Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Noah Haidu’s Standards Trio has played the top jazz venues from New York to Los Angeles, and will be out on the road from coast to coast and in key European cities throughout this year in support of their new album. “Standards III” continues Noah’s critically acclaimed collaboration with legends Buster Williams (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) while debuting an equally impressive new band featuring bassist Gervis Myles and drummer Charles Goold. Haidu’s clear, light touch renders variations on themes composed or inspired by Thad Jones, Richard Rodgers, Sammy Cahn, Dinah Washington and Jerome Kern. Popular artists Chappell Roan and Stevie Wonder provide additional source material.
Lively, dynamic, and brimming with brash energy, charanga is a flute-and-violin-driven Cuban dance style that fused Spanish danzon with African influences before finding renewed force in New York’s Afro-Caribbean scene. Venezuelan-born violinist and composer Ali Bello embraces this beloved form with “Ali Bello & The Charanga Syndicate,” a new release featuring a set of originals and classics with top-shelf guests including Arturo O’Farrill and Silvano Monasterios. The nine-song collection breathes new life into the charanga tradition for new audiences.
Also this week, the Freedom Art Quartet channels the spirit of Ornette Coleman on their latest released, “First Dance”; veteran singer, pianist and songwriter Ben Sidran was recorded in concert at the Sunside Club in Paris for his new disc, “Are We There Yet”; and pianist Danny Grissett, known for his work with Tom Harrell and Nicholas Payton, offers up his new trio recording, “Travelogue.”