Rose Room - It's Been a Long, Long Time Year: 2025
Style or Subgenre: Gypsy Jazz, Vocal Jazz
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There's some seriously swinging gypsy/folky jazz on this album, kicking off with a fiddle front instrumental and then alternating with vocal tunes. Fiddler/vocalist Seonaid Aitken has a lovely, lush, and expressive traditional songbook voice which is beautifully recorded here.
Gerald Clayton - Ones and Twos Year: 2025
Style or Subgenre: Conntemporary Jazz
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This is a very nice set of vibe heavy contemporary jazz with some surprising variety. It is mostly mellow, but never uninteresting. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but the phrase that popped into my mind is "subtly bold."
Stan Getz & Chet Baker - Stan Meets Getz Year: 1958
Style or Subgenre: Cool Jazz, West Coast Jazz
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Two brilliant jazz musicians of relatively similar style and era come together to deliver, well, a rather less than brilliant collaboration. Neither headliner seems to really have his heart in it, and they don't seem all that collaborative. They go through the motions and they're professional enough that it's not overtly bad, but it just doesn't live up to expectations for such iconic names.
Johnny O'Neal - Everybody Loves Johnny O'Neal Year: 2025
Style or Subgenre: Neo Bop, Jazz Blues
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Pianist/vocalist Johnny O'Neal delivers a fun, bluesy, fresh live set here. I don't see myself filling my collection with Johnny O'Neal albums, but he definitely strikes me as someone who is best appreciated in person; I'd grab a ticket for a live show of his in a heartbeat.
Diana Krall - When I Look In Your Eyes Year: 1999
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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For Saturday Night Vocals last night, I finally got around to listening to a Diana Krall album from end to end. Having been a hardcore jazz fan for about two decades now and a female vocals fan for about the last seven or eight, it might seem odd that I'm just now getting around to what is arguably the biggest name in vocal jazz for the last couple decades. I chalk this up to not having appreciated vocals early on in my jazz fandom, and subsequently having heard a song or two of hers on jazz radio that didn't catch me. My inner snob rose to the surface and concluded that if she's the most popular, she's probably not the real deal, rather a sort of watered down version of the genre to appeal to the masses. But in the past few years, I've really come to love so many vocalists across such a wide variety of styles and vibes, that it was time to give Ms. Krall a fair shake.
Unfounded snobbery aside, I still didn't really get into this album. Making no judgments about legitimacy, I'm just never going to love Krall's voice as much as so many others. That's my issue, not the music's; it's just taste. Sometimes phrasing and overall approach to interpretation don't hit me either. I'm just not on the same wavelength with this artist. None of this is to say she's not a fine vocalist or that I didn't enjoy the album; I did.... just not in accordance with her stature. And there were exceptions; a few songs she just seemed to nail perfectly for my ear. As an album, this isn't really going into rotation, but there are definitely some playlist items. Maybe she'll grow on me.
Dave Holland Quintet - Not for Nothin' Year: 2001
Style or Subgenre: Post Bop, Modern Creative
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You'd think by now I'd not be so quickly amazed by Dave Holland's music. But, Damn! Not for Nothin' is a killer date for the bassist/leader, along with Chris Potter (sax), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Billy Kilson (drums) and Steve Nelson (vibes). Maybe I expected something more atmospheric being an ECM release but these guys are cookin' straight out of the chute! The prominence of the trombone as a front line instrument seems unique in this setting, and it works brilliantly. As a vibraphone fan, I don't miss a piano at all, and this is just a super solid blend. Unlike a lot of bassist-led albums, Holland doesn't short himself here either, getting plenty of solo or at least lead time, and he's consistently brilliant. The compositions are marvelous, full of captivating melody and creative counterpoint to tickle the ear, and the sense of sympathetic coherence in the performances is unrivaled. Superb album; highest recommendation.
Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At Year: 1962
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
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This is one hard boppin' soul jazz masterpiece right here. Really, I've listened to this thing five times in the last week and I'm still agog at how Turrentine packs so much swing and so much soul into the same songs. Astonishing. Dude's a wizard.
Diana Krall - When I Look In Your Eyes Year: 1999
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
For Saturday Night Vocals last night, I finally got around to listening to a Diana Krall album from end to end. Having been a hardcore jazz fan for about two decades now and a female vocals fan for about the last seven or eight, it might seem odd that I'm just now getting around to what is arguably the biggest name in vocal jazz for the last couple decades. I chalk this up to not having appreciated vocals early on in my jazz fandom, and subsequently having heard a song or two of hers on jazz radio that didn't catch me. My inner snob rose to the surface and concluded that if she's the most popular, she's probably not the real deal, rather a sort of watered down version of the genre to appeal to the masses. But in the past few years, I've really come to love so many vocalists across such a wide variety of styles and vibes, that it was time to give Ms. Krall a fair shake.
Unfounded snobbery aside, I still didn't really get into this album. Making no judgments about legitimacy, I'm just never going to love Krall's voice as much as so many others. That's my issue, not the music's; it's just taste. Sometimes phrasing and overall approach to interpretation don't hit me either. I'm just not on the same wavelength with this artist. None of this is to say she's not a fine vocalist or that I didn't enjoy the album; I did.... just not in accordance with her stature. And there were exceptions; a few songs she just seemed to nail perfectly for my ear. As an album, this isn't really going into rotation, but there are definitely some playlist items. Maybe she'll grow on me.
For me it depends on the song. There are some songs that I really like the way Diana sings, and there are other songs that I just don't care for her version. It's funny. When she comes out with something new, I never know if I'm going to like it or not.
Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At Year: 1962
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
This is one hard boppin' soul jazz masterpiece right here. Really, I've listened to this thing five times in the last week and I'm still agog at how Turrentine packs so much swing and so much soul into the same songs. Astonishing. Dude's a wizard.
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