Alex Brown is reviewed by Gapplegte Music Review

GAPPLEGATE MUSIC REVIEW
by:  Grego Applegate Edwards

Alex Brown, Pianist: Engaging Latin Jazz Progressive-Style

Alex Brown, young piano fire-starter, seems well on the way to a long tenure as a Latin Jazz adept, with instrumentality, leadership and conceptual-compositional flair. His first album, Alex Brown, Pianist (Paquito 4552) bears this out. It's a program of mostly Brown originals and the spark is there, from Brown and some choice sidemen.

Altoist Paquito d'Rivera, with whom Brown has had an important association, "presents" this recording and adds his alto to the brew. Warren Wolf's marimba, Ben Williams' contrabass, Eric Doob's drums, Vivek Patel's fluegel, and Pedro Martinez's Latin percussion grace the proceedings, some in and some laying out on occasion.

Danilo Perez may suggest himself for comparison. Like Perez, Brown is working on the expansion of the Latin Jazz sound to include modern jazz elements, further rhythmic sophistications and a piano style that includes some of the developments that McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and Chic Corea have worked out for themselves over time. That is only to say that both pianists are of their time and have listened to what has been going on on their instrument.

But Brown is still Brown, a musician moving onward to his own turf and bringing a vibrant compositional-ensemble sound to the forefront. And in the process there is some serious burning going on!

If you like Latin Jazz you should definitely check this one out. Alex Brown is headed somewhere and we can go along for the journey.

Congrats to Carol Morgan and Jacqui Sutton for Making C. Michael Bailey's Best of List for 2011

C. Michael Bailey Makes His Best Releases of 2011 List

As in 2010, this end-of-the-year best recordings list is drawn from albums awarded "five stars" on the author's score sheet when first reviewed.


Dana Lauren
It's You or No One
Vocalist Dana Lauren has a beautifully balanced alto voice that is pliant and malleable, one well suited for jazz. It's You or No One (Self Produced, 2010) was the singer's well-received debut, a smart collection of standards rendered well by top-notch musicians. Lauren sings inside and outside the box, straight-ahead and sideways with equal intensity and sensitivity. She is also effective in small spaces....continue.


Donny McCaslin
Perpetual Motion
Donny McCaslin's Perpetual Motion is an embarrassment of riches, employing a lineup populated by the edgiest, most progressive-thinking jazz musicians currently composing. Alto saxophonist David Binney (who also produces the disc), pianist Uri Caine, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Antonio Sanchez have been producing music that has positively expanded jazz music for the past decade...continue.

Jacqui Sutton
Billie & Dolly
Heaven knows that contemporary jazz vocals could use a shot of sense-of- humor. The scene hosts a legion of earnest singers paying tribute to their idols, firebrands intent on extending the already stretched-taut realms of scat and vocalese, and soccer moms and dads fulfilling a vanity ambition—all so serious. Sense of humor is in order, but not just any sense of humor will do; it has to be a smart sense of humor, not cheeky or rude, only clever and coy, wafting sophistication and panache...continue.


Sanda Weigl
Gypsy in a Tree
Romanian singer Sanda Weigl's story is a harrowing one that spans the full length of the Cold War, from pre-Ceausescu Romania to communist East Berlin to West Berlin before arriving most recently in New York City, at a time when many Gotham musicians were investigating Eastern European influences in Western music, making her expertise in Gypsy music immediately popular. A lifelong fan of Romanian Gypsy music, Weigl drank deep from all its influences, pouring her lifetime of musical and political experiences ...continue.


Julia Wedman
Biber—Mystery Sonatas
Before Perlman, Mutter and Mullova were Grumiaux, Heifetz and Stern. Preceding them were Berwald, Spohr and Paganini, and prior to them were Benda, Cannabich and Stamitz. Predating those composers were Vivaldi, Corelli and Bach. And, finally, before all of them was Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704). Biber was the foremost violinist and composer for the violin of the early Baroque period. ...continue.

