Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Hailing from Indianapolis, David Childs has worked as a professional pianist in the Northeastern United States for over 30 years. He has shared the stage with jazz greats like Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Bill Watrous and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. “Playing music well is not child’s play; however, with the right people in the right setting, it can feel easy, instinctive, and unrestrained,” say Childs of his new release, “Childs Play.” Along with world-renowned bassist Brian Torff and New York Ciy-based drummer Greg Burrows, Childs features a set of songs that highlights his intrigue with “the inherent dualities and contrasts in this music we call jazz.”
Ulas Hazar, known professionally as Hazar, is a superb guitarist who deserves to be discovered in North America. A virtuoso who is classically trained, he is also a brilliant jazz improviser and a swinging soloist. Hazar, who grew up in Germany, spent years dealing with the saz, a three-stringed long-necked lute, microtonal music, and polyrhythms, inspired by Paco de Lucia. Following the advice of John McLaughlin, he then took up the acoustic guitar. On his new CD, “Reincarnated,” Hazar and his quartet are teamed with guest guitarist Al Di Meola on a set of material that ranges from Brazilian music to Gypsy Swing to hard-swinging bebop.
Also this week, Russian-born Los Angeles-based bassist and bandleader Igor Kogan offers up nine original compositions written for his quintet on “In a Big City”;
saxophonist Derek Brown’s third studio album, “All Figured Out,” features his original music as performed by the Holland, Michigan, Concert Jazz Orchestra;
and Vancouver-based flutist Tom Keenlyside unveils a new quartet recording, “Fortune Teller.”