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LISA REEDY PROMOTIONS
ALEXANDRA CASELLI/Rough Edges: Starting out in the classics a winding up in after hours joints in Tahoe, Caselli has turned into one of those piano jazz pros that flies under the radar but flies high in doing so. With almost 2 decades of LA under her belt, Caselli obviously has worked some tough crowds to come out this well tuned with a ear situated toward pleasing the listener but doing it without turning out mush. A pro throughout that has echoes of your fave core jazzbo in her work, she’s got just the treat your jazz piano sweet tooth has been looking to uncover when on the prowl for something new. Certainly tasty throughout.
3 (Moonjumpers)
RED CAT PUBLICITY
DAVID BERGER OCTET/I Had the Craziest Dream-The Music of Harry Warren: I remember speaking to Warren’s son in law over a decade ago and he was thinking about ways to revitalize the publishing revenue of pop in law’s catalog even though he didn’t own the rights. Too bad such initiative couldn’t have met up with Berger and his crew then. A jazzbo that knows how to swing a tribute, Berger and the gang put the snazzy back into the tunes that owned more chart space than tunes by writers from the era like Berlin, Gershwin, Porter and cats like that winning him the first gold record given out along the way. While Warren was pissed no one knew who he was, he should have checked in with kids watching Looney Toons that were just assuming his cleffers were part and parcel of the Bugs Bunny milieu. Warren would have been 115 this year so there’s no scam about this tribute. It’s done just to celebrate the joy of essentially American music that needs to live on. This set serves the cause well.
2206 (Such Sweet Thunder)
TWO FOR THE SHOW MEDIA
BRYAN BENINGHOVE/Organ Trio: So what can you can when one of the rising young lions on the prowl in the big apple picks up his sax and surrounds himself with two cats that have clear cut Blue Note chops on their resumes? Recorded in Hoboken in an afternoon ,pretty much like the classic Blue Notes he ate for breakfast, the groove and vibe, as well as a good piece of the set card, fall right in line with the spiritual vibe. Well, if you’re any kind of hipster jazzbo all you can say is ‘dig it daddio’. Sprightly, solid fun outing that’s as deceptively simple as it’s title, it’s in the pocket all the way.
(www.bryanbeninghove.com)
TOO BLUE LOU & THE GROOVE/Birth of Hip Bop: Old meets new as some Miles gets dance/rap/funk undertow to pull it along into the present with a taste of the future. Delightfully bopping set that might not be as epochal as “Birth of the Cool”, this crew just wants to have fun. A crisp set with a good groove woven into some solid beats, it’s a dandy urban party record for when the street crowd has a taste for some up market ambience.
1157 (Jazzheads)
TZADIK
PAUL SHAPIRO/Essen: We’ve been kvetching there should finally be some Pearl Williams reissues so all of sudden we get some Sophie Tucker covers? Oy! I can remember a friend accidentally breaking his father’s 78 of the original “Essen” and catching holy hell for it. Maybe this set can be the fabric of amends. Pre-dating 60’s Jewish humor was 40s Jewish humor, bawdy and swinging with jazz and a cornucopia of Borsch Belt vaudeville throughout. This set recreates when Billy Eckstine was singing in Yiddish and the melting pot was really simmering. Fun, period stuff brought to life by the crème of the big apple klezmer gang and their pals. A wild diversion for anyone that’s felt the need to name their half Jewish kids after their great-grandfather.
8126
Volume 31/Number 244
July 1, 2008
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
©2008 Midwest Record
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