What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella

Joanie Pallatto – Accidental Melody (featuring Fareed Haque) (Southport)

Vocalist Joanie Pallatto has recently released an album called Accidental Melody. Palatto assembled a top-notch band around her to help in her cause, with guitarist Fareed Haque, bassist John Christensen, the two-percussionist team of Eric Hines and Juan Pastor, and on a couple of duets, her husband and pianist Bradley Parker-Sparrow. With all of these fantastic musicians in tow, Pallatto is free to follow her muse throughout these 13 original compositions. “The Lost Year,” “You Think You Know” and “Accidental Melody” are all highlights, and I am sure you will find your favorites as well.

Louis Hayes – Exactly Right! (Savant)

If the legendary drummer Louis Hayes wanted to rest on his laurels at this point in his life, no one would fault him for doing so. But instead of resting, Hayes has assembled a monster of a crew for his latest album, Exactly Right! Joining him is Abraham Burton on tenor sax, Steve Nelson on vibes, David Hazeltine at the piano and Dezron Douglas playing the bass. The title track to the album finds this quintet swinging right out of the gate. The rest of this album plays like a hard swinging who’s who of great hard bop composers, with songs written by Duke Pearson, Cedar Walton, and Hayes’ one time employer, Horace Silver. If you think this sounds like a recipe for an excellent album, well, you’d be…Exactly Right!

Michael Feinberg – Blues Variant (Criss-Cross)

Bassist Michael Feinberg has recorded a new album for Criss-Cross titled Blues Variant. Besides being a fine bass player, and a fine judge of talent, considering who he teamed up with here (Noah Preminger and Dave Liebman on woodwinds, Leo Genovese playing piano, and Nasheet Waits on drums), he’s also got a knack for great song titles, like “The Healing Power of Grits.” And that should give you a great idea of what’s going on here. There’s a great band, playing some solid tunes with a bandleader who has a great sense of humor. Songs like “Cycle Song” have a distinct 70’s feel to them, and an exciting take on Herbie Hancock’s “Eye of the Hurricane” is a distinct high water mark here.