Every year, when the calendar flips to November, the malls begin blasting the same old tunes we’ve heard for decades, terrestrial radio stations gear up to switch their formats and listeners with more discerning, hipster and jazzier tastes are left to flip through the streaming services in search of tracks to create the perfect party playlists to make the season bright. Long beloved, critically acclaimed vocal stylist Judy Whitmore makes that task a whole lot easier this yea

In a culture where Christmas is often celebrated by non-religious or “spiritual but not religious” people as a secular holiday, it’s not surprising that some of the most acclaimed and popular seasonal solo piano recordings have come from artists who don’t specifically identify as Christians. Immediately coming to mind are the late George Winston’s seminal album December , several by David Lanz and a few decades worth of excellent holiday collections by Jim Brickman. These are

Esteemed retro-jazz label Turtle Bay Records and veteran pianist, band leader and two-time Grammy winning jazz scholar Loren Schoenberg are a match made in contemporary updates of classic obscure big band arrangement heaven. Four prolific decades after his original big band recorded the first of five albums, and years after he began overseeing the Benny Goodman Archives at Yale University, the longtime Julliard jazz history professor mines fresh magic in the historically impo

Truly a musical citizen of the world, the delightfully sultry and sensual force of vocal nature globally renowned as “Sacha” was born to Mexican and French Lebanese parents, raised in a European home in San Diego and boasts the otherworldly distinction of speaking seven languages and singing in 14. It’s her affinity for French, and perfect phrasing in that most romantic of tongues that brings poetic charm, beautiful ambience and masterful storytelling flow to Sacha: Paris Aft

Here are some fascinating points to ponder as listeners immerse in the surreally expansive vocal range, spirited scat and wildly eclectic stylistic terrain traversed by Josie Falbo on her majestic, richly orchestrated and appropriately titled jazz, big band and Brazilian fired third album Kickin’ It . Tucked into her bio, behind her hundreds of commercial jingles and backing work with legends (Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Mavis Staples, et al) is the coolness that the Chicag

It’s testament to the timeless melodic excitement, seductive, funky and fiery grooves and crackling electric guitarisma of multi-instrumentalists and sound designers Dieter Spears and Brian Paris that the revamp of their extraordinary dual new age/rock instrumental project Speris is having such an impact nearly 30 years after they originally conceived and recorded it. Pop in on their dedicated website ALBUM: SPERIS - Inhaus Creative and you’ll see it plain as day: Speris is

Oneness-World , an extraordinarily hopeful and powerfully inspirational masterwork from the expansive, ever-evolving imaginations of visionary creative team and husband and wife duo Premik Russell Tubbs and Margee Minier-Tubbs, is driven by a sense of celebration about the interconnectedness of human hearts. A fascinating, richly textured 47-minute sonic journey, the album artfully and soulfully fuses elements of world music, jazz fusion, Indian and Celtic influences, dashes

With the release of Galactic Tide, Vol. 1 in 2023, veteran drummer Steve Haas and keyboardist/composer Pete Drungle’s collective The Haas Company is quickly evolving into the ever-adventurous, willing to explore anywhere (hence titles like Galactic Tide and Celestial Latitude) 2020s equivalent of the legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra. Which makes legendary fusion violinist Jerry Goodman – who played with John McLaughlin and company in the ensemble’s first incarnation – the p

In my previous writeups on the ever-innovative and adventurous avant-garde jazz composer and electric violin visionary Jason Kao Hwang, I have enthusiastically referred to the importance of having renowned jazz academic Scott Currie on hand to pen impactful liner notes that convey the intention, themes and intricate details of Hwang’s compelling free form improvisations. This dynamic works wonders once more on Hwang’s latest intriguingly titled masterwork Myths of Origin, a s

While veteran pianist Andy Nevala’s performing and recording career has included stints with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra in addition to leading his own quartet, the heart of everything in his world is jazz education. The first doctoral student in the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Colorado, he is currently Director of Jazz Studies at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. Under his direction, the JSU Jazz Ensembl

Nearly two decades before Prince commandeered the color and earned his nickname “The Purple One” with the multi-media success of Purple Rain, there was an exciting purple aesthetic going on in 1967 – the year of Jimi Hendrix’s classic “Purple Haze,” and for those into wild, freewheeling avant-garde jazz, bassist Steve Tintweiss’ dynamic collective The Purple Why. Six years after releasing the first album from his decades old archives on INKY DoT MEDIA, he blesses the world aw

While many jazz musicians tag their projects with random cool titles unrelated to any theme, veteran mood-setting, shape shifting guitarist David Bailis titles his fourth album Running Through My Mind as an ode to his fascinating “other” life as an elite runner, 2:53 marathoner, triathlete, coach and host of Tourganic , a podcast offering his thoughts on surviving and training while on the road. Emerging as a unique voice in jazz following years of playing everything from ele