New Releases Spotlight: Week of October 31, 2016

This week in the Music Lounge, our music director Paul Abella reviews three more new releases!

Hey everyone.  Keep reading as I feature three outstanding keyboardists with new albums!

To get us started, vocalist and pianist Norah Jones has long flirted with Jazz.  Her latest album, Day Breaks, is the closest she’s come to the Jazz world, and the results are fantastic.  On a couple of tunes (Horace Silver’s "Peace" and Ellington’s "Fleurette Africaine"), she’s joined by Wayne Shorter, and the pairing is a beautiful one.  Her original material ranges from Jazz-Noir on "It’s A Wonderful Time for Love" to an almost New Orleans-ish feel on "Once I Had a Laugh."  There’s a lot to like on Day Breaks, and I think you’re gonna like it.

Organist Mike LeDonne is back with his Groover Quartet with a new disc called That Feelin’.  There is indeed some truth in advertising in their name, with Peter Bernstein and Joe Farnsworth filling out the rhythm section, and Eric Alexander playing tenor, as well as alto saxophonist Vincent Herring on a few tunes.  LeDonne is a master of taking 70’s R&B hits and making them sound like they were written as jazz tunes, including The DelFonics’ "La La Means I Love You" and Natalie Cole’s "This Will Be An Everlasting Love").   He’s also a great writer - the title track and "I’d Never Change A Thing About You" are both excellent!  And he takes on standards "The Gravy Waltz" (retitled "The Gravy Blues") and "At Last" with aplomb.  This disc is a killer, and I’ll bet it makes a few of our annual “Ten Best” lists at the end of the year.

Finally, pianist George Cables just released The George Cables Songbook.  Strewn throughout the disc are basically two separate programs: one set of tunes played by the trio of Cables, bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Victor Lewis… and another set of songs by those three, plus saxophonist Craig Handy and vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles.  The instrumentals are all outstanding, with Cables up front in the action, and the vocals are really nice, too, with Cables’s tunes getting lyrics written by Ms. Charles.  "Melodious Funk" and "The Mystery of Monifa Brown" are my favorites.  You’ll probably have some favorites off of this one, too!

Next week, we’ll be talking about two new releases from Chicago-based artists Mark Colby and Alyssa Allgood.  Til then… Keep your ears open!