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05/28/22
TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO/Opening: If you hated all that humming you heard down in the mix the first time you heard Keith Jarrett on cd, Gustavsen is the piano player for you. An adventurous piano man with a lot of facets to his playing, he'll take you on a piano journey---now made with less humming. The ‘you are there' thing can be cool, but with a real artistic cat---not so much. First class listening jazz all the way.
(ECM 2742)
JON BALKE/Siwan Halfa: Take the mysterious middle eastern elements Leonard Cohen would infuse his later works with, add the new age touches of Loreena McKennitt to the proceedings and wrap it all around this piano man and his large but subtle ensemble. You get a really cool world beat date that's as far from static as you can get. Easily turning any rec room into an opium den, this is some really smoking stuff for smoking some really smoking stuff to.
(ECM 2726)
NYO JAZZ/We're Still Here: A big band sized crew of youngsters making their recording debut, this is equal to that of anything coming out of Lincoln Center. With a smattering of everything from modern to classic tunes, these kids have the drive to keep your toes warm on any cool to cold night. Of course, loaded with being bright and brassy, they play with emotion and soul and are into this way deeper that just trying to get parental approval. Hot stuff with Sean Jones leading the way really letting his chops fly.
JOEY ALEXANDER/Origin: Someone wanted to make sure this young blood rolled out of the gate right and they put their shoulder to the wheel. A first class piano man wise beyond his years, he holds his own as a leader with a bunch of pros at his command. Bristling with the surge of youth powering a force that wants to explode in all direction at once, he has the energy and high octane to power a whole career just off this release. Another star of tomorrow that's here to day.
(Mack Avenue 1198)
STEVE DAVIS/Bluesthetic: The bone man is surrounded by esteemed cats that have all known each other 30 years or more. They all show up with chops so tuned up that there's not a note of complacency any where on this set. Just jazzbos that know what to do out there doing their thing, this dream team gives Davis' program of all originals the respect that an A team knows how to show. Wonderful straight ahead stuff that continually chases away the blues.
(Smoke Sessions 2202)
EVAN DRYBREAD/Tiger Tale: This young sax man is the latest in a long line to show the jazz scene in Indian-no place is still alive and well. A straight up player that keeps the finger popping going, he has the sound that always welcome as the evening gets a little later and stretching out is encouraged. Solid stuff that you wouldn't expect to come roaring out of the middle of nowhere.
DANA FITZSIMONS/Fault Lines: He started out on trumpet but switched to drums in law school. Do you think he was inspired by Al Pacino in "And Justice for All" by wanting to pound on tables and holler ‘you're out of order!"? Fitzsimmons already has a good piano man otherwise we might have to say it's a shame Dave Miler is on the other coast which would inhibit them getting together. A solid set of left leaning sitting down jazz, these sophisticated sounds are right at home with some Remy and your thoughts. Well done.
DOUG MUNRO (LE POMP ATTACK)/Putt Lake Toodleloo: One of those kind of hardest working guys you probably never heard of, Munro dusts off his ax for his 20th recording to chase down the sounds that motivate and inspire him from Django to Wayne Shorter with a few big pop stops in between. Playing like you think he could break into "Mysterious Mose" at any moment, he's as serious as he is wily and knows how to deliver a solid good time. The cat is a real gasser that can probably play anything.
(Got Music 1005)
ROGER LEWIS/Alright!: C'mon, it's always cool when you can admire an old guy for something other than being old. Making his debut as a leader at 80, the sax man has been playing around Nawlins in one form or another for 65 years, including 45 with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. With everything you could want about classic Nawlins jazz/funk on display and brought forward, this high octane smoker has us hoping we won't have to wait another 65 years for the follow up. This is Nawlins that's not for tourists--especially if they can't handle the real thing.
(Irresistible Revolutionary 28)
DON PAUL/Love Over War: Not all old hippies went to Woodstock and never left. Some went to Nawlins digging the funk, the food and everything else. A hippie take on funk, this set has several tracks that over lap with Roger Lewis's set but they don't come out the same. You can take the kid out of the lower east side but, well, damn if this doesn't sound like something ESP might have recorded on an afternoon when Fugs or Pearls Before Swine forgot to show up.
(Irresistible Revolutionary 27)
Volume 46
May 28, 2022
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL. 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
Copyright 2022 Midwest Record
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