Being in the Moment and Stirring Up Joy
Jeff Reed’s new album, Look for the Light
I have known the quiet, humble superstar bassist Jeff Reed since 2004 and have been fortunate enough to work with him for years on many gigs and on my recent “in progress” Joni Mitchell project. | Read more>>
Mitch Mirkin’s New Album Links Cultures
This album, inspired by the old synagogue that was once home to Mishkan Israel congregation and is now occupied by a Seventh-Day Adventist congregation, reflects on “the inevitability of change, evolution, transformation,” as Mirkin puts it. The seven tunes on the album traverse cultures with various grooves and styles that often switch within a tune. | Read more>>
JAGGED SPACES: AN ANTIDOTE TO ZOOM CALLS
In this odd season of pandemic-induced social distancing and assorted virtual encounters– “Zoom” world– there’s a palpable longing for the familiarity of group encounters, at a restaurant, a stadium, a church or, perhaps, a favorite jazz venue. Fortunately for those with an ear for jazz, recorded music provides a stopgap, recreating the sound if not the camaraderie of a jazz concert. | Read more>>
DRIVEN TO INNOVATE: TODD MARCUS’S NEW ALBUM, TRIO +
One of the great pleasures I take in being a participant in Baltimore’s jazz community is bearing witness to the endless stream of original and innovative projects produced by Baltimore’s exceptionally talented local musicians. Baltimore, and the Maryland-DC-Virginia area, in general, continue to be a remarkably consistent fertile ground for new musical ideas, easily equal to cities like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago . | Read more>>
Bright Moments – Ed Hrybyk
I finally cracked the debut album by Baltimore bassist Ed Hrybyk, Bright Moments — not sure what took me so long, but glad I got around to it. It’s an excellent recording of a bunch of good tunes, featuring some of Baltimore’s best musicians: Clarence Ward III, Samuel King, Daniel Wallace, Justin Taylor, Jim Hannah, Allen Bernard Branch, Sami Arefin, Matt Andrews, Shawn Simon, and of course, Ed Hrybyk on upright and electric basses. | Read more>>