Christine Hitt released her debut album You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To in 1999. Her follow-up album, Magical Kite, is worth the wait.
   Christine married a trumpet player and has two sons who appear on this album. Currently, Christine teaches at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Bobby Sanabria calls the UW-EC Jazz department “The best-kept secret in Jazz.”
   Christine recorded the album in Los Angeles at Capitol Records with producer Geoffrey Keezer and pianist John Beasley. With her are Bob Sheppard on alto saxophone, John Hamilton and Gene Coye on drums, Leo Amuedo on guitar, Walter Rodriquez on percussion, Eric Hitt on bass, and Erin Bode and Cory Hitt on vocals. Keezer sits in on piano on Around the World.
   The album is diverse in its selections and compositions—from soul to swing, funk to folk—but Christine turns them all into Jazz. Let me just come right and say that I was stunned at what I heard in my first listening. That feeling has not gone away.
   The first surprise came with the opening tune, Wade in the Water. Raised as a church boy in the South, this song was important to me. It was an anthem in the Civil Rights Movement and our church sang it often. In fact, it was a song that I would find myself singing when I was alone.
   Christine never loses the spirituality and soulfulness of the song in her treatment of it. Plus, her son Eric Hitt turns in a cool bass solo and John Beasley works a terrific piano as Bob Sheppard works the alto sax beautifully. Sheppard’s sax punctuations were fantastic. Talk about being propelled into the album.
   Magical Kite, the title track, is a Christine original that was inspired by her father. He was a band director and was a great influence on shaping Christine’s musical artistry. The pastoral imagery is well-represented by a Vince Guaraldi-style piano accompaniment by John Beasley. Gene Coye’s drumming is precise and so appropriate. Christine’s son Cory joins in on backing vocals and the effect is amazing.
   Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing is the Stevie Wonder hit but Christine opens, not with Stevie’s fake-Spanish tirade, but a cool piano-guitar-bass intro that sets a sweet stage for Christine and Cory’s vocals. The rhythm section plays it understated but cool. Eric Hitt is a terrific bassist. In fact, he is the one who connected Christine and Keezer. Beasley’s melodica is a nice touch. They abandon Stevie’s vivace bounce for an andante stroll and it just couldn’t be any cooler.
   James Taylor’s Shower the People never grabbed me back in the day but Christine’s version certainly does. The song opens with a staccato instrumental introduction. Christine joins in over the instruments as they continue in the same way they began. The accompaniment smooths out and Christine’s delivery with Erin Bode on backing vocals is right on. Walter Rodriguez’ percussion is very pronounced and serves the song well.
   Yardbird Suite by Charlie Parker is one sweet suite. (It had to be said.) Christine’s scat and Sheppard’s alto sax are a true delight. Eric Hitt and Hamilton are terrific together. Beasley’s piano bits are rich. You have to love this one.
Believe in Me is a Dan Fogelberg piece. Christine has Leo Amuedo open with solo acoustic guitar which is far more rewarding than Fogelberg’s orchestral lushness on the original recording. Christine strips away the sap and reveals the beauty of the piece in a simpler approach that almost becomes a lullaby. It still has the classic Fogelberg chords but Christine makes it work on a completely different level. Erin Bode sings with Christine. These two are wonderful together. Amuedo’s guitar gets special focus.
   Christine opens with Beasley on Shine On Harvest Moon in a cool ballad before turning on the swing. Somewhere Rosemary Clooney is digging this. The whole band takes this into a nice direction. Eric gets a smooth solo and listen to those chord changes.
   Smile was written by Charlie Chaplin for his movie Modern Times. The lyrics were added later but taken from lines in the film. It has become a standard and, being a Chaplin film fan, I would have loved for Christine’s version to have been in the film. One can always imagine. It is simply beautiful version that Christine gives us.
   Christine closes the album in a duet with Geoffrey Keezer on piano. Around the World was made popular by Nat King Cole. This duet of Christine and Geoffrey Keezer is as beautiful as any version ever heard. It is emotional. It is sweet. It is wam. It is the perfect finish to an album that is emotional and sweet and warm.
   Magical Kite is worth the 18-year wait.
  
