Articles by Edward Blanco
Champian Fulton: Meet Me at Birdland
by Edward Blanco
The young and talented pianist Champian Fulton presents another enchanting album recorded live at New York's Birdland dinner jazz club simply titled Meet Me at Birdland, celebrating twenty years of performing in the Big Apple; playing the piano and lending her sultry vocals to a host of uncommon standards. Since arriving in New York in 2003, playing at Birdland has become a regular feature for the pianist, a musical home away from home. Fulton employs a world-class trio that has ...
read moreIvan Lins: My Heart Speaks
by Edward Blanco
Brazilian singer and composer Ivan Lins has recorded about fifty albums since 1970 but has not recorded one in over ten years. Now, this multiple Latin Grammy-Award winner remerges with the superb and inviting My Heart Speaks, perhaps the most impressive and lush recording of his long, distinguished career. An important feature here is the extraordinary collaboration with the 91-piece Tblisi Symphony Orchestra, the most popular orchestra from the Republic of Georgia in Eastern Europe, under the direction of Maestro ...
read moreGreg Chako Trio: Life After 40
by Edward Blanco
Cincinnati-born jazz guitarist and international recording artist Greg Chako wears many hats including composer, arranger, educator and band leader. Chako has forged an extraordinary career spanning over thirty-five years in which he has recorded sixteen albums. Life After 40 is a follow-up to previous studio recordings Friends, Old & New (Mint 400 Records 2022) and A Place for Bass-Chamber Jazz Duets (Mint 400 Records 2022) marking a new chapter in his life, recording in the US after his return from ...
read moreRobert Edwards: Up Swing
by Edward Blanco
Veteran trombonist, educator and bandleader Robert Edwards is a fixture of New York City jazz scene, performing in many of the jazz venues in the city and, as of this writing, becoming the newest member of the famed Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Edwards fronts a marvelous quintet that has been performing regularly at Smalls Jazz Club for many years now. Up Swing celebrates the post-bop sounds the group is known for and covers many of the ensemble's “greatest hits from over ...
read moreBrian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra: Pain & Beauty
by Edward Blanco
A religious man at heart, composer/band leader and producer Brian Eisenberg leads an 18-piece big band (The Brian Eisenberg Jazz Orchestra) on a personal musical exploration on the meaning of love through the perspective of what may be beautiful, and what may seem hurtful on the very introspective and challenging Pain & Beauty. The album, as he writes, “is dedicated to that ideal of genuine love...painful yet, beautiful love." Eisenberg sets the musical bar quite high on such lofty and ...
read moreTim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain
by Edward Blanco
Veteran educator and jazz pianist Tim Ray pays homage to some of his musical heroes with a piano trio album simply entitled Fire & Rain. It features various well-known standards from those who have been a major influence in his career, along with three original tunes added to the mix. Joining the pianist on this new adventure are familiar band mates, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, originally together for a Greg Abate concert and then for the Abate ...
read moreThe Schwager/Oliver Quintet: Senza Reza
by Edward Blanco
Canada became the first country beyond the USA to have developed its own vibrant jazz scene. What do major jazz artists like Oscar Peterson, Maynard Ferguson, Gil Evans, Rob McConnell and Diana Krall have in common? They're all Canadians, like the players of The Schwagger/Oliver Quintet presenting their debut on Senza Resa, an Italian phrase meaning “No Surrender," which conveys the approach to the music from five of Canada's most exciting award-winning jazz musicians. The album represents the ...
read moreRichard Pavlidis: Iconography
by Edward Blanco
A rising star in the jazz landscape of Australia, Richard Pavlidis is a Melbourne-based saxophonist who leads a veteran sextet performing a collection of tunes revealing a combination of blues, swing and modern funk on his latest effort entitled Iconography. Influenced by two late great saxophonists, Michael Brecker and Bob Berg, the album, is in a sense, a reflection of the modern energetic sounds of that era from which Pavlidis draws inspiration for this recording. A proponent of hard bop, ...
read moreTerry Gibbs Legacy Band: The Terry Gibbs Songbook
by Edward Blanco
At age 92 years old, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs was still a musical force when he recorded 92 Years Young Jammin' at the Gibbs House (Whaling City Sound, 2017). His son, drummer Gerry Gibbs, paid homage to him with Songs from My Father (Whaling City Sound, 2021) with the Thrasher Dream Trio band. As for this recording for his father, Gerry Gibbs says, “Recording this record with my Pops will always be so memorable because it will be his last work." ...
read moreIlya Dynov: Bridges
by Edward Blanco
Russian-born composer and drummer Ilya Dynov, a New York-based internationally recognized jazz musician, presents his debut recording on Bridges, a nine-piece repertoire of all original material capturing a neo-bop style of blistering up-tempo jazz with an adventurous slant. After immigrating to Belgium and obtaining his citizenship, where he pursued an advanced musical education, Dynov moved to New York City in 2018, quickly becoming emersed in the city's vibrant jazz scene. For this first album, the drummer assembles an ...
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