Mike Schwartz

Jazz at Greville Lodge vol.2 features pianist Mike Carr and guitarist Jim Mullen. Live recording from November 2009. Mike Carr (b. 1937), jazz pianist and organist, established his reputation on the London jazz scene working with such heavyweights as Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Griffin, Illinois Jacquet and Art Farmer. "l've never heard an organist who has all that swinging“ commented Oscar Peterson. Carr is a prolific musician who released numerous highly acclaimed albums. Jim Mullen (b. 1945) is a truly original voice in contemporary jazz guitar, who has won many British music awards including ,,Best Guitar“ in the BT Jazz Awards in 1994, 1996 and 2000. With many recordings to his credit, Mullen has recently recorded as a member of The All Stars Collective on the Paul McCartney-produced album All About The Music.

The West of veteran TV writer/Deadwoodcreator David Milch is as grim as it is gritty, sprinkled with salty dialogue and punctuated by sudden brutality and raw sexuality. The original soundtrack cues by composer David Schwartz (represented here by his evocative show theme), Michael Brook and Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek play off that vision with often stark rootsiness. But it's the series' rich slate of songs – choices whose inventiveness often rivals that of The Sopranos – that consistently reinforce its all-too-human drama, if not the crusty veneer. This collection gathers the best songs from the series' first season, coloring the milieu with evocative hillbilly romps like Michael Hurley's "Hog of the Forsaken" and the a capella grace of Margaret's Native American "Creek Lullaby." But the collection's musical eclecticism stretches far beyond mere genre concerns, variously encompassing the nascent jazz of Jelly Roll Morton (a rollicking "Stars and Stripes Forever"), Delta blues of Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt and even Gustavo Santaolalla's hypnotic Brazilian fretwork. But the collection's country and folk-tinged performances are its most resonant, whether invoking earthy traditions (the gospel fervor of the late June Carter Cash's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee's more heretical "God and Man") or more contemporary stylings like Lyle Lovett's "Old Friend" and the gentle "Twisted Little Man" by Michael J. Sheehy.

Alexander has always been in the game it seems. He’s played with everyone from Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes to Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint. With Knockin’ Glenn and company take their in-your-face, guitar driven, horn-laced music to the next level…