In a
musical world where keeping a working band has been difficult for many
bandleaders, drummer Steve Smith has
managed to keep three bands working for the past three decades. His jazz-rock
band Vital Information has been touring and recording for more than thirty years,
while his straight-ahead groups Buddy’s Buddies, made up of Buddy Rich alumni,
and Steve Smith’s Jazz Legacy have each been in existence for the last five
years. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for the drummer to blend all three
bands for a new studio disc, “Viewpoint,” with a band called Vital
Information-NYC Edition. It includes saxophonist Andy Fusco and pianist Mark
Soskin from Buddy’s Buddies and Jazz Legacy, guitarist Vinny Valentino from
Vital Information, and bassist Baron Browne from all three bands.
Organist Brian Charette takes it to the streets
and brings it all back home with his ninth release as a leader, “Alphabet City,”
so named for the area of Manhattan where he lives. While the compositional
focus and musical crux of the CD rests squarely on the shoulder of Charette and
his Hammond B-3, the additional contributions of guitar Will Bernard and
drummer Rudy Royston also provide melodic highlights and the necessary rhythmic
support to keep the session deeply in the pocket. Those who caught the trio at the
Iowa City Jazz Festival this month can attest to tightness of the ensemble.
Grammy nominee Wayne Wallace celebrates the
ever-developing cultural conversation between the U.S. and Cuba with “Intercambio,”
the fifth, and strongest, release by his acclaimed Latin Jazz Quintet; British saxophonist
Steve Kaldestad, who has now relocated
to Vancouver, British Columbia, is joined by pianist Renee Rosnes and her trio
for his third disc as leader, “New York Afternoon”; and “Butterfly Blue” finds
vocalist Halie Loren drawing
inspiration from blues and soul with a mix of jazz and Songbook standards, re-imagined
pop songs and original pieces.
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