Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
Veteran musical col
leagues Don Braden and Joris Teepe continue a nearly quarter- century of collaborations with their new disc, “Conversations.” Having met back in 1992 at a session in New York City, the two titans of jazz immediately recognized their potential to work well together. As Teepe recalls, “We quickly recognized the compatibility of our personalities and attitudes, as well as our musical tastes and goals.” With the help of esteemed drummers Gene Jackson and Matt Wilson, reedman Braden and bassist Teepe deliver creative, grooving performances of jazz classics and originals, which incorporate uniquely interactive improvisation.
Passionate, airy, poetic, refined, gentle, evocative: this is “Lantern,” the new offering from Oregon. It’s a landmark of sorts for the quartet as it marks the 30th album of their 47 years of recorded output. It’s also their first with new bassist Paolino Dalla Porta, who joined the band over two years and three tours ago. Most of the pieces were composed by guitarist and keyboardist Ralph Towner, with Dalla Porta and drummer Mark Walker contributing one each and hornman Paul McCandless adding a beautiful rendition of the traditional gem, “The Water is Wide.”
Also this week, drummer Peter Erskine debuts a new trio on “In Praise of Shadows”.
The duo of guitarist John Stein and bassist Dave Zinno shines an intimate light on the simple joys of collaboration with “Wood and Strings”.
Pianist Spike Wilne
r and his trio release, “Odalisque,” a program of nine pieces balancing standards from the Great American Songbook and Wilner’s own pen, celebrating his heroes Walter Davis and Jacki Byard.