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David Larsen knows how to Deviate from Standards

9/22/2021

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David Larsen is a saxophonist, composer, and educator, serving as the director of instrumental studies at the lovely Spokane Falls Community College. A fine instrumentalist, Larsen is also an extraordinary and prolific composer winning awards every year for the past four years.

Larsen says, “This album started as a COVID-19 escape. A way to keep playing music, even as live performance was not possible. As the world began to open, I was able to play these pieces in public and learn more about how I wanted to present them. The compositions are taken from the last four years of my life, earning my doctoral degree and getting more exposure to jazz composers from a variety of eras and genres.”


And it shows. All of the pieces are originals from Larsen and they do honor to the influences that are so clearly and cleanly heard. 


Joining Larsen in the project are Brendan McMurphy on trumpet, flugelhorn and drums, Kate Skinner and Danny McCollin on piano and keyboards, Josh Skinner and Nick Isherwood on bass, with Greg Yasinitsky on tenor and baritone saxophones for tracks 1 and 9 and Ken Peplowski on clarinet for track 3. 

The album opens with A New Thing Comin’ with that great pairing of saxes with Larsen and Yasinitsky. Kate Skinner adds a fine touch to the keyboards (and gets a cool solo) and Josh Skinner and Brendan McMurphy make the rhythm section swing. I was hooked from the first track. 

Then Smoke Screen switches the line-up with McCollin on keyboards and Nick Isherwood on bass. Plus, McMurphy jumps aboard with smoking flugelhorn to complement Larsen’s sax who absolutely puts you on the edge of your seat with that throaty sax. Love it.

Augmented Reality turns in a Big Band feel with its big swing and catchy melody. Larsen’s sax trades with Peplowski’s clarinet and results are excellent. Then Family turns into something of a ballad with its emotional imagery. McCollin’s electric piano is delicate and deliberate. And oh, that tenor sax of Larsen. Gorgeous and warm as family.

Speaking of tenor saxes, He Who Getz the Last Laugh is obviously a nod-and-a-wink to the great Stan Getz and it works. Kate Skinner nails the piano solo. Oscar Peterson would be proud. What an excellent piece this is. The homage is there but it is also so original. Then See You at 8 pushes us in another direction and you are reminded of just how versatile Larsen really is. Into the Light is a beauty with a lovely melody and excellent drum work from McMurphy who is always understated but always, always spot on. Add to that McMurphy’s horn and you’ve got the makin’s.

Into the Mild is another sweet swing and Larsen works his magic so well. Kate Skinner is fantastic on the piano and Josh Skinner adds his great bass. Notice how the Skinners are on the same tracks? And that chemistry is also something to enjoy. This just might be my favorite track.

The album concludes with Tensai (天才), the Japanese word for genius. It is a fitting description for the work done on this song from Larsen and Yasinitsky on the saxes to the Skinners to McMurphy. Good God, ya’ll. Okay, this one was my favorite. It is just how you want an album to end…by not wanting it to end.
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Deviate from Standards works on every level from the performances to the compositions to even the track arrangement. This is an album that immediately makes you hit the replay button. Over and over.

         ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

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Jackson Potter gets Restless

9/20/2021

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Jackson Potter has just finished his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Guitar from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami under the direction of John Hart. But don't make the mistake of thinking that he is new to the Jazz scene. He has been playing professionally since the age of 16. He has won numerous individual and group awards and has performed with a stellar array of Grammy-winning and -nominated Jazz artists.

Potter's debut album, Restless, has brought along a great line up of Miami’s first-call performers. With Potter on guitar, he is joined by Leo Folsom on piano, Patrick Leavy on bass, and Gibb Mandish on drums. Of the eight tracks on the album, six are composed by Potter and all are arranged by him.


The album opens with Bird Flu, a Potter original, and loosely based on Charlie Parker's classic Segment. Potter, however, switches up the rhythms and harmonies, giving it his indelible personal stamp. David Mason is featured on Alto saxophone and the piece starts off with cool swing and a sweet dialogue between guitar and sax. The rhythm section shows from the beginning why they are the chosen ones for this album. These guys can bring it.


Steve Swallow’s Falling Grace follows with drummer Mandish kicking it all off with a hot drum solo. Everybody in the quartet gets their own featured solo and they make it count. Already by the second track, you can see that Potter is here to stay. With ever-so-subtle hints of Pat Metheny, Potter has his own voice and it is worth hearing.


