Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Tim Green & Trio Cambia - Change Of Seasons
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Chicago pianist Tim Green had already released a few excellent albums on the Origin label when Change of Seasons was produced. What is different about Change of Seasons? A couple of things. The first is a tight focus on Christmas music, with a handful of traditional pieces heavily reworked in a piano jazz trio setting with a bit of a kick, and a handful of pieces that are more tangentially related to Christmas (Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy";... read more
Steve Owen - Stand Up Eight
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Who likes Bill Holman? Owen has an interesting concept here. The crack arranger also has a day job as an educator. He brought together his other jazzbo pals, who are also educators, to show that there's no dust on them even as they spend more time at the podium than the bandstand. A solidly fine work of sitting down jazz that manages to be musically advanced without losing you along the way. Putting his all into this effort, all that's... read more
Dean Schmidt - I Know Nothing
by Paul Pelon IV, Audiophile Audition
And the award for the hippest song title of the year goes to? Dean Schmidt for Harry Whodeanie's Magic Impromptu Blues! An instant favorite of mine for 2007, Dean Schmidt's I Know Nothing, resembles solo efforts by Trey Anastasio and Herbie Hancock, yet takes on a bright feel of its own.
Written years ago and after collecting dust in his closet, Dean decided to release the 13 tracks heard here. Produced by Gary Gibson and influenced by too... read more
Danny Green Trio Plus Strings - One Day It Will
by Doug Hall, All About Jazz
LIVE REVIEW Acclaimed San Diego pianist and composer Danny Green and his trio, Justin Grinnell and Julien Cantelm performed a set supporting their CD release One Day It Will (2018), at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, Ma. Sat June 16th. The intimate setting of this small venue in the heart of a Cambridge neighborhood offered the perfect setting for the lyrically charged and the ethereal, absorbing, supple narrative of Green's compositions. The... read more
Jeremy Levy Jazz Orchestra - The Planets: Reimagined
by Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
"The Planets, OP. 32' by the English composer Gustav Holst continues to inspire. Progrockers like Yes and King Crimson, for example, liked to quote from this work. The American composer Jeremy Levy has now made a big band version of it with the cream of studio musicians from Los Angeles.
Seven compositions for as many planets that were known when Holst wrote 'The Planets, OP. 32' between 1914 and 1916 (there was no question of Pluto yet).... read more
Marco de Carvalho - For The Moment
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
For the Moment is an album of light Brazilian jazz from Rio-based composer/guitarist Marco de Carvalho, now living in Seattle. The mood is thoroughly laid-back (as the third track will confirm), with de Carvalho's light guitar work dominating the proceedings, and some soft drumming from Tad Britton, and Daniel de Carvalho laying the rhythm at the base of the compositions. The backing musicians are a collection of Seattle-ites and Brazilians,... read more
Afro Bop Alliance - Una Más
by David Franklin, Cadence
Afro Bop Alliance's 2008 Caribbean Jazz Project won a Latin Grammy Award and was nominated for a regular Grammy in the "Best Latin Jazz Album" category. That's not surprising, since the Washington, D.C. area-based big band is a superb ensemble of outstanding players, some of them members of the premier D.C. military bands. Indeed, one of the group's most impressive soloists, the Brecker/ Mintzer-school tenorist Luis Hernandez is also musical... read more
The Kora Band - Cascades
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Headed up unobtrusively by pianist Andrew Oliver, the Kora Band is an experiment in compositional fusion. Incorporating the sounds of West African music into modern jazz isn't entirely unheard of, with Toumani Diabat� bridging some of the gaps over the years in his collaborations. Nonetheless, this is a different beast. The focus here is on the jazz, a relatively light and airy version of it, with the kora (provided outstandingly by Kane Mathis)... read more
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