 
       ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl
 
 
 
 

   Kate Reid has issued her third album under the title of The Heart Already Knows. She proves the truth of the album’s title with the effect of the first track, Something to Live For. Her sweet and smoky alto is paired with Paul Meyers’ cool guitar. In fact, the whole album is in a duet format with fantastic artists like Meyers and Romero Lubambo and the inimitable Larry Koonse on guitars and Taylor Eigsti and the great Fred Hersch on piano. Add to that Peter Eldridge as producer and the stage is set for something wonderful. Indeed, the heart already knows what is to come.
   Meyers kicks off the album beautifully on Something to Live For. Kate presents a sultry wistfulness in her longing for what we all want. You can almost picture her looking out of an apartment window looking for her hoped-for future. Kate and Meyers create a great introduction to this sweet album in her arrangement of the great Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington piece. In fact, Kate arranged all but two of the songs on the album.
   Just a Lucky So and So is the other track with Paul Meyers. They stay with Ellington and Kate and Meyers give a cool bluesy delivery of the piece
   Confessin’ is the first appearance of the busy and brilliant Larry Koonse on guitar. It is a straightforward treatment of the piece made popular by Louis Armstrong. Fats Waller had recorded a version with different lyrics in 1929. Armstrong’s version appeared the very next year.
   Kate starts off a capella and is soon joined by Koonse’s fine accompaniment. There is a rich but brief dialogue of exchanged delivery/pause between them before Kate slides into a scat. This was a splendid example of Kate’s natural affinity with the piece.
   Kate and Koonse continue their duet on Two Grey Rooms. Peter Eldridge arranged this melancholic Joni Mitchell piece. Frankly, I like this version better than the original. Kate’s voice and her interpretation make the song believable and touching. Plus, Larry Koonse handles the guitar treatment to absolutely stunning effect. He gives a tremolo aspect towards the end that evokes imagery of wind on the windowpane (at least, in my mind) and the picture is near-perfect as painted by Kate and Koonse.
   Fred Hersch leads off No More with a haunting piano introduction. It was a tune made popular by Billie Holiday who always had a way of bringing a tear to your eye. While Kate is more defiant, Hersch keeps up the Hitchcock-esque accompaniment that actually belies Kate’s bravado. This was a winner.
   Hersch also joined Kate on If I Should Lose You. This is an oft-recorded song done by Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and even Frank Sinatra as well as instrumentalists from Charlie Parker to McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett. This was a last-minute addition to the recording session and Kate and Hersch did it in one take. Beautifully done.
   Hersch was with Kate on a third track, Lazin’ Around with You, which is a Fred Hersch original. Hersch wrote the lyrics in addition to the music and Kate delivers them splendidly. This is no easy bit. Hersch has written a complex piece but Kate treats is wonderfully. As far a musicianship, this is the piece that sets Kate apart. Okay, I’ll confess. This was my favorite song on the album.
   Endless Stars was also composed by Fred Hersch (lyrics by Norma Winstone) and has a samba feel to it and Romero Lumbambo plays it brilliantly. Of course, a Brazilian guitarist is exactly the right choice for this piece. He practically leaps from the speakers as Kate gives a lively but soulful delivery.
   Lumbambo gives a gorgeous introduction to Minds of Their Own, written by fellow Brazilian Ivan Guimarães Lins. Lins accompanied Nancy Wilson on her recording of this on R.S.V.P. in 2004. Lumbambo and Kate are as marvelous as Wilson and Lins. Okay, maybe this was my favorite.
   Pianist Taylor Eigsti joined Kate for Busy Being Blue by the album’s producer Peter Eldridge. What a beautiful composition and how well executed by Kate and Eigsti. Kate says that her performance of this song helped land her the teaching gig at Frost School of Music. Hearing her sing this could make anyone give her anything she wanted. This is a perfect triad of composition-vocalist-pianist. No, maybe this one is my favorite. Good Lord.
   Eigsti also appears on James Taylor’s Secret of Life. He gives a hammering pulse intro to the song. Kate and Eigsti arranged the song together and it is sweet. Who knew James Taylor could write Jazz? There is a moment when Eigsti rests and Kate sings alone to beautiful effect. The arrangement is stellar and the performance is incredible. The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. Suiting parting words for a wonderful album.
   The Heart Already Knows is exciting and comforting, thought-provoking and heart-warming. Kate Reid and her duet partners swing, bop, and stroll their way through an album that satisfies the insatiable.
 
       ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

   Flying is Johnaye Kendrick’s second album, following up on 2014’s Here. If she had any trepidation before, the critical and popular acclaim for Here gave her all the courage and confidence needed to put out such a splendid album as Flying.
   Flying was produced and arranged by Johnaye, who also plays harmonium. The album contains six original pieces and six covers freshly done by Johnaye’s exquisite voicings along with Dawn Clement on piano and keyboards, Chris Symer on bass and D'vonne Lewis on drums. This trio is a vocalist’s dream team.
   Johnaye kicks the album off with her original, Never You Mind. The song is a straightahead proclamation of the world our brothers and sisters are forced to confront. It opens with a cymbal wash and the hard rhythm that immediately commands attention.
They push you, they pull you
Don’t even know how much you can bear
Though they tell you that they rule you
                                                                                   Never you mind
                                                                                  You come from a legacy of warriors
                                                                                  And though there’s fear
                                                                                  Know that fear’s what fueled the fire of courage
                                                                                  That lead us here
                                                                                  Though they tell you they control you
                                                                                  Oh, never you mind
                                                                                       You Matter
   It doesn’t take a class in current events to see what Johnaye is telling us. Hers is a prophetic voice that commands a hearing.
   From the prophetic to the poetic, Johnaye moves to Lauren Wood’s Fallen which was featured in the 1990 movie, Pretty Woman. D’vonne Lewis’ subtle drumming is a sweet feature of the song with his quiet rim play and one-handed rolls. And that wonderful delivery of Johnaye… goodness. Dawn Clement’s piano and Chris Symer’s bass are so deliciously understated.
   Jimmy Van Heusen’s It Could Happen to You is rendered in a snappy way. Johnaye’s scat improv is cool over Symer’s bass lines.
   But You Two steals the show. It is a song to her 3-year-old twins. First off, they are adorable children and you can fully imagine Johnaye singing to them in their beds. Clement’s keys are right on target as the bass and drums rock you to slumber. It is a lullaby of comfort, protection, and hope under a blanket of devoted love. As the song fades out, you can hear the lively laughter of the little ones.
   But here’s the thing, that sweet laughter is in the shadow of Never You Mind. Even though the little ones may not be ready to hear the prophetic urgings yet, Johnaye is preparing herself to have that conversation.
   Ray Noble’s The Very Thought of You is delivered emotionally and sweetly. Johnaye has got the goods and the trio punctuate her treatment beautifully.
   I’ve Got No Strings is opened with the tongue-in-cheek bass strings of Chris Symer. It is, of course, the famous song from Pinocchio. Johnaye, however, gives her version a smoother, more placid, more truthful approach than the bouncy original version from Disney.
   Scorpion is Johnaye’s original musical version of the famous story of the scorpion who wanted to find another animal to ferry it across the river and, finding a willing carrier, then stings the animal to death. As the animal died, it asked the scorpion why it would sting him to death, thus drowning the scorpion, too. The scorpion’s reply, “It is my nature.” Johnaye clearly has someone else in mind in this romp. “I should have known. It’s in your nature.”
   The Lonely One (Hambro and Heller) was made popular in 1956 by Nat King Cole. Johnaye turns in a more bossa nova version. Somewhere, Nat King Cole is saying, “I wish I’d recorded it like that.” The same goes for her rendition of John Mayer’s 3x5. With apologies, Johnaye’s version is far superior to the Mayer original. Again, that brilliant trio helps Johnaye make that happen.
   She closes the album with three of her own originals. Secrets is a smartly constructed song. The opening section is like a reprimand and a remorse. Then the refrain takes on a hymnic tone amidst the accusation. The music is powerful and moving. The song closes with a return to the lament. I loved the structure of the piece. So well-written.
   Boxed Wine is the very definition of a back-handed compliment. While Johnaye sings with a wistful and charmed seductiveness, she manages to get in a dig that just stings. Unless it just my jaded nature that sees it. I loved the way she faded out singing a capella.
   She closes the album with her own composition, Flying. There can be little doubt that Johnaye is being transparently autobiographical. It is a song of triumph over criticism and self-doubt.
   Indeed, the whole album is full of scenes from a singer’s life. The trials, the joys, the betrayals and, above all, the love are all laid bare. Flying, the album, is emotional and humorous, honest and powerful. It is instructive and inspirational and oh-so-uplifting.



    ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is ​The Jazz Owl

   Moonlight is vocalist Gary Brumburgh’s second album and he brought the heat in the person of some of LA’s hottest artists. After his first outing, 2007’s Up Jumped Spring, Gary was diagnosed with neck and tonsil cancer which was treated with the horrendous treatments that we all know and despise.       
​   And yet, Gary put cancer to flight in 2016 and has come back with a determination and an attitude that makes you just love the guy. He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s talented, and he knows how to put a dynamite album and a great team together, as this Café Pacific Records album proves mightily.
   He’s got the father and son pianists Terry and Jamieson Trotter handling three and eight tunes, respectively. Jamieson arranged all 11 songs on the CD. Producer extraordinaire Barbara Brighton brought along Bob Sheppard on Tenor Saxophone and Flute, Pat Kelley and Larry Koonse on Guitar, Gabe Davis on Bass, and Christian Euman and Conor Malloy on Drums. This crew has got the goods.
   Gabe Davis’ bass is the first thing you hear on Moonlight. He introduces the great John Lennon Beatles tune, Day Tripper. The first thing you learn is to forget what you know about each piece because Gary is going to sing the tune his way, the way he feels it. And it works. The artists with him are going to do the same.
   The bass and Jamieson Trotter’s piano set a cool pace for Day Tripper. Christian Euman adds a great drum bit and Bob Sheppard’s tenor sax make you think that Lennon had written this as a Jazz piece.
   Billy Reid and Buddy Kaye’s I’ll Close My Eyes is Larry Koonse’s first appearance on guitar. I enjoy the soft swing of Jamieson Trotter, Gabe Davis, and Conor Malloy behind Brumburgh’s cool intonations. Jamieson has a cool and quirky piano lead in the middle that is well worth a listen. Koonse nails his solo, as always.
   Miles Davis’ Dig gets paired with Sweet Georgia Brown and Christian Euman’s drumming is spot-on. Jamieson Trotter on piano and Bob Sheppard on sax put on a sweet display as Gabe Davis pushes them on bass. This is a fun romp.
   Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb is another fine surprise. I loved Davis’ strumming on the bass to open the song that gives the great illusion of wind though the wires. What a cool treatment of a classic number. Gary delivers the lines with sincerity and conviction.
   The title track (Williams/Bergman/Bergman) is a great piece for the quintet of Terry Trotter, Davis, Euman, Sheppard, and Pat Kelley (guitar). Moonlight is beautifully delivered by Brumburgh. This is Terry Trotter’s first appearance on the album—in fact, this is the first album that he and Jamieson appear on together.
   Perhaps it is his training in drama, but Gary is completely believable in the way he delivers the songs he has chosen. And he has chosen well. From the cool Moonlight, he slides into Sting’s Heavy Cloud No Rain with his sardonic treatment and Pat Kelley’s bluesy guitar and then into Michael Franks’ wittily mundane subjects in Eggplant.
   Not done with reimagining pop stars’ classics, Brumburgh’s takes on the Supremes’ My World is Empty Without You. The trio of Jamieson Trotter, Davis and Malloy are brilliant in their haunting rendering of the Motown hit. Again, Gary’s delivery can only be called authentic and believable. Jamieson’s piano and Gary’s vocals create a vivid depiction of hollowness. Stunning.
   Just a Little Lovin’ was the huge hit by Dusty Springfield. Larry Koonse gets his hands on this one and offers up a beauty of an acoustic guitar solo. Amazingly, Gary and the guys make it sound contemporary but somehow also manage to keep that 1968 feel.
   Kenny Rankin’s Haven’t We Met has Gary in duet with Gail Pettis, backed by the trio of Jamieson, Davis and Malloy. Davis’ bass solo is a beauty that gives way to Jamieson and Malloy in a tight duet. Gary and Gail are stellar together.
   The album concludes with the Irving Berlin standard What’ll I Do. Terry Trotter’s piano into is sweet and sad, as the song itself is. Gary offers a lush version of the song done so often and so well by so many. Still, Gary makes the song worth hearing all over (and over) again. And again, so authentic.
   Brumburgh’s voice is warm and emotion-filled, completely immersed in the feel of the song and, as stated over and over, so very believable.
   Thank the heavens for Gary Brumburgh’s healing and recovery. We will get to hear more of him.



    ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

   Among the great classical conductors, Italy gave us Arturo Toscanini, Japan had Seiji Ozawa, the Germans had the great Herbert von Karajan. For America, the stand-alone name is Leonard Bernstein and 2018 is the year to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of the great American maestro.
   Bernstein was far more than just a classical conductor. He wrote orchestral pieces—three symphonies—and movie scores and works based on some of my favorite writers: the poet W.H. Auden, the philosopher Voltaire, and Plato. He wrote Fanfare I for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy.
   But if there is any one thing that stands out, it must be his music for West Side Story. That musical bought together the perfect storm of composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and choreographer Jerome Robbins, to create what may be the greatest work of American musical theatre. If West Side Story were all that Bernstein ever composed, it would be enough.
   In a celebration of the maestro’s centennial and in honor of the Latino experience in New York, specifically Brooklyn and the Bronx, maestro Bobby Sanabria has reviewed and renewed Bernstein’s great work and has released West Side Story Reimagined on Randy Klein's Jazzheads label.
   “Rhythm was such an important part of the work for my father,” said Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein. “I am so excited for the work that Bobby has done here. My father would be so happy.”
   Watching the musical, one is caught up with the lyrics and the dancing. West Side Story Reimagined, however, presents just the music in all its richness and power, humor and heartbreak. With the reimagined music and rhythms from Puerto Rico and the Afro-Cuban tradition and beyond, West Side Story becomes a cultural and musical celebration in West Side Story Reimagined.
   And when the Sharks and the Jets fight it out, you feel it.
   Not only has Bobby Sanabria enlisted his fabulous Multiverse Big Band, he has engaged brilliant arrangers like Jeremy Fletcher, Niko Siebold, Jeff Lederer, Matt Wong, Danny Rivera, Nate Sparks, Andrew Neesley, Takao Heisho, and the great Eugene Marlow.
   Each arranger gives their specific piece their unique treatment and reimagination and the results are stunning. Marlow’s arrangement of Maria is a personal favorite. But with all those brilliant arrangements is the foundation of those amazing rhythms as Bobby reimagines Bernstein’s story of life and love amidst bigotry and racism and fear.
   But love of culture, love of the city itself, finds a way to combat the fear and anger with humor and dignity. And there is no greater dignity than that which resides inside Bobby Sanabria.
   The prologue is the powerful introduction to the clave rhythm that plays such a huge part in Latin music. The oscillating rhythms define the struggle between the gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. But before the prologue, and indeed before several of the songs, is an introduction from Bobby from behind the drum kit that calls for responses from the audience at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York City. It is a powerful insertion of himself and all his experiences into the setting of the West Side.
   Jet Song is the encounter between cool bebop Jazz of the Jets and the aggressive Bomba xicá rhythm of the Sharks. It is a brilliant, evocative piece.
   America arranger Jeff Lederer said, “Our definitions of what America is have never been more challenged and the relevance of this song have never been in sharper focus.” To that end, Lederer and Bobby insert various national anthems alongside the Venezuelan joropo rhythm.
   Gee, Officer Krupke is one of the most intriguing studies in rhythm. Bobby incorporates so many rhythms from so many places and so many styles that this new view of the Polish-American police officer takes on a gentler, more appreciative aspect.
   Tonight is bound to get you. Three rhythms are infused into the piece—the bolero, the samba, and the merengue—are used to illustrate the passion and joy that Maria and Tony are feeling.
   The bembé rhythm from West Africa is used to express Tony’s love and desire for Maria in the song bearing her name. The piece is arranged by Eugene Marlow and is the sweetest piece from the whole program.
   From the restraint of Cool to the unrestrained violence of The Rumble/Rumba, the mixed rhythms tell the story as well as any lyric could. The duet between the lead trombone (Tony) and lead alto saxophone (Maria) in One Hand, One Heart includes a mix of samba and bolero. Other songs from West Side Story are heard in reference with a build-up to Something’s Coming.
   Somewhere is the very image of hopefulness and longing for a better place and a better time. All is torn away from them, however, in the death of Tony as heard in Epilogue/Finale. In the background is heard a reprise of I Have a Love and Somewhere.
   West Side Story Reimagined is Bobby’s retelling of the story in his way, seen through the eyes of love and gratitude and, often, uncertainty.
   As Bobby says, this is “a reimagining from the perspective of a Jazz musician, a Latin musician, and a native Nuyorican son who is proud to say he is from the city that defines aché, hipness, and cool.” Aché is Energy.
   In my review of Bobby’s album, Multiverse, I said that “Bobby is a prophet of life.” That was never truer than with West Side Story Reimagined.

