Jowee Omicil | Roots & Grooves

Jowee Omicil | Roots & Grooves – [Bbjuiss Record, 2009]

Jowee Omicil, Roots & Grooves

Jowee Omicil, a native of Montreal, Canada with roots of the island of Haiti plays the saxophone-alto, tenor, soprano- flute, and clarinet. He plays his wind instruments in a poetic and harmonious style couple with a stance that makes one wonder if he is equipped with Òfour lungs.Ó Kenny Garrett and many other Jazz greats such as Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane and Miles Davis influenced his sound.

An alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he majored in Music Education, Jowee Omicil brings to his craft, innovation and a new development in the music that he creates. He later went on to further his education as he entered the Thelonius Monk Institute among the 20 “hand-picked” around the US and was featured on BET Jazz. After Berklee, Jowee began his work in Music Education as Chair of the Music Department at Mission Hill School, Boston, MA. He held this position for four years while performing with his group “The Core” during his free time. He also created and developed the curriculum for the woodwind and brass instruments for the Musical Department at Bronx Preparatory Charter School and taught for 3 years.

..:: Source: Jowee Omicil.com ::..

Brian Culbertson | Live from the Inside

Brian Culbertson | Live from the Inside – [Verve, 2009]

Brian Culbertson, Live from the Inside

On June 3rd, 2009, Brian Culbertson and a small army of well respected musicians in the Smooth Jazz community, descended upon the legendary Capitol Studios in Hollywood to film and record a live career retrospect of well loved tunes from his GRP and other labels’ catalogs.The resulting session is presented in full on a DVD directed by filmmaker Joey Castro and on a CD with 12 of the songs they performed including the brand new song “Go.”

Musical guests includes Ray Parker Jr., Dave Koz, Michael Lington, Eric Marienthal, Eric Darius, Jim Culbertson and Sheldon Reynolds. The band consists of Lenny Castro, Chris Miskel, Lamar Jones, Eddie Miller, Michael Stever, Rob Schaer, Nick Lane, Wayne Bruce and Marqueal Jordan. Get a sneak peak of the new album at Brian’s website.

“I think it’s important to make this available to people because this DVD is definitely a milestone for me,” Brian comments. “It’s just something special with all these legends and great musicians getting together in the studio at the same time. I just really felt like I had to document this and let everyone else see the energy and the magic that was created with all of us together.”

Live from the Inside is scheduled for release on November 10, 2009.

..:: Source: Smooth Jazz Daily ::..

Steve Khan | Got My Mental

Steve Khan | Got My Metal – [Evidence, 1997]

Steve Khan, Got My Mental

The problem with assessing the quality of cd’s is that artists often have different phases in their career, or different kinds of output for their talent. Khan, for example, had a “fusion” phase (early Khan material and the band Eyewitness), has a Latin jazz side, is a superlative sideman and session player (look at, e.g., Steely Dan’s Gaucho album), and has real bonafides as a “straight ahead” jazz player.

My favorite format in jazz is the trio, particularly the jazz guitar trio. Khan has done several albums in this vein and Got My Mental is my favorite (it’s more or less a trio). The songs are perfect examples of trio playing where the interactivity is so complete that one almost forgets there are separate players. Khan’s melodies are sing-able (a forgotten art in so much guitar jazz) and his solos speak with phrases both lovely and enigmatic. (Is Khan the Wallace Stevens of the guitar solo? Not a bad analogy.) Here, too, John Patitucci really shines; one of the first albums where he leaves the “hot shot fusion bass player” thing behind and lets Khan’s melodism guide him beyond his technical habits. And Jack DeJohnette–what can be said? He is a drummer’s drummer, the perfect third point in this triangle.

Without a doubt, this is a “Desert Island Disc.” Check it out and you’ll be singing it for the rest of the month. –David Hildebrand

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..