New Music - Bob Stewart

Redman & Strings; Locke & The Blues

Creating his own take on the classic jazz-with-strings album was the initial impetus for Joshua Redman's "Walking Shadows", a collection of ballads, both vintage and contemporary, that can be as eloquently moody and restless in feel as they are hauntingly beautiful and serene. With his friend and frequent collaborator, the pianist Brad Mehldau, on board as producer, Redman has retooled a familiar formula. The concept serves as a starting point, as foundation and inspiration, for Redman's exploration of an ambitiously eclectic set of tunes performed in a variety of configurations. "There are six songs with strings, there are quartet songs, a couple of trio songs and a duo song," explains Redman. "We tried to explore a variety of instrumentation and textures in the course of making the record."

"Lay Down My Heart", the third release from the prolific vibraphonist Joe Locke since signing with Motema Records in 2012, is an album of blues and ballads. In Locke's words, "This music is meant to provide respite for folks who work hard every day and need an opportunity so slow down and be reacquainted with that certain 'something' which eludes most of us in the midst of the whirlwind which is modern life. There is no high concept here, just some songs pulled from a deep well, which will hopefully serve to feed the soul." Surrounding Locke in this endeavor are long-time collaborator and bassist David Finck, label-mate Ryan Cohan on piano, and drummer Jaimeo Brown, who played with another great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson when he was just 19-years-old.

Also in the mix this week is percussionist Ian Dogle with his eighth release as a leader and his most ambitious and far-reaching project to date, the two-disc set "Outside the Box-Jazz Journeys and Worlds Beyond"; pianist Stephen Anderson and his trio are joined by saxophonist Joel Frahm on their third CD, "Believe"; and pianist Jay D'Amico offers up a program of original compositions on his latest quintet project, "Tango Caliente."

Christian McBride's Two Bass Hits - Bob Stewart

Bassist Christian McBride birthed his acoustic group a few years ago by necessity of desiring a return to the hallowed Village Vanguard in New York. His then current electric band was not deemed appropriate by club owner Lorraine Gordon ("You can come back, Christian, but not with that rock 'n' roll band.") Thusly, Inside Straight was born and then named at their seminal gig at the Monterey Jazz Festival by the fans in attendance. The three-time Grammy Award-winner brings back another installment of this group on the new CD, "People Music." This sojourn is augmented by a couple youngsters on the rise-Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Christian Sands, who play on two tracks-the remainder handled with the usual aplomb my Messrs. Steve Wilson, Warren Wolf, Peter Martin and Carl Allen.

McBride also has a part on the new disc from Michael Dease, "Coming Home." As he writes in the liner notes, Dease's "staggering command of the trombone has rightfully made him the in-demand player that he is today." The trombonist has played in a host of great big bands over the years, including those of Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Charles Tolliver, and Wayne Shorter. For his fourth CD as a leader, he's joined by reedmen Steve Wilson and Eric Alexander and pianist Renee Rosnes, while McBride is joined in the rhythm section by his drummer from Inside Straight, Ulysses Owens, Jr. The disc features five inventive Dease originals complemented by rare covers of songs by Oscar Peterson, Freddie Hubbard and Duke Ellington.

New Music - Bob Stewart

Flanagan/Byard Rediscovered; Mouse Roars

Over the past few years, Resonance Records has established itself as a home for such notable rediscoveries as Freddie Hubbard's "Pinnacle" and Wes Montgomery's "Echoes of Indiana Avenue." Now two titans of jazz piano are captured on the new CD -- "Tommy Flanagan/Jaki Byard: The Magic of 2" -- a previously unreleased 1982 concert recorded at San Francisco's celebrated Keystone Korner. "It's a revelation, how well they played together," says Keystone's owner, Todd Barkan. "They had quite disparate styles, but they share such an incredibly large vocabulary and frame of reference that it makes their language coherent." Jazz historian Dan Morgenstern says the music is a "gift from the past that is both unique and stupendous. Alone and especially together, Tommy and Jaki show us what spontaneous creation is all about."

