Pianist Fred Hersch has a very different style than Thelonious Monk did, and on this solo tribute CD, he does not attempt to closely emulate Monk. Hersch does hint at Thelonious in spots on the 13 Monk compositions, but mostly performs in a sparse, melodic and quietly playful manner. His interpretations of such songs as "In Walked Bud," "Ask Me Now," "Let's Cool One" and "Misterioso" (which he calls "Five Views of Misterioso") are tasteful yet full of subtle invention. A pleasing and respectful effort.

Enrico Pieranunzi (born December 5, 2021) is an Italian jazz pianist. He fuses classical technique with jazz. He has performed with, among others, Frank Rosolino, Sal Nistico, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, Chet Baker, Joey Baron, Art Farmer, Jim Hall, Marc Johnson, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Charlie Haden, Mads Vinding, and Billy Higgins. He issued his first LP in 1975. He has performed widely with his own group at European and American jazz festivals. He has also composed several film scores. In 2006 he started the trans alpine jazz project.

One of the most important and influential figures on the post war blues scene, singer, guitarist and songwriter Elmore James was the unchallenged king of the electric slide guitar, updating the legacy of the country blues to post-war Chicago. His music, and particularly his guitar playing, has been a major source of inspiration for countless blues and rock musicians over the years. Eric Clapton, Duane Allman and Jimi Hendrix are just a few of the rock legends who have acknowledged his influence. This collection includes every complete master he recorded at his last 2 sessions for Bobby Robinson's Fire/Fury Label in New York City in February 1963, just 3 months before his untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 45. Packaged in a digipak.

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"Coco Montoya is one of the reasons people mistakenly think blues is easy music to play. His fierce attack is so expert yet sounds so effortless that it makes you believe anyone armed with 12 bars and six strings can pull it off." -- Billboard "Few blues guitarists performing today can top the intensity of former John Mayall sideman Coco Montoya's torrid, Albert Collins-inspired attack. Shards of shivering, feedback-enhanced blue notes fly off the Southern California picker's ax and cut deep into the rhythm section's grooves." -- San Francisco Chronicle "Blistering contemporary blues ... piercing attack; funky, shivery guitar tones; and aggressive, soulful vocals." -- Blues Revue

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Presented as a sort of musical autobiography, with the personal title track ending the album as a kind of summation, the album dusts off a couple of Smith's earlier hits, most notably a slow, gripping version of his signature song, "Give Me My White Robe," and the playful shaggy-dog story "Blues on the Moon," given a suitably light-hearted and sly treatment. Smith is in excellent voice throughout and his playing is as fine as always, making Mississippi Kid a late highlight in his long and sometimes underappreciated career. ~ Stewart Mason

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The debut solo album by Buddy Whittington, one of the finest blues guitarists playing today, featuring nothing short of breathtaking guitar playing.
Buddy Whittington is the current incumbent in the guitarist slot of John Mayall's legendary Bluesbreakers, a position he's occupied since 1993. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Blues Company is one of the longest lasting blues band in Europe, and without doubt both the most famous and successful. This new CD Hot And Ready To Serve goes on sale in the US in January 2008, and if you are a fan of the blues, you will certainly want this one in your collection.

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Eric Clapton is the eponymous debut solo album from Eric Clapton. It was released in August of 1970. The album that launched Clapton's solo career takes most of its cues from his then-recent collaboration with Delaney and Bonnie. In fact, Delaney produced the album, which explains its loose, jam-session feel that sometimes finds Clapton battling against a cast that includes guest stars Stephen Stills, Sonny Curtis, Rita Coolidge, Leon Russell, and Delaney and Bonnie. Yet this is the album on which Clapton established himself as a forceful singer, and it also produced some of his most enduring classics, including "Blues Power," "After Midnight," and "Let It Rain." - amazon.com

