Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
From the moment he picks up his guitar, Thom Rotella’s passion for music is palpable. Beyond his solo work, his collaborations with legendary artists and contributions to various projects cover an extraordinarily wide spectrum of music and entertainment heavy hitters including Stanley Turrentine, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, and countless others. His compositions and his playing have been featured in high-profile television and film projects, underscoring his ability to craft memorable and communicative music. Rotella’s new project, “Side Hustle,” is his High Note Records debut, with the remarkable organist Bobby Floyd, the propulsive drumming of Roy McCurdy, and High Note regulars Eric Alexander and Jeremy Pelton on hand to welcome him to the label.
Vocalist Alexis Cole isn’t new to international diplomacy, as she was the singer in the West Point Band while serving six years in the U.S. Army. Since leaving the service, she has released a dozen albums, has taught multi-Grammy Award-winning Samara Joy, and runs JazzVoice.com and the Virginia Beach Vocal Jazz Summit, two modern cornerstone educational institutions. For her new project, “Jazz Republic,” she was invited to Taiwan last year by the Taipei Jazz Orchestra for a festival performance and recording. The youthful big band was formed by Dr. Gene Aitken in the 1990s, and approaches easing the gender gap with one-third women in the band including in lead chairs.
Also this week, Warren Wolf releases a stunning new album, “History of the Vibraphone,” paying tribute to some of the top players who’ve ever held a pair of mallets; “Paganova” is the new album from the prolific pianist/composer Michael Pagan, who has become a fixture of the Kansas City jazz scene over the past two decades; and Michael Dease pays homage to the late, legendary trumpeter Roy Hargrove on his second album featuring his work on the baritone sax, “Grove’s Groove.”