The Classical test Source For All The Performing, Visual And Literary Arts & Entertainment News
Jazz/Blues

Mack Avenue Is Filled with Hot Movement as Kenny Garrett Demands 'Do Your Dance!' [REVIEW]

'Do Your Dance!' (Mack Avenue) is yet another chapter of a book long unfinished traversing Kenny Garrett's time in the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, the Five Peace Band with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, his apprenticeships in the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Donald Byrd, Miles Davis and as an international phenomenon both solo and with Sting. Most Garrett CDs are among the best of the year. This is no exception.
By Mike Greenblatt

  • Drummer/Composer Steve Fidyk is Buoyed by 'Allied Forces' on New Posi-Tone Release [REVIEW]

    One realizes just how special 'Allied Forces' (Posi-Tone) by Steve Fidyk is about halfway through Monk opener "Evidence." Dealing with Monk's myriad changes and convoluted thought processes in a shiny new irresistible way has that good new-car smell about it that hooks you right in, and it's like that for the duration, partly because guitarist Shawn Purcell and tenor saxist Doug Webb make the absolute most of their opportunity here.
    By Mike Greenblatt

  • Be Forewarned: Nothing Is What it Seems on 'Shelter', Sebastian Noelle [REVIEW]

    Nothing is what it seems on New York City guitarist-composer Sebastian Noelle's 'Shelter' (Fresh Sound New Talent). Its 10 original quintet tracks in 67:43 surprise and delight when they all seem to morph into something different, many in mid-tune! Influences as varied as German literature, Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal and ragas from India butt heads in this free-wheeling montage of sound.
    By Mike Greenblatt