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The years 1969 and 1970 were busy ones for B.B. King. When he wasn't playing one of his 300-plus gigs, King was in the studio laying down tracks that included "The Thrill Is Gone," his only Top 20 hit. 1970's INDIANOLA MISSISSIPPI SEEDS was a record that fit in well with the musical climate of the time. Up and coming artists such as Carole King and Leon Russell contributed their talents to these predominantly B.B. King-penned numbers. The female King plays piano throughout, giving "You're Still My Woman" an Aretha Franklin flavor whereas "Until I'm Dead And Cold" is infused with a sanctified air thanks to her playing and the inclusion of a brassy horn section. No slouch on the eighty-eights himself, Russell (along with a then unknown Joe Walsh) provides funky accompaniment on "Ask Me No Questions" and the instrumental "King's Special." The blues legend himself lays Lucille aside long enough to give himself solo piano accompaniment on the minute and a half "Nobody Love Me But My Mother." Leon Russell's biggest contribution to INDIANOLA is of his oft-recorded "Hummingbird." Along with playing piano, the musically gifted Okie also conducts a string section and gospel-inspired chorus of female back-up singers that includes Merry Clayton. - cduniverse.com

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Albums consisting entirely of one artist paying tribute to another are commonplace, especially in the blues world where a particular artist's musical heritage is easy to trace. It's rare, though, for an artist of B.B. King's caliber to do such a tribute, and we're all lucky that the artist he chose to honor is Louis Jordan--the King of the Blues saluting the King of Swing. King's clean, expressive guitar style and rough-hewn voice are so distinctive that there's no mistaking them for anyone else's, and hearing them applied to Jordan's classic songs--including "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens," "Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door," "Saturday Night Fish Fry," and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"--demonstrates both King's considerable skill and the great versatility of Jordan's songwriting. That makes this record more than a mere curiosity, as does the stellar piano work from another living legend, Dr. John. --Genevieve Williams

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This provided fresh looks at 11 Collins classics, among them such epic numbers as "Don't Lose Your Cool," "Frosty," "Honey Hush" and "Tired Man." There were slow, wailing ballads with blistering solos, electrifying uptempo wailers with a great horn section answering Collins' phrases with their own bleats, and first-rate mastering and production. Guest stars included B.B. King, Branford Marsalis, Kim Wilson and Gary Moore, while Collins injected vitality into numbers he'd already made standards years ago. This set is a wonderful tribute to an incredible guitarist and musician. ~ Ron Wynn

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In his latest release, Pathways, bassist Dave Holland shapes his octet into a groove-heavy, blue-flame intensity with writing that is state-of-the-art hard bop. "Pathways" opens the album with the horns setting the pace as Smuylan’s baritone leads the melody with commanding solos. The horns riff hard while Nelson plays the vibraphone with a modernistic feel. Next up is “How’s Never?” Holland starts it off with a bass solo as Nate Smith eases in with some rhythm. The marimba gives it a sophisticated feel but the horns — specifically Hart on alto sax backed by Smulyan’s baritone — gets into the groove vein of greasy funk.

(Written in December) If you've read Kostova's first novel, The Historian, then you know she likes to tell a long story; and you know that it will be rich, and deep, and full of life and mystery and intrigue and suspense. If you haven't read The Historian then I highly recommend it. The good news is that you can get it now, whereas The Swan Thieves will not be released until January 12, 2010. I actually feel a little bad that I am reviewing this now, since it's not released for a while, but I want it to be fresh in my head, and I promise I won't spoil it.

As his first album of all-original material (performed with a quintet or less) since his 1988 release Thick in the South: Soul Gestures in Southern Blue, Vol. 1, and his first album for Blue Note Records, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ The Magic Hour is a disappointing return to progressive, small-group jazz. This is not to say that there aren’t some excellent things here, but taken as an album, The Magic Hour seems logy and inconsequential. Featuring the talented chops of pianist Eric Lewis, bassist Carlos Henríquez, and drummer Ali Jackson, Marsalis offers up a low-key grab bag of everything he’s done thus far in his career.

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 2021 in New York City)[1] is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-bebop era, Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "I Feel a Song Coming On", "It's All Right With Me", etc. have become jazz standards.