Most jazz fans probably know saxophonist David Bixler
from his many years in the first alto
chair of Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban ensembles. O'Farrill describes him as "a brilliant mind, an outsider looking in at
all the restraints of what is normally called jazz, but like true observers not
bound by any of them. His is an original voice-a beautiful and reflective
antidote to fad oriented jazz." Bixler
deserves much wider recognition for his own recordings over the past
decade. For his fifth release as leader, "The Nearest Exit May Be Inside Your
Head", he's accompanied by trumpeter Scott Wendholdt, guitarist John Hart,
bassist Ugonna Ukegwo and drummer Andy Watson on a program of ten originals.
Los Angeles-based composer and pianist Kait Dunton, who's
been studying under pianist Alan Pasqua and composer Vince Mendoza, delivers
her second disc of original music, "Mountain Suite." What started as a few
measures of music composed in the Canadian
Rockies became a full suite of music brought to life by master
interpreters Peter Erskine on drums, Bob Mintzer on tenor sax, John Daversa on
trumpet and Darek Oles on bass. Using jazz as a springboard into creative
realms of her own imagining, Dunton both refers to and defies idiomatic
expectations of the genre. It swings,
but it also slips into more subtle, shadowy places.
Also this week, saxophonist Houston Person collaborates
with legendary pianist Cedar Walton on "Naturally"; the South Florida Jazz
Orchestra under the direction of Chuck Bergeron calls upon Brian Lynch, Wayne
Bergeron, Greg Gisbert, Jason Carder and Alex Norris for a "Trumpet Summit"; and
pianist, composer and arranger Jeff Holmes
offers up his debut small group recording, "Of One's Own."
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