02/14/08
CREATIVE SERVICE COMPANY
JAMIE CRAIG/The Last Dream: New agy sounds with a dark edge along it’s impressionistic edge. A veteran cat that plays it all and has chops that have been honed by 30 years of playing, Craig is to be commended for doing something wildly different within the confines of a genre that has gotten somewhat ossified in the chase for airplay. Wild stuff if you dig the form and are up for a change of pace.
JAZZ PROMO SERVICES
DIANE HOFFMAN/My Little French Dancer: This is the real deal, swinging club jazz by a throaty, swinging chick that knows how to deliver the goods. The kind of music that’s irresistible, Hoffman is a wonderful find that is a must for all jazz vocal fans. This smoking set is going to muscle it’s way onto your Ipod and not leave, particularly if you dig adult sounds that cook. This set should come with a warning label. It’s addictive and will turn you into a prothelizer.
KARI ON PRODUCTIONS
ERIC BYRD TRIO + 4/Brother Ray: Soulful, jazz crew adds some pals to the mix for a real full band sound and tips the cap to Ray Charles with a smoking set that isn’t a tribute set for the sake of a band getting traction. Standing on it’s own as a smart set, this is a crisp date that Charles fans will welcome as a cool interpretation of some great stuff that isn’t over done.
MICHAEL BLOOM MEDIA RELATIONS
JUDY WEXLER/Dreams & Shadows: Here’s a thrush that knows how to sing and swing like a throwback to the golden age of broads. Saucy, sexy with great tone and style, she’s selling the steak and not just the sizzle. A jazz vocalist for this or any season, Wexler hits it on some intuitive, innate level that just make s you fan right out of the box. Hot stuff throughout.
(Jazzed Media)
ON TARGET MEDIA
ERIC SARDINAS and Big Motor: Fusing that lonesome single guitar sound you get when Ry Cooder scores for Wim Wenders doing a Texas pic with industrial Muddy Waters thunder and every cool roadhouse sound in between, ostensible blues ax man Sardinas clearly serves up the expected by giving you something that seems familiar but is unique as all hell. A blistering set for rootsy guitar fans, this is that special kind of date you think you can describe but can’t. Killer stuff.
(Favored Nations)
Volume 31/Number 106
February 14, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record