REDS
Sign of Four
REDS is a quartet made up of an American expatriate and three Danes: baritone saxophonist Ed Epstein, guitarist Bjarne Roupe, bassist Goran Schelin and drummer Dennis Drud. Epstein and Roupe are close friends, and the saxophonist wanted a vehicle in which to collaborate with the guitarist. With this exegesis, the quartet was born ...continue.

Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra
Hot House Stomp
One of the beauties of long-lived music genres is if a current one becomes boring and the future looks, well, too futuristic, we can always go backwards, investigating earlier forms we may have not paid attention to earlier. And herein lies the value of Brian Carpenter's Hothouse Stomp: The Music of 1920 Chicago and Harlem. The music Carpenter concentrates on is big band music other than Duke Ellington and Count Basie, during the Jazz Age of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation ...continue.

Becca Stevens Band
Weightless
There is an artistic point where Jacqui Sutton (Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter Productions, 2010)), Gretchen Parlato (The Lost and Found (ObliqSound, 2011)) and Norah Jones (Feels Like Home (Blue Note Records, 2004)) intersect, giving rise to Becca Stevens, whose creative arc gains traction in a direction different from, but informed by, those singers. By combining Parlato's coquettish, diaphanous singing style, Sutton's rootsy, organic acoustic approach and Jones' tuneful composing, Stevens charts a course all her own in a spirited new direction...continue.

Art Pepper
Blues For The Fisherman
Laurie Pepper has been the lightning rod for the music of her late husband, Art Pepper, since the saxophonist's death at 56 in 1982. She took proper control of his musical legacy in 1981 on the advice of the couple's accountant, transferring ownership of the saxophonist's works and contracts to the entity Arthur Pepper Music Inc., where, as intellectual assets, the corpus was protected from outside encroachment...continue.

Tierney Sutton
American Road
Solidly innovative and a forward-thinker in jazz vocals arena over the past 15 years, Tierney Sutton has constantly looked backwards while forging a future path that has influenced the likes of Laurie Antonioli and Gretchen Parlato, among many other noted contemporary jazz vocalists. A master of vocal pyrotechnics like Sarah Vaughan, Sutton sings on a high-wire, taking stylistic chances that, more often than not, pay off handsomely ...continue.

Carol Morgan
Blue Glass Music

Trumpeter Carol Morgan's Blue Bamboo debut, Opening (2010) was received uniformly, with accolades from all quarters. The Texas-native cum Manhattan-ite exploded out of Julliard following the tutelage of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and seemed to be everywhere at once. Morgan has been a constant in the DIVA Jazz Orchestra (with Sharel Cassity), and fronting her quintet, Carol Morgan's Case Study, featuring pianist Helen Sung and guitarist Mike Moreno, and her organ trio, Morgana' Organic Trio, featuring Akiko Tsuruga...continue.

Microscopic Septet
Friday The Thirteenth: The Micros Play Monk
If two creative star trajectories were ever meant to cross, it was those of pianist/composer Thelonious Monk and the Microscopic Septet. Sure, Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron had a pretty good Monk gig going, and Sphere was a great tribute band lead by Monk's longtime tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (followed by Gary Bartz). But, the Micros...here are seven guys who really have Monk under their skin...continue.

Ray Charles
Singular Genius—The Complete ABC Singles
Handsomely appointed, Concord's Singular Genius—The Complete ABC Singles offers an example of intelligent and succinct programming and assembly in the waning days of the compact disc. This individual items collection were produced during the heyday of the 45 RPM single, which is to say during the time of alphanumeric telephone exchanges. It represents all of Charles' ABC single releases between 1960 ("My Baby, I Love Her Yes I Do") and 1973 ("Ring of Fire"). What exists in between is nothing less than the most important soul and rhythm and blues recordings of the period....continue.

Various Artists
This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45rpm 1957-1982
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there was a renewal in interest in American prewar folk music, particularly early jazz, rural blues and black gospel music. This occurred primarily because a small knot of British and American, slightly obsessive-compulsive, record collectors and/or academics turned their attention from old jazz on 78rpm discs to similarly esoteric sound recordings made in the middle-to-late 1920s by a small din of African-American musicians who doubled as day laborers in the rich and unforgiving Mississippi Delta region....continue.