Mulberry Tree, another Jackson Potter original, may put the listener in mind of a samba, especially an Antonio Carlos Jobim style. Potter himself gets an extended solo, along with bassist Leavy. Potter’s touch is exquisite—deliberate but delicate when appropriate. Then Leo Folsom’s piano solo takes over just after the halfway mark with him and Mandish working beautifully together. 


Sophia’s Waltz
is written for his girlfriend. The delicate nature of Potter’s touch is on full display here and paints a delightful and loving portrait of the woman he loves. Folsom adds his own fine sensibilities on piano and Leavy’s understated bass is sweet (and I mean that in a good way). Potter’s guitar is warm and refined and the composition is flawless. You’ve got to love this guy.

Folsom disappears for two tracks and the trio of guitar, bass, and drums takes a different look at a Potter original and a Horace Silver classic. The original is Amalfi is based on the Amalfi Coast of Southern Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is on the little spur of land, just south of Naples. The music is as warm and inviting as the climate of Amalfi. Leavy gets a great bass solo along the way and Mandish ends it all with driving drum work. But that guitar of Potter’s is delectable.

Horace Silver’s Peace is perfect for the trio setting (sorry, Folsom) and the solo guitar introduction is fascinating, a great way to open the classic piece. I mean, Peace. It made me go back and listen again to Silver’s Blowin’ the Blues Away. Leavy’s bass is excellent. Silver described the writing of Peace like this: "I was doodlin' around on the piano, and it just came to me, but I also had the impression that there was an angel standing over me, impressing my mind with this beautiful melody and harmony." The slow ballad is just so very well done.


Folsom returns for Hindsight is 2020 a look back at that year of pandemic. As Folsom returns, the quartet is joined by Mason on alto sax, Joey Curreri on trumpet and Carter Key on tenor trombone. It is emotional without being maudlin and the play between horns and rhythm section with the focal guitar is wonderful. I said wonderful. Hang on for Mason’s sax solo. The close with all hands on deck is fantastic.


The album closes with the title track, Restless. Potter waiting for the album’s finale to cut loose his inner Rock shredder. All seven artists from the previous track return in fury for this one. In a nod and a wink to Weather Report, Potter and company drive it all home with force and fire. Smoking hot.


A great album by any measure, Restless is incredible as a debut. Jackson Potter can write and arrange and compose with the best of them. This guy has a home and a future in Jazz.

‍

                         ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

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Ray Obiedo's Latin Jazz Project, Vol. 2

9/3/2021

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Guitarist and composer Ray Obiedo once again takes on Latin Jazz in a contemporary styling with Latin Jazz Project, Vol.2. It is Obiedo’s tenth recording as a bandleader and follows on the heels of 2019’s Carousel. You have to go back to 2016, however, to catch Latin jazz Project, Vol.1. And it’s worth the trip back.

To bring this particular approach to Latin jazz by way of R&B, modern Jazz, and other influences, Obiedo has collected a Who’s Who of modern masters to bring his vision to fruition. Joining Obiedo’s guitar are the great Bob Mintzer on sax, Sheila E. on percussion, Norbert Stachel on flue, Mike Olmos on trumpet, Peter Michael Escovedo also on percussion, and some of the Santana clan in the persons of David K. Mathews on keyboards, Jeff Cressman on trombone, and percussionist Karl Perazzo. A host of others add their talents and kills and the pay-off is huge.

The album opens beautifully with Still Life and Obiedo shows his distinctive guitar skills with the backing of Peter Horvath’s solo piano. David K. Mathews nails the keyboards and the percussion of Escoveda and Hawkins on drums is tight and sweet. The Cha-Cha-Cha number was originally written for Escovedo’s orchestra.

Criss Cross
continues with a bit of Fusion with its Mambo rhythms. The horn and woodwind section is cool alongside the smoking hot percussion which features Sheila E. on congas. The flutes of Norbert Stachel and Rita Thies are gorgeous. Mathews again turns in his magic for Obiedo’s beautifully written original.

The Cha-Cha-Cha returns with Beatnik and its sweltering sax from Maestro Bob Mintzer. Obiedo himself offers up hot guitar work and covers the keyboards himself. Again, the writing is exemplary. Santa Lucia brings in the steel pans from Phil Hawkins. If that doesn’t make you feel happy, nothing can. Stachel returns with the high-flying flute and the percussionists provide the riveting Soca rhythms of the Caribbean. Horvath’s piano solo is fantastic…but then, so is everyone on this album.

Belafonte
must be an homage to Harry Belafonte. I thought, at first, it was the Old French word for beautiful fountain but that requires two Ls in the spelling and Harry’s name does not. The sweet bossa nova sounds like Harry should be singing it. Horvath gives another beautiful turn on solo piano with warm backing vocals from Sandy Cressman and Jenny Meltzer.