On Saturday, August 10, 2018, Bobby and the Big Band performed the whole album for free in front of the Lincoln Center. Jazz Promo Services chief, Jim Eigo, sent the following message.
   "It was an old fashioned Palladium party last night (8-10-18) in San Juan Hill aka Damrosch Park as maestro Bobby Sanabria celebrated maestro Leonard Bernstein with a powerful performance of his West Side Story Reimagined with his Multiverse Big Band that features some of the finest players from NYC, Puerto Rico, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Japan and more.
   "There was poetry from La Bruja (who reminded everyone that the opening scenes for the film West Side Story were shot in that very location where Lincoln Center now stands) and Rich Villar, a great multi-media photo slide show of vintage photographs of legendary Latin musicians, the old neighborhoods of San Juan Hill, the South Bronx and El Bario that were projected on a big screen behind the band.
   "Supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was also in attendance."
 
 
         ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

   Without any preamble, it must be said that this is one exciting, fun, and brilliant album. Few things in life are more fun that a swinging big band but these guys with featured vocalist Bonnie Bowden almost redefine fun.
   As for Bonnie Bowden, you should already be well-acquainted with her great body of work from the many recordings with Sergio Mendes and under her own name.
   Tim Miller is the band leader and also plays baritone sax and bass clarinet. The arrangements by Myles Collins, John Clayton, Mark Taylor, Jerry Nowak, Sammy Nestico, and Patrick Williams are tight and powerful. In a big band setting, of course, it is the arrangement that is in control, unlike smaller groups where the individual artists have freer reign.
   Patrick Williams also composed and arranged the title song, Livin’ the Canary Life, which is especially poignant with the recent passing of the brilliant and generous man. Bonnie said, “He wrote Livin’ the Canary Life and Cry Me a River charts for me. I was so very grateful. I cried when he gave them to me... Gratis. Very lovely and kind man.”
   It makes an exciting album even more meaningful.
   The album opens with Frank Wildhorn’s Till You Come Back to Me. Bonnie Bowden’s enunciation moves from staccato to legato in the coolest transitions. RW Enoch’s tenor sax solo is splendid and the rhythm section of Dustin Morgan (bass) and John Spooner and Jack Cook (drums both) is smoking.
   Then it all bursts into flame with Swing, Swing, Swing. The title is a perfect description of what the John Williams composition does. It is an instrumental that is a fantastic bridge between the opening track and what follows. The mix is so well done that the whole reed and horn sections can almost be picked out individually. Hats off to Jim Baldree for his producing/engineering/mixing/mastering expertise. And the guy plays a great bass trombone, too.
   Cry Me a River is just beautiful. Patrick Williams arranged the Arthur Hamilton classic to stunning effect. Bonnie has a way of telegraphing the next note that is extraordinary. The bluesy piece is done to perfection by Bonnie and the band, alike. I mean, perfection.
