Tribute to Nirvana

As persistency goes, one must give credit where it is due to the Vitamin imprint. Their rigorous schedule of releases assures the public that there will be, at bare minimum, one to two releases per month paying homage to a current pop icon or legendary rock figure. With this installment, the label looks to honor one of grunge's most revered albums, if not the most revered album of the era: Nirvana's Nevermind. Stripped of the brutal percussion work, the squelching fierce attack of Kurt Cobain's guitar mastery and his trademark screams, the quartet find and emphasize layer after layer within the simplicity of Cobain's melodies and song arrangements. While some songs don't transfer over well in the process, others work quite nicely. While most people can easily dismiss this as a novelty (and to a degree, it is), there are interesting aspects to this album that the die-hard Nirvana fan will find intriguing and enjoyable.

Alan Broadbent has long been appreciated as a fine pianist and arranger, talents he combines on this studio effort with bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Kendall Kay, along with background color by the Tokyo Strings. "Autumn Variations" is a superb workout of the chord changes to the standard "Autumn Leaves." The pianist's lyrical setting of the longing ballad "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess" and the sparse treatment of "Last Night When We Were Young" are simply masterful. Broadbent's scoring of notable jazz compositions proves to be equally effective. He sets up a very deliberate tempo for the ballad "Lover Man," alternating the piano and the strings in the foreground as the rhythm section plays sparingly. But his best effort may be his lush arrangement of the modal masterpiece "Blue in Green."

Britain's leading female jazz singer Claire Martin returns with her new album A Modern Art. The album is a personal reflection of what it takes to be a musician in the 21st century and features two brand new self-penned tracks. The original and contemporary songs on A Modern Art are presented with a cool-edge, tinged with a touch of irony and razor-sharp wit. A Modern Art is inspired by the tragic death of pioneering jazz musician Esbjörn Svensson, who Claire pays tribute to with a heartfelt rendition of 'Love Is Real'.

A two part collection of twenty acoustic covers done by Jon Crosby, of VAST, as a tribute to some of his favorite musicians who have passed away, and their music.