Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Marc Free of the celebrated Posi-Tone Records is proud to present “Solid Moments,” the latest in a series of projects he began a couple of years ago. The album features Idle Hands, a collaborative sextet of top-tier musicians who have done illustrious work as leaders or sidemen for the label. It includes guitarist Will Bernard, vibraphonist Behn Gillece, bassist Boris Kozlov, pianist Art Hirahara, saxophonist Sam Dillon and drummer Donald Edwards. The emphasis is on new original music by the band members. Free says the disc “speaks to this idea of a ‘repertory theater’ of artists that we work with, players who collaborate really well and understand what we’re trying to present to listeners.”
Billy Strayhorn was one of the great composers of the 20th century. He was an indispensable member of the Duke Ellington orchestra, collaborating with Ellington and contributing his own compositions and arrangements. Many of his pieces have become jazz standards. Pianist John DiMartino has uplifted the music of many major jazz artists during his 45-year career, including Ray Barretto, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Pat Martino, Houston Person and Jon Hendricks, to name a few. “Passion Flower” is his latest accomplishment, a memorable tribute to Strayhorn with his all-star quintet featuring Eric Alexander.
Also this week, Roomful of Blues serves up some swinging jump blues on “In a Roomful of Blues,” the first new studio recording in nine years from this world-renowned, horn-drenched ‘little big band’;
trumpeter Win Pongsakorn puts together a varied selection of originals and fresh arrangements of well-known standards on his debut, “Yes, It Is!”;
and saxophonist Ken Fowser unveils a new batch of original compositions for his quintet on “Morning Light.”