   Then Bonnie redirects her delivery in I’m Gonna Live Til I Die. She even pronounces certain letters differently in such an appropriate way for the song’s playful mood. Nothing is straight-up with this group of artists. They meet the challenge of each piece on its own terms and they just own it.
   The Angel City Big Band takes up Jerome Kern’s All The Things You Are next. The instrumental treatment presents great solos by Paul Pate on alto sax and Mike Meunch on trumpet. Mark Taylor arranged the piece, taking one of the best-loved standards and making it fresh with added swing.
   Livin’ the Canary Life is the centerpiece both in track placement and holding the album’s title honors. The song mentions the great female vocalists, detailing the life of the singer. But one can’t help but wonder if Arthur Hamilton’s lyrics also carry a bit of the idea that these singers were also voices of warning, like the canary in the mine.
                                                            I keep swingin’ through all the smoke
                                                             I keep singin’ though I end up broke
   Enoch gets another tenor sax solo and the band punches in the accents as the rhythm section nails it over and over again.
   One surprise is the reworking of the Billy Preston/Bruce Fisher song made famous by Joe Cocker, You Are So Beautiful. Bonnie’s singing is every bit as emotional as the original but seated splendidly within the context of this amazing big band. With Cocker’s version, you enjoyed the raw emotion of the song. With Bonnie and the Angel City Big Band, you enjoy everything from Rick Parent’s piano to the whole band’s ebb and flow to Bonnie’s warm vocals.
   Gold Coffee is like a film noir soundtrack. It is a Sammy Nestico original instrumental. The song evokes images of Sam Spade peering corners on a rainy L.A. night. Another smoky RW Enoch tenor sax solo accentuates the coolness of the piece. Enoch hits his target time after time.
   The band takes another leap in Mark Taylor’s arrangement of John Coltrane classic, Giant Steps. Dave Hickok lays down a cool trombone solo and is followed up by Enoch on the tenor sax. Jack Cook inserts a fine drum solo and the band takes on the legendary song like it was always meant to be a large ensemble piece in the first place.
   Duke Ellington’s Do Nothin’ Til You Hear from Me (Bill Russell, lyrics) gets fresh look as Terry O’Bannon adds a cool organ to the band. They slide right into Irving Berlin’s How Deep Is the Ocean, arranged by Jerry Nowak. If you weren’t infatuated with Bonnie Bowden before now, this song will do the job. I mean, Good Lord.
   Bonnie caps it all off with a vocal only introduction to Cole Porter’s From This Moment On. The band jumps in with Spooner’s fine bass line behind. It is a swinging, song of joie de vivre and great hope.
   Bonnie delivers convincingly as she moves from pouty to pained, funny to flirty, and always lovely. There is nothing not to love about her.
   The Angel City Big Band is flawless in their own virtuosity and emphatic dashes. They can be as languid as Bonnie and as playful as she is. This is a perfect pairing of band with vocalist.
  Nobody detracted from this recording. The choosing of the pieces, the arrangements and original compositions, the musicianship and artistry from vocalist and instrumentalists, the recording and mixing and mastering, even the sepia-toned album cover, was all so very fitting.
   A wonderful, wonderful album.

