A fantastic new album called ‘Major Influence’ has been released by Graham Dechter in September.  The guitarist wrote and arranged all but one of the tunes. “After completing seven originals and co-arranging the classic ‘Pure Imagination’ with Mr. Hamilton, I came to the realization that every song on this recording, whether consciously or subconsciously, was dedicated to and/or directly influenced by one or more of my musical heroes.”

He reunites with the dream team rhythm section of his first two albums: Tamir Hendelman on piano, John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums.

The album starts with ‘Orange Coals’, a bluesy composition which swings hard and features Graham Dechter and Tamir Hendelmann with excellent solos. What a start.

‘Reference’ is the next song, much softer but still moving with Jeff Hamilton using his brushes, the head is a nice dialog between guitar and piano on one side and bass on the other side, producing this killer sound when guitar and piano play in unison.

The album continues with the title song. ‘Major Influence’ is a melodic song with a beautiful melody and great melodic guitar and piano solos.

‘Moonithology’ comes next. This song swings nicely, again with excellent brush work by Jeff Hamilton on drums. This song gives John Clayton the chance to shine with a nice bass solo.

The album continues with ‘Minor Influence’, another hard swinging (minor) blues. This song is like the trademark of Graham Dechter, very straight and very bluesy. And, no surprise, we hear in my opinion the best guitar solo on the album. Outstanding.

In strong contrast comes the balladesque version of ‘Pure Imagination’. Jeff Hamilton is featured with a fantastic brush drums solo.

‘Bent on Monk’ is obviously inspired by Thelonious Monk and comes with a funky and chromatic melody. An entertaining tune in jam style with solos from all musicians.

The album ends with ‘Billy’s Dilemma’ a fast and artistic song giving this excellent musician and his band a final chance to impress us with their fast and precise playing.

Graham Dechter has deep roots in the tradition of guitar playing and his new album shows this in an outstanding way. All songs are played with great melodic ideas, swing hard and have this connection to the blues.

And here is the complete album on Spotify:

Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat – Worry Not

https://www.johnsonmusic.co.uk/

UK saxophonist Emma Johnson has released her debut album ‘Worry Not’. The original compositions are inspired by cinematic scores and a wide range of jazz music. She has formed a great band and produced a fantastic album. The music is complex, full of different elements in each song but the songs are played with effortlessness and great technical brilliance.

Dave Mullen – Solace

http://www.davemullen.com/

Another saxophone player caught my attention: Dave Mullen from New York City. The album ‘Solace’ features a stellar cast of musicians including Jon Cowherd (Piano), Hans Glawischnig (Bass), EJ Strickland (Drums), and Jim Seeley (Trumpet).
Powerful straight-ahead jazz music inspired by and referencing John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Thelonius Monk and Michael Brecker.

Jacqui Naylor – The Long Game

https://jacquinaylor.com/

And finally a great voice: Jacqui Naylor’s 11th album features 14 original and nicely arranged cover versions of rock classics from David Bowie (‘Space Oddity’), Peter Gabriel (‘Don’t Give Up’) and Coldplay (‘Fix You’). My personal highlight on the album is ‘I’ll be Loving You’, a song that perfectly presents the volume, colors and nuances of Jacqui’s unique voice.

Dave Mullen’s album is only available on Bandcamp or iTunes:
https://thedavemullenensemble.bandcamp.com/album/solace-2

The other two albums are on Spotify:

Drummer, percussionist and composer Michael Waldrop has released a fantastic album featuring the marimba called ‘Time Frames’. The 15 songs, most of them originals by Michael Waldrop, present a wide spectrum of styles and sounds, from the origin of the marimba as an African instrument to eclectic contemporary compositions.
Waldrop surrounds himself on the album with other renowned and musically diverse percussionists like Gordon Stout, Brad Dutz, Jose Rossy and Marko Djordjevic.

Here comes the full list of musicians and their instruments:

• Michael Waldrop – marimba, vibraphone, drum set and keyboard sequencing
• Jose Rossy – Djembe, Djun Djuns, Shekere and miscellaneous percussion
• Brad Dutz – bongos, congas, doumbek, riq, percussion
• Steve Snyder – piano
• Alex Pershounin – acoustic bass
• Sam Shoup – acoustic bass
• Ivana Cojbasic – acoustic piano
• Marko Djordjevic – drum set
• Gordon Stout – marimba

The album starts with ‘Fractals’, a songs that has a nice steady moving groove. ‘Dem Dakar’ continues in that contemplative style with a slower middle part before it picks up moving again. Both songs are harmonically supported by long notes added via keyboard sequencing.

The suite ‘Three Mediterranean Views’ composed by Jack Cooper comes next.  Sound and style are more like a jazz combo with Michael Waldrop on marimba and vibraphone supported by piano, bass and various percussion.

‘Almost Beyond’ by vibraphonist and composer Nathan Daughtrey comes next. This fantastic song features Ivana Cojbasic on piano and Michael Waldorp on marimba.

‘Delineations’ returns to the African side of the marimba as we heard it in the first two songs. Definitely my favorite style on this album and so this songs impresses me with it’s nice moving groove.

‘Katrina’s Path’ is the second suite here on the album. The three songs feature Michael Waldrop on drums culminating in ‘Katrina’s Path: New Orleans’ with Marko Djordjevic on a second drum set.

‘Hollow’ is a composition for solo marimba by US-composer Jonathan Middleton, sometimes soft, sometimes harsh, this tune is full of different elements and sounds.

The next song ‘Sixth Chakra’ is definitely my favorite song on the album and the following video was the reason this album caught my attention. Michael Waldrop performs this song with six mallets:

‘Incoming’ is the next tune and it features Gordon Stout on marimba and Michael Waldrop on drums. The composition starts openly before it turns into a fantastic dialog between these two instruments, great composition and fantastic performance, with the marimba setting the pace. After an incredible drums solos both instruments return to the open theme from the beginning that is based on a chromatic movement.

‘Tortoise Efficiency’ features Brad Dutz on percussion, a tune without harmonic elements but with excellent drums and percussion sounds.

The album ends with ‘Continuity’, a song that has a similar groove like ‘Dem Dakar’ from the beginning of the album and so the circle closes with another excellent meditative tune.

‘Time Frame’ is not a typical jazz album, but it fits well into the context of groove, rhythmic elements from different sources and composed and arranged music, and it is performed with excellent musicians on an incredible high technical level. Congratulations to Michael Waldrop and the musicians on this album for this great piece of art. Please enjoy listening.

More information on Michael Waldrop and his music is found on his website:
https://michaelwaldrop.net/

The complete album is available on Spotify:

UK guitarist Tom Ollendorff has released a fantastic debut album on the Spanish jazz label ‘Fresh Sound New Talent’. Tom is accompanied by Conor Chaplin on bass and Marc Michel on drums. The trio has been playing together for several years and as Tom points out: “The trio developed it’s own sound and character”.

A significant part of this individual character comes from Toms guitar playing style, a combination of plectrum and picking which creates a full and dense sound.

The album starts with the title song ‘A Song For You’, an original from Tom with a beautiful melody that modulates between major and minor. First solo goes to Conor Chaplin on bass before we get the chance to listen to the first guitar solo. Every note is played crystal clear, the trio plays quite open but always in time and with nice dynamics, the sound is fresh and transparent and it is great pleasure to listen to this song.

‘Spring’ continues in this way, a feast of beautiful harmonies and melodic ideas with a sophisticated bass and drum accompaniment.

‘Etude 1′ is a nice little guitar solo piece which demonstrates Tom’s outstanding technique. Tom Ollendorff has published a transcription of this song on his website and the following video on youtube:

‘Not In These Days’ and ‘XY’ are the two extended tunes on the album, both originals from Tom, the first one impresses with the freedom drummer Marc Michel takes, the second a medium-up jazz tune shows the ‘classic’ jazz skills of Tom Ollendorff and his trio.

‘Autumn in New York’ is the only jazz standard on this album and Tom uses this tune for great chord melodies.

The album continues with ‘Aare’ named after the river that flows through Bern which is famous for being one of the longest open air swimming ‘pools’ in Switzerland. Again, a beautiful and atmospheric song featuring Marc Michel with an excellent drums solo.

The trio presents a second etude with ‘Etude 3′ this time with a simple bass and sophisticated drums focusing on cymbals.

The album ends with ‘These Days (Outro)’ a little light and airy tune that fades away in harmony and elegance.

I might repeat myself, but I like this album very much. Tom Ollendorff is a great guitarist with a distinct sound and style, the interaction in this trio is fantastic and very precise, the compositions are beautiful and the sound is clear and atmospheric. Please enjoy.

More information on tour dates are found on Tom Ollendorff’s website:

https://www.tomollendorff.com/

And finally a playlist of the album on Spotify:

Saxophonist and composer Daniel Bennett tried to find his own way after the disruption of the New York City nightlife through the Covid-19 pandemic and his answer is summarized in this new album called ‘New York Nerve’.

During lockdown Daniel started to play on the rooftop of his apartment building and when restaurants and jazz-clubs opened again he performed with his band under “snow-covered heat lamps”. His idea was always to bring the music to the people and he found some comrades that shared his idea and followed him in the last 15 months. When studios re-opened in 2020 he recorded this album together with

•  Assaf Kehati: Electric Guitar
• Kevin Hailey: Electric Bass
• Koko Bermejo: Drums

The album starts with ‘Television’, a song that has a beautiful melody built on a steady rock-groove with the Bennett-typical change of tonal centers. The seamless transition from saxophone to clarinet together with the change of the background from guitar riffs to piano chords is done quite nicely.

‘The Town Supervisor’ moves much slower. Assaf Kehati on guitar trades solos with Daniel Bennett, interesting is how the groove is slightly modified and I think the long background notes are played by Daniel Bennett on clarinet.

‘Gold Star Mufflers’ is a song that Daniel recorded before but this new version sounds much cleaner and has a certain spirit of a merry-go-round in an (sometimes enchanted) amusement park. Excellent song and great arrangement.

The album continues with ‘Human Playback’. The melody is accompanied by arpeggios while the solo part reduces the harmonic elements significantly to a simple pattern. The short guitar solo is played without any harmonic support. The final melody returns again to the arpeggio accompaniment. The long coda of this song is dominated by a vanishing saxophone.

‘Rattlesnake’ begins as an open improvisation and changes to an steady nice sad melody which is repeated multiple times giving this song a contemplative character.

The album closes with ‘The County Clerk’. The solo part of this slow song starts with a duet between Daniel Bennett on saxophone and Assaf Kehati on guitar before each of them has its own solo part.  One final major chord and some cymbals swoosh and the album comes to and end.

‘New York Nerve’ is the right title for this album because it shows – with Daniel Bennett as its most passionate advocate – the courage and unfaltering spirit of this city to stay positive and creative. The songs are all typical Bennett-songs with beautiful melodies and strong modulations, the arrangements are done quite nicely and the band produces a compact and transparent sound on this album.

More information on the Daniel Bennett group is available on their website:
https://danielbennettgroup.com/

And finally the complete album as Spotify-playlist: