July - 2020

Jul 30, 2020

HARP & PLOW, "Pastures of Plenty"

It’s amazing just how well a colorful and poignant musical narrative can travel. A legendary 79-year-old folk gem by Woody Guthrie chronicling the journey and toil of the Grapes of Wrath era migrant workers, “Pastures of Plenty” has been covered over the decades by everyone from Harry Belafonte and Bob Dylan to Peter, Paul & Mary and Alison Krauss & Union Station. Yet its stanzas have never come to life as vibrantly, or met the present moment so powerfully, as they do in the

Jonathan Widran

Jul 28, 2020

THE COLLECT POND, In the Garden

Sometimes the most impactful musical statements are the ones that are shortest and to the point. In four songs totaling only 11 minutes on his second EP In The Garden, indie pop singer/songwriter Danny Moffett – aka The Collect Pond - uses his lilting, ethereal voice, quirky lyrical images and narratives, hypnotic acoustic guitar lines and sizzling electric fuzz to capture not only key elements of his fascinating, well-traveled life, but also the dichotomy between our old liv

Jonathan Widran

Jul 27, 2020

GRANT MALOY SMITH, "I See You"

An enduring African proverb tells us, “Those who respect the elderly pave their own road to success.” A classic Chinese saying reminds us, “An elderly person (is like) a living golden treasure.” And Proverbs 20:29 nails the divine truth that “the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.” The ancients had it right about wisdom and old age. While the majority of us spend out lives pursuing every latest fad and dietary and cosmetic breakthrough trying to stay younger,

MON DAVID & JOSH NELSON, DNA (David/Nelson/Agreement)

Jonathan Widran

Jul 25, 2020

MON DAVID & JOSH NELSON, DNA (David/Nelson/Agreement)

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of DNA, an album of wondrous, intimate vocal-piano duets by timeless jazz treasures Mon David and Josh Nelson, is the fact that once they had the set list of jazz standards, homage medleys to Bill Evans and Monk and Bird, a few romantic/philosophical obscurities, John Lennon’s “Imagine” and a vocal version of a lovely Pat Metheny ballad, they didn’t use or need charts. Letting their years of musical experience guide their intuitive conversa

HORIZONS JAZZ ORCHESTRA Plays the Music of Lee Harris "The Brite Side"

Jonathan Widran

Jul 25, 2020

HORIZONS JAZZ ORCHESTRA Plays the Music of Lee Harris "The Brite Side"

You may never have heard of the late bari saxophonist, composer and arranger Lee Harris – but the 18-piece Horizons Jazz Orchestra and a few brilliant guest soloists out of South Florida will make sure you’ll be feeling his spirit and the emotional power of his music for a long time. This vibrant, high energy contemporary big band ensemble evolved from the popular likeminded group called SUPERBAND, which built a solid following as it performed Harris’ compositions and arrange

BENNY RUBIN JR. QUARTET, Know Say Or See

Jonathan Widran

Jul 21, 2020

BENNY RUBIN JR. QUARTET, Know Say Or See

The title of saxophonist Benny Rubin Jr.’s acclaimed 2017 solo debut What’s Next came across like a cool tease into what would become whirlwind future of this eclectic composer and musician. Since that release, he moved to NYC to attend the New School of Performing Arts and worked with many top jazz artists and groups, including the Harlem Society Orchestra. In June 2018, Rubin and his high-octane quartet (pianist Lex Korten, bassist Adam Olszewski, drummer Jk Kim) began a re

SUE ANNE GERSHENZON, You Must Believe in Spring

Jonathan Widran

Jul 21, 2020

SUE ANNE GERSHENZON, You Must Believe in Spring

On Sue Anne Gershenzon’s home page, the veteran stage performer (Broadway and Off-Broadway), opera singer and renowned vocal teacher makes a simple but thoughtful statement whose philosophy she brings to and embodies quite gloriously and eclectically on You Must Believe in Spring, her long-awaited debut as a jazz artist. She writes: “There is nothing more exhilarating than beautiful sound soaring fully and freely out of your body.” If she were talking more specifically about

Jonathan Widran

Jul 21, 2020

CAROL WELSMAN, Dance With Me

For Canadian born, six-time Juno Award nominee Carol Welsman, one of the deepest autobiographical albums in her treasured jazz canon is her 2012 masterpiece Journey, in which she expressed her passion for traveling and multiple cultures. Throughout her storied, 30-plus year career, she’s become a true citizen of the world, jazzing fans everywhere from New York and Tokyo to Italy and Brazil. She’s also lived for years in France, Italy and LA and speaks and has sung beautifully

Jonathan Widran

Jul 20, 2020

HUGH JAMES, "Times Like These"

Sometimes, just as you’re about to give into the despair of a moment or era, a song comes along to remind you that, with any luck and probably with a lot of prayer, this too shall pass. For this strange fear and anxiety riddled time, that spiritually transformational tune is “Times Like These” - singer-songwriter Hugh James’ heartfelt, gospel inflected pop-R&B anthem which artfully doubles as a prayer to Providence for help and healing and a powerful call for us to set aside

Jonathan Widran

Jul 20, 2020

DAVID KING, Solitude

There are two ways to appreciate David King’s long-awaited debut solo piano collection Solitude. You can close your eyes and use your own imagination to create personal images as he takes you on an intimate and soulful, inspiring/energizing and rhythmically varied journey which reaches places in the heart the stark title only hints at. Or, perhaps more gratifyingly, you can dig into the classically trained, multi-talented composer and songwriter’s emotional backstory for illu

Jonathan Widran

Jul 14, 2020

KENNY WASHINGTON, What's The Hurry

By calling his long awaited, warm-hearted and full of amazing graces yet often boisterous, joyful and swinging debut album What’s the Hurry, Kenny Washington jabs playfully at the question his legion of fans (that include Wynton Marsalis and Karrin Allyson) have no doubt been asking throughout his countless years of performances in his adopted Bay Area home region and on the international circuit. The multi-talented vocal interpreter (and onetime saxophonist) emphasizes this

Jonathan Widran

Jul 14, 2020

KAVEH KARANDISH, Spirit of Hope

You can feel the emotional and spiritual uplift from the first lilting notes of “Spirit of Hope,” the title track to multi-faceted pianist/composer Kaveh Karandish’s elegant and easy grooving new album. It’s a dreamlike, gently hypnotic song that soars on the elegantly entwined passions of Karandish’s flowing piano, Mark Goldenberg’s lush acoustic guitar and Eric Zang’s ethereal floating kaval (a chromatic end blown flute). Accept the subsequent invite to journey along Karand

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THE JW VIBE

Music That Sticks To My Soul

HARP & PLOW, "Pastures of Plenty"

THE COLLECT POND, In the Garden

GRANT MALOY SMITH, "I See You"

MON DAVID & JOSH NELSON, DNA (David/Nelson/Agreement)

HORIZONS JAZZ ORCHESTRA Plays the Music of Lee Harris "The Brite Side"

BENNY RUBIN JR. QUARTET, Know Say Or See

SUE ANNE GERSHENZON, You Must Believe in Spring

CAROL WELSMAN, Dance With Me

HUGH JAMES, "Times Like These"

DAVID KING, Solitude

KENNY WASHINGTON, What's The Hurry

KAVEH KARANDISH, Spirit of Hope