Brooklynite pianist Aruán Ortiz has voices buried in his head. Growing up Santiago de Cuba, he was able to hear Cuban-Haitian folk music, popular Cuban music, trova, bembés and more. He was introduced to the Classical music of Europe and all of these together took root within him. It was fertilized by the Jazz he studied at Berklee School of Music and then growing influence of Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Paul Bley.
 
In Hidden Voices (Intakt CD 258), all of these variant styles, motifs and rhythms have indeed been given voice by Ortiz. With him are rhythmic masters Eric Revis (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums) and, collectively, they express the past and the present (perhaps, even the future) of what has grown inside the head and the heart of Aruán Ortiz. The phrase Ortiz uses is “Cuban Cubism.” Fitting.
 
This can rightly be called Aruán Ortiz Trio, Volume 2. The first trio was released in 2003 with Peter Slavrov and Francesco Mela.
 
Hidden Voices includes seven Ortiz originals, in addition to three covers of Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk and a Cuban traditional piece. His use of atonality and free form framed within specific rhythms creates an imaginative and fascinating experience.
 
The album is introduced with Fractal Sketches. The piano arpeggio creates the very image of fractals in their repetitive nature. In fact, when the full trio is in play, all three artists are creating their own fractal imagery. It is fascinating on a mathematical scale as much as on a musical scale. The break into free form swirls like the seahorse canyon of fractal geometry. The conclusion of the piece is not so much an ending as it is a loop to the beginning.
 
What follows is pairing of Ornette Coleman’s Open & Close and The Sphynx. Eric Revis starts with the bass and continues it in a circular motion. The transition from Open & Close into The Sphynx is effortless even if marked by a break. The European Classicism is evident and advanced well by Ortiz. Even in free style, Ortiz gives expression to those hidden voices that echo throughout the various chambers of his heart. Classical motifs are upheld by Afro-Cuban rhythms and the results are astounding.
 
Caribbean Vortex/Hidden Voices is an original from Ortiz. Cleaver beings with Caribbean percussion and continues even after the addition of Ortiz and Revis. The piano creates the vortex with charged and changed single-note percussive piano. Revis glides along with an adjunct two-note motif. The piano then moves into the expressive Hidden Voices. Several melodic lines are brought to life and reveal what lays hidden with Ortiz. The sustained island percussion closes the track.
 
Analytical Symmetry is another Ortiz original. Ortiz pulsates on the deep register piano then adds the melodic line. The drum appears in step with the bass piano line and Revis takes over the bass line as Ortiz departs into new melodic territory. The symmetry becomes more and more apparent as the analytical view reveals. For all its mathematical precision, the piece is more emotional than one might guess. That, too, is revealed only in time.
 
Arabesques of a Geometrical Rose (Spring) shows a deep affinity with Impressionist forms and creates a watercolor of its own with brighter hues and blurred shades. It is lively and the solo piano offers a fine glimpse into musical delicacy.
 
Arabesques of a Geometrical Rose (Summer) is a return to the trio with starker shadowing and hotter textures. The slow and deliberate groove of Revis and Cleaver seeks to but cannot contain the strident piano.
 
17 Moments of Liam’s Moments (Or 18) is a playful bit. The trio embark on a brief voyage of wandering and ascendance.
 
Joyful Noises hears the trio playing on everything except the surfaces of their instruments in the introduction. The artists approach a bit of melody before returning to playing the piano strings directly, the underneath of the snare or the bass below the bridge. Joyful, indeed, by offering food for imagination.
 
Thelonious Monk’s Skippy is the penultimate piece. The melodic line is encased within the structureless bass and drums. Such a cool arrangement and interpretation. Revis’ cascading bass solo against the understated drums sets up the return of Ortiz, who has such a refined understanding of Monk.
 
The album closes with the traditional Cuban song, Uno, Dos y Tres, Que Paso Más Chévere. According to Ortiz, everybody in Cuba knows this piece. The melody is visible but altered slightly and significantly. Truly, a Cuban Cubist approach. Delightful, nonetheless.
 
Hidden Voices is a remarkable work of musical trigonometry and Odyssean adventure with a touch of agnostic lyricism. In other words, I couldn’t get enough of it. The Aruán Ortiz Trio is an alliance of three like-minded and even-talented artists who bring their own voices and thoughts to the vision of Aruán Ortiz. Listen over and again and hear what is revealed in these tales of imagination.
 

The Vasil Hadzimanov Band (VH Band) had recorded five albums in their 15-year history. Then Leonardo Pavkovic found them and, on this their international debut, offers them to the world. The album Alive (MoonJune Records (MJR076) captures them in all their creative splendor live in concert from late 2014. With them on this tour of Serbia was American alto sax player David Binney. All one can ask is, “Where have these guys been all my life?”
 
The Vasil Hadzimanov Band is comprised of Vasil Hadzimanov (piano, keyboards), Branko Trijic (guitar), Miroslav Tovirac (bass), Bojan Ivkovic (percussion, vocals), Pedja Milutinovic (drums) and features David Binney (alto sax). The results are simply dumb-founding.
 
Alive opens with Nocturnal Joy (written and arranged by Hadzimanov). Picture yourself in a concert venue and this is the first number you hear. You’re not going anywhere, pal.
 
The repeat-on-keyboard starts off the piece with what sounds like car tires on metal grate. The piano adds the feel of the cool night. It is a cool melody that is picked up—just as coolly—by Binney’s alto sax. A new melody breaks out that calls to mind the Joe Jackson hit from the early 1980s. The original theme resumes and a weaving texture of theme and variation takes shape.
 
