CD Review: Ezra Weiss - The Shirley Horn Suite

Portland based pianist/composer Ezra Weiss' fifth release is a tribute to Shirley Horn, who died in 2005 at age 71. Horn was an excellent pianist and sensitive vocalist, and a Grammy Award-winner in 1991, for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.
Weiss is certainly an extraordinaire composer, the winner of three ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards. Five of the nine compositions on The Shirley Horn Suite are Weiss originals, including "Shirley Horn's Sound Of Love," "May The Most You Wish For," the Broadway-influenced "Now That You Mention It" and "I Wish I'd Met You."

As a pianist, Weiss' style is subtle, playing just what is necessary to accompany Shirley Nanette's heartfelt vocals, minimalist and precise on instrumentals including "The Great City," "Blues For Porgy," "Estate," "Something Happens To Me" and Gershwin's "I Love You Porgy." His improvisations lean towards the harmonic, reminiscent at times of pianist like Vince Guaraldi and Ramsey Lewis.

Drummer Steve Williams and bassist Corcoran Holt—masterful musicians, both—complete the trio on this wonderful tribute to one of the best jazz singers of the late 20th century.

Track Listing: I Wish I'd Met You; The Great City; Shirley Horn's Sound Of Love; Blues For Shirley; I Love You Porgy; Now That You Mention It; Estate; Something Happens To Me; May The Most You Wish For.

Personnel: Ezra Weiss: piano; Corcoran Holt: bass; Steve Williams: drums; Shirley Nanette: voice (1, 3, 6, 9).

CD Review: The Brian Landrus Quartet - Traverse

Jazz fans often cite Gerry Mulligan as the most recognized baritone saxophonist in jazz, but for most, the list stops there. Why the baritone saxophone is not a more popular instrument in jazz is uncertain; in the right hands, the instrument has a warmth and tonal beauty unlike any other.
Baritone saxophonist Brian Landrus is a rising star, with two Masters degrees in jazz composition and performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston, He is also a winner of Downbeat Magazine's 2010 International Critics Poll.

In Traverse, one of two albums recorded for his own label Blue Land Records, Landrus delivers a collection of outstanding compositions and jazz standard, played with technical and emotional intensity. Whether on swinging tracks like "Traverse" and "Creeper," or ballads like "Lone" and "Soundwave," Landrus displays a strong, beautiful tone, and a sublime sound, played over the strong rhythm section of bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drummer Billy Hart.

Landrus' ability to convey many emotions can be fully appreciated on "Soul and Body," a solo intro to his beautiful rendition of the jazz standard, "Body and Soul," while pianist Michael Cain adds some sensitive and flawless improvisations on "Gnosis" and "Lydian 4"

Hopefully Landrus' brilliant playing will inspire more young people to play this wonderful instrument.

Track Listing: Traverse; Gnosis; Lone; Lydian 4; Soul And Body; Body And Soul; Creeper; Soundwave.

Personnel: Brian Landrus: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Lonnie Plaxico: bass; Michael Cain: piano; Billy Hart: drums.

CD Review: Fred Hersch - Alone at the Vanguard

Alone at The Vanguard is pianist Fred Hersch's first solo performance at New York's Village Vanguard, after his serious illness and coma in 2008. The release was recorded during the final set on the last night of his six-day run in 2010, and the solo recital format gives the disc an intimate, almost classical music feel, engendering a full appreciation of Hersch's emotional and technical intensity.


A three-time Grammy nominee, two as a pianist and one as a composer, Hersch possesses a remarkable ability to cross from classical to jazz with ease. His classical style and lyricism are present on "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning," "Echoes" and "Pastorale," dedicated to composer Robert Schumann.



His superb interpretation of two originals, "Down Home," dedicated to Bill Frisell and "Lee's Dream," dedicated to Lee Konitz, as well as Thelonious Monk's "Work"—rhythmically reminiscent of ragtime—show Hersch's deep roots in the jazz tradition.



