City Life, initially released in 1975 and now expanded and remastered, is a defining album by The Blackbyrds, a jazz-funk group formed by trumpeter Donald Byrd and composed of his students from Howard University and featuring heavyweights such as Gary Bartz and Ernie Watts (sax), Merry Clayton and Patrice Rushen (vocals) alongside guitarist Orville Saunders, […]
Thelonious Monk’s solo piano album Thelonious Himself gets a new life with Craft Recordings’ reissue. The album, part of Craft’s relaunched Original Jazz Classics, features a 180-gram high-quality pressing. A digital 192/24 hi-res digital release is also available; however, the Kevin Gray LP cut from the original tapes sounds especially glorious. The vinyl also contains […]
– Preston Frazier Jaime, Nice to meet you. I’m a fan of your band, Superfonico. This album is your first solo album. Tell us how ‘Vessels’ came about. – Jaime Ospina I’ve been in love with music, which has roots in Africa, for as long as I’ve loved music. Regardless of whether […]
Ben Tweedt and his trio mates, Tom Buckley on drums and Justin Dawson on bass, have cracked the code for delivering a powerful yet nuanced trio album. Tweedt, a classically trained Ohio-based pianist and composer, proved his improvisational skills with his solo piano album, Scenes, released in 2020. A musical journeyman, he has made his […]
Jaime Ospina, working with a powerful group of musicians for five days in the Lechehouse Music studios in Buda, Texas, produced a challenging and innovative album, ‘The Vessel,’ which is available now on Bandcamp. Ospina, a founding member of the group Superfonicos, enlisted Grupo Fantasma member Beto Martinez to engineer and mix these ten engaging […]
Fernando Perdomo’s Wave series of albums keeps coming out, and this month’s release, ‘Waves 5,’ is no exception. It’s another deep dive into the producer, songwriter, and guitarist’s musical treasure trove. The album starts with “Meditation For Jesse Gress,” an electric sitar-driven track that pays tribute to the late Todd Rundgren guitarist. Perdomo uses vintage-sounding […]
I know I should quit my bitching. I was excited by the prospect of live recordings from the Steely Dan band featuring Donald Fagen and jazzed to hear the ultimate Fagen album, 1982’s Nightfly, recreated by this crack group and fantastic singers. Sure, I would have preferred a recording from Fagen’s current band, the Nightflyers, or […]
Part of the joy attached to the new reissue of China Crisis’ 1985 album Flaunt the Imperfection is the inclusion of so much bonus material. The expanded version not only includes the near-perfect Walter Becker-produced (and newly remastered) 10 song album, but also an extra disc of demos, remixes and live recordings from the Janice Long radio […]
Yes, I love Donald Fagen. Yes, I love The Nightfly, but I’d rather listen to the album that beat it for album of the year, Toto IV. Why such sacrilege? The Nightfly sounds too much like Steely Dan. Yes, that’s great – and, I guess, how could it not? That being said, Fagen’s second solo effort, the Top 10 […]
Former model Rosie Vela jumped into music in a big way here, enlisting Gary Katz as her producer. The result is a release with a decidedly ’80s feel. Vela also wrote or co-wrote all nine songs, which are hooky and quirky at the same time. “Magic Smile” features Donald Fagen and Walter Becker on synthesizer, […]
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