Vasil Hadzimanov is a splendid pianist and he works in dialogue with David Binney’s sax wonderfully. Binney’s sax solo is a thing of beauty. The rhythm section of Tovirac-Ivkovic-Milutinovic is furious. The tone of the night and the excitement that it brings are precisely painted by the music. And, if this is the opening track, hold your breath as those lucky concert-goers in Serbia must have done.
 
Zulu (composed and arranged by the VH Band) comes flying with Progressive fever. The rhythm section has the bull’s eye painted right on them. Trijic’s guitar is a whirlwind of strumming fury. Unbelievable.
 
It calls to mind the Battle of Isandlwana where the British army was overwhelmed by the native forces of the Zulu. The vocalizations by Ivkovic remind of the single chant of the Zulu war-leader, inciting the Zulu to steel themselves for the attack.
 
Binney is a man on fire with his sax solo followed by Hadzimanov’s fierce attack on the Fender Rhodes. And then there’s that rhythm section…
 
Dolazim (composed by VH Band and David Binney) gives the band a bit of breath after the ferocity of Zulu. It is more of an improvisation and free. Binney resembles Jan Garbarek’s work in the free-form opening. Strum-master Trijic initiatives a structural development that Hadzimanov takes over. The structure never takes hold as the free-style development has a life of its own. Underneath it all, however, Milutinovic keeps the drums in fine movement. Milutinovic actually becomes the bridge into Oldazim.
 
Oldazim is the composition of guitarist Branko Trijic. The drums are unrelenting, even when pianissimo, and the guitar touches lightly above the rhythm. Hadzimanov brings the keyboards on top and takes the piece until it is handed back to Trijic. This is a cool track. I’m not saying it’s my favorite piece but…okay, it’s my favorite piece.
 
Tovirafro (Miroslav Tovirac, comp.) is the bass player’s run at Funk. It takes a brief pause into a send-up of The Mikado, or something like it, before heading into Progressive Apache…or something like it.  The Funk returns to carry us to conclusion. Riotously great fun.
 
Razbolje Se Simsir List is a cascading work of piano and alto sax that is a lullaby of sweet touches and Jazzy swirls. Beautiful.
 
Hadzimanov’s Uaiya follows. The acoustic piano introduces the piece. Tovirac’s bass moves smoothly alongside. Percussion and alto sax join in and the whole band moves in corps progression until the sax solo. Binney was a marvelous addition to the group on this tour and his enhancement is obvious throughout. 
 
It is so easy, on the other hand, to find fascination in the artistry of each and every one of these musicians. There is no weak member and the audience is appreciative of it.
 
The composition itself is just top-flight. You have to dig the chord changes and the general movement of the piece.
 
The concert/album concludes with Oktrice Snova (VH Band, comp.). It is a cool, highly percussive number that allows movement in a musical vortex; think 3-D instead of 2-D. The Fender Rhodes movement is tight and attractive. The bass is bumping, the drums are straight-up and Milutinovic turns in a drum solo that is breath-taking.
 
The Vasil Hadzimanov Band is an incredible assemblage of tight percussionists, brilliant composers/arrangers, and dedicated melody-makers who bring it all to bear in front of fortunate audiences who, until now, have been limited to Europe and Japan. Thanks to MoonJune, we get to be numbered among the lucky ones who have witnessed the spirit and skill, intelligence and talent, of The Vasil Hadzimanov Band. They truly make you come Alive.
 
 
 
 
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

I don’t know how Leonardo Pavkovic finds such musicians of world class talent in such widespread places, from Indonesia to Eastern Europe to South America, he has the nose for international talent. Now he has brought into the MoonJune clan, the talented stringed-instrument and keyboard wonder, Beledo from Uruguay.
 
Dreamland Mechanism (MoonJune Records MJR077) is Beledo’s MoonJune debut and the stars have come out to shine on it. Joining Beledo is Gary Husband on drums, Dewa Budjana on guitars and Lincoln Goines on bass, and others of renown.
 
The album kicks off with Mechanism. The first instrument heard played by Beledo is the violin, followed by keyboards and electric guitar. He reminds one of Eddie Jobson. With him is Lincoln Goines (bass) and Gary Husband (drums). Gorgeous Progressive-Fusion is the flavor of the day on this one. Goines and Husband, of course, are monstrous.
 
Being the first time I ever heard Beledo, I was blown away by the talent of the Uruguayan multi-instrumentalist and any comparison to Jobson is a favorable one. His composing skills are formidable and his performing is virtuosic. I couldn’t decide where he was best: violin, guitars or keyboards.
 
Bye Bye Blues follows. It, like all the songs on the album, are composed by Beledo himself and produced by himself and Leonardo Pavkovic. Bye Bye Blues retains the same line-up as the opener. This is hard-driven Progressive-Blues. Beledo goes from electric guitar to Fender Rhodes and a mini-moog and finds the exact spot for the different voices. The guy dazzles, entertains and inspires. Plus, the two guys behind him enhance whatever may be going on.
 
Marilyn’s Escapade is inspired by the woman to whose memory the album is dedicated. It is the third track with the same trio. Beledo turns in beautiful acoustic piano work but also folds in the violin, accordion, electric guitar and keyboards. I had been forward to his guitar-playing but his piano talent is unmistakable. It was his first instrument, after all. When Beledo takes up the accordion, he creates a whole new atmosphere. The work of Goines and Husband is exciting stuff. Their rhythmic dialogue is so fine.
 
Beledo’s melodies are rich and memorable and this is unmistakably true on Marilyn’s Escapade.
 
The atmosphere changes, as does the line-up, on Lucila. Beledo is on Spanish guitar, fretless bass and electric guitar. With him are Endang Ramdan and Cucu Kurnia on Sundanese kendang percussion, both familiar to the MoonJune audience.
 