Fourthought is reviewed by Jazz Times

CD Review: Fourthought
by:  Wilbert Sostre

Those who think young jazz musicians do not know how to swing should listen to "Laucerny" the first track of New York City-based Jazz quartet Fourthought self-titled debut album. These guys can swing or play ballads "Intercession" and "A Change of Heart" with the conviction of seasoned jazz musicians.

Bassist, Cameron Kayne and drummer, Manuel Weyand provide a solid rhythmic foundation to Saxophonist, Nick Biello's limitless stack of phrases and pianist,  Kerong Chok's ellegant improvisations.

Saxophonist, Nick Biello and drummer, Manuel Weyand lead the quartet and wrote all the tracks except for the cool, slower version of the classic "Green Dolphin Street." In their music one may hear the hard swing of straigth ahead jazz "Laucerny", fusion jazz "Arrival", or the sounds of modern jazz, "Amethyst".

Musicians: Nick Biello - alto and soprano saxophone, Manuel Weyand - drums, Cameron Kayne - bass, Kerong Chok - piano

Tracks: Laucerny, Rumi-Native, Green Dolphin Street, Intercession, Arrival, A Change of Heart, Amethyst

Freddy V is reviewed by Jazz Times

CD Review: Freddy V - Easier than it looks

by:  Wilbert Sostre

Easier than it looks is Freddy V's debut album after his experience working with The Average White Band, and performances with Michael McDonald, Hall and Oates, Chaka Khan, The Four Tops, Blood Sweat and Tears, and The Temptations.

Fans of the soothing, mellow sounds of smooth jazz will love the music of Freddy V. The tonal beauty of Freddy's saxophone shines all throughout the album on the gospel like "You Can't Have It All", the bluesy "Finally Home", the funky tracks "Sumthin Have Got B Did", "The Dance We Do", "Any Other Way", "Sandbag" and the ballads "Let's Go Round Again", "Nashville", "What Kind of Man Would I Be". Klyde Jones adds the vocals to "Let's Go Round Again", "Nashville", and "You Can't Have It All".

Tracks: Sumthin have got 2 b did, Rush, Let's go round again, The dance we do (kirkish), Nashville, Any other way, What kind of man would I be, You can't have it all, Sandbag (For Hiram), Lisi, Finally home, Sumthin (reprise)

Kate Reid & Andrea Wood Make Girlsingers 2011 Bakers Dozen Top List

2011 – A Baker’s Dozen

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Doug Boynton

2

I thought I was going to be lazy and throw a little something together with a few tracks that bubbled to my “heavy rotation list” on the iPod this year.

First, it was tougher than I thought it was going to be.  Second, I sort of got into it as I went along.  They’re more or less in chronological order – starting from January.

“My Favorite Things,” from
Andrea Wood – Dhyana

I had the pleasure of seeing Andrea Wood perform live. Did that bring this young woman to my attention? You bet.

“Her treatment of ‘My Favorite Things,’” I wrote, “…that same tune Julie Andrews waltzed through in ‘Sound Of Music’ is instantly recognizable just before it impulsively ducks down a side street and emerges as something else entirely, something shimmery…”

All the tracks were good, but this was the best from this eclectic disc.

---

“Close Enough For Love,” from
Kate Reid – The Love I’m In

Kate Reid took this semi-classic from Johnny Mandel and Paul Williams out onto the freeway for a treatment that managed to be a ballad, and not a ballad all at the same time. This is a recording the publicist had to talk me into giving a second listen. I’m glad that happened.

I wrote, “…this velvety, smoldering voice with the phrasing that takes all these ultra-familiar tunes down unfamiliar streets that would upset mama, if she knew.”

Jocelyn Medina is reviewed by All About Vocals

Jocelyn Medina, We Are Water

by:  Constance Tucker

Jocelyn Medina is an accomplished and pedigreed vocalist who has studied opera at Stanford University, earned a Bachelor’s degree in professional music from Berklee College of Music and a Masters degree in Vocal Jazz Performance from Manhattan School of Music. With those qualifications it not surprising that her latest endeavor entitled We Are Water is a tour de force.

