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Newman, David ÒFatheadÓ
Label: High Note
Diamondhead
Bebop
Performance: 4
Sound: 4
O's Notes: Veteran sax/flute man "Fathead" Newman leads star studded unit with Curtis Fuller (tb), Cedar Walton (p), Peter Washington (b) and Yoron Isreal (d). They play a combination of covers and originals. "Cedar's Blues" has an infectious groove that rolls into "My Full House". The pace drops on a mellow arrangement of "Skylark". "Mama-Lou" features Newman playing flute breathing fresh air into this upbeat tune, one of the best of the bunch. David continues to churn out good sessions for High Note each year bringing strong teams, fresh arrangements and a lot of class!
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Miller, Marcus
Label: American Treasures
Master of All Trades
funk
Performance: 5
Sound: 4
O's Notes: Bassist Marcus Miller has that special ability to make the musicians around him shine. He does this playing funk, rock-fusion, R&B and traditional jazz. He started his career writing for and playing with Miles ("Tutu" is included here). He has continued moving up from there. On this live set he performs with vocalist Lahla Hathaway, Patches Stewart (t), Dean Brown (g), Bruce Flowers (p), Roger Byam (sax) and drummer Poogie Bell. They all provide strong contributions. The show is lengthy and rich including "Power", "So What", "Killing Me Softly" and much more over 2 discs. You'll enjoy the vocal mastery of Hathaway and the incredible funky talents of Miller in back, up front and bringing it all together! Disc 2 talks about Miller the man and the musician from the mouths of many. This is the best insight into Miller available.
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Jordan, Stanley
Label: Mack Avenue
State of Nature
Bebop
Performance: 4
Sound: 4
O's Notes: Stanley's style playing guitar is unique. He furthers that to include simultaneous guitar and piano playing on this album. You have to see it to believe it. It's that good! Charnett Moffett (b) is right there with him throughout some rather intense exchanges. David Haynes keeps time. They play a variety of styles including bebop, pop, fusion and even some classical. It's great to have Jordan back on the scene.
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E_L_B
Label: Act
Dream Flight
Fusion
Performance: 4
Sound: 4
O's Notes: Peter Erskine (d, perc), Nguyn L (g) and Michel Benita (b) make up E_L_B with guest artist StŽphane Guillaume (sax) joining them for this recording. This is a touring and recording band that has great chemistry. Each of them contributes original works for he session. There are eleven tunes on this Dream Flight, a trip into the depths of jazz-fusion with L and Guillaume leading the melodies. "Jive Five" has a lot of sizzle in contrast with the mellow relaxed tones of "Song For Jaco" and fusion of "Kokopanista". It was the cool sound of "Plan 9" brought us on board!
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Brozman, Bob
Label: Ruf Records
Post-IndustrialBlues
Dixieland
Performance: 4
Sound: 3
O's Notes: Bob plays guitar and sings blues, reality blues. They open with "Follow The Money" then "Look At New Orleans", tunes describing changes here in the US as we blast into the 21st century. Bob describes the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to see! These lyrics are sung in gutsy tones with a simple New Orleans Blues format. Bronzman's plucking, strumming and slapping the strings is well matched with Jim Morris (d) and Stan Poplin (b). Bronzman wrote many of the fifteen tunes and he picked covers to match his post-industrial sentiment. This is good, entertaining listening, especially "Shafafa" and "People Are StrangeÓ! Why can't things be like they used to be?
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