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

Jeff Jolly Band - Jeff Jolly's Pizza

The Jeff Jolly Band plays an eclectic and inventive mix of styles that includes rock, roots, country, Americana and R&B, all written by Jolly (except “Trip Through Your Wire,” U2). That originality is what makes Jeff Jolly’s Pizza well worth listening to. It communicates Jolly’s enjoyment writing it and the band’s pleasure in playing it; so it follows that we find it gratifying to hear. The compositions cover a range of observations about the human condition, but even when the topics are somber, the joy of the music prevails. It seems as though we are being performed for rather than just being presented with a collection of recorded songs...MORE

Hamilton Loomis - Live in England

Hamilton Loomis’ association with Bo Diddley has certainly been a promotional boon to his career, and while he often honors Diddley in performances and recordings, he is not an imitator. In addition to the overt homage, “Who Do You Love Medley,” during which he plays a signed Bo Diddley box guitar, Loomis incorporates Diddley’s signature beat into several songs (“Best Worst Day,” “Get My Blues On,” “Turnin’ Heads”). But, don’t expect a Diddley clone when you listen to Loomis’ modernized blues/rock/funk mix. Unlike the static harmony and rhythm often used by Diddley, Loomis employs richer, modulating harmonies, catchy, chromatic bluesy riffs and a complex rhythmic structure...MORE

Joshua Bell - Joshua Bell At Home With Friends

Renowned violinist, Joshua Bell has released Joshua Bell At Home With Friends, an eclectic mix of selections from disparate genres (bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock) and featuring a very diverse group of guest artists. At Home With Friends is meant to convey the experience of an intimate evening of chamber music like those Bell sometimes hosts in his New York home. The generous number of tracks (16) includes compositions by Gershwin, Regina Spektor, Lennon/McCartney, Edvard Grieg and Ravi Shankar. Guest artists include Sting, Chris Botti, Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Sam Bush and Marvin Hamlisch. And, through the software engineering magic of Zenph Studios, Sergei Rachmaninoff “performs” the second movement of Grieg’s “Sonata No. 3 in C Minor for Violin and Piano” along with Bell. As enjoyable as all of the other tracks may be, if you have the least bit of geek DNA you’ll find this technology and the results amazing...MORE

Poncho Sanchez - Psychedelic Blues

Poncho Sanchez is back with a great collection of material written by jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane and Horace Silver, as well as a couple of original compositions from within the band, all performed in the venerated traditional Afro-Cuban jazz style. The new release, Psychedelic Blues, is titled for a track composed by Sonny Henry who wrote Santana’s hit “Evil Ways” (also recorded by Willie Bobo). On recent albums (he has over 26 in addition to his recordings with Cal Tjader) Sanchez has shown a penchant for Stax R&B and Motown sounds, but on Psychedelic Blues he is back in his Be-Bop and Swing tinged Latin Jazz groove...MORE 

Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats - Meet The Meatbats

I recently watched, again, Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007. Bill Murray, as the host, said to the audience at one point, “…enough of the blues already. I’ve had it.” He was, of course, being facetious but the crowd shouted, “No! No!” That’s sort of the way I feel about Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats. There’s no such thing as too much. It’s not like Chad (Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chickenfoot) and the rest of the Meatbats—Kevin Chown, bass; Ed Roth, keyboards; and Jeff Kollman, guitar—weren’t already busy enough gratifying music lovers via other vehicles, but there’s always room for more...MORE

Ramsey Lewis - Songs From The Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey

Some artists never recover from success. Ever hear of the Swingin’ Medallions and their flash-in-the-pan 1966 Top 20 Hit, “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love”?* I didn’t think so—unless you’ve heard Bruce Springsteen surprise the crowd with it as a nostalgia piece at one of his live shows over the past couple of years. Another cut on the Double Shot album is “Hang On Sloopy” which just so happens to be the title track of a Gold Record recording of that same year (on Rhapsody) by the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Six degrees of separation not withstanding, we all know that Ramsey Lewis continued, and continues still at age 74, to explore, discover, and excel as an artist. Mr. Lewis’ longevity (80+ albums) is in part due to his awareness and avoidance of the pitfalls inherent in the extraordinary success early in his career. He is once again back in a trio setting on his new release, Songs From The Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey...MORE