What makes an outstanding vocal release is equal parts vocal prowess coupled with and equally talented ensemble.  So, many times with vocal jazz CDs unfortunately the ensemble steps all over the vocalist overfilling the space with their voicings and ideas, and not allowing the vocalist to stretch out and create a storyline upon an uncluttered canvas, which is a complete mystery to me as to why.  Jazz is a conversation, and the conversation does not work well unless each person speaking gives the other person the space and room to speak.  However, when this level of respect occurs, magic begins.  This is the case with Medina’s ensemble, the conversation is compelling  and the ensemble is tasteful, while Medina conveys the lyrical and musical storyline, but when it’s time to solo, each musician adds to the fabric; binding and uplifting the entire project to its true purpose of bringing joy and unselfishly designed pleasure to the listener.

Brazilian flavoring is a recurring spice throughout the CD, cuts such as; “Cosmic,” and “Time and Place” are fine examples of Latin excursions.   The title track “We Are Water” is a poignant ballad that lyrically reflects the message of a better understanding of humanity.  “Natural” sports a clever lyric message that leaves the listener pondering more.

Medina offers the jazz listener a musical journey that takes the foundation of Latin and Jazz idioms and successfully redefines the experience with thought provoking lyrics and vocal abilities far beyond the norm, Medina uses her voice as an instrument, storyteller, and invites the listener to delve into the corners of their mind with lyrics that reflect life and human conditions.  Medina is a masterful lyricist, composer and vocalist.  Certainly, all of her training was a strong foundation, but to Medina’s credit – she has taken that foundation and built a skyscraper, shining in the NY sun, with We Are Water.

Charlotte Clare is reviewed by All About Vocals

An Island Christmas, Charlotte Clare
by: Constance Tucker

Where has Charlotte Clare been hiding? Well, that is easy to answer – on the beautiful Gold Coast. Thank goodness, she is being imported to our neck of the woods per se. This is the real deal folks, this young lady has pipes to spare and the soulfulness of Mariah Carey, but in a jazzy setting. Produced by legendary guitarist Louie Shelton the Christmas offering has a slick, yet accessible sound that is guaranteed to warm the cockles of your holiday collection.

Filled with recognizable Christmas nuggets, but with an island twist, the listener is immediately transported to a sunny spot on the beach sipping scrumptious libations and all the stresses of the season melt away in the Australian sun. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is flavored with congas, strings and catchy rhythms all wrapped up in a holiday sheen and topped with Clare’s very inviting, warm and soaring alto vocals. I cannot say it enough; this is truly an enjoyable vocalist with talent oozing from every fiber of her being.

“Comfort and Joy” has a Miles Davis style trumpet sound that gives the track a cool jazz overtone. Trumpeter, Scott Browne does an outstanding job on this cut, lightly sprinkled with soft brushes from drummer, Louie Shelton and soft appropriate touches from pianist, Jacques Samuel Appapoulay the track has a true holiday jazz sound. Clare expresses a softer side of her voice with delicate diction and warm timbres. Shelton also delivers an inspired guitar solo.

“Jingle Bell Rock” is given a big horn sound with a prancing feel, certainly appropriate for the lyric and feeling of the lyric. It is a fun, playful track that will immediately make your foot tap and your hips move. Definitely what the holidays offer. Clare’s voice is saucy and focused and Shelton’s solo is a pickin’ and grinnin’ winner. Appapoulay adds a nice Hammond overtone to give the track a deeper gospel sound.

The Gold Coast has certainly found its gem; thank goodness they are willing to share her with us. An Island Christmas with Charlotte Clare is a triumphant holiday recording, filled with new takes on old chestnuts, top notch production, very adept musicians and an introduction to a vocalist who will undoubtedly be the next vocal sensation in the coming year. Watch for Charlotte Clare, it will be a name you remember once you hear her sing first few notes. Highly Recommended.

Marita Brake's New Song Shaken Not Stirred

THE NEW MARITA BRAKE SONG

SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

Danielle Reich is reviewed by Celebrity Cafe

Danielle Reich: This Year's Kisses review

12/28/2011

Adam Morrison

Warm, friendly jazz album that shows creativity without straying too far from what makes the source material strong.

