In the vibrant photo collage at the heart of the CD packaging for legendary new age husband and wife duo Dean and Dudley Evenson’s soulful and tranquil, spiritually transcendent yet deeply immersive album Monet’s Garden, there is a compelling shot of Dean standing before a black and white image, in a beautiful outdoor setting, of Claude Monet, the founder of impressionistic painting who once called his garden “my most beautiful masterpiece.” With their striking long white bea

It’s right there in the title “Heavens to Monkitroid,” the lively, boppin’ and wildly improvisational Thelonious-esque romp that opens Jazz Words, the first album by veteran pianist Steve Million to feature all originals, featuring the rangy and emotionally resonant vocals of Sarah Marie Young. The very personal and heartfelt eight song collection could be named “tale of two Monk semi-finalists, 22 years apart; Million earned the designation at the Thelonious Monk Piano Compe

Using the term “veteran” to describe the versatile composer, arranger and trumpeter Kerry Moffitt is a bit of a double entendre. Now finally emerging as bandleader in his own right, showcasing his love of trad jazz swing, funky soul-jazz and lyrical ballads on What Goes Around Comes Around, the debut by his Midwest based group Turning Circles, he’s seriously done it all over the past four decades. He’s penned arrangements and toured the world with orchestras and small jazz en

Seriously blown away by the crackling energies, sonic innovations and dynamic jazz fusion innovations of Puerto Rican guitarist Jandro Rivas, founder of the collective Calabó, I raved in my review of their 2020 debut album One Day at a Time: “Latin music doesn’t just have a new guitar hero – it’s got a literal one-man jazz band paving the way towards a bright fanciful future.” The longtime lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the acoustic rock quintet Abuelo Mundo – a mains

In my overwhelmingly positive review of Peter Sterling’s 2018 collection Magic Kingdom, I quickly dispensed the obvious top of mind Disney references to understand each song as part of a mystical, transcendent journey originally inspired by the energy of the 2017 solar eclipse. Since the veteran Sedona, AZ based harpist (a custom made Lyon and Healy electric Troubador) and multi-instrumentalist seems comfortable mentioning the presence of a muse in his official bio, I felt co

Impressed at how deftly, effortlessly and gracefully Cheryl B. Engelhardt evolved from mainstream (and emotionally impactful) indie singer/songwriter to innovative new age pianist and artist with her critically acclaimed, bestselling 2020 debut Luminary – which hit #1 on the New Age Music Chart – I concluded my review: “Cheryl opens a glorious door not only to the next phase of her career, but a fresh way forward in content and approach for the ambient/new age genre.” With he

An exquisitely and imaginatively arranged – not to mention high spirited and vibrantly swinging – tribute that could whimsically be called “A musical tale of two Antonios,” Antonio Adolfo’s Jobim Forever collection is the pianist’s third recent project to discover fresh magic in the Bossa Nova music that has defined and driven his musical life since 1963, when he joined Samba Cinco, which played the famous Beco das Garrafas in Rio. Preceding BruMa, Celebrating Milton Nascimen