It seems that nothing is beyond the ken and craft of Beledo. Compositions and arrangements and an impressive array of mastered instruments are all part of his domain. His Spanish guitar proficiency offers a warmth and excitement that is not at all tempered by the Sundanese percussion.
 
Sudden Voyage has a reshuffled line-up with Beledo, who picks up the electric guitars. It is Tony Steele on electric bass and Doron Lev on drums. The song opens with a riff that sounds like it is straight from Booker T & the MGs. That bit of R&B is quickly replaced by an intense and singular turn of Fusion. The track closes with the Booker T motif. Cool and fun.
 
Big Brother Calling brings back the original trio of Beledo-Goines-Husband. It is also a return to the Progressive-Fusion that started all of this hair-raising excitement. Beledo starts and stays with the electric guitar. His effects are attention-grabbing but keep an ear out for what Goines and Husband are doing.
 
The trio moves seamlessly into Mercury in Retrograde. It is a bit more Jazzy and the trio nails it down. Good God, these guys find the pocket and get their mail there! The title is a quirky bit of astrophysics and astrology. In astrology, the periods of Mercury in retrograde are said to make communications more challenging, even difficult between people. In astrophysics, there are periods when Earth’s position in relation to Mercury and the Sun make it appear that Mercury is moving backwards. Ironically, the only thing that can cause that effect is the forward motion of the Earth. Call it the price of progress.
 
There are no communications problems between Beledo, Goines and Husband. They are, however, most assuredly moving forward.
 
The same three stay on for Silent Assessment. It is a little more Funk at a slower pace. The melody is more lyrical and the rhythms are more even. We know these three could play when the house is on fire but now we know that they can play it cool, as well.
 
When Dewa Budjana joins the fun, the result is Budjanaji. Beledo is on acoustic guitar, vocals, fretless bass and keyboards. Budjana joins on guitar, in front and behind. Rudy Zulkarnaen is on electric bass while Ramdan and Kurnia return to the Sundanese kendang percussion.
 
The piece carries the flavor of Holdsworth in places and the vocalizations call to mind the late Nana Vasconcelos. Beledo takes the first guitar solo and Budjana takes on the second guitar solo. Fantastic dialogue.
 
The album closes with Front Porch Pine. Beledo is accompanied by Tony Steele and Doron Lev, again. Steele gets an excellent guitar solo and Beledo takes the time for his last appearance at the plate to leave the listener cheering. The solid rhythm section creates the mean Funk that lets Beledo take off into electronic bliss. They have his back.
 
Heralded as a guitar virtuoso which he is, there can be no doubt, Dreamland Mechanism shows the expansive talent and training of Beledo. His mastery of piano, violin, keyboards and bass belie a single-mindedness toward his musicianship. His accordion was amazing, his violin is not soon to be forgotten and his fretless bass work is extraordinary. At times, he sounds like he is the love-child of Weather Report. At other times, he sounds like the heir-apparent to Eddie Jobson and the godchild of Allan Holdsworth. The album can only be called a work of brilliance.


~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 
 
 

Steve Wiest and Phröntrange have just released The High Road on the Blujazz label (BJ3438) and it is on fire. Even with trombonist Wiest being the only horn player, the effect is like hearing the elephant troop, from Disney’s The Jungle Book, on LSD. They are fun, they are lovable and they will trample you.

Steve Wiest earned his stripes with Maynard Ferguson, playing with and composing for him on three projects. I even got to see the Ferguson band back in the early 1980s and the work between Ferguson and Wiest was nothing short of electrifying.

Now, after teaching stints University of Texas at Arlington and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and as a regular with the Doc Severinsen Big Band, Wiest has released an album of incredible complexity and power. It is innovative and intoxicating.

The band is comprised of Mike Abbot on guitar, Eduardo “Bijoux” Barbosa on bass, Art Bouton EWI, Eric Gunnison on keyboards, Mike Marlier on drums and engineer Michael Schulze, a key part of the band. Carmen Wiest and Matthew Wiest also appear as guest musicians on violin and cello, respectively. Collectively, this bunch bring the torches for Wiest’s own fire. And they burn it down. In a good way.

The album opens with The Vinnie Paradox a tribute to drummer Vinnie Colaiuta’s playing a 4/4groove with halfs on the cymbals and the paradoxical effect of the added bar of three. Colaiuta being the six-armed Shiva doesn’t hurt.

This is how you set the hook! Barbosa and Marlier work the groove as Abbott crunches alongside and trombone and horns synth produce a huge brass effect. The Latin effect after the midpoint is a brilliant springboard into Abbott’s raucous solo. The Fusion is staggering.

Cantaloupe Island is Wiest’s reworking of the great Herbie Hancock original. Wiest takes it down a rock alley and beats the daylights out of it. This is the track where Eric Gunnason gets to show his piano proficiency and profusion. The lush trombone recovers the melody from the rough handling of the guitar. This was a great piece and a fine showcase for Wiest’s talents as arranger. Somewhere Herbie must be smiling.

Violet Iris features guest artists, as mentioned above, Carmen Wiest (Steve’s wife) and Matthew Wiest (their son) on strings for the introduction. This song is a remembrance of Steve’s grandmother and her lush garden where the irises grew so profusely.

There are moments of languid reflection and of sensory overload. The pulsating groove and the soaring guitar over Jazz piano provide an outstanding backdrop to Wiest’s blistering horn. Gunnarson’s piano solo is excellent.

