Seamus Blake

The brainchild of producer Gerry Teekens, United Soul Experience extricates trombonist Wycliffe Gordon from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra orbit and teams him with some of the most interesting young talent in the Criss Cross stable. Tradition-minded but not predictable, the music alludes to several jazz and funk styles without settling into any one of them. Gordon, tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, and pianist David Kikoski play like accomplished young veterans who continue to search for something more. Bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart generate a circuitous kind of swing, stating a pulse and deconstructing it in the same instance. The leader’s five compositions evince memorable melodies and impose just the right amount of organization to the band’s loose-jointed execution.

Ariel Pocock - Touchstone (2015) {Justin Time JTR 8592-2} (Complete Artwork)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 332 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 152 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 50 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Justin Time Records | JTR 8592-2
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Piano / Vocal Jazz

With its pairing of a neophyte vocalist-pianist with four jazz heavyweights, this album might better have been titled Post-Millennial All-Stars Featuring Ariel Pocock. Not that the 22-year-old Floridian can’t hold her own in the company of tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. Indeed, she is gifted well beyond her years.

Eric Reed didn't want to make a good record, he wanted to make a great one. The celebrated pianist and musician says, I could have called guys who play exactly what I want; it would have been good and not very interesting. It would have been swinging or it would have sounded nice there wouldn t have really been a spark. You don t just want to sound good. You want it to be amazing. And, his Groovewise is that killing record. It features a memorable quartet with Seamus Blake, Ben Williams, and Gregory Hutchinson and is the first recorded meeting of Reed and Hutchinson in over 15 years.