It's Christmas

I did not grow up listening intently to “Silent Night” or “Good King Wenceslas”, although no one with a radio or television could help but hear traditional carols throughout the holiday season. (Of course, when I was young, the holiday season ran a mere two weeks.) Raised instead on “Rock of Ages” and “I Have A Little Dreidel,” perhaps I am in no position to review “holiday” (aka Christmas) recordings. Or maybe I am, having no family listening traditions to limit my expectations or bias my judgments. Bombarded by holiday music from the last burp of Thanksgiving til the final New Year’s Day Bowl broadcast, I become sonically immune well before “the first Christmas snow” such that it takes a recording of distinctive sound, arrangement and virtuosity to elicit my attention. Two such productions found their way to my ears this season.

Turbulence

Turbulence is a word one normally associates with a rough airplane ride or you hear on a weather report