On her new album, This Year's Kisses, vocalist Danielle Reich displays diverse influence, but it's the consistently displayed qualities that make it a winning effort.

From the opener, "On the Street Where You Live," I was struck by how Danielle stays faithful to melodies without delivering them the exact same way each time, and how instead of laying a lot of inflection on words or emoting more than necessary, she communicates just enough of the emotion of the lyrics while letting her friendly tone be the most prominent element of her delivery.

The band—trumpeter Carol Morgan, who also produced the album, tenor saxophonist Seth Paynter, pianist Andrew Lienhard, bassist David Craig, and drummer Daleton Lee—have an economic approach, showing creativity in the arrangements and their playing while letting the strong material mostly sell itself. The solos pick up smoothly from what's come before but have their own expressive and sometimes exploratory qualities, and they never last so long or go so off the map that the listener forgets what song is playing.

Some album highlights include Danielle showing off her French on "Ne Me Quitte Pas"—interestingly, although I don't know what many of the words in this song mean, I'm as engaged by the emotive vocal performance here at least as much as I am anywhere else on the album—, her slow, somewhat cinematic 

singing on "If I Love You," and the upbeat treatment of "Speak Low."

With some Latin influence and some French influence, some swing, hard bop, and straight ahead jazz, Danielle, Carol, and the group have delivered a twelve-track album that is clearly made by professional, focused musicians that are very familiar with the source material, and the appeal of the music should be wide as the approach is serious but the final product is pleasant and not the least bit intimidating.

Alex Brown, Freddy V and Troy Roberts Make O's Place Top Contemporaty Jazz Selections for 2011

Congratulations to Alex Brown, Freddy V and Troy Roberts

for making O's Place Jazz Newsletter 

Top Contemporary Jazz Selections for 2011

2011 Contemporary Jazz Golden Selections
O's 5-Rated Performances
Artist	Title	Label	Perf	Snd	Type
Various Artists	The Cool Revolution	CTI Records	5	5	R&B Jazz
Alex Brown	Pianist	Paquito Records	5	4	Fusion
Corea, Clarke & White	Forever	Concord	5	4	Fusion
Lou Volpe	Here and Now	Jazz Guitar	5	4	Fusion
Richard Elliot	In The Zone	Artistry	5	4	Pop Jazz
Freddy V	Easier Than It Looks	Freddy V Music	5	3	funky
Renée Yoxon & René Gely	Let's Call It A Day	Renée Yoxon	5	3	Pop Jazz
Troy Roberts	Nu-Jive	Troy Roberts	5	3	R&B Jazz
Marcus Shelby	Soul of the Movement	Porto Franco	5	3	R&B Jazz
Click on artist to BUY NOW!!

Woody Witt is reviewed by Jazz Police

Woody Witt Stirs and Simmers His “Pots and Kettles” (2011, Blue Bamboo Music)

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor



Houston-based saxophonist/educator Woody Witt already has a glowing resume of recordings, and his new Pots and Kettles further underscores his golden touch as performer, composer and ensemble leader. And he has, once again, assembled a stellar cast in support of his eclectic agenda—pianist Gary Norian (who contributes 5 compositions), bassist Anthony Sapp, drummer Mark Simmons, and guitarist Chris Cortez, who appears on three tracks. Witt himself supplies three original tunes, with 2 from the great Eddie Harris adding some bluesy soul to the mix.

Witt, who plays both soprano and tenor here, offers the assertive bop of “The Loop,” a soundtrack of urban rush hour. His elegant “Just Because,” missing only lyrics in suggesting a great songbook standard, brings out the melodic finesse of the quartet, Norian as lush and sweet as Nat King Cole, while “Loose Change” brings a touch of darkness and mystery, with some haunting lines from guitarist Cortez and slipknots from Witt’s tenor sax.

