Patrick Bartley

Scott Kinsey’s connection to the music of Joe Zawinul and Weather Report is undeniable and hardly new to even casual partakers of the keyboardist’s work. As Kinsey explains, the pull was there from the beginning: “Joe was an innovative improviser, composer, and conceptualist but for me, especially so as the first jazz synthesist I had ever encountered. His electric keyboard work was showing us the future, note by note.”

Scott Kinsey’s connection to the music of Joe Zawinul and Weather Report is undeniable and hardly new to even casual partakers of the keyboardist’s work. As Kinsey explains, the pull was there from the beginning: “Joe was an innovative improviser, composer, and conceptualist but for me, especially so as the first jazz synthesist I had ever encountered. His electric keyboard work was showing us the future, note by note.”

On The Iconoclast, bassist Barry Stephenson follows up his fine 2015 album, Basic Truths, and again teams up brilliantly with drummer Jamison Ross. They reign as the sole members of the rhythm section of this jazz quartet that includes two reedmen, Ricardo Pascal and Patrick Bartley. The somewhat unusual instrumentation of the group, minus a keyboard or guitar, perfectly suits these talented musicians and offers the freedom that they enjoy and require to tackle Stephenson’s challenging compositions. Interestingly, yet not perhaps importantly, many of the tunes musically sound like their titles such as the edgy opener, “Fitz Figgity Phoom Phoom,” a progressive adventure that incorporates an ear-opening variety of elements.

Recorded live at New York’s singular downtown nightspot in late 2018, Anatomy of Angels finds Jon Batiste, pianist and bandleader of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, in a setting wholly different from his 2018 vocal outing Hollywood Africans. The album faithfully follows the arc of a live set as Batiste, bassist Phil Kuehn, and drummer Joe Saylor settle in for some deep trio exploration up top with “Creative” and “Dusk Train to Doha.” The format evolves as Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price takes the stage for a vocal-piano duet on the old ballad “The Very Thought of You.” Then, with hearty and infectious audience approval, four horns join the fray on Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” (Giveton Gelin and Jon Lampley on trumpets, Tivon Pennicott and Patrick Bartley on tenor and alto saxes respectively). The horns stay on for the closing title track, a nearly 13-minute journey through dazzling tempo shifts and solos that are by turns cathartic and gorgeously lyrical. Batiste’s TV gig, great as it is, probably can’t beat the feeling of this kind of high-level invention, on jazz’s most revered bandstand.

Emmet Cohen’s time has come. Since his debut Mack Avenue release, "Future Stride," Cohen has toured the world consistently — bringing the joy of music to people in need during a global pandemic — all while hosting weekly livestream concerts from his home in Harlem, NY. These livestreams provided a sense of community and a home to the displaced musicians of New York, reminiscent of the 1920s rent parties. On "Uptown in Orbit," his sophomore release for Mack Avenue, Cohen brings the tradition of jazz to the forefront while providing the modern twist needed for the current times. Featured on this release is trumpeter/educator Sean Jones, saxophonist Patrick Bartley, bassist Russell Hall and drummer Kyle Poole.