A Stern Talking Too is a nod and a wink to guitarist Mike Stern. Wiest works off the groove in Stern fashion and Abbott’s skill and talent on the guitar is a perfect tribute to the great guitarist. Barbosa turns in a sterling bass solo and is in command of the funk. Horns and keyboards enhance the movement forward. The twists and explosions are furious. Good God, this mother smokes. Play it, again!

Miles Slide follows. According to Steve, “Two of my favorite musicians in all of Jazz are Miles Davis and Slide Hampton. In this composition, I combine 1980s Davis with ‘Frame for the Blues’ Hampton as a tribute for all of us to enjoy.”

True enough, this is exactly what you hear. It is an evocative piece that causes the listener to visualize both of the masters working off each other. All of the artists are spot-on and oh-so-in-the-pocket.

What follows is a complete surprise. It is gorgeous and emotional. It is Please Don’t Think It’s Funny by Fred Rogers. Yes, Mr. Rogers of PBS fame. I found the YouTube video of Mr. Rogers singing the piece and it broke my heart. Steve Wiest’s version is just as much so. It is so honest and transparent. Fred Rogers will be remembered for so much and this piece, thanks to Steve Wiest, is sure to be one of them.

The album concludes with Shred or Shred Not (There is No Try). If the title isn’t enough to bring a smile to your face…well then, you’ve been dead for two weeks… or you know nothing of The Empire Strikes Back.

It is the shout chorus to the album. Everyone is at attention and the performances are without flaw. The movement is powerful and profound. Everybody shreds. Nobody shreds not.

There is only thing to do when this album sounds its final note. Turn it on, again.

Steve Wiest and Phröntrange have taken the high ground in Fusion-Jazz-Funk. They command a view that is broad and deep in their understanding and expression of life. The sincerity, the joy, the love they declare is a shout of hope.
 
 

Adison Evans exploded onto the Pop stage when she appeared—baritone and alto saxophones at the ready—with Beyoncé at the 2013 Super Bowl. After her time at Julliard (where she came to know the members of her band), she embarked on the current multi-year tour with Beyoncé. It is because of Beyoncé that Adison has been a nearly-ubiquitous figure on DVDs, HBO, CDs and iTunes. If you want to learn the music business, learn it from Beyoncé as Adison readily admits.

Her debut album Hero is in honor of those figures who have influenced and helped her throughout her life and career. She is joined by the talented and respected Matthew Jodrell on trumpet and flugelhorn, the brilliant Mathis Picard on piano, Dan Chmielinski on bass, Roberto Giaquinto on drums and Melanie Charles’s vocals on three of the twelve tracks. This is a great band—collectively called AEQ—and they are well-suited to bringing Adison’s vision to fruition. All but four of the tracks are composed by Adison and all of the tracks are arranged and produced by her.

Hero opens with Dropbear Boogaloo, a lively piece about the weird little creatures in the Australian outback that look like koalas but drop on your head from the trees.

Adison’s alto sax is a kick in her interpretation of the furry little monsters. Jodrell is as quick and bright as always. Together, they work a tremendous duet and Chmielinski’s bass in hopping and fun as are Giaquinto’s drums. It is a great introduction to the album.

Little Tulip is a waltz to herald the beginning of Spring. Right on time. Adison opens the track with warming baritone sax and is answered by the cool horn of Jodrell. Picard’s piano is sweetly understated. It is not so much a celebration as it is a relief that—finally!—Spring has arrived.

One nice surprise is from Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot. The piece, If Ever I Would Leave You, is arranged according to Sonny Rollins’ What’s New. Adison calls Rollins one of her musical heroes. The opening chorus of sax and trumpet is played percussively along with the rhythm section until the Frederick Loewe melody kicks in.

Again, the baritone sax takes on the main theme as the piano offers a point of view all its own. The rhythm section is in full swing, eventually moving into a bit of a Cuban rhythm which the horns adopt with great energy.

Blue is a Beyoncé original. Adison credits her hero Beyoncé with teaching her “much of the music business.” The lyrics are delivered beautifully by Melanie Charles. Picard and Adison carry the melody gently and create great space for the vocals.

Adison calls Steve Wilson’s The Epicurean her “favorite composition by one of the most inspiring saxophonists on the scene.” The piece is some of the coolest Jazz you ever want to hear. Adison and Picard work the melodies so effectively and respectfully as Chmielinski and Giaquinto keep things tight. Jodrell joins in for a fine solo, enhancing the melodic lines. Giaquinto gets an inspired solo that he uses to beautifully set up the horn and piano conclusion.

Open Your Eyes is a reminiscence of Adison’s time spent in Siena, Tuscany. The delicate piano introduction is brief but lyrical. The bass then horns join the reverie of memories and sights enjoyed in a lovely landscape. Picard’s piano offers quick runs and bright colors and paints a beautiful watercolor that is brushed again by the flugelhorn and alto sax. This is a fine, fine piece.

Stevie Wonder’s Ribbon in the Sky has all that Stevie offers. Giaquinto and Chmielinski step off with a funky bit of rhythm and are joined by Adison and Jodrell to bring the easily-recognized melody to life. Picard picks up the melody and the three carry it together. Adison’s baritone is cool and funky at once. It is a great tribute to everyone’s hero, Stevie Wonder.

Mama is dedicated to Adison’s first and constant hero. Melanie Charles warmly intones the sentiments felt by Adison. The piano is the sole instrument that accompanies Melanie. The song is painfully but meaningfully short. Adison expresses so little in sweet acknowledgment that she could never say enough to whom she owes so much. Lovely.

