Alexander Vinitsky Romantics.of.jazz

The debut album from jazz piano prodigy Joey Alexander, 2015's My Favorite Things showcases the 11-year-old's stunning keyboard virtuosity. Joining Alexander here is a mix of older and younger associates, including journeyman bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. Also backing Alexander on various tracks are bassist Russell Hall, drummer Sammy Miller, and up-and-coming firebrand trumpeter Alphonso Horne. Working with Grammy-winning producer Jason Olaine, who previously helmed albums by such jazz luminaries as Roy Hargrove, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and others, Alexander delivers a handful of jazz standards and songs culled from the American Popular Songbook in adroit, acoustic, swinging fashion.

Monty Alexander - Uplift 2 (2013) {Jazz Legacy JLP 1201020}
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© 2013 Jazz Legacy Productions | JLP 1201020
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

While critics and listeners enthusiastically focused on Monty Alexander's excellent reggae-fied Harlem-Kingston Express Live in 2011 (which was nominated for a Grammy), he was riding the global radio charts simultaneously with Uplift, a second album cut with his acoustic jazz trio. This follow-up date features the great pianist and a number of his now standard numbers with two different trios.

Ever since he first began to be noticed in 1992, Eric Alexander has developed into one of the giants of the tenor sax. He is not an avant-garde trailblazer; nor are there scores of saxophonists who sound like his clones…

If this compilation is any real indication, the future sound of jazz consists of mellow vocals, dreamy electric piano, and programmed rhythms. Okay, it's more varied than that, but if you listen to "Keep You Kimi" and "Leave Me Now," two of the first three cuts from this disc, you'd be forgiven for thinking there was a formula. The Foremost Poets up the energy a bit, bringing up bits of hip-hop - they actually sound like Herb Alpert fronted by an R&B/hip-hop mix. Their lyrics, however, certainly need some work. Joseph Malik's track has as much to do with the chill-out room as nu-jazz, while Triplane offer a largely percussive workout. In fact, the second half of the album tilts heavily toward electronica - Dntel's "Anywhere Anyone" has very little to do with jazz by any normal definition, although Monassa right the balance just a tad…

Cool - calm - collected: chapter 15 of this superlative series, compiled by Compost’s head honcho Michael Reinboth. 21 tracks, 8 exclusive, previously unreleased tracks.
The exclusives by Aera (guess you all know his brilliant Innervisions release), Arnau Obiols & KAYYAK (recently featured by Gilles Peterson in his “watch out for 2021” top five list), Ron Deacon (officially belongs to the Workshop-Crew together with other artists like Move D, Even Tuell and Kassem Mosse), Class Compliance my gosh - what a killer tune, Mille & Hirsch (operators of the fine Polish Records), All Is Well (Fred Everything), Ben Sturm (watch out talent of Leipzig’s viral underground scene) and Oliver Kieser (best known as Kieser & Velten with their releases on G-Stone)…