Scott Hamilton & Jeff Hamilton Trio Live in Bern

The two Swedes Jan Lundgren and Hans Backenroth are musical storytellers, their playing is without any vanity and full of vivid stories. Qualities that Lundgren has already demonstrated with his own projects, the pan-European success trio "Mare Nostrum" and in duos with trombonist and singer Nils Landgren and bass icon Georg Riedel. Especially the latter finds a worthy continuation in the collaboration with Backenroth, an internationally sought-after European bassist.

Wide Awake (In My Dreamland) is the 7th solo album by hard rock veteran Jeff Scott Soto that blends melodic rock/AOR with hard rock influences. The singer, who has more than 60 albums under his belt along with numerous collaborations and recordings, has established himself as a consummate professional who manages to expertly deliver with his vocal performances across multiple musical genres, from Metal to Hard Rock to Progressive Rock and even Funk. JSS currently also fronts Sons Of Apollo. CD versions of the album also include a bonus live album recorded at Frontiers Rock Festival in 2019, “Live At Frontiers Rock Festival 2019," which was released in digital format only this past April (2020).

Many great jazz artists have recorded, with great success, a live album at the Olympia in Paris while they visited or lived on Paris. Among these greats is Rhoda Scott. Her vast discography on Barclay is more or less still in the master tapes vaults but the "Live At The Olympia" CD, reissued on the Jazz In Paris CD program, is very good pick in the vaults. Supporting Scott playing the Hammond B3, the trio are Joe Thomas on flute/tenor saxophone and Cees Kranenburg on drums. Scott has always had great nose for mixing musical genres and tunes on her records, and "Live At The Olympia" is no exception . The trio treats the standards Bluesette", "I Hear Music", "Wade In The Water", "Equinox" and "People" with great musical inventiveness and interplay - they really tells us a new story on known themes.

Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton is in typically fine form on his third album as a leader for Concord. While Hamilton is equally skillful on ballads and hot stomps, cornetist Warren Vache sometimes takes a few too many chances on the uptempo material although one admires his brave attempts; he fares best on "Darn That Dream." Singer Sue Melikian sounds fine on two short vocals, but it is the instrumentals by the sextet (which includes guitarist Chris Flory and pianist Norman Simmons) that are most memorable.