Respirare (To Breathe) is Adison’s remembrance of running through the Tuscan landscape. Each of the instruments carry forward the various elements of the experience. The running drums, the heavy breathing of the bass, the landscape of trees, hills, the blue sky all borne aloft by the exquisite baritone and thrilling piano. They all come together in one experience. Adison says that it is “the closest I have ever felt to God.” And if meditation is breathing in and breathing out, then why not?

Do What’s Best for You is the constant counsel Adison keeps in managing the everyday decisions of the musician’s life of travel and home—so many choices. Melanie Charles’ vocals serve as the ongoing reminder of the guiding principle required of artists everywhere. Adison’s alto sax is full of determination and dedication. The lilt of the rhythm and vocal phrasing reveal the back-and-forth nature of eternal crossroads.

Prayer for Yoshi is the lament over the loss of a dear friend who brought strength and wisdom into Adison’s life. The prayerful, yet mournful, baritone sax causes us to witness and, perhaps, share in the grief. The trumpet is like the call of the archangel but also serves as the bridge into Never Forget to Say Thank You.

This, the final song of the album, is a reminder to express gratitude in the way that Yoshi taught Adison. In fact, as Adison states in the liner notes, “One of the greatest lessons instilled upon me from my dear friend, Yoshi. To those who support this music; To those who find grace, beauty and love in all that you do, especially in a world in so need of more love and compassion, You are my hero.”

It is a fine thing to offer thanks and honor to those who have paved a path on a debut album. It speaks of character and nobility. The ending notes of the album are a loving coda to all of those whom Adison Evans would call Hero.
 
~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 

Eli Degibri has been making music for a long time with a long list of Jazz stars. And he is not even forty years-old yet. He graduated the Thelonious Monk Institute at the age of 19 and was noticed and recruited by Herbie Hancock for a world tour. Eli was with Hancock from 1999 until 2002 and was then picked up by Al Foster (former sideman with Miles Davis) who kept him along for almost 10 years (2002-2011).

After 15 years in the US, Degibri returned to Tel Aviv, Israel, a long flowing with Jazz milk and honey. He hired and honed the talents of pianist Gadi Lehavi and drummer Ofri Nehemya and added to them the talents of his longtime friend and collaborator, bassist Barak Mori. With this group, Eli Was prepared to record. Indeed, he did already with the 2013 release of Twelve. Now, the quartet strikes again with Cliff Hangin’ (Degibri Music DR1007).

The album opens with The Troll, a lovely and lyrical piece introduced by sweet piano work from Gadi Lehavi. The tenor sax joins the piano, bass and drums and you realize you’ve heard something unlike anything you’ve heard before. Yes, many sax players have the skills and the talent but Eli Degibri has…something else. His phrasing is cool and his intensity is palatable. Then drummer Ofri Nehemya steals your attention only for Eli to regain it yet again.

Cliff Hangin’ follows after and the change is extraordinary. It was not the music I expected from the title. There is a beauty in the changes and the quartet are in such singularity that physics takes over the acoustics and you are drawn into it inexorably.

Lehavi’s piano is quick and absolutely on target. His solo is just brilliant. Then the alto sax takes over again with such compelling emotion, that the voice even seems to break in the telling.

Even Bees Do It is the very image of Rimsky-Korsakov with the frenetic little critters buzzing everywhere. Musically speaking. From soprano sax to piano with dancing bass and drums below, the melodies are fun and vivid.

Kind of Blues is exactly that. The tenor sax is back in Eli’s hands and the artists take a pace slower and more deliberate. Bassist Barak Mori has the cool swing with Nehemya going.

Virtuosity is not even in question. There are lots of cats with the technical chops but Eli Degibri has the soul…and the Soul. And he has found the finest musical brothers to make his vision real.

Kind of Blues ends so righteously. Just fabulous.

Suki the Cat, which follows, is a great bit of fun. There is certainly a playfulness but also an emotion that cuts through the speed and such to create an image of adorable felinity.

Twiced was written by Eli and Barak Mori. Barak leads off the piece and is joined by the fine piano. Eli’s sax then mirrors the melodic line before taking it on by himself. The is one of the best groove pieces on the album and that is saying a lot.

Just when you think you can’t get enough of Eli, Gadi Lehavi’s piano takes a big swing for the fences and knocks it out of the park. All the while, Barak Mori is hammering away with Nehemya. Swinging.

The action is so furious that you get a good yell from one of the artists that only makes your smile even broader.

The soprano sax is back for Ocean View. Placid and peaceful, the pace is not slow, by any means. Still, it is an idyll of tranquility that is obvious even in the midst of activity. Despite waves and creatures of the shoreline, the viewer is above it all and enjoying every minute of it.

Nehemya’s snare rim-shots are energetic and all of the artists are putting their hearts into it. The piece closes with the gentleness that began it.

SheshBesh offers some cool work from Eli. Again, the artists cover a complex of rhythmic variations that is like trying to escape Dr. No’s lair. These friends, compatriots and bandmates are in telepathic lock-step, it seems. They are amazing.

Momento Fugaz features Shlomo Ydov on vocals and guitar. You’ve got to love this one. The acoustic guitar is warm and wonderful. Eli’s tenor sax and Gadi Lehavi’s piano are a splendid melodic triad with the guitar. The chord changes are quiet but profound. Palmas are a cool finishing touch for the piece.

The Unknown Neighbor is slow and sweet. I swear to all the powers that be, the opening is the same chord changes as a tune from Disney’s Mary Poppins, albeit at about 1/4 the tempo. [Sorry if I’m wrong, Eli!]

With all of that, however, the song is incredibly moving. From a touch of melancholy to bits of brightness, the track is astounding.

