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Award-winning singer Roberta Donnay has been on the jazz and blues scene for over three decades. She’s performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in the music industry and toured throughout the U.S. and internationally, performing at clubs, theatres and jazz festivals. For her tenth album, “Blossom-ing!,” Roberta celebrates the music of Blossom Dearie, whose wispy, delicate voice is the perfect foil for Donnay’s own appealing sound. Dearie was a minimalist with a kittenish voice and playful style. Roberta’s homage to Blossom captures her essence, but she adds her own sassy, bluesy interpretations. She chose 16 songs associated with Dearie, written by diverse composers and lyricists.
Veteran tenor sax great Houston Person’s new disc, “Reminiscing at Rudy’s,” is an homage to his engineer of choice, the legendary Rudy Van Gelder. Person’s very first recording as a leader in 1967 was done at Rudy’s fabled Englewood Cliffs studio and they continued their friendship and working relationship until Van Gelder’s passing in 2016. The new disc was also recorded at the Van Gelder Studios with a hand-picked group from Person’s cadre of regular colleagues, with guitar great Russell Malone adding his imaginative voicings and swinging rhythms to the mix.
Also this week, “A Little Louder” is the second album from Toronto bassist and composer Lauren Falls, taking the listener on a musical journey through a collection of seven originals, plus a classic standard from Vincent Youmans;
bassist Rodney Whitaker is joined by Terell Stafford, Tim Warfield, Bruce Barth and Dana Hall for “Oasis,” his third album to feature the music of Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill;
and guitarist Ron Bosse gets into a funkified groove collaborating with Jeff Lorber, Bob Mintzer, Jimmy Haslip and others on “Burning Room Only.”