The performance also included the elegant samba, "Doce de Coco," the beautiful ballad "Memories of You" and, for an encore, a masterful version of Sonny Rollins' "Doxy."



Alone at The Vanguard is a clear statement that Hersch is back in top form, and that is surely good news for jazz.

Track Listing: In the wee small hours; Down Home; Echoes; Lee's Dream; Pastorale; Doce de Coco; Memories Of You; Work; Doxy.

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano

CD Review: Michel Reis - Point of No Return

The trio on Michel Reis' Point Of No Return is a testament to the international character of jazz music, especially in the 21th century. A pianist/composer from Luxemburg, Reis studied jazz performance and composition at Berklee College of Music. Adam Cruz is a Latin American drummer, born in New York, whose experience includes playing with Chick Corea and Danilo Perez. Bassist Tal Gamlieli is another amazing musician coming from Israel. The common ground here is the international language of jazz.
There's plenty of improvisation, and harmonic and rhythmic challenging moments: the tempo changes on the lullaby-like "Sailing Away At Night"; the moderate swing on "Street Of Memories"; Vivek Patel's thoughtful flugelhorn improvisations on "It's Only Been a Dream"; and Cruz's powerful drum solo on "Point Of No Return." But the emphasis is on Reis' smart, ingenious and well-constructed compositions.

Reis plays with a good sense of melody, mixed with sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic lines throughout—and, coming from Europe, his music is sometimes relaxing yet complex, and always creative, with a distinct European classical feel. The flugelhorn and soprano sax on "The Power of Beauty" adds to the orchestral feel of Reis' music.

With musicians and composers like this, there is no doubt that the future of jazz is in good hands.

Track Listing: The Power Of Beauty; Folk Song; Sailing Away At Night; It's Only Been A Dream; Point Of No Return; Riverside Drive; Street Of Memories; Leaning In Towards Tomorrow; The Sad Clown.

Personnel: Michel Reis: piano; Tal Gamlieli: bass; Adam Cruz: drums; Vivek Patel: flugelhorn (1, 4, 6); Aaron Kruziki: soprano saxophone (1).

CD Review: Michael Feinberg - With Many Hands

Bassist Michael Feinberg is a good example of the new breed of young jazz musicians equally comfortable playing a diversity of jazz styles. On With Many Hands, Feinberg's music goes from bebop to avant-garde, and from a ballad to a funky rhythm—sometimes in the same song—with amazing ease and conviction. Surely it all comes from Feinberg eclectic taste in music that also includes rock, hip hop and bluegrass.


"The Hard Stuff" has elements of avant-garde at the beginning, before it moves into a nice, funky groove. Feinberg turns drummer Daniel Platzman's original "Temple Tales," with touches of dissonance and free improvisation, into a swinging track, while the balladic "NBD" slowly grows in intensity, and contains some of the album's best improvisation.



The duo of alto saxophonist Godwin Louis and tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger delivers inventive and thoughtful solos over Platzman and Feinberg's solid rhythm foundation, especially on "Fighting Monster" and "Lost And Found," the release's jazzier tracks, both bordering on bebop.



The creativity, high energy, and emotional intensity of these musicians, along with their outstanding compositions, makes With Many Hands, an album worth hearing.

Track Listing: With Many Hands; Temple Tales; NBD; The Hard Stuff; August; Fighting Monsters; Lost And Found.

Personnel: Michael Feinberg: bass; Noah Preminger: tenor saxophone; Godwin Louis: alto saxophone; Julian Shore: piano; Daniel Platzman; Alex Wintz: guitar.

CD Review: Suzanne Pitson - Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard

The vocalese and scatting tradition is alive and well in singer Suzanne Pittson. With Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard, Pittson continues to establish herself as one of the best singers on today's jazz scene.
Out of the Hub includes tunes written by or associated with trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with Pittson writing or co-writing five lyrics, which Hubbard approved just three months before his passing in 2008.

