CD Review: The Dave Miller Trio, "The Mask-erade is Over"

If you like to listen to a great traditional straight ahead Jazz piano trio playing, Dave Miller's new CD "The Mask-erade is Over" will be perfect for you.  Dave Miller who has his own playing personality can at times remind you of some your favorite Jazz pianists like George Shearing, Bill Evans and Ahmad Jamal.  Bill covers a lot of ground in this CD and brings his Jazz personality center stage on a great selection of standards. 

Dave's daughter is the super-talented singer Rebecca DuMaine and Dave and his trio have often recorded with Rebecca on her CDs.  

I have selected two YouTubes videos for your listening pleasure.  The first song is "Be Careful It's My Heart".  Dave was inspired by Peggy Lee's version with one of his Piano heroes, George Shearing.  The second song is a Dave Brubeck gem, "In Your Own Sweet Way".  The playlist of songs on this CD are from a diverse outstanding group of composers:  Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Noel Coward, Irving Berlin and Ray Henderson.   Take a moment to review the fun playlist below.

                                                              "Be Careful It's My Heart"

                                                               "In Your Own Sweet Way"

PLAYLIST:

1. Anthropology

2. Be Careful It's My Heart

3. The Masquerade Is Over

4. The Opener

5. Someday I'll Fine You

6. You Don't Know What Love Is

7. Yardbird Suite

8. Estate

9. In Your Own Sweet Way

10. The Blue Room

11. Dusty

12. Why Did I Choose You

13. Hallucinations

14 Just Imagine

PLAYERS:

Dave Miller- Piano

Andrew Higgins- Bass

Bill Belasco- Drums

 

CD Review: Roseanna Vitro, "Sing A Song Of Bird"

 

Vocalist Roseanna Vitro has just released her new CD, "Sing A Song Of Bird" that is a celebration of  Alto Sax player Charlie "Bird" Parker.   She conceived and created this project because of her desire to develop new lyrics to Charlie Parker tunes.  The results provide all of us with some wonderful and creative Jazz sounds and lyrics.   Roseanna is joined vocally on this CD by three truly outstanding Jazz Vocalists,  Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough and Marion Cowings, all three favorites of hers.  Together these four Jazz Vocalists, all Charlie Parker admirers put together new lyrics to six of his compositions.  

"Sing A Song Of Bird" is more than a celebration of Bird's music.  This CD is very special because at the time it was recorded Bob Dorough was 94 and has since pasted while Sheila Jordan is 89 and is still going strong.

Roseanna Vitro is a brilliant musician still performing and creating new and exciting Jazz ideas.  Everything she touches is performed at the highest professional Jazz level.  She remains a major link for all Jazz fans to our rich American Jazz history which helps to keep Jazz alive forever! 

I have attached two "YouTube" selections of this fun Album.  The first one, "Grapple With The Apple" is a solo by Roseanna Vitro scatting at her usual high level.  She is joined by Mark Gross on Sax, Jason Teborek on Piano,  Dean Johnson on Bass and Bill Goodwin on Drums.   The Second selection is "Parker's Mood" a terrific Blues tune sung by Marion Cowings.  Marion is joined by special guest Gary Bartz on Alto Sax.  Gary provides some wonderful Sax work along with the always great Alan Broadbent on Piano, Dean Johnson on Bass and Alvester Garnett on Drums.

                                                             "Grapple With The Apple"

                                                                     "Parker's Mood"

Playlist:

1. People Chase

2. The Scatter

3. Bird's Song

4. Parker's Mood

5. Grapple With The Apple

6. Audubon's New Bluebird

7. Sheila, Jazz Child

8. Quasimodo

9. Now's The Time

10. Yardbird Suite

11. Koko / Cherokee

12. These Foolish Things

Players:

Roseanna Vitro- Vocals

Bob Dorough- Vocals

Sheila Jordan- Vocals

Marion Cowings- Vocals

Jason Teborek-Piano

Dean Johnson- Bass

Mark Gross- Alto Sax

Gary Bartz- Alto Sax

Alan Broadbent- Piano

Alvester Garnett- Drums

                                                           

CD Review: The Ehud Asherie Trio-"Wild Man Blues"

Some newer Jazz fans may not think that traditional Jazz has much to offer these days.  How wrong they are.  I just finished listening to the "Wild Man Blues" by The Ehud Asherie Trio that I would  described as terrific, new and fresh traditional Jazz!  Pianist Ehud Asherie has put together an outstanding mixture of early New Orleans Jazz, Swing, Bebop, and songs from the Great American Songbook, as well as a deep passion for the music of Brazil.

