Lunchtime Music from The New Gary Burton Quartet – Guided Tour!

This morning I was preparing a report, so it was a jazzy kind of morning. When I turn to jazz while writing and organizing many times the artist is the legendary Gary Burton. Today I listened to his latest release Guided Tour. The album is his second release on Mack Avenue Records. (Note to self check out Mack Avenue Records, their name has come up a lot lately). Common Ground, Burton’s 2011 release was his first on that label and  featured the New Gary Burton Quartet. This Quartet reunites Burton with guitar star Julian Lage and adds drummer Antonio Sanchez and bassist Scott Colley. The group has toured throughout 2011 and 2013 in support of both albums. Read More

A Night of Exploration – Contemporary Jazz Trumpeters!

When the Heart Emerges GlisteningSo as a follow-up to listening yesterday to the music of Christian McBride, last night and today I explored the music of some of his jazz contemporaries. Today’s focus has been mainly on trumpeters. Typically, if I’m listening to the trumpet the musician is usually Miles Davis, Chet Baker, or Freddie Hubbard with Blue Mitchell occasionally thrown into the mix. Somehow last night I ended up on MOG checking out the music of  Ambrose Akinmusire  and his debut release on Blue Note,  When the Heart Emerges Glistening. Here’s what Jeff Tamarkin  at AllMusic writes about the album: Read More

Sunday Morning Jazz from the Christian McBride Trio – Out Here

ChristianMcBrideTrio_OutHereSo yesterday I was browsing around for new releases and came across bassist Christian McBride’s latest from his Christian McBride Trio, Out Here. I gave it a listen and I now have a new jazz artist’s music to explore, because the album is great. The trio consists of McBride on bass (duh), Christian Sands on piano, and Ulysses Owens, Jr. on drums. Here’s what it says about the album at Mack Avenue Records about the album: Read More

Afternoon Music from the Guitar of Lawson Rollins……

So this morning I was in beautiful Newark NJ. Last night we went to a fund-raiser for Team Willpower, a night of bowling. It was the first time I bowled in many years. It took several throws to even be respectable, and for me the 110 I bowled was not even that! But it was for a good cause and we had a good time!Lawson Rollins Full CircleOne of the artists that I’ve been listening to over the last few days has been Lawson Rollins I listened to his fine guitar playing a while ago as part of the duo Young and Rollins,.and really liked their sound. This week I’ve been listening to Lawson’s latest album Full Circle. On his website, Lawson says this about the album: Read More

Today in Music – 1967 – John Coltrane passed away (not)…. and the jazz world still mourns..

John Coltrane

According to About.com/Oldies Music, on this date in 1967, the jazz world lost a legendary figure when John Coltrane died from liver cancer at the age of forty. (The actual date of his death is July 17th) Coltrane was and still is one of the most influential jazz musician, ever. I have never been a big fan of the sax, most of my jazz listening revolves around guitar, organ and vibes, but every time I hear Coltrane’s music I love it. From Wikipedia: Read More

A Jazzy Night with Music from Blue, Wynton and Hank and friends!!

Soul StationSo tonight I turned the sound down on the Phillies game and turned up the stereo and spent a jazzy Saturday night listening to albums from  Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly, and Hank Mobley. Of the three Hank Mobley is the musician I know the least about, but his album Soul Station was my favorite of the evening. The link between the three albums is the piano artistry of Wynton Kelly. Read More

Nighttime Jazz – Freddie Hubbard – Open Sesame – (1960)

Open SesameSo not that long ago I lied, and said that the focus of my musical listening was going to be jazz and New Age,  since then I don’t think I’ve really written about either genre! That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been listening to artists in those genres because I have, I just haven’t written about them yet. One of the albums that I’ve been listening to is the début album of Freddie Hubbard Open Sesame  which was released way back in 1960, when Freddie was 22 years old. I listened to this album because it was on a list of essential albums. It’s not like I haven’t listened to and enjoyed Freddie’s trumpet before, because I have, music from when he was a teenager and was playing with the Montgomery Brothers in and around Indianapolis, Echoes of Indiana Avenue. Read More