Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
Pianist Eric Lewis grew disheartened by the jazz music industry in the late ‘90s after a promising start in the ensembles of Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones. Subsequently, Lewis won the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition only to find he wasn’t connecting to the material any longer. He withdrew from the jazz world and reemerged with a new moniker and style, namely ELEW and rockjazz. After years of distancing himself from the jazz world, ELEW has decided to make a return in a triumvirate featuring bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts. His new recording, “And to the Republic,” features the forceful pianist’s fantastic prowess expressed in the genre with which he first caught the attention of the listening public, mainstream jazz.
Like many jazz organists, Mike LeDonne started out on piano. Growing up around the family music store, his path to music was inevitable. After graduating from the New England Conservatory, he moved to New York and became a fixture in jazz circles, with the Art Farmer-Clifford Jordan Quartet, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine and Sonny Rollins. His eleven-year association with Milt Jackson and recording projects with Benny Golson solidified his prominence as a sideman. Now with eight CDs as a leader under his belt, LeDonne has earned himself a place in the elite club of truly great organist-bandleaders. His newest CD with his Groover Quartet, “That Feelin’,” also adds alto saxophonist Vincent Herring to the mix.
Also this week, veteran pianist George Cables’ new disc, “The George Cables Songbook,” illuminates his gifts as a composer as much as his skill at the keyboard.
Saxophonist Cory Weeds features pianist David Hazeltine on his new quintet release, “It’s Easy to Remember”.
Singer/trumpeter/songwriter Bria Skonberg displays a unique fusion of modern-day pop sensibility, combined with sizzling musicianship, on “Bria,” an album of standards plus five original songs.