Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Vocalist Mark Winkler, an acclaimed artist on the Los Angeles jazz scene, is a prolific recording artists and lyricist. His original songs have been sung and recorded by a cadre of top singers like Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Randy Crawford. He now releases his 22nd album, “Hold On,” a collection of mostly original tunes with a few tasty standards for good measure.
There have been scores of tribute albums to pianist Bill Evans over the years in various formats—solo piano, small group, and even orchestral versions. And on almost all these recordings the piano was the featured instrument. Guitarist Jim Witzel wanted to try a different slant to Evans’ music, so on his new CD, “Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans,” he teamed up with his musical compatriot, Emmy-winning pianist Phil Aaron, to conceive and engaging approach featuring a guitar-led quartet of nine compositions associated Evans.
Also this week, 20-year-old singer Anais Reno tackles a repertoire of standards with a rare confidence and fluidity on “Lady of the Lavender Mist”; trombonist Conrad Herwig teams up with the late pianist Eddie Palmieri, a true icon of the Latin jazz genre, and bassist Luques Curtis on an intimate trio recording, “Reflections—Facing South”; the U.S. Air Force’s Airmen of Note give a nod to the importance of Latin jazz on our great, uniquely American art form with “Around the Horn.”