New Releases Spotlight: Week of March 09, 2015

This week in The Music Lounge, music director Paul Abella takes a look at recent recordings from Jacky Terrasson, Allan Harris, and Steve Turre’.

Jacky Terrasson hasn’t been in the studio for a while, so it’s nice to hear him back at work on his new album, Take This.  The new disc finds him exploring some old ground, but also taking steps to make some thoroughly modern music, including a nice ballad, "November," which is really beautiful.  But the cut I really like is Terrasson’s one-man-band arrangement of "Somebody That I Used to Know," which – in addition to his superb piano work – features him overdubbed on almost every other instrument. 
 

The new disc from vocalist Allan Harris is called Black Bar Juke Box, and it’s soaring up the jazz charts!   This is a mostly standards driven album, with the version of Elton John’s "Take Me To the Pilot," for me, at the top of the heap.  It’s slick, it’s funky and it’s got a great feel.  His version of Lester Leaps In is great fun too.



 

Steve Turre’s latest on Smoke Sessions Records is called Spiritman, and on it we find him up to his usual tricks on trombone and conch shells.  There’s a glimpse into his funky genes on the aptly titled "Funky Thing," while his version of "Lover Man" is truly unique, and "With A Song In My Heart" gets a spirited interpretation!  Fans of Turre’s conch shells will be excited to hear "Nangadef" and its fun jam toward the end of the disc. 
 

Next week, Paul will be back in The Music Lounge with three more of the new releases that WDCB will be featuring on 90.9FM.