Corcoran Holt

The Mecca" by bassist and bandleader Corcoran Holt fashions for us a world in which we all can find common ground. The title suggests for us that the Mecca is the meeting place for creative self-expression, for laughter, for joy, and for remembering and empowering the least of these. Holt has called upon some of his closest friends within his musical circle to record his debut album as they reflect on how their own personal journeys have intertwined to form one strong bond. It is a gathering where they find the space for vulnerability through a music-like conversation.

SOULFUL TENOR SAXOPHONE great Javon Jackson makes a crowd-pleasing statement with his new, Expression, featuring the Javon Jackson Band with Orrin Evans, Corcoran Holt, and McClenty Hunter. Expression is serious jazz music at its accessible best. Javon and company rework Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing,” Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack’s “Where is the Love,” and Nat Cole’s “When I Fall in Love.” Track after track, this set delivers with songs like George Cable’s ’70s classic “Think on Me,” Wayne Shorter’s “One by One,” as well as several memorable Jackson originals. It’s a record you’ll return to again and again.

Unified is tenor saxophonist Stan Killian's third album and his debut for the Sunnyside label. It's high-quality, straight-ahead modern jazz, played with a real swing by Killian and his band, and enlivened by the contributions of three top-drawer guest horn players. Leader/composer Killian hails from Texas, home of Texas tenors like Arnett Cobb and Illinois Jacquet. Killian's own sound certainly has a big, wide open, feel to it but there's a gentleness there as well, a warmth and friendliness of tone. Venezuelan pianist Benito Gonzalez has a lightness of touch that enables him to create some delicate but swinging solos, as well as some finely tuned rhythms. Killian and Gonzalez play on all seven tunes, interlacing their instrumental lines with a skill and confidence that suggests a longstanding musical relationship.

Drummer McClenty Hunter Jr. has left an indelible mark on the scene in the years since his move from the Washington D.C. area to the New York proving grounds. Whether taking to the studio with Jim Snidero, tearing it up on stage with icons like Curtis Fuller and Lou Donaldson, or holding down the fort during his lengthy stays in the respective bands of Kenny Garrett and Dave Stryker, Hunter has continually shown his true musical mettle and risen to every challenge and situation he's faced. Now, he takes on the ultimate responsibility the mantle of leadership on this, his debut.

2013 release from the Grammy winning Jazz saxophonist. Pushing The World Away captures Garrett at the peak of his creative abilities, both as a saxophonist and as a composer. Garrett pays tribute to a number of his influences/friends and heroes that include Chick Corea, Chucho Vald‚s, Sonny Rollins and Garrett's musical confidant and album co-producer, Donald Brown (Brother Brown). In all, Pushing The World Away features 12 tunes, all of which were composed by Garrett except for one cover, a superb, lyrical, odd-metered take on the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "I Say a Little Prayer".

Steve Turre was passed the jazz torch early in his career by some of the music’s greatest masters – Art Blakey, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Woody Shaw and Ray Charles, among others. In recent years he’s kindled the same flame in a younger crop of rising stars.