To honor Hubbard, Pittson recruited a group of extraordinaire musicians, including trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and bassist John Patitucci, who add—along with saxophonist Steve Wilson and the rest of Pittson's quintet—dazzling improvisations throughout.

More than just a singer, Suzanne Pittson is a jazz musician. With a fluid phrasing and stunning tone, Pittson use her voice as another instrument, improvising and playing with the melodies. Pittson's striking sense of melody and amazing vocal range allow her to express a vast palette of colors and textures on swinging tracks like "True Vision," "You're My Everything" and "We're Having a Crisis," and on ballads including "Bright Sun," Moment to Moment" and "Betcha by Golly, Wow!" Following in the steps of the great Ella Fitzgerald, Pittson is also a master of the scatting technique, as shown on "Our Own" and "Out of the Hub."

All the arrangements are by pianist/husband Jeff Pittson, and the cover design is a creation of their son Evan, who also wrote the lyrics to "Out of the Hub."

Track Listing: Our Own (Gibraltar); Up Jumped Spring; Out of the Hub (One of Another Kind); Bright Sun (Lament for Booker); True Visions (True Colors); You're My Everything; We're Having a Crisis; Moment to Moment; Lost and Found (The Melting Pot); Like a Byrd; Betcha by Golly, Wow!

Personnel: Suzanne Pittson: voice; Jeremy Pelt: trumpet, flugelhorn; Steve Wilson: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Jeff Pittson: piano; John Patitucci: bass; Willie Jones III: drums

CD Review: Nicholas Urie - My Garden

The combination of poetry and music is not new. Spain and Latin America have a great tradition of poetry musicalization. As part of the Nueva Trova style of the 1970s, singers like Silvio Rodriguez, Mercedes Sosa, Atahaulpa Yupanqui and Roy Brown set the poetry of some of Latin America's best writers to music.
Being that jazz is mostly an instrumental form, its fusion with poetry is not that common, which is one of the aspects that makes Nicholas Urie's My Garden so unique. Still in his mid-twenties, Urie is already a recognized composer/conductor, and has led large jazz ensembles as well as symphony orchestras.

After his critically acclaimed debut, Excerpts from an Online Dating Service (Red Piano Records (2009), Urie comes back with the equally creative My Garden, focusing on the poems of Charles Bukowski, born in Germany in 1920 but already living in the United States by1923. This poet/novelist's writing style has been described as minimalist and his poetry as sober, direct, realistic and sometimes crude. So the challenge here was to take that approach and translate it into music.

Urie—conducting a big band of great musicians—rises to the challenge, delivering arrangements with a good balance of simplicity and sophistication that perfectly reflects the mood and meaning of Bukowski's poems. The arrangements vary, from the classical feel of "My Garden" and march-like "For Crying Out Loud," to the swing tempo on "Round and Round," funky groove of "Lioness," and cinematic mood on "Slaughterhouse." With a tone reminiscent of Cassandra Wilson, Christine Correa is ideal for Bukowski' poetry, her empathy translating what Bukowski was feeling when he wrote lines like, "pain is a flower; pain is flowers blooming all the time" adds emotional depth to Urie's music.

Track Listing: Winter: My 44th Year; Round and Round; My Garden; For Crying Out Loud; Lioness; Slaughterhouse; Lean; Finality.

Personnel: Christine Correa: voice; Jeremy Udden: soprano saxophone; Douglas Yates: alto saxophone, clarinet; Kenny Pexton: tenor saxophone; Brian Landrus: bass clarinet; Albert Leusink: trumpet; Ben Holmes: trumpet; John Carlson: trumpet; Alan Ferber: trombone; Max Siegel: trombone; Frank Carlberg: piano, rhodes; John Hébert: bass; Michael Sarin: drums; Nicholas Urie: conductor.