Monday, February 22, 2010

Jordyn Jackson - September in the Garden

Although September in the Garden (so-named for the Garden District of New Orleans where she lived and recorded the album during September 2009) is her 5th recording project, 25 year old Jordyn Jackson is a relative newcomer, especially to the jazz vocal genre. Ms. Jackson has paid her dues over the past 12 years, endeavoring to gain recognition by taking advantage of any opportunity to perform, putting out a couple of recordings of original songs 6-8 years ago, and then two more albums as a member of “Veronica’s Veil” in partnership with Randy Winter (brother of Ronnie Winter of alt-rock “The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus”). The decision to make this album of 10 well-known songs was based on the desire to create a showcase for spotlighting the scope of her vocal abilities...MORE

Friday, February 19, 2010

Various New England Conservatory Affiliates - Art-I-Facts: Great Performances from 40 Years of Jazz at NEC

When considering Boston institutions of jazz education and performance the venerable New England Conservatory (NEC) might not be the first that comes to mind—Berklee College of Music is just down the street—but NEC has a very long and rich jazz history. Gunther Schuler, classical French horn player, composer and jazz aficionado, founded the country’s first accredited jazz program at NEC in 1969. This ART-I-FACTS CD contains 14 tracks of selected jazz performances between the years of 1973-2007 and includes musicians drawn from NEC students, faculty, alumni and affiliates including VIPs Bob Brookmeyer, Ran Blake, Jaki Byard, Steve Lacy, Joe Maneri, Harvey Mason and George Russell...MORE

Friday, February 5, 2010

George Winston - Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2


Grammy Award Winning Pianist George Winston has released a new CD of solo piano music in a tribute to Vince Guaraldi: Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2. Vince Guaraldi will always be associated with the “Charlie Brown” television specials and the “Peanuts” characters conceived by Charles M. Schulz. He created the sounds of “Charlie Brown” that remain indelible in our minds. But, Guaraldi was also a successful jazz musician. He was part of the early Cal Tjader Trio and also had a hit of his own with “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” Winston honors both facets of Vince Guaraldi with this new CD which is the follow-on to his first Guaraldi tribute recording in 1996, Linus & Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi...MORE

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Herb Alpert - Anything Goes: Herb Alpert & Lani Hall Live

Sometimes within a few notes of a recording you can identify polished, seasoned, talented professionals. That is the clearly the case with Anything Goes. Alpert—founder of the incredibly successful “Tijuana Brass” and A&M Records, and also a successful Broadway producer—and Lani Hall—former singer with “Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66,” solo performer and Alpert’s wife—have not cooled off a bit. Alpert has said that despite his early career in pop music he is really a jazz musician at heart and it shows on this CD featuring jazz standards by Berlin, Gershwin, Lerner & Loewe, Mercer and Porter. There are also a couple of Brazilian classics and a couple of originals by band member, Bill Cantos (piano, keyboards, vocals) thrown in, adding up to an admirable 14-track work of traditional and Latin jazz...MORE