GRETA MATASSA – PORTRAIT

Greta Matassa has made choices in her career that have sacrificed some visibility in exchange for lifestyle. Yet the Seattle based vocal artist has established herself firmly as one of America’s finest singers, and one of the best that jazz has to offer in the new century. To this point, the jazz public at large had not heard from Matassa in 5 years, since her last solo release for Resonance Records, “I Wanna Be Loved” (Resonance, 2014). With Portrait (Origin, 2019), Matassa explores the best music she has performed in the past decade with her working quintet that includes pianist Darin Clendenin, bassist Clipper Anderson, saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev and drummer Mark Ivester. The entire album plays like a set they might perform one evening in an intimate setting. There is a beautiful chemistry illustrated broadly in the intricacies of the musical interaction, and effortless sense of swing from piece to piece. Opening with Michel LeGrand’s “Pieces of Dreams,” the listener hears immediate impressions of a long tenured band, with the scorching solo of Nikolaev weaving its way through the elegant comping of Clendenin, and the one mind tamdem of Anderson and Ivester. It is a melody perfect to highlight the cadence of Matassa’s innovative approach, her amazing sense of tonality and range, and deep connection with the blues. Innocently sequestered between melodies composed by the likes of Ellington and LeGrand is a Bob Dylan jewel, “To Make You Feel My Love.” Matassa switches gears to present this soulful rendition, giving the impression that this tune’s intimate setting may well be in Detroit. In short, the opening two numbers clearly establish not only Matassa’s versatile skill set, but her willingness to go deep into a melody with a musician’s mind. Her instrument has always been unquestionably top tier, her ability to interpret within the mood and emotive qualities of a...

Charles Ruggiero and Hilary Gardner Play The Bird And The Bee

That small seed of possibility, pointing toward the jazz potential in the songs of Inara George and Greg Kurstin, has now bloomed into this beautifully imaginative offering. Ruggiero and Gardner join forces here to deliver smart takes on eight of The Bird and the Bee’s compositions. Arresting and imaginative, the music is both in line with its origins and independent in style and spirit. Teaming up with pianist Jeremy Manasia and bassist Neal Miner, Gardner and Ruggiero get into the zone with a “Meteor” that finds vocals hanging in the stars while the drums maintain an active presence below. It’s a performance that’s tied to both heaven and earth. Following that kickoff, Gardner blends poise and humor (and a requisite expletive) in signature fashion on a snazzy, snapping-and-swinging “Boyfriend.” Both numbers point clearly enough toward the models while also demonstrating their malleability. If there was any doubt about the legitimacy of placing this material in a jazz context, those opening numbers swiftly dispel it. And the songs that follow continue to make good on the conceptual promise. Manasia serves as a glimmering presence while Ruggiero and Miner create a waltzing flow for Gardner to glide over on “Lovey Dovey.” Gardner and Manasia, eyeing the original opening transition and molding it to their liking, introduce “You’re A Cad” with a play on the sectional verse setup before Ruggiero brings his “Poinciana” groove spin into the picture. And “Diamond Dave,” a billet-doux to David Lee Roth, is painted to perfection in wistful shades. Ruggiero and Gardner have got something good going on here, occupying a niche that’s completely their own. While this classiest and wittiest of reimaginings may turn out to be a one- and-done affair, a second volume would most certainly be welcome. Track Listing: Meteor; Boyfriend; Lovey Dovey; You’re A Cad; Come As You Were; Diamond Dave; The Races; Fourth Of July. Personnel: Hilary...

VSOJAZ 12/09/17 (The Quieter Side)

VSOJAZ 12/09/17 (The Quieter Side) Name Time Album Artist 1 Bonus Track – On a Clear Day (Bonus Track – On… 5:27 Dreams (Dreams) Sinne Eeg 2 Send in the Clowns 4:37 Rearrangements of Shadows Cheryl Bentyne 3 Shadow Waltz 4:15 The Late Set Hilary Gardner & Ehud Asherie 4 Autumn 5:51 Jazz My Soul Jazz Explorers 5 You Better Go Now 4:50 I Wish You Love Jayne Manning & The Executive Suite 6 Trav’lin’ Light 3:17 In the Moment Johnny O’Neal 7 Livin My Life My Way 4:16 Black Moonlight Linda Carone 8 Slow, Hot Wind 4:50 Dreamsville Nancy Hamilton 9 Nature Boy 3:45 Nat “King” Cole & Me (Deluxe) Gregory Porter 10 Driftin’ 5:35 Images of You Allan Crossley & Larry Crawford 11 I Left My Heart In San Francisco 6:01 Versatile Van...

