'Swing Makes You Happy!' deserves that exclamation point in the title.
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Music Review: The Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra – ‘Future Steps: Live at Jazzaar Festival 2014 Aarau, Switzerland’
This is an album with a truly excellent big band sound, ideal to calm any worries for the future of jazz.
Read More »I Shall Be Released: New Releases (and Tours) from Mark Ronson, Death Cab for Cutie, 2Cellos, Jellyfish, Hall and Oates, Red Garland and More
Plus Widespread Panic, Slipknot, Noel Gallagher, Art Pepper, Hugh Masekela, Anonymous 4, and Katrina of Katrina and the Waves.
Read More »Music Review: Lyn Stanley Sings ‘Potions [From the ’50s]’
Sexy and seductive—these are the best words to describe the vocals of Lyn Stanley.
Read More »Music Review: Solo Sax from Branford Marsalis – ‘In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral’
Marsalis understands what a solo recital needs and clearly he is up to the task.
Read More »Music Review: Joan Torres’s All Is Fused – ‘The Beginning’
This jazz album features great instrumentation and mostly lighthearted, upbeat tracks.
Read More »Music Review: Allan Harris – ‘Black Bar Jukebox’
Variety is the spice of Allan Harris's latest album.
Read More »Music Review: Art Hirahara – ‘Libations and Meditations’ (Posi-Tone)
With a a blend of fireworks and atmospherics, Hirahara's trio conveys the sense of joy that marks jazz at its best.
Read More »Music Review: Joe Sample’s Tribute to Victims of Slavery, ‘Children of the Sun’
There is a power unique to a big band, and especially to this big band, that consistently raises the piece’s emotional stakes.
Read More »Music Reviews: Claire Martin – ‘Time and Place,’ Helen Merrill – ‘Parole e Musica’ [Remastered]
Two old pros show what jazz vocals are meant to be.
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