The pair from the Eddie Harris songbook include his funky hit, “Listen Here,” giving Witt a chance to prove his serious soul chops while Sapp and Cortez add swampy detours. Sapp in particular conjures a few night creatures that hoot and holler throughout, with Norian adding some dazzling flourishes. "Listen Here,” indeed-- there’s a lot going on, and it’s all fun and nasty. Harris’s “Crying Blues” opens with a tenor and drum duet before the full band (with Cortez) joins in, providing a soulful, percussive backdrop.

Pianist Norian penned the remaining tracks, starting with the opening title tune, a melodic sojourn that shows layers of Witt, from simple blowing to building improvisation into spirals of fiery lyricism. “Slink” has a Monkish framework suggesting “Epistrophy,” swinging with a quirky, bluesy step while Witt conjures an old “slinky” toy that ascends and descends, twisting all the way. Norian’s interlude is filled with energetic musings, and Sapp keeps the pulse strong and deep. Witt offers an a cappella introduction on soprano to launch “Heart First.” The ensemble enters gently, as if tiptoeing into church mid-hymn, gaining more solid footing as hymn becomes incantation. Bass and drums are particularly effective in feeding the congregation some energy and soul. “The Deprivator” starts off in angular mode with some subtle rhythmic hestitations before settling into a more full-throttle blues, Witt’s tenor leading the playful charge. The set closes with “Never Very Far,” another prayerful ballad highlighting the affinity of piano and soprano sax, and the caressing brushwork of Mark Simmons.

Witt has consistently shown his versatility through his previous recordings. Pots and Kettles adds to that reputation, revealing an artist who can evoke a wide range of styles and moods while speaking in his own voice, and then assemble his eclectic jigsaw into a whole that is both elegant and high-spirited.

Fred Fried is reviewed by Jazz Inside Magazine

CD Review: Fred Fried and Core - Encore

Contributors: Wilbert Sostre

Fred Fried and Core - Encore

• Genre: Jazz - Contemporary
• Personnel:
  Musicians: Fred Fried - guitar, Michael Lavoie - bass, Miki Matsuki - drums

---

Fred Fried started playing guitar late when studying at Boston University. And was influenced by guitar players like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell as well as piano players like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Brad Mehldau. In fact his guitar style has a distinct piano like quality.

Encore is Fried eight album as a leader and the second with the Core trio format. And yet another opportunity to enjoy Fried eight string guitar. The two extra strings allows Fried to be more creative harmonically and to develop a fuller, richer sound.

As in their first album the emphasis here is on the composition even though each one of the members are accomplished improvisers.

Michael Lavoie on bass and Miki Matsuki on drums provide a strong rhytmic foundation to Fried gorgeous sound and his eleven original compositions.

On the tracks "Spring overture" and "Come each a simple idea" is more traditional straight ahead jazz and bebop. But each piece on this album reflects the diverse influences on Fried music. The Burrell like style in the bluesy "Karenina", the waltz "Three Fall", the kind of flamenco rasgado style on "Sing me a puzzle", the japanese intro and harmonies of "Currents above currents below".

The album ends with the beautiful solo guitar piece "The threads that hold the world".

Alex Brown is reviewed by Jazz Inside Magazine

CD Review: Alex Brown - Pianist

Contributors: Wilbert Sostre

• Genre: Jazz
• Personnel:
  Alex Brown - piano, Paquito D'Rivera - alto saxophone, clarinet, Vivek Patel - flugelhorn, Ben Williams - bass, Eric Doob - drums, Warren Wolf - marimba, Pedro Martinez, percussion
• Tracks:
  Prologue, Warm Blooded, The Wrong Jacket, Lamentos, Elektric, Waltz, Buleria, Leaving, Just one of those things

---

With a Bachelor degree from New England Conservatory where he studied with Danilo Perez, Alex Brown is a richly inventive improviser with a good sense of melody. My first contact with Alex Brown music was a couple of years back when I saw him playing in the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest with a group of talented Berkeley jazz students called La Timbistica, that included another young virtuoso, Puerto Rican flutist Kalani Trinidad. I was pretty impressed by these young musicians and knew back then, that live performance was just the beginning of great things to come for these guys. It turns out I was right, Kalani just released his first record in 2011 and pianist Alex Brown release his debut album Pianist.