Then Uno Dos brings back the steel pans and the Mambo rhythms. Obiedo, Horvath, and Mathews are all on keyboards and organ—and Brother Mathews gives a cool, cool passage on the organ. Mintzer again contributes that amazing tenor sax. Garibaldi’s drums, Escovedo’s percussion, along with Jon Bendich and Michael Spiro, is tight and smoking. This deserves repeated play.

Viva Tirado
is the sole track on the album not composed by Obiedo but by Gerald Wilson. The version recorded by El Chicano is the arrangement that captured Obiedo’s attention and with good reason. Obiedo called said it has a “cool low-rider vibe.” You will agree with him. Mathews get the brilliant piano solo and Obiedo’s guitar work is so fine. Mike Olmos on trumpet is inspired.

The album wraps with Big World, once again an Obiedo original. The percussion section handles the cool meter effortlessly and Obiedo finally gives us a focus on the guitar again. Sometimes, he’s too generous but the artists with him make it worthwhile. It’s Mike Olmos on flugelhorn and Sheila E. on congas that take us home.

Truthfully, I had been praying for some good Latin Jazz to review. Ray Obiedo came to my rescue.

Ray Obiedo again shows his mastery of the Latin Jazz genre and he brings just the right artists to breathe life and love into his originals and one cover. Latin Jazz Project, Vol. 2 is worth the five-year wait.
 
                                    ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl

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Steve Million speaks Jazz Words

9/3/2021

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Steve Million has a lot to draw on for his inspiration. His own piano artistry and composing in strongly influenced by poetry. And it shows. He also has a sense of humor that bears close attention.

This album, Jazz Words (his seventh), is a brilliant display of Million’s composing and lyrics. Each of the songs on Jazz Words are originals. To help him in the delivery of own poetic sensibilities is vocalist Sarah Marie Young and she is marvelous. Along with Million on piano and Young on vocals are Jim Gailloreto on sax and flutes, John Sims on bass, and Juan Pastor on drums.

With all the beautiful lyrics and gorgeous vocals, the musical compositions are fabulous. You wind up listening to the vocals and then repeated listening for the music itself.

The album opens with Heaven to Monkitroid. The Thelonious Monk influence is clear and delightful but you also see Million influenced by the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Snagglepuss. The piano is unmistakably a nod and a wink to Monk and the lyrics are deserving of close attention. Young’s bluesy-bop delivery is infectious. Pastor also gives some cool drum passages.

Mis’ry Waltz is actually from an earlier album but Million wrote lyrics for this version of the song and Young works it well. The tune has a distinctively Gospel feel to it and it is gorgeous. Missing Page was written for his daughter, Page, who had moved away. It is not the melancholy of the Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home but is a warm farewell as a daughter takes on life.

The sorrow comes with Hymnal, written after September 11, 2001.
Time will come and go away
Another welcome overstayed
So we will sing a hymn and pray
Will this help us find our way?
 
Life moves on. We plant our seed
Growing toward the life they lead
No matter how hard we plead
They will steal away our greed
 
These are not to be sorrowful seeds we sow
For there’s joy in discovering that we always know
These will not be sorrowful seeds we sow
There’s so much more to know
Before We Go
Away

Melancholy but not maudlin, the song is full of hope and is beautifully done by Million’s piano and Young’s intonations

Nika’s Changes
is written for his other daughter and his hopes for her. It is a cool, cool 5/4 and bops along beautifully. The piano and sax are remarkable in their partnership and Gailloreto gives us an exquisite sax solo. Cold Wind gives a warm bass introduction from the bass of Sims. The cold piano is in contrast and reveals the struggle of Million’s discovery of having cancer at the same time that his wife discovered she was pregnant. An altogether impressive piece with wonderful piano and fine bass. Wait for the Gailloreto flute solo.  
Loss follows from the point of view of his divorce from his first wife. It starts with a layered approach and moves to a straightforward sad reminiscence.

Was this love ever real

Even at the start?

It is not only about loss but about personal rediscovery. Anyone who has been through it, knows exactly what Million is talking about. Great sax solo along with Young’s agonized vocals.

The album closes with The Way Home. Listen carefully to the lyrics and understand the quest for St. Theresa of Avila’s Interior Castle. It is about finding truth within. Ever-present, ever-waiting.

​Jazz Words
is more than the words—which are remarkable—but also it is the music—which is inspired and inspiring. Steve Million makes it all work, from lyrics to composition to performance. His artistry is beyond dispute.
 
                                    ~Travis Rogers, Jr. is The Jazz Owl


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