    Guitarist Bill Hart has put together a band of killers. There is no weak link in the bunch. He has released several acclaimed albums in a Jazz-Funk-Fusion style. Live at Red Clay Theatre is his 2018 release on Blujazz Productions and is brilliantly produced and marvelously executed.
   It is his sixth album and he told one interviewer, “All the tracks are original but none of them are new, although you could say they are new versions that somehow have taken on a beautiful life of their own.” A beautiful life of their own is right.
   Shalom Aberle mixes the live recording and it is superb. The warm atmosphere of the great Atlanta venue is splendidly portrayed in this live recording.
   Beachside Isle opens the set with a sweet guitar intro that kicks into a tight little bit between Alex McGuiness on sax and Pat Strawser on keyboards. Hart’s guitar resumes control as Dwayne Wallace’s bass and Steven Walker’s drums lay down a cool rhythm line. Emrah Kotan is on percussion and he and Hart add their own drive to McGuiness’ return lead.
   The band plays like a unit and the musical camaraderie and intuitiveness between them is electrifying. There are moments that makes one think of Weather Report and we haven’t even departed the first track yet. Hang on.
   Jim Gilligan follows up with an ambient opening that gives way to an acoustic nylon string guitar and sax pairing as the full band deploys into a gentler expression. McGuiness adds soulful punctuations to Hart’s guitar intonations.  
   Bill Hart’s use of various guitars gives so many different flavors to the pieces. Someone called Bill Hart “smooth Jazz” and they should be beaten about the head and shoulders with Kenny G albums. Hart may be smooth but “smooth Jazz” as a sub-genre, he is not.
   Deep Skies cranks out the Stratocaster in opening lines of bone-crushing funk. Yeah, I was all in from here on out. Wallace lays down pulse-pounding bass lines and Walker rolls in the thunder on the drums. There are interludes of straight-ahead Jazz only to return to that monster funk. Dwayne Wallace becomes a hero on this track while Hart tears open the skies with his furious Stratocaster work. Can’t get enough and neither could the audience.
   Sara’s Song returns to the sweeter side with the acoustic introduction. The band starts to swing by midway and McGuiness introduces the soprano sax. Strawser’s keyboards are expressive and cool. Don’t miss what Walker is doing on drums. The tone and texture of his drumming is extraordinary on this lovely piece.
   That’s Purdy is from Hart’s Touch of Blue album. It is a cool Blues bit and smoking guitar licks and tight rhythms. I like the note-for-note playing between Hart and McGuiness. Truly cool Blues.
   Canadese Africano is from 2008’s Subject to Change. This is one fine example of the beautiful new life that these pieces enjoy in the live setting of the Red Clay Theatre. It is precise and tight without ever losing its lyricism. Hart has arranged a wonderful reworking of this number with the right people at the right positions. And Hart himself is on fire. It’s not fast and furious but his tone and technique are beautiful.
   Got to love Emrah Kotan’s percussion outro.
   And that percussion continues into the intro of This is Why. Hart’s acoustic guitar delicately takes over for several minutes. Sax and keyboards will get their own turns before the return of the guitar to close out the piece. A fine composition that is meditative and reflective.
   Spazio Aperto follows in staccato pops and punches before trading with more melodic lines. The picking style creates an openness here as percussion and bass fill the very space created by Hart. The Blues-Jazz feel of the piece are highlighted by the rhythm section as Strawser’s Zawinulesque keyboards never detract from the bluesier elements. McGuiness brings back the soprano sax as the tightly wound band swirls around him and he around them like binary stars. A great composition, to be sure.
   The album closes with Elected from the album Watch the Sky, the same album that gave us Beachside Isle and Sara’s Song. It has Hart at his most energetic and the whole band clearly choosing to leave it all on the field. Every member of the band gets to contribute their finest, fulfilling the entertainment maxim to “Always leave them wanting more.” This is Bill Hart Band in its tightest Fusion. What a great way to conclude an album.
   It’s difficult to determine just where Bill Hart is most gifted—guitarist or composer or band leader. This can be said with assurance, Bill Hart knows how to pick the right guys to complement his musicianship in playing his own brilliant compositions.
   Greg Pasenko and Bluejazz Productions have brought us a winner.
 
 
              ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl