New Releases Spotlight: Week of May 23, 2016

This week in the Music Lounge, our music director Paul Abella reviews three new releases, including Dave Gordon’s newest which debuts at a WDCB-sponsored CD Release Party!

Hey everyone!  I’m back again with a few great new releases that we’ve been featuring here on WDCB as of late.

Let’s get started with Chicago-based pianist Dave Gordon.  He has a new disc out called Ears Have It.  It’s comprised of two similar groups, one a quintet, one a sextet, with saxophonist Brian Gephart, bass trumpeter Jack Gallagher and Gordon being the connecting links between the two.  It’s a nice, swinging disc with a couple of lovely ballads, Gephart’s "Birch Trees in the Snow
is a highlight.  "Cotton Candy" and "Osmosis" both groove hard and sound great!  Join WDCB as we present the CD Release Party for Dave Gordon’s Ears Have It on Wed. June 1 at The Jazz Showcase!
 

Frank Catalano & Jimmy Chamberlin have been enjoying a fruitful relationship as of late, and their latest, Bye Bye Blackbird, continues a winning streak that’s been going for a few years now.  Catalano’s sound and temperament is sounding more and more like the classic, big Chicago tenor sound – a little bit of Von Freeman’s tart tone, Gene Ammons’ big sound, Johnny Griffin’s remarkable speed, all married to some gritty, home grown funk.  The end result, with just a little less intensity than you might expect coming from Frank, has resulted in a very pleasing sound and an irresistible groove.  Chamberlin’s drumming is the perfect companion, always grooving, with tons of chops to spare.  Chicagoan Demos Petropoulos sounds great behind the B3, and we’ll be hearing a lot more from guitarist Nir Felder in the future.  The two originals here, "Chicago Eddie" (paying tribute to Eddie Harris) and "Shakin’," are the best moments on this short disc, and the standards ("Bye Bye Blackbird," "Sugar," "All Blues," "At Last") are excellent as well. 

And finally, on the overnight edition of ‘DCB Jazz, expect to hear the newest from Pat Metheny, The Unity Sessions.  Chris Potter (saxophones), Ben Williams (bass), Antonio Sanchez (drums) and Pat (guitar) all got together after their second tour together and did a live-in-studio recreation of their repertoire, and it is on fire!  "Two Folk Songs," "Roofdogs" and "Go Get It" are some of the most exciting jazz I’ve heard coming from Metheny in a while. If you’re up late, you won’t want to miss out on this one!

I’ll be back next week with new releases from Antonio Adolfo, Warren Wolf and more, here in the Music Lounge.  ‘Til then… keep your ears open!