In "Prologue", a mix of funk, latin beats and Jazz, Brown style and phrasing with its ostinato melody themes are reminiscent of the jazz fusion of pianist Chick Corea. Brown even dedicate the composition "Elektric" to Corea.

The tempo slow down for "Waltz", the Danzon-like "Leaving" and the jazz ballad "Warm Blooded", relaxed pieces with thoughtful solos by Brown on piano and Vivek Patel on the flugelhorn.

On his debut album, Brown reveals himself also as an outstanding composer. His music has a strong latin influence as it can be heard all throghout the album especially on tracks like "The Wrong Jacket". This track contains rhythms similar to those of the Puerto Rican and even some piano montunos played by Brown.

"The Wrong Jacket", "Buleria" and the brazilian choro by Pixinguinha "Lamentos" includes the wonderful saxophone and clarinet of special guest and mentor, Paquito D'Rivera. Brown is the pianist in D'Rivera group. The album close with a complex, kind of funky arrangement of Cole Porter "Just one of those things".

Pamela Hines is reviewed by Jazz Inside Magazine

CD Review: Pamela Hines Trio & April Hall - Lucky's Boy

Contributors: Wilbert Sostre

• Genre: Jazz
• Personnel:
  Musicians - Pamela Hines - piano, April Hall - vocals, John Lockwood - bass, Les Harris Jr. - drums
• Tracks:
  Dreamerman, Where I Started, Lucky's Boy, Moment, Twilight Joy (Winter in New England) Idle Chatter, Welcome Blues, Porter Please, Spectrum

---

Now living in Boston, Pamela Hines grew up in Acton, Massachusetts and has a Masters Degree from the New England Conservatory.

On her previous album Hines demonstrated she has the ability to compose interesting and complex jazz instrumentals. On her new release Lucky's Boy Hines shows she is just as good as a songwriter. A lot of the songs on this album have the quality of a Jazz standard, starting with the swingin "Dreamerman", the Cole Porter inspired "Porter Please" and the tempo changes of "Where I Started". Hines piano playing all throughout is as always sharp, poetic and refined.

The exquisite, soulful vocals of April Hall deliver every lyric with emotion and conviction. Especially on the jazz waltz "Lucky's Boy", and the ballads "Idle Chatter" and "Welcome Blues".

"Spectrum" is the more experimental and complex track on the album, both harmonically and rhythmically and the track "Moment" shows how Bossa Nova is part of the vocabulary of almost every jazz composer.

Mindy Canter is reviewed by Jazz Inside Magazine

CD Review: Mindy Canter - Fluteus Maximus

Contributors: Wilbert Sostre

• Genre: Jazz - Contemporary
• Personnel:
  Mindy Canter - flute, keyboards, vocals, Denny Geyer - guitar and vocals, Roy Blumenfeld - drums, Paul Smith - bass
• Tracks:
  Slider, Watermelon Man, Memphis Underground, Do it again, Karma, Mercy mercy mercy, High heel sneakers, Funny how time slips away, Halleluyah, 16 Tons, Over the rainbow, Happy Trails

---

A flutist with a warm, mellow tone, Mindy Canter began playing piano at age 4 and flute at the age of 9.

Her third album Fluteus Maximus starts with "Slider", an original funky composition with accesible melodies, plus an Hammond B3 organ and electric guitar sound that adds to the 70's funk style.t he second track is a softer, kind of sexy version of Herbie Hancock "Watermelon Man". Canter does a similar kind of arrangement of another classic "Mercy Mercy Mercy".

The danceable beat of "Memphis Underground" also has elements of funk and in "Do it again" Mindy and company goes into smooth jazz territory with a touch of rock.

"Karma" another Canter original is one of the jazzier tracks on the release. This time the Hammond organ brings back memories of Jimmy Smith.

"High heel sneakers", "Halleluyah", "16 Tons" and "Funny how time slips awayal" are pure blues with guitarrist Denny Geyer doing an excellent work on vocals.

The album close with "Happy Trails" and an upbeat arrangement of "Over the Rainbow"