CD Reviews

JAM

Jan 12 min read

Matt Otto: Umbra

Origin Records 2023 It is an album of all originals, nine in total, penned by bandleader and saxophonist Matt Otto, KC staple, but also...

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra: “In the Key of KC” (22 Sept. 2023)

JAM

Nov 16, 20233 min read

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra: “In the Key of KC” (22 Sept. 2023)

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra (KCJO) has a new album. And on it they swing hard, are hip and precise—and, in the tradition, they’ll make you...

Gabriela Martina: Honoring the Farm  Roaming to Career Comfort

JAM

Nov 16, 20234 min read

Gabriela Martina: Honoring the Farm  Roaming to Career Comfort

Life tends to be a full circle event and for Amsterdam-based jazz vocalist, composer, and bandleader Gabriela Martina, nothing could be...

JAM

Sep 20, 20232 min read

Matt Kane: Song Poems

Matt Kane came up in Hannibal, MO and, after his term at UMKC, he stayed and was on the scene. Now based in New York, Kane is a...

JAM

Aug 10, 20234 min read

Rod Fleeman Leaps In...

With “Saturday Afternoon Live at Green Lady Lounge, Vol. 2” (2023) With the change in live music because of the pandemic Rod Fleeman, KC...

JAM

Jun 26, 20232 min read

E.E. Pointer: Incomplete Fool

Kansas City area trumpeter and composer E.E. Pointer has done it again, offered up a very personal, meditative album, quiet but present,...

Kansas City Jazz Guitarist Alan Voss Returns

JAM

May 10, 20233 min read

Kansas City Jazz Guitarist Alan Voss Returns

Release His Debut Album At Fifty-One It is a rare musical feat that a debut album gets released by an artist at the age of 51. Yet,...

JAM

Mar 31, 20232 min read

Dave Stryker Trio Prime

CD Review This Hammond B3 trio of Stryker’s cooks. And this album is one of its delicious one-night-only, specialty item meals. Although...

JAM

Mar 11, 20234 min read

Range of Motion

Jack Mouse Group, with Bob Bowman and more Jack Mouse, Chicago jazz-scene staple, has moved back to his hometown of Emporia, Kansas,...

Call Me Irresponsible: The Songs of Jimmy Van Heusen Lucy Wijnands & John Di Martino (2022) REVIEW

JAM

Mar 11, 20232 min read

Call Me Irresponsible: The Songs of Jimmy Van Heusen Lucy Wijnands & John Di Martino (2022) REVIEW

Brooklyn-based jazz vocalist Lucy Wijnands, part of the Wijnands KC jazz legacy, has a new album. It is a remarkable album, at once a...

Christopher Burnett: The Standards, Vol. 2 “Live at the Drum Room” (Review)

JAM

Feb 2, 20232 min read

Christopher Burnett: The Standards, Vol. 2 “Live at the Drum Room” (Review)

Chris Burnett’s recent (and second) installment in his live standards collection has energy and levity. It feels like being there, and...

JAM

Feb 2, 20232 min read

Bob Himmelberger Trio Legacy (Review)

Pianist and composer Bob Himmelberger leads a fascinating, straight-ahead, contemporary album in Legacy. Former luminary Kansas Citian...

JAM

Dec 13, 20222 min read

Hermon Mehari: Asmara

Review November 2022 Hermon Mehari’s new album is full of a kind of uncommon grace. It feels like a love letter to his home country,...

Brian Baggett Trio—Groovin’ and Swingin’ At Green Lady Lounge CD Review & Interview

JAM

Nov 4, 20226 min read

Brian Baggett Trio—Groovin’ and Swingin’ At Green Lady Lounge CD Review & Interview

By Dr. Wayne Goins “When I put the group together, I used the atmosphere of the club to dictate the vibe of the group, letting the room...

Christopher Burnett: Cbq+5: The Standards, Vol. 1—review

JAM

Nov 3, 20223 min read

Christopher Burnett: Cbq+5: The Standards, Vol. 1—review

KC staple Christopher Burnett and crew have released a new album of standards, and it’s a delight—lively and solidly in the KC spirit....

Josh Nelson Bob Bowman Collective: Tomorrow is not Promised—Review

JAM

Oct 13, 20221 min read

Josh Nelson Bob Bowman Collective: Tomorrow is not Promised—Review

KC’s Bob Bowman teams up with Josh Nelson and crew and cooks up a tasty new album, a delicious entree of original tunes. But beneath...

JAM

Sep 8, 20223 min read

Steve Knight: Persistence (2022) Review

Steve Knight, originally from Olathe, has a new album out. Now a Chicagoan, Knight assembled a stellar jazz trio in Chicago. They played...

JAM

Jul 8, 20222 min read

Jeff Shirley: Blue Gold

(Review 2022) An inventive listen, Jeff Shirley’s BLUE GOLD mixes Eastern and Western music confidently and seamlessly. There’s an...

JAM

Jun 6, 20225 min read

Ben Allison: Moments Inside

The New Haven born native has released a consistently high level of solo albums on various labels since his Seven Arrows release on...

JAM

Jun 6, 20222 min read

Tano Pumara: Incierto (2022)

This thing swings! There’s a kind of hot, 1930’s Parisian energy to talented violinist Tano Pumara’s new album, Incierto, a tight, small...

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