In the heartfelt “Director’s Statement” video Belton Mouras, Jr. shares on the website promoting his beautiful, deeply emotional and spiritually transcendent short film “Mickey’s Tree,” the multi-talented writer, producer, director and film composer offers an intimate glimpse of the inspirational real life bond shared by him and his beloved dog Mickey that inspired the project – which earned an “Official Selection” accolade at the Palm Springs International Short Fest. Mickey

In speaking of a legendary and deeply impactful 50’s and 60’s hard bop bassist, renowned jazz critic Martin Williams once said, “A handy explanation of ‘swing’ might be ‘any two successive notes played by Paul Chambers.’” Over 50 years since Chambers’ passing, his son Pierre L. Chambers, a prominent veteran vocalist with a long history of performing in NYC and L.A., carries on that legacy of swing admirably, with an artful balance between amiability and adventurous excitement

With the emergence of the Esthesis Quartet in 2022 following the launch of ARTEMIS in 2020, the jazz world has been blessed this decade with two jazz supergroups comprised solely of wildly accomplished female musicians. Because ARTEMIS is on Blue Note and includes marquee names like Renee Roses, Ingrid Jensen and guest vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant, they’ve grabbed international festival attention and won a JazzTimes readers’ poll for Best New Artist. Yet Esthesis Quartet,

The title of On the Upside, veteran bassist Dewayne Pate’s first solo album in nearly 15 years, says it all about the silver linings for musicians restricted from their normal bustling workflow during the pandemic lockdown. While he’s performed all over the world poppin’ grooves behind the likes of Arturo Sandoval, Huey Lewis, Boz Scaggs and Maria Muldaur, the versatile composer musician draws more heavily on the vibe of two of his other employers – Tower of Power and Robben

Sidelined from engaging in their usual breakneck schedules, the pandemic lockdown had an unpredictable, dizzying effect on the creative flow of in demand musicians and artists. Where it could have been stifling, others like multi-instrumentalist Mark Ortwein chose to take their downtime and turn it into an unexpectedly fruitful foundation for a solo recording career. An Air Force Band veteran, his mile long international resume includes playing everywhere from Carnegie Hall a

“Geodepédie - Hidden Light” - For Christina Tourin, this powerful, thought provoking phrase is more than simply the perfect title for the influential, world renowned harpist/composer’s sparkling, magically lyrical new album – her first since 2010’s Iona Inspirations, which capped a prolific and prodigious 20 years of composing and recording. Like the title of one of its key tracks “Music Is Love,” it’s an eloquent, multi-faceted expression of her soul purpose, a powerful symb

Conventional love song wisdom might tell us that the five gloriously relatable and soulful, pop, jazz, blues and country inflected tunes on emerging singer-songwriter Amber Nicholson’s deeply heartfelt, emotionally raw and honest debut solo EP Far Away Dreaming are inspired by a real life story (hers or perhaps someone she knows) about a determined woman’s courage to leave and ability to move on from a troubled romantic with dignity ad hope, – despite some wistful “what ifs?”

Whether he’s listening to Beethoven or Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, a musical compadre of mine always says, “To catchy every intricate detail, some recordings are simply better experienced and understood while high. ” I feel tempted to challenge him with Cognitive Concrete, Chicago based compositional surrealist and experimental synth/techno master Matthew J Van Howe’s Cognitive Concrete, the sonic equivalent of 14 sonically, vocally and lyrically transcendent/fascinating/min

Usually, it’s the creative visionaries in the new age and ambient arena who take the mantle of musical exploration of the universe and its eternal truths, in an effort to raise our all too earthbound consciousness. Which makes Louis Siciliano’s achievement on Ancient Cosmic Truth – a fascinating, surreally hypnotic global jazz fusion extravaganza performed with an all-star quintet – all the more unique. A world renowned, wildly eclectic veteran composer for film, TV commercia

Though the wildly inventive, intuitively and conversationally dynamic – and oft-times, delightfully grooving and funky – Tarmu Jazz Quintet is a new venture for Eldad Tarmu, it caps an amazingly eclectic first quarter century of recording for the veteran vibraphone maestro. He comes by his versatility naturally as a true musical citizen of the world. Born in Los Angeles and educated in Tel Aviv, he was Professor of Jazz Studies at the Richard Oschanitsky Jazz and Pop School o

While it’s a most unusual practice for a renowned jazz artist to follow one live album with a second with no studio dates in between, the intervening pandemic years between the extraordinary vocalist and songwriter Maria Jacobs’ Bootleggin’ at the Bop Stop (2019) and her latest, Back at the Bop Stop make it seem like two different eras and realities that cry out for an emotional bridge to capture both time frames in her life. Though she was a prolific part of the L.A. jazz sc

Veteran guitarist Doug MacDonald is so prolific, his bold, colorful arrangements and precise, fluid melodic lines so adaptable to so many different ensemble settings, that every review must begin with a rundown of at least a few of the many different settings he’s applied his sparkling magic as a leader to. So to recap, among other endeavors, he’s helmed The Tarmac Ensemble, Doug MacDonald Quartet, Doug MacDonald Duo, Doug MacDonald Band, Doug MacDonald and The L.A. All-Star