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Eliane Elias is one of the most glorious, distinguished jazz vocalists of our lifetimes. She’s complied 32 albums with eleven Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations with two Grammys and two Latin Grammy Award wins to date. Time and Again has been nominated for another Grammy in the Best Latin Jazz Album category to be announced early next year. I’ve been a listener and fan of this wonderful Brazilian artist sing she arrived in New York in the early 1980s. Initially, I was drawn in when Eliane was a member of the cutting edge band Steps Ahead which was formed byContinue Reading

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Big Party is the fifth studio album from the band Forq with the first coming 10 years ago in 2014. Henry Hey, the band’s composer and keyboardist is one of the cofounders along with Michael League (Snarky Puppy). The album is a blast, a mix of fusion, funk, rock, whimsy and electronica all in a delectable recipe. It’s damn near impossible to listen to this album and not have a smile on your face. It’s like you’re at a house party and these great players hash out some deep-groove jams that change directions and feel great. All of the musiciansContinue Reading

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Can I Tell You Something? is Mark Lettieri’s ninth album as a leader and it’s a fantastic addition to the collection. Many listeners will know Mark as one of the guitarists in  the Grammy-winning band Snarky Puppy or the collaborative funk band The Fearless Flyers. He’s also put out a string of successful albums including Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 1 &  2 (Read our coverage of Vol. 2 here) which leaned heavy on the funk. This album primarily features the touring Mark Lettieri Group including Wes Stephenson on bass (Funky Knuckles), Jason “JT” Thomas on drums (Snarky Puppy, FORQ) andContinue Reading

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How To Dream In Color is the 11th studio album from Lotus, and it’s a winning mix of a wide range of song stylings. There’s  a lot to like for long time fans and newbies as well. ‘How to Dream in Color’ has synth and airy-guitar tunes that sound like early Lotus (), guitar-driven, edgey rock tracks and songs with vocals making an eclectic blend. It’s the first album since the tragic passing of long-time percussionist Chuck Morris and it’s great to hear them continue in their traditional sound by layering in percussion. I’ve been listening to Lotus for 20Continue Reading

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Galáctico is the second studio album from the Joe Tatton Trio and it’s top notch. Joe’s made his bones as the keyboard player for The New Mastersounds for 18 years teams up here with guitarist Lucas De Mulder who released his first album on Color Red last year. This album is an excellent mix of uptempo funk and jazz as well as more dramatic cinematic pieces. It also comes full circle back to some of NMS’ roots, bringing in the Haggis Horns who played on early NMS albums. I’ve seen Joe’s impact on the NMS sound increase over the years,Continue Reading

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Nick Gerlach is an accomplished tenor saxophonist who as recently been features on albums from some of my favorite bands includng Lotus and Sunsquabi. Concrete Lullaby is his first solo release since the disbanding of his band Cosby Sweater in 2016. For this session he brought in Neal “Fro” Evans (Dopapod) and Tommy Shugart (Roosevelt Collier, The Groove Orient). In Nick’s words, “The instrumental album is a three-song journey that includes a dystopian allegory, a compelling cover of “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, and a funk track inspired by 80s horrors soundtracks and organ trio funk.  Have a listen andContinue Reading

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Tatiana Eva-Marie is the newest artist on the GroundUP Music roster and she brings one of the oldest music styles, manouche jazz or hot club music, to the label. It is one of the only music genres, jazz or otherwise, that is nearly universally attributed to one person, namely Django Reinhardt, a Romani born, French guitarist. He and his group, Quintette du Hot Club de France, featuring Stephane Grapelli on violin, were the delight of pre-WWII Paris.  Hot club music featured primarily string instruments, guitar, violin, bass and no percussion other than rhythm guitar and was a predecessor of swing.Continue Reading

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I’m a huge fan of the band Lawrence, but probably not a typical one in that I’m closer to their parents age than them. But, that gives me a different perspective and  insight on their music. The band is fronted by brother and sister, Clyde and Gracie Lawrence from New York and is hard to genre-fy, other than to say they are great singers, performers, lyricists and musicians. Their songs lean towards kitschy-pop with a strong portion of funk and soul. In that way, they’re probably most similar to Vulfpeck. A lot of their lyrics deal with maturing and youngContinue Reading

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Introducing: The Rare Sounds is the debut album of a new supergroup formed by Eddie Roberts of The New Mastersounds and Robert Walter, Zak Najor, and Chris Stillwell of The Greyboy Allstars. While it’s the first album release from this crew, they’re far from strangers, having met back in 1996 on GBA’s first trip to the UK when Eddie and his predecessor band opened for them. Since then, their paths have criss-crossed many times including the WRD Trio (Walter, Roberts and Adam Deitch from Lettuce) album The Hit in 2021. Unsurprisingly, this album melds the boogaloo sound of GBA andContinue Reading

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Each album release from Kamasi Washington is cause for celebration in my book. Ever since his first triple CD album ‘The Epic’ (what a name for a debut!), his music evokes a tremendous sense of awe, with a spiritual, mystical and ethereal quality. ‘Fearless Movement’ is more down to earth according to the press notes, due to Kamasi’s change in perspective based on the birth of his daughter, Asha. Nevertheless, it’s still epic (yes, I did that) and a majestic collection of tunes that add to the fantastic legacy of this still-young, legendary composer and saxophonist. As usual for Kamasi,Continue Reading