Steps Ahead Steppin' Out

Smokin' Joe Kubek's debut album is a delight. Kubek leads his band through a set of smoking hot Texas and Memphis blues, delivered with passion – they can play this music with precision, but they choose to be looser and more fun than most traditionalists. Kubek's a skillful guitarist and B'Nois King, his vocalist and rhythm guitarist, can play nearly as well and their duels are the high watermark of an already wonderful album.

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Steps Ahead (2010) {Strut STRUT056CD rec 2007-2009}
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© 2010 Strut | STRUT056CD
Jazz / Ethio Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Afro Beat / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Vibes

Mulatu Astatke already has a legendary status as the father of Ethio Jazz. But he hasn't been content to rest on his laurels. Instead he's forged ahead. This album proves very different from his work with the Heliocentrics (some of whom do feature here), or with the Either/Orchestra – it's an album of what is essentially a meandering, laid-back groove that looks at music from two angles – the Western and the Ethiopian. The former gets to stretch out on cuts like the opener, the reflective "Radcliffe," and "The Way to Nice." Ethiopia raises its head on "I Faram Gami I Faram," which some luscious Addis Ababa singing, a reworking of the style that made Astatke's name, and actually of one of his old compositions.

Steppin' Out is the second studio album released by soprano saxophonist George Howard. It was first released as an LP record in 1984 by Palo Alto Records and reached as high as #9 on the Billboard magazine Top Jazz Albums list for that year. This CD from 1984 has lively and complex sax sounds. When Howard rejoined GRP Records in 1990, they acquired the rights to previous albums by him and released this album on compact disc in 1992.

Steps recorded them (and a third, Smokin' in the Pit, also available from NYC) for a Japanese label before becoming Steps Ahead and landing a domestic contract. Step by Step and Paradox feature the same lineup, except that Peter Erskine replaces Steve Gadd on the latter. No disrespect to Gadd intended, but Paradox is the superior album. Recorded live at the now-defunct Seventh Avenue South club in 1981, it finds the band stretching out and taking on more adventurous material. Pianist Don Grolnick weighs in with the smoking bossa "NL 4" and the somewhat epic "Four Chords," while vibraphonist/leader Mainieri gives listeners the dark and mellow "Patch of Blue" and the free bop extravaganza "The Aleph."

Paul Taylor, the sexy saxman of smooth/urban jazz, is back with his fifth solo recording titled Steppin' Out, his second outing on the Peak Records label. Ripe with old-school moods and pop-oriented flavors, Taylor's accompanists bring out the best of his smooth sax work on soprano and alto, his sax harmonies, and his vocoder on three tracks. Produced by Rex Rideout and Barry J. Eastmond, two of smooth/urban jazz's most acclaimed producers, the set jumps off with the radio-friendly single "On the Move," which immediately sets the tone for the remainder of the all-star project…

2008 release featuring these two classic Osmonds albums on one disc, available for the first time on CD. The Osmonds may have existed in one form or another before and after their massive '70s success but this is the first time in over 30 years that their musical legacy can be experienced in full. Brainstorm (1976) was their ninth album, followed by Steppin' Out a year later…