The album concludes with What Am I Doing Here. Everyone gets a voice in the piece. The bouncing bass of Barak Mori is right on it. Lehavi’s piano is just a wonder and Nehemya’s drums are so, so fine. Eli Degibri is wonderful. The ending is so full of joy and life. It is one of those uplifting themes that you hope never ends. He most assuredly saved the best for last. With a tweak of your nose at the very end.

Cliff Hangin’ is one of the most rewarding and satisfying album I have heard in the last decade. Eli Degibri is more than a brilliant saxophone player, more than a stunning composer. There is something about Eli the person that commands attention and affection. There is something in his heart that reaches the listener. This was an incredible experience in listening and in life.



 

~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

 
 

Paul Green has already achieved recognition in the Classical world, serving as first clarinetist with the Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera. He is also well-known in the Klezmer tradition and has gained fame in that music style. But Green also describes himself as having a soul of Jazz. In Music Coming Together (Centaur CRC 3454), Green is able to take his Classical precision and produce a happy marriage of Jewish-Jazz. The results are pleasing to Jazz and Klezmer fans.

Green’s musical wedding party is comprised of pianist Alan Simon (Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Lee Konitz), alto and tenor saxophonist Bruce Krasin (Tony Bennett, Jeff Holmes), drummer Bill Chapman (John Medeski, the Berkshire Jazz Collective), bassist Daniel Broad (The Drifters, The Platters) and guitarist Michael Musillami. The album was produced by Paul Green himself.

The album opens with Tarras Doina and Blues by Dave Tarras, the great Klezmer clarinetist. A doina, explains Green in the liner notes, is “a rhapsodic klezmer form, free and expressive, and usually without meter. Green took a fragment of Tarras’ original and morphed it into a minor blues. Green’s bluesy, transcendental clarinet brings home the melancholy but there are moments of pure delight as the guitar helps to take the blues away. Simon’s piano is, as I said above, precise. This song sets the hook for all that follows.

Si La Mar Era de Leche (If the Sea Was Made of Milk) is a lovely Sephardic Jewish melody. The Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, when the Muslims were also tossed out. A nod and a wink to Bach was an added element. That haunting clarinet is accompanied by the single drum to open the piece and is soon joined by the piano then bounces off the guitar. The artistry of Green, Simon and Musillami are astonishing.

Then comes the amazing treatment of Wayne Shorter’s Footprints into Yiddish Footprints. The original 12-bar blues is transformed into something livelier, even euphoric. Daniel Broad’s bass carries that sweet groove and lays the groundwork for all that melody above it.

Miles Davis’ So What? becomes So, Nu? What was Miles’ move away from Bebop, becomes a chance for Green to move in the direction of assimilation between Miles’ Dorian mode and the Jewish Misheberakh mode. That change is slight but so effective. Instead of Miles and Trane, Green and Bruce Krasin carry the melody and Simon is solid as the rhythm section works the familiar groove. Krasin’s Jewish Trane is very attractive. What a fun piece!

Rodgers and Hart’s My Funny Valentine is rendered as My Funny Jewish Valentine and is carried as a duet between clarinet and piano. The melodies stay largely intact but they are shifted with Jewish scales that produce a less melancholic, but more meditative, tune.

Interspersed between the Jazz standards are tunes not so familiar to a non-Jewish audience. They are taken from their original element and treated lovingly with Jazz intonations and modulations. Green made me search for (and find) the originals and—just as Green had said—it was easy to hear the contributions of Jewish music to the great American songbook.

What Paul Green has done with Music Coming Together is that the Jewish community and the Jazz community owe so much, artistically, to one another. The earliest Jazz was taken by the Jewish Jazz composers, run through the Jewish musical spectrum and returned to the African-American Jazz masters, who worked it over once again to fit it for themselves. Green states that he intended to unite two different worlds. The Jewish community and African-American community found themselves at odds throughout the 20th Century but the thing about Jewish and Jazz music is that they both work towards resolution. Music can bring anyone together. Jazz can bring everyone together.



~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

 

Pianist Chris Ziemba’s Manhattan Lullaby is a planetary alignment of several admired elements. A recent graduate of Julliard, Ziemba is himself an educator. His quartet consists of top-flight players: Michael Thomas on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Hans Glawischnig on bass and Jimmy Macbride on drums. It is on Nick Finzer’s Outside In Music (Outside In Music 1602) label and the album is, in fact, produced by Finzer himself. So, before you have even heard the first note, you know that “you’ve got the makin’s”, as my grandmother used to say.
 
Ziemba himself composed all of the tracks with the lone exception of track 4’s I Wish I Knew by Harry Warren (1945). These compositions are beauties and the group make them come right off the CD at you.
 
The album opens with Josie. It is a piece that is rich in Manhattan atmosphere. One can imagine the setting as any one of 50 clubs where the patrons know exactly what they are hearing. It is a fun Bop that is full of energy and swing.
 
Chris Ziemba proves, right out of the gate, that he has the juice to carry this project under his own strength. But nothing like that is necessary as is proven by the solos offered by Glawischnig and Macbride in the very first track. This was a fun tune.
 
The Road Less Traveled gives us our first listen—on this album—to alto saxophonist Michael Thomas. There is great movement to the piece and the interaction between Ziembe and Thomas is extraordinary. Their solos set up the dialogue well. The rhythm section has the structure on lock-down but the inmates run amok within. Ziemba and Thomas are brilliant together.
 
The ending is a haunting fragment that is wonderful.
 
Manhattan Lullaby in a tone-perfect image of the streets and skyline. Thomas moves from alto sax to bass clarinet and creates a lush and lovely image of late night in New York. Ziemba’s piano sways against the Glawischnig bass work. Macbride is so secure and strong that it is easy to almost overlook what he is doing. Don’t make that mistake. Pay close attention to the man.
 