Danielle Wertz & Tal Cohen – Intertwined

The artistic platform of the duo summons brave souls of the universe. It demands intimacy, courage, risk-taking, creativity, innovation and an ample imagination. Each breath, each sound, and every silence carry heightened relevance as each musician must maintain complete respect and trust of one another. These attributes are abundantly intertwined within Intertwined. The personalities at play on this album are special. It is clear to this listener that Danielle Wertz and Tal Cohen are creating with a sole agenda, which is to serve the music and nothing else. There is no ego in this music. The original material, Intertwined (Wertz/Cohen), Chopin Meets Abach (Cohen), Manhattan in the Rain (Duncan Lamont) hold similar qualities, yet somehow more personal. For Intertwined and Chopin Meets Abach, Wertz delivers soft, breath-like, intimate, and intricate, yet powerful wordless vocals. Her ability to story-tell, as if we are right there with her in the rain (Manhattan in the Rain), is wonderfully captivating. Jazz vocalist Danielle Wertz has already gained national recognition as one of the next generation’s leading voices in jazz. Semi-Finalist in the illustrious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, she was the inaugural winner of the Washington Women in Jazz Festival Young Artist Contest. Danielle is a recipient of several other accolades including the Outstanding Jazz Performance Award in the DownBeat 38th Annual Student Music Awards. Tal Cohen’s unique piano style owes its roots to the Jewish folk songs and classical music he played in his formative years growing up in Israel. Pianist Tal Cohen is a creative, imaginative muse throughout the entire album. His acute sensitivity and understanding of the music, lyrics, emotions, and whatever the musical moment may need of him, creates a masterful musician; a brave soul. “This album is the product of lovers of music, ego-less brave souls, coming together to serve a musical moment. Allow yourself to melt...

Sarah Partridge – Bright Lights and Promises

Nobody familiar with Ian’s oeuvre would argue against saluting her work, but the folk-ish qualities that carry her musical art, whether materializing through a flower power lens or tackling life’s truest cruelties, don’t necessarily call out for jazz rewrites. Fortunately, that didn’t stop Sarah Partridge from pursuing this project. After connecting with Ian, she couldn’t get the idea out of her head. She may have had her doubts about where she could go with the music, but those doubts didn’t deter her one bit. Partridge’s worries ultimately proved unfounded, as she put together a compelling program that touches on different facets and eras of Ian’s career. It’s neither disloyal to the originals nor congruent with them. It exists in its own space, leaning on the everlasting songs of Janis Ian while resting atop Partridge’s firm artistic footing. The playlist includes nuggets from the hippie days of the ’60s, bluesy fare from the ’70s, latter day works penned in the past two decades, and a pair of songs co-written by Partridge and Ian just for the occasion. Ian’s best known work makes the cut, as it should, and it simultaneously fulfills and defies expectations. “Society’s Child,” for example, seems to merge the aesthetics of Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell without losing an ounce of its eye-opening purpose, and “At Seventeen” glides along in seven on an airy cloud while Partridge presents the song’s bitter pill realizations with incredible poise. Both are highlights, but it’s almost wrong to call out any individual songs for special praise. All thirteen tracks work beautifully. What’s not to love with an album that includes a samba-fied “Calling Your Name,” a soulful “Belle Of The Blues,” a hard swinging “Silly Habits,” a blues-drenched “Bright Lights & Promises,” and a newly-penned “A Quarter Past Heartache” with Ian herself joining in? One of Ian’s chief gifts has always...

Mark Winkler – The Company I Keep

The utility of music, at its very core, is entertainment. It is not all about dissonance and consonance, tonal conflict and resolution; heart and intellect, pathos and ethos. Somewhere in everything music has to offer, there must be a smile. It is in music’s smile that vocalist Mark Winkler exists. An elegant West Coast mainstay, vocalist/lyricist/composer Winkler, drove across my radar first with his 2011 recording Sweet Spot (Café Pacific Records). I was struck by how well Winkler could skirt the orbit of con brio cabaret singing, with its fun, entertainment core, and remain completely fixed in his capacity of jazz singer and composer. Winkler followed Sweet Spot with his bold 2013 release, The Laura Nyro Project (Café Pacific Records). An exceptional duet recording with The Manhattan Transfer’s Cheryl Bentyne, West Coast Cool (Summit Records, 2013) came next, followed by the fun and good-natured Jazz and Other Four Letter Words (Café Pacific Records, 2015). Winkler had a period of personal loss in 2016 that would have crushed lesser musical mortals. Rather than dwell in the loss, Winkler circled his wagons, and, by wagons I mean his friends, producing the present recording, The Company I Keep. The recording is tacitly a duets recording, where Winkler shares singing duties with the likes of Jackie Ryan “Walk Between the Raindrops” and Steve Tyrell “But It Still Ain’t So.” Sometimes the duets are with musicians: pianists David Benoit, Josh Nelson and Eric Reed join Winkler regular Jamison Trotter in providing the singer support. Add to this the contributions of reeds player Bob Sheppard and a picture is complete. With friends like that, how can one go wrong. The recording, engineering, and sonics are exceptional, as well as the arrangements (mostly by Trotter). The project is composed of a a dozen pieces, half with lyrics composed by Winkler and half carefully selected by him...