Geissman's Trilogy; Evingson Samples Gimbel - Bob Stewart

In addition to leading his own groups, guitarist Grant Geissman has recorded with such artists at Quincy Jones, Chuck Mangione, and Gordon Goodwin. He's co-written the Emmy-nominated theme for the CBS-TV series "Two and a Half Men" and also writes music for the series "Mike and Molly." "Bop! Bang! Boom!" is the third in a loosely fashioned trilogy reflecting Geissman's shift to more traditional jazz expressions. "The key to making meaningful music for me is to not limit myself stylistically," says Geissman. "I actually can't envision writing an album where every track sounds the same. One of the reasons I created my own label, Futurism, was so that I could explore anything I wanted-which to me is what an artist is supposed to do."

Known for taking divergent paths, Twin Cities-based vocalist Connie Evingson's past releases have explored the music of the Beatles, Dave Frishberg, Django Reinhardt, Peggy Lee and Broadway. For her ninth release, "Sweet Happy Life", she samples the songbook of Grammy and Oscar-winning lyricist Norman Gimbel. With a healthy dose of bossa nova and samba from Gimbel's collaborations with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luis Bonfa and others, the disc also includes swinging jazz standards, pop hits and romantic readings of film songs.