This is a wonderfully written and executed piece. A fitting title track.
 
Harry Warren’s I Wish I Knew is a stumbling-timed piece. Even the pacing speaks of insecurity and uncertainty. If I’m honest (And why not?), I like this arrangement even more than the original. Heretical? Maybe.
 
It is a showcase for Hans Glawischnig’s bass. He has the chops. They all do and they contribute to Ziemba’s vision in shouting acclamation. And Ziemba gives each artist the room to do it.
 
Escher’s Loop is an experience in unusual chords and quirky timing with fascinating turns and twists. Exactly like Escher, right? I dig the way Ziemba uses such a broad musical vocabulary to create the sonic parallel to Escher’s visuals. Following Ziemba is an exercise in music theory and, perhaps, even physics. It is, by no, means rambling; it is targeted but with a wild trajectory.
 
This is succeeded by Wandering. It is an Andante stroll with occasional skips and trips and joined by companions along the way. There even seems to be a hint from the choral line from the Beatles’ With a Little Help from My Friends. He breaks off the line before the end and that only enhances the feeling of wandering.  Maybe that’s just my imagination. I could be wrong.
 
Wandering never loses its way but it does take side-streets and alleys along the way.  
 
Little T is the jump-jive-and-wail piece on the album. Michael Thomas gets the early lead before Glawischnig solos. Ziemba then runs parallel to Glawischnig in a sprint. This was high-octane racing. Ziemba has a bright future if only based on this one track.
 
The album closes with An Introspective. As the title suggests, it is more reflective than it is self-critical. There is sweet and sad memory but no grief. Remembrance without remorse. That’s important. It asks “who am I?” more than “what have I done?” It is lovely in its sincerity and transparency. The memories swirl and question but do not accuse.
 
A beautiful and fitting close to a debut album.
 
Manhattan Lullaby is Chris Ziemba’s love letter to his adopted home. He shows us the streets, the parks, the people and, perhaps most of all, Ziemba shows us himself. The group solidly backs and interprets Ziemba’s vision and make plain his message of the place he calls home.






~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 
 
 
 

In 2014, Ellis Williams released his debut album, Euphoria, to authentic admiration and an expanded expectation of what more would follow. It has been two years and Williams has now released Call to Battle. Guitarist/Producer Andrew “Hawksilver” Piland knows just how to complement and enhance Williams’ trumpet and vocals but he also knows just what to with these inspiring, even rousing, compositions. Piland has helped Williams to truly take this album to the next level…levels.
 
With Williams and Piland are Donovan Capron (organ, synthesizer), Darius Mines (organ, Fender Rhodes), David Gross (bass), Andy Williams (drums), Bradley Hairston (drums) and Elena Chavez with the background vocals. Each and every one of these artists have brought their best skills and most intense dedication to Williams’ project. This is a gathering of A-gamers.
 
After Williams’ spoken summons in the album’s opening This is the Call, the band, the listener, all of nature feel the compelling prophetic declaration. And each responds according to their own spirit and talent—even if just to listen.
 
Is the music Jazz or Fusion or Funk, Soul or Pop or Gospel? All of those. And none of those. Forget the style and the structure and concentrate on the message and you will discover what it is. I won’t tell you. Find your own answer. I have mine.
 
The hard drive of the band behind Williams’ impressive trumpet work recalls Chase from the early 1970s. Powerful.
 
The clarion This is the Call ends with a brilliant flash of horn and bridges seamlessly into Braving Darkness with Piland, Hairston, Gross and Capron all in full-throated affirmation of the Funk. The rhythm section nails the groove from the very opening. Ellis Williams’ trumpet is like a bugler’s charge. This is not just braving the darkness; it is a frontal assault on what would derail us.
 
Piland’s guitar contribution is exquisite and Hairston’s aggressive drums with Capron’s great synthesizer work all create a frame for the stunning trumpet of Williams. Beneath it all is Gross’ fine bass line. These guys bring the heat, rousing the light.
 
This is followed by My Closest Friend. Williams brings the vocals alongside his trumpet in this track. His vocal talents are impressive and evocative. After an anguished lament, the song breaks into a straight Soul line before the return of the lament. This was a great track.
 
Fixed on the Groove is exactly what the title describes. Darius Mines, David Gross and Andy Williams are featured and they indeed fix on the groove. Ellis Williams is a talented and forthright horn player. His phrasing is precise and so emotional.

What’s Love is a taste of tormented melancholy. The lyricism of the piece is touching. The arranging is open in its spacing. What is not said is perhaps the most painful element of all. This belongs on everybody’s slow-tempo playlist.
 
The pace and groove changes for the Funk on Where Do We Go from Here? Ellis’ vocals are so well supported by Davis Gross’ bass and Andy Williams’ drums. Gross outdoes himself with the bass line. The trumpet interlude serves as the call to follow. Call him the Pied Trumpeter. So help me, I couldn’t get enough of this track. It is the midway point of the album and acts like the pinnacle of this album’s mountain range.
 
Mystic Safari, at 8:05, is the longest piece on the album and that’s fine with me. The beautiful piano work accompanying the muted-trumpet is gorgeous. It is Jazzy Soul at its finest. The spiritual odyssey traverses lush sonic landscapes by means of ritual rhythms and a gregarious trumpet. Think of Kitaro’s Silk Road being hijacked by Freddie Hubbard. I mean that in a good way.
 
Call to Battle, the title track, features David Gross and Andy Williams with Elena Chavez on background vocals. It is strident and determined. It is Crusader Gospel music. I like the vocals, Ellis in front and Chavez behind. Then comes the smoking trumpet and things get exciting. Good Lord (yeah, I said it), this guy can play.
 
