Frank Rubin

This Vanessa Rubin release is a tribute to Carmen McRae. Although she cites McRae as a major influence, Rubin actually does not sound much like her and leans as much toward middle-of-the-road music as jazz. Also, not all of these songs are really identified with McRae (most notably "Send in the Clowns" which was largely owned by Sarah Vaughan). The ballad-dominated set does have a reasonable amount of variety, Rubin gets off some fine scatting on "Yardbird Suite" and she introduces an excellent original in "No Strings Attached." A variety of guests (including Grover Washington, Jr., Frank Foster, Antonio Hart, Cecil Bridgewater, Kenny Burrell and Monty Alexander) only appear on one or two songs apiece and do not make that much of an impression. However Vanessa Rubin's attractive voice is strong enough to carry the music and this release is a step forward for her. ~ AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow

Tadd Dameron’s working instrument was the piano though, in a be-bop universe dominated by Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, he didn’t pretend to be a virtuoso. Anyway, keyboard mastery was irrelevant because Dameron’s real genius lay in composition and even his arranging skills were much appreciated by his bop peers. Described by veteran producer/historian Ira Gitler as "a gracious, soft-spoken man", Dameron’s lyricism, laced with impressionism, shines in classics like Charlie Parker’s Hot House, Dizzy Gillespie’s Good Bait and Our Delight, Fats Navarro’s The Squirrel, Billy Eckstine’s Cool Breeze and Sarah Vaughan’s shimmering If You Could See Me Now (for which he also wrote the lyrics). And, in this new album celebrating his work, singer Vanessa Rubin presents familiar Dameronia mixed with a few pieces that have been overlooked.

GRAMMY Award-nominated artist James Blake's third full-length album, "The Colour In Anything". Among its 17 tracks, the record features the recently revealed songs “Modern Soul” and “Timeless” - both initially featured on his BBC Radio 1 Residency show. In addition, it includes “I Need a Forest Fire” [feat. Bon Iver] and “Radio Silence.” In addition to the Bon Iver feature, Frank Ocean and Rick Rubin also contributed to The Colour In Anything as co-writer and co-producer, respectively.

In this intimate investigation of the artistic process, Lezli Rubin-Kunda explores the nuanced path of creative work and the way artists make sense of home and place within their art practice and their lives. Rubin-Kunda is a multidisciplinary artist who examines these issues in her own work. But in this book, she expands her horizons, travelling across Canada to talk to more than fifty practicing artists, including Amalie Atkins, Aganetha Dyck, Francois Morelli, Simon Frank, and Sharon Alward, about their work, their creative process, and the place of "home": in their work.