New & Recommended Jazz CDs by Bob Bernotas, Host of WNTI's Just Jazz - July 7, 2008
July's six new CD recommendations: Solace, Present Tense, The Welcoming, Live at JazzBaltica, Forests, Live at Newport '58
Bob Bernotas, WNTI's host of Just Jazz, makes the following six CD recommendations:
Jamie Baum: Solace (Sunnyside): Flutist-composer Jamie Baum has crafted an intelligent, thought-provoking program of jazz chamber works, brilliantly performed by a septet of top-flight players and highlighted by dedications to classical composer Charles Ives (the four-part 'Ives Suite') and jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler ('Wheeler of Fortune').
James Carter: Present Tense (Emarcy): Comprising bebop, hard bop, ballads, bossa nova, and a lot more, saxophonist-bass clarinetist-flutist James Carter's latest release mines the rich mother lode of modern jazz and exudes both gentle lyricism and high energy.
Tony do Rosario: The Welcoming (Dreambox Media): Guitarist and Chicago native Tony do Rosario performs five solid originals, plus Grant Green's 'Jean de Fleur' and Frank Foster's 'Simone,' with a cohesive and swinging combination of organ, vibes, and drums.
TWO EXCELLENT NEW BRAZILAN JAZZ RELEASES: Trio da Paz & Joe Locke: Live at JazzBaltica (MaxJazz): The renowned Trio da Paz (guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta, and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca) combines with vibraphonist Joe Locke in a live performance of originals, two Antonio Carlos Jobim favorites, and the standard 'All the Things You Are.'
Brazilian Trio: Forests (Zoho): There is more to Brazilian music than Jobim and Gilberto, and the group known as Brazilian Trio (Trio da Paz's Matta and Da Fonseca, and pianist Helio Alves) proves it, performing works by other eminent Brazilian composers — Ivan Lins, Hermeto Pascoal, Vitor Assis Brasil, Milton Nascimento — as well as a few of their own.
Another from the 'What took them so long?' Department: Horace Silver: Live at Newport '58 (Blue Note): What a joy it is, after fifty years, to hear these live, extended performances of four typical – and typically swinging – Horace Silver compositions. Incidentally, this long lost set is the only recording of the excellent and overlooked trumpeter, Louis Smith, with the Silver quintet.