Excalibur is a cool synthesized track with Ellis and Piland working it from their ends. If one needs a weapon for battle, it doesn’t get much better than Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. And things don’t get much better than this track, either. The trumpet above the synthesizer and drum machine is well-exposed and focused.
 
This is following by Looking Towards Tomorrow, again featuring Gross and Andy Williams. The Reggae-Jazz intonations are cool and Ellis’ working of the vocals is fascinating. The Reggae is perfect for the expression of hope in the midst of pain; it speaks of commitment.
 
The album concludes with Unchained. In an album filled with expressions of hope, struggle and pain, “unchained” is the most longed-for condition. Capron recreates the feel of Rick Wakeman’s Myths and Legends of King Arthur with the expressive keyboards, enhanced by Piland’s grand guitar work, which speak of liberation. The trumpet is almost like the call of the Archangel. It is a satisfying end.
 
Ellis Williams’ Call to Battle is an album of spiritual adventure and examination. He pushes himself into different avenues and pathways, always searching and always ready for the confrontations that await us within and without. He drives himself but he drives the listener, as well. It is a call for self-examination and the music drives the mediation. The spiritual call to arms must always begin on the inside. Williams has made us search ourselves.





~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 

I first heard Yvonnick Prene on bassist Lorin Cohen’s debut album, Home. I remember wondering who this fantastic harmonica player was. I was directed to his 2015 album with guitarist Pasquale Grasso, Merci Toots—a tribute to harmonica pioneer Toots Thielemans. I became fascinated with the chromatic harmonica and even got some of Prene’s books on the instrument. I was that taken. Listening to all of his albums I could find, 2014’s album with Padam Swing, Wonderful World, and 2013’s Jour de Fete, made me crave more of Prene and his chromatic harmonica.
 
His books, 100 Jazz Patterns for Chromatic Harmonica and Classical Themes for Chromatic Harmonica, have even created the desire for me to study the instrument for myself.
 
On December 20, 2015, Yvonnick went into the studio with an incredible line-up consisting of Peter Bernstein (guitar), Jared Gold (Hammond B3) and Allan Mednard (drums) and came out with the 2016 release, Breathe. Yvonnick co-produced the album with the same Lorin Cohen on whose album I first heard the young harmonica player.  
 
Yvonnick composed all but two of the songs on the album. He is an inspirational composer and arranger. I could not wait to get my hands on the CD.
 
The album opens with Blues Comes Down the Seine and the swing is on. The whole quartet is in on the groove with Jared Gold’s B3 providing the kicking bass. Gold was the organist for some of John Abercrombie’s most exciting stuff. Allan Mednard brings the same skill set he used for Kurt Rosenwinkel and Aaron Parks and he lets it loose from this, the very first, track. Peter Bernstein (Joshua Redman, Diana Krall) gets a sweet solo that fits so well with the contributions of all four members.
 
It is, of course, Yvonnick Prene who takes center-stage. He often plays as the mirror image of the guitar but also takes on delightful runs of his own. In just three short years since Jour de Fete, his growth as leader and composer is exponential. The band is tight but Yvonnick makes room for each artist. Every solo, every run, from each of them is a moment to be treasured. No one disappoints.
 
Michel Petrucciani’s Looking Up follows next. The cymbals and rim-playing from Mednard create the background for the melodies coming from organ, guitar and harmonica. You almost hear a Caribbean beat underneath it all. Bernstein’s solo is rich and in touch. Yvonnick’s harmonica is stratospheric and lively. The piece is hopeful and focused. The optimism is palpable. The combination of B3 and harmonica is fascinating as they lock tones. Smoking stuff.

Breathe opens with a wistful harmonica that is more restful than meditative. Mednard’s drum patterns are the perfect fit for the melodies that the harmonica and guitar and Hammond push forth. Check out that Hammond solo because Gold knows just how to phrase.
 
Got to Go is an arrangement of a Monty Alexander original. The bluesy approach is cool while the rhythm section turns in something a little more soulful. This piece contains some of Yvonnick’s most ethereal yet authentic playing. There is a sense of melancholy that is touching and sweet.
 
After the emotional Got to Go comes the riotous Mr. Tix. The dialed-in harmonica, guitar and organ over the splendid drum work is tight as you hoped. After the spirited harmonica solo comes a more patient guitar followed by the raucous organ. Despite the melodic transitoriness, the rhythm section is constant and on top of it all and Mednard’s drum solo is one blazing stroke after another.
 
The Comedian opens with Afro-Cuban rhythms and light-hearted melodies. Bernstein’s accompaniment to Gold’s B3 solo and then a reverse is one cool dialogue. Yvonnick joins late in the piece but builds upon what has already gone before. What a well-written song! Pure fun from start to finish.
 
Armorica follows after. There is almost--almost—a taste of All of Me that plays well between harmonica, organ and drums. This plays well and the artists made the most of it but with a sense of respectful understatement. Yvonnick’s fluttering phrases are entreating and the piece as a whole draws one in close.
 
As Night Falls closes out the album beautifully. The languid nocturne imagines energy left unspent yet reclined in deliberate repose. The inviting nightscape beckons action and involvement in some twilight affair. The energetic drums push the action while the harmonica delightedly swirls above the energy.
 
Breathe is a wonderfully moving and artistically satisfying venture into a rare quartet of less than customary instruments. The combination of harmonica, guitar, organ and drums offers the opportunity for unique artistic conversation and chorus. The compositions and arrangements are sterling and the musicianship is inspired. Yvonnick Prene has proven his growing experience in leadership, writing and performing. He is the harmonica of the present and future.






~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl