Rob Kozlowski

Rob Stone delivers great Chicago style blues with long-time bandmates guitarist Chris Jame, bassist James Ryan, and drummer Willie Hayes. This is his fourth CD as leader of the band and first for VizzTone. He has some excellent help from guest musicians Blues Hall of Fame member Eddie Shaw on sax and Blues Music Award winners John Primerb on guuitar and David Maxwell. on piano. With 6 cover songs, including Sonny Boy Williamson's "Wonderful Time" and Blind Willie McTell's "Cold Winter Day," the Cd offers exciting and energetic music from start to finish.

Lightning Dreamers is new work by composer, trumpeter, interdisciplinary abstractivist and modern music mogul Rob Mazurek, who wrote the music for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra. A follow-up to the acclaimed 2020 Mazurek/ESO release Dimensional Stardust, the album features guitarist Jeff Parker, vocalist Damon Locks, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn, among others. It was recorded mostly at the remote Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas, not far from Mazurek’s current home in Marfa, in the days leading up to a debut of the music at Trans Pecos festival in September 2021. Mixing and post-production was headed by Dave Vettraino from IARC studios in Chicago across 2022.

Moratti is a solo artist, the lead vocalist of Moratti and Final Frontier, and the former singer of Saga. Moratti, a genuine and true original, has an astonishing range and has carved a unique style for himself, blending the finest elements of melodic and progressive rock. This will be Rob's fifth solo album and his first release with Frontiers. Filled with his trademark harmonies and memorable choruses, the songs on "Epical'' are some of the best of Rob's career. The album also features a stellar cast of contributing writers and performers, including Joel Hoekstra on lead guitar, Tony Franklin on bass, Felix Borg on drums (and co-writing), Fredrik Bergh on keys (and co-writing), Ulrick Lönnqvist, Steve Augeri, and Pete Alpenborg (who also contributes rhythm guitar and keyboard). Needless to say this is quite a line up for this excellent album!

A European recording date for Brooklyn-based Preminger, hailed across the pond as a distinctive tenor stylist with a gift for composition. Joined by the sensitive accompaniment of both fellow Brooklynite Garcia and Barcelona resident Kamaguchi, Preminger tackles a varied set of tunes. Theres a sweet (but never cloying) version of Try A Little Tenderness and a minimal Moonlight In Vermont (with a nicely understated drum solo). They step out a little further to pleasing effect on Ornettes Law Years and Monks Four In One and on the one original, Garcias Prairie Dance, but this disc never loses sight of lyricism and melody. Which is undoubtedly why Preminger is receiving such praise his playing is cool (the title track is a Warne Marsh tune), inventive, unexpected but never jarring or dissonant. In a world where innovative and edgy often means grating in a new way, Preminger is a rising star for those who like a little sugar in their coffee.

When reviewing music by a composer that is new to me I make it a policy not to read the inlay notes of the disc so as not to come to any preconceived attitudes regarding the music. So my first impressions of these "Twelve Divertimentis" by James Oswald played by Rob Mackillop on a 18th century wire-strung guitar was that of the composer not having a formal musical education but of a simple but talented minstrel perhaps from Scotland or Ireland who, given the rustic feel of his music, with its dance like movements, was employed to provide the music for local village dances.

Rob Mazurek Quartet Father's Wing - Rob Mazurek (piccolo trumpet, electronics, bells), Kris Davis (piano), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (double bass), Chad Taylor (drums). Recorded on August 4th 2019 at Pro Musica, Chicago, IL, USA

Arba - Borochov's fourth album as leader, was recorded in 2022 with his quartet of in-demand New York musicians and Grammy award-winning producer Matt Pierson, and is due for release on 8th September 2023 on Greenleaf Music. The nine original compositions celebrate an emergence from a time of hopelessness and loss to a recognition of faith in the radiant life-force. Borochov performs on a custom-made Monette 4-valve quarter-tone trumpet which he uses to incorporate Maqams into his playing (the middle-eastern microtonal modes that are the musical language of his traditional upbringing).