New Releases Spotlight: Week of September 14, 2015

This week in The Music Lounge, music director Paul Abella reviews two local new releases from Chicagoans, and a new gem from the Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio!

Chicagoan Juli Wood has a new disc out called Dark Forest on Origin Records, and it’s a collection of Finnish folk songs.  Now, don’t let that last half of the sentence throw you. Juli and her band swing hard, and her deft arranging skills are put to good use.  She’s produced an album of grooving music with the help of guitarist Alejandro Urzagaste, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Mike Schlick.  "Temporary" is MY favorite song, but there’s a lot of great cuts to choose from. 

Also on the local front, guitarist Terry Bartolotta’s latest is called Slow Burn.  It’s a mostly original program played by some of Chicago’s hot young players, including trumpeter James Davis and saxophonist Alex Beltran.  What makes this disc really stand out is a side by side comparison with a few of the other recent releases from other Chicago based young lions.  The jazz meets R&B sensibility that you’ll find on a lot of those discs is replaced with a more fervent dedication to straight ahead, modern swinging rhythms.  Bartolotta’s writing is interesting, and his rhythm section keeps things squarely in the pocket throughout.  "Suspicious Character" is a biting, aggressive tune that I really like, but for me, the standout is the unique take on Hoagy Carmichael’s "Skylark."  He plays it at a much quicker pace than usual and gives it a bossa nova like groove that makes it stand out.  Trust me on this one… You’re gonna like it when you hear it.

Gerry Gibbs’ Thrasher Dream Trio with Kenny Barron and Ron Carter…  Man, these guys just kill it.  When they play Earth Wind and Fire tunes (like they did on their last one), they kill it.  When they play Burt Bachrach songs and modern jazz classics (like they did on their first one), they kill it.  And now, on their latest, Live in Studio, they’re going after the standards, and guess what?  They kill it all over again.  Surely, Kenny Barron and Ron Carter have played "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "The Look of Love" and "Wives and Lovers" in every conceivable arrangement imaginable by now, and that just makes it so much more amazing that these songs still sound fresh and just jump out of the speakers.  They get a little help from Roy Hargrove on three cuts and Cassandra Wilson on three more, but really, they’re just icing on an already incredibly delicious cake.  It’s awesome!

Next week in The Music Lounge, I’ll review three new discs being featured on 90.9FM.  ‘Til then… keep your ears open!