Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
Guitarist Nels Cline makes his Blue Note Records debut with “Lovers,” an expansive double CD that he had dreamed of making for over 25 years. Inspired by the likes of Bill Evans, Jim Hall, Gil Evans, Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini and others, Cline finally realized his ambitious ‘mood music’ project with an ensemble of 23 stellar musicians conducted and arranged by Michael Leonhart.
Trombonist Reggie Watkins delivers a deeply personal tribute to Jimmy Knepper on his third releases as a leader. “Avid Admirer” was first set in motion by his mother’s friendship at a church in Wheeling, circa 2013, with the widow of Knepper. After Maxine Knepper passed the following year, Jimmy’s daughter Robin Knepper Mahonen donated her father’s collection of musical instruments to Watkins. “Dad made me promise that his horns would go to a musician,” Mahonen writes. “Reggie Watkins is the man that will take up these horns and give them a voice again.” The disc features eight Knepper originals as re-imagined by Watkins.
Also this week, drummer Ben Adkins blends jazz classics, a fresh take on some New Orleans-style funk and his own originals on his debut disc, “Salmagundi”.
Singer Alexis Cole focuses her talents on the Paul Simon song book on “Dazzling Blue”.
Saxophonist
Doug Webb is joined by trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, organist Brian Charette and guitarist Ed Cherry on “Bright Side.”