Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
The brilliant piani
st Benny Green grew up in 1970s Berkeley, California, where he devoured all the jazz he could. He listened to 1950s and ‘60s Blue Note recordings relentlessly, imprinting the sound and feel of his heroes into his psyche. In the early ‘80s Green was able to put his knowledge to the test as an accompanist for singer and mentor Betty Carter. He then went on to have valuable tenures in the bands of two of his heroes: Art Blakey and Ray Brown. Green’s subsequent career has shown him to be a true standard bearer for jazz music. His new recording, “Happiness!,” was recorded on the stage at his favorite venue, Kuumbwa Jazz Workshop in Santa Cruz, California with his trio mates bassist David Wong and drummer Rodney Green. Unlike his two previous recordings, the disc is entirely devoted to interpreting the music of other composers.
Critic Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide has described the Tom Dempsey/Tim Ferguson Quartet as “…inventive, straight-ahead and swinging, showing how creative the modern mainstream of jazz remains…” Paying tribute to the profound effect Jim Hall had on their music, guitarist Dempsey and bassist Ferguson’s fourth album together, “Waltz New,” approaches six of Hall’s classic compositions, and several standards that the guitarist made distinctively his own over a storied career. Featuring saxophonist Joel Frahm and drummer Eliot Zigmund, the quartet gives a nod to Hall’s contributions to modern jazz and the impact of his enduring legacy.
Also this w
eek, trumpeter Terence Blanchard is joined by Kenny Barron, Ravi Coltrane, Carl Allen and others in presenting the music he composed for the Robert DeNiro film, “The Comedian”.
Saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown unveils his sophomore effort, “Onward,” featuring jazz legend Randy Brecker.
Contemporary jazz trumpeter Rick Braun welcomes Till Bronner and Peter White as guests on “Around the Horn.”