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Specific reasons led to the piano-less quartet becoming a vehicle for the more explorative jazz practitioners of the 1950s and ‘60s, namely directness of group sound and the increased interplay between ensemble members. It was during a regular visit to Uruguay’s Punta del Este Jazz Festival that trumpeter Diego Urcola was asked to present a musical tribute to the revered Gerry Mulligan Quartet that featured Chet Baker. During the quartet’s performance, Urcola invited Paquito D’Rivera to the stage, and the idea of recording in a piano-less quartet was cemented by the resounding performance. On the new recording, “El Duelo,” the trumpeter recruits D’Rivera to join him in that very rare, and exposed, playing scenario.
Art Van Damme was the pacesetter among jazz accordionists. In 1947, he began leading a group that was inspired by the George Shearing Quintet, but with his accordion in place of the piano. Over its 35-year existence, the Art Van Damme Quintet made dozens of popular recordings. Now, in the centennial year of Van Damme’s birth, the LA Jazz Quintet has been organized with Kenny Kotwitz, one of Van Damme’s few students, providing colorful arrangements in addition to his accordion for the new CD, “When Lights Are Low.” The Quintet also features guitarist John Chiodini, bassist Chuck Berghofer, drummer Kendal Kay and vibraphonist Nick Mancini.
Also this week, master saxophonist , composer and bebop luminary Charles McPherson presents “Jazz Dance Suites,” capturing his groundbreaking collaboration with the San Diego Ballet;
Taiwanese vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, best known to date for recording and touring with the Jeremy Pelt Quintet, releases her genre-melding debut as a leader, “The Path”;
and Tom Guarna, a guitarist praised by DownBeat for the “emotion, tension, surprise and passion” in his music, has assembled another “dream team” of a band for his latest, “Spirit Science.”