Monday, April 19, 2010

New Music from Tom Harrell, JCLO, Others - Bob

Hailed by Newsweek for his pure melodic genius, Tom Harrell is widely recognized as one of the most creative and uncompromising jazz instrumentalists and composers of our time. Each of his discs has found its way onto various critics "Top Ten" lists worldwide. His newest, "Roman Nights", is the third CD to feature his current quintet. The remarkably cohesive unit includes tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett, drummer Johnathan Blake, and his bassist of 12 years, Ugonna Okegwo. Harrell once again exhibits the talent, creativity and touch of genius which led both Whitney Balliet of the New York Times and Bill Milkowski of Jazz times to proclaim him "the premiere trumpeter of his generation."

The world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is back with a new project, "Portrait in Seven Shades." Each of the seven movements of this new suite, composed by long-time JCLO reedman Ted Nash, is inspired by a master of modern art who worked in the century around the apex of jazz: Chagall, Dali, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Pollock and Van Gogh. The writer Will Friedwald once said, "Music is like painting in time, painting is like music in space." This new disc illustrates this point masterfully.

Pianist Ehud Asherie, an Israeli native who's now a mainstay on the New York club scene, is out with his third disc as a leader, "Modern Life", featuring saxophonist Harry Allen.

"Alive & Kickin'", is the first live disc from the Michigan-based soul-jazz organ trio Organissimo and the incomparable vocalist Maysa reinvents the classics of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone, and offers up her own originals on "A Woman in Love."

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