Ehud Asherie is a talented Pianist and Arranger who integrates the venerable New York piano tradition from Fats Waller and James P Johnson to Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk into his own inventive style.  Ehud has done a master job of arranging songs that were made famous by horn players like New Orleans Trumpeter Red Allen ("Wild Man Blues") and Charlie Parker's  ("Parker's Mood") into seamlessly wonderful Jazz Piano Trio pieces.

The outstanding rhythm team of Bassist Peter Washington and Drummer Rodney Green provide Ehud with the perfect support behind his creative playing.  In my opinion, this is one of the best Piano Trios recording today!  They create new life into some old but great classic standards and, yet,  still retain the original structure of the tunes.

This CD touches all aspects that make a Jazz Piano Trio great.  If you love to listen to Jazz Piano Trio music,  this CD will be for you.  If you are not that familiar with the joy of the music from a Jazz Piano Trio, you will be after listening to The Ehud Asherie Trio.

Playlist:
1. "Wild Man Blues"
2. "Parker's Mood"
3. "Flying Down To Rio"
4. "Autumn Nocturne"
5. "Chasin' The Bird"
6. "Na Baixa Do Sapateiro"
7. "Oh, Lady Be Good"
8. "And The She Stopped"

Players:
Ehud Asherie- Piano, Arranging
Peter Washington- Bass
Rodney Green-Drums

I have attached a "YouTube" of The Ehud Asherie Trio playing Louis Armstrong's "Wild Man Blues".  It really swings with a relaxed comfortable feel.

CD Review: "DAVID CACERES"

David Caceres

I read some really good comments about alto saxophonist David Caceres in the past few months and  was very excited when I was asked to review David's latest CD "David Caceres".  David comes from Texas and belongs to a long line of talented family musicians. This enriched musical environment provided David with a foundation of jazz that he openly embraced and built upon. David earned a scholarship to The Berklee College of Music and graduated in 1989. It was during his years at Berklee that he developed his wonderful alto tone, dexterity and musical imagination. It was also during his years at Berklee that David found his singing voice. According to David, "It feels just as good to sing one note as it does to play one note. However, they have very different roles and somewhat different languages when used in the same song. The voice sets the tone of the tune, drawing the listener in with a direct, rather vulnerable statement. Then the sax is allowed to stretch out and explore some of the other emotional layers of the song." David plays and sings on most of the tracks on this CD, and the results are simply wonderful.  David's musical heros were John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, and you can hear the influence from these giants in his playing. His singing brings to mind the vocal sounds and style of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway.

This CD is marvelous in every aspect! David Caceres gets to showcase his skills as a alto saxophonist, vocalist and composer and the results are impressive. The selection of songs chosen for this CD work perfect together including two composed by David, "Sacred Path" and "Gratitude".  The song list clearly indicates that much time and thought expended to select the 11 great songs. I particularly liked Ray Lamontagne's folk/pop number "You Can Bring Me Flowers", Van Morrison's "The Way That Lovers Do" and the two Stevie Wonder compositions, "Seems So Long" and "Bird of Beauty".  David also has a wonderful singing performance of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight".

David is supported by a sterling group of musicians: arranger and keyboardist, Gil Goldstein, bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Bill Stewart organist Shedrick Mitchell, percussionist Bashiri Johnson, guitarist Larry Campbell and pianist Aaron Parks. Gil Goldstein's arrangements were perfect!

The producer of this CD was Matt Pierson and deserves outstanding recognition for the high level professional level of skill and talent that he provided to produce this musically wonderful product.