Chris Minh Doky

Born into a family of accomplished musicians, jazz bass player Chris Minh Doky seeked to become a doctor. His Danish mother is a former pop singer and his Vietnamese father is a classical guitarist and medical doctor. Out of boredom Chris started playing classical piano when he was six years old. In the few years that followed he won three awards at the Royal Danish Conservatory for Classical Music. When he was fifteen, he picked up the electric bass by accident. Two years later Doky started playing the upright bass as a result of hearing the Miles Davis album, My Funny Valentine. A year later the Royal Danish Conservatory for Contemporary Music gave the young musician a reward for his accomplishments with the upright bass…

This is a compolation album which actually is a double album. One CD contains Doky's favorite vocal tracks (and a brand new one) and the other CD contains some of Doky's favorite instrumental moments. Chris says: It was so much fun to compile these tracks. I normally never listen to my albums after I have finished the master but compiling these tracks I actually listened to all of my albums again. Wow did that bring back memories!

The Doky Brothers, Vol. 2 pales slightly in comparison to the duo's first release, but the album remains a fine example of contemporary mainstream jazz due to the exceptional playing of pianist Niels Lan Doky and bassist Chris Minh Doky.

This release sounds contemporary in spots due to the prominence and virtuosity of bassist Chris Minh Doky (who sometimes shares in the melody statements), two appearances by Michael and Randy Brecker, the fact that the flavor of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock (along with Oscar Peterson and Vince Guaraldi) can be heard in pianist Niels Lan Doky's spirited solos, and the inclusion of a song apiece by Jaco Pastorius and Carole King. However, the music should mostly be of interest to modern mainstream collectors due to the strong playing of the co-leaders. The vocals of Curtis Stigers (a straightforward "My One and Only Love") and Deborah Brown (a swinging "I Feel Pretty") give the set some variety as does the changing instrumentation, and even the occasional melodic poppish numbers are generally enjoyable…

Throughout his career, Bireli Lagrene has often confounded expectations. He started out as a brilliant young Django Reinhardt impressionist; a few years later, he switched to rock-oriented fusion, and then returned to straight-ahead jazz with a more original (if blander) voice than he had displayed in his Django days. On this 1997 set Blue Eyes, a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Lagrene not only plays with swing and subtlety in a conventional quartet (with pianist Maurice Vander, bassist Chris Minh Doky, and drummer André Ceccarelli)…