Casey Meqans

Bassist and vocalist, Casey Abrams, will make his Chesky Records debut this Spring with a new album combining electrifying originals and compelling covers. "Let's Make Out" and "Robot Lovers", the first two singles from the album, showcase both the frenetic energy of the band, as well as the unique nature of Abrams' creativity as a songwriter and performer. All around musical wunderkind, Casey Abrams, has built a strong following through the years. Casey released his debut album, Casey Abrams, in 2012 co-produced by Randy Jackson.

Al Casey, who will always be best known as Fats Waller's guitarist, makes one of his few appearances as a bandleader on the CD reissue of his Swingville album. Casey, in a quintet with Rudy Powell (who doubles on alto and clarinet) and pianist Herman Foster, sticks to blues and standards, with several of the latter taken from Waller's songbook. The music consistently swings and it is a rare pleasure to hear Casey getting the opportunity to stretch out on acoustic guitar. Two previously unreleased numbers ("Gut Soul" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter") augment the original program.

Karan Casey sings for Solas, one of the hottest young Irish folk bands of the last five years. Her solo debut is a wonderful album, a program consisting primarily of traditional material presented with minimal arrangements that show off her crystalline voice to best advantage. The instrumentation is not always strictly traditional – that's an electric guitar providing cloudlike washes of chordal harmony on "She Is Like the Swallow" – but the overall feel is very much in the folk idiom. Despite the intrinsic lightness of her voice, Casey manages to deliver a blistering rendition of Ewan MacColl's acerbic "Ballad of Accounting," and she sings about the jilted "Roger the Miller" with deceptive sweetness. She also brings new energy and insight into such chestnuts as "Shamrock Shore" and "One, I Love." Her excellent backing musicians include members of Solas, notably flutist Seamus Egan, who also provides excellent production.