Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Detroit-born drummer Louis Hayes arrived in New York when he was 19 to join the Horace Silver ensemble. Over the next 60 years, Hayes amassed a great body of work, playing and recording with Cannonball Adderly, Oscar Peterson, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Sonny Rollins, Woody Shaw and many more of the giants of modern music. Hayes pays tribute to some of his jazz colleagues past and present on is new album, “Crisis,” with a set list featuring works by Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Farrell and others.
Pianist Bill Charlap returns to the legendary Blue Note record label for “Street of Dreams,” a stunning new album featuring his revered longstanding trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington. The disc is a celebration of New York City as it emerges from an unprecedentedly challenging period, as reflected in the eight impeccably curated songs on the album, a delightful mix of jazz classics and Songbook favorites. It’s also a reflection of the literal and metaphorical road traveled together by Charlap and the Washingtons during nearly twenty-five years as a trio.
Also this week, jazz chanteuse extraordinaire Shawnn Monteiro, a veteran vocalist whose artistry is crafted in the mold of Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Nancy Wilson, unveils her sixth release, “You Are There”;
2020 Downbeat Rising Star trombonist Nick Finzer puts his compositional pen to the side to explore compositions that have informed his growth as an artist on “Out of Focus,” featuring the horn man in solo, quartet, and trombone ensemble settings;
and saxophonist Will Boyd, a member of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, offers up his third release as a leader, “Soulful Noise.”