Chicago drummer Jack Mouse has spent decades performing with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Stan Kenton, James Moody, Billy Taylor, Bill Evans, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, and many others. Now he's finally gathered together a quintet of some of his longtime collaborators to put together "Range of Motion" -- an intriguing set of ten original compositions. With Art Davis on trumpet, Scott Robinson on woodwinds, guitarist John McLean, and two titan bassists splitting duties, Bob Bowman and Kelly Sill, Mouse's well-seasoned group aesthetic receives a long-overdue recording debut.

Soulful Morrison; Keberle's Catharsis - Bob Stewart

Anybody who has ever heard vocalist Barbara Morrison command a stage knows that she possesses an effervescent singing style that drips with soul and a ribald sense of humor. The Ypsilanti-born singer spent her early career working with blues legend Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, who gave the young singer a secure grounding in the blues. She has performed at the Montreux, Monterey, Long Beach and North Sea Jazz Festivals, Carnegie Hall, and probably every Southern California jazz venue of the last 40 years. She's also been heard with Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Smith, and the Count Basie Orchestra, to name a few. For her new CD -- "A Sunday Kind of Love," -- Morrison is joined by that most soulful of tenor players, Houston Person, on a program of standards and bluesy classics.

Few musicians have navigated the richly varied avenues of New York City's abundant music scene with the same passion and adaptability as trombonist and composer Ryan Keberle. Since his arrival in 1999, he's drawn upon lessons learned playing alongside masters of a multitude of forms, from jazz legends to indie-rock ground-breakers, R & B superstars to classical virtuosos. He's worked in Maria Schneider's Big Band and the ensembles of Wynton Marsalis and Rufus Reid, as well as the "Saturday Night Live" house band. He debuted with his Double Quartet in 2007, and 2012 marked the debut of his latest group, the piano-less quartet Catharsis. Their first release-- "Music is Emotion" -- is highlighted by a handful of Keberle originals along with tunes by Strayhorn, Lennon & McCartney, and Art Farmer.

Stephens' Nepenthe; Weeds' Benefits - Bob Stewart

A nepenthe is an elixir that relieves one's worries and sorrows. In Homer's Odyssey, the nepenthe is a potion given to Helen to cure her woe. Saxophonist and composer Dayna Stephens finds his nepenthetic reprieve while performing. For his new recording -- "That Nepenthetic Place" -- the Brooklyn born, Bay Area raised reedman has convened an ensemble of musicians he has known from his early days in the youth programs of the Bay Area, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the Berklee College of Music, and the Monk Institute in Los Angles. It includes trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Taylor Eigsti and alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw.

Cory Weeds is a busy man. One wonders how this club owner, record label owner and distinguished saxophonist accomplishes more in one day than most of us do in a year. He loves to present jazz to enthusiastic fans at his Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver. He also loves to present jazz to the world through his Cellar Live record label. Most importantly, he has a deep passion for making the art itself. Listeners will hear this love, passion and commitment on his brand new disc -- "With Benefits" -- featuring fellow Vancouverite Bill Coon on guitar and the rhythm section of New York City's Peter Washington and Lewis Nash.

Terrason's Gouache; Branker's Uppity - Bob Stewart

Making a bold statement in the worlds of art or music demands the use of tools and mediums that strike the observer immediately. Painters like Henri Matisse have used gouache paint, a heavy opaque watercolor, for its strong, dynamic color and consistency for a striking visual effect. Highly regarded pianist and composer Jacky Terrasson has decided to mirror these pronounced effects with a well-selected assemblage of musical tools-songs and musicians-to appear on his new CD, "Gouache." Terrasson performs a number of originals alongside classics by Erik Satie and Sonny Rollins, which contrast with new classics from Amy Winehouse, John Lennon and Justin Bieber.

Anthony Branker is director of Jazz Studies at Princeton University. As a composer, his music has been featured at festivals, concerts and clubs all over the world. All About Jazz describes him as "...a serious composer who does a lot more than write tunes...his music is steeped in the deeper sources of jazz." While addressing such themes as intolerance, hate and prejudice, Branker's new CD -- "Uppity" -- strives to remind us of the power and resiliency of the human spirit as we continue the struggle for a truly tolerant and color-blind society. Along with his band Word Play, Branker has created a thoroughly musical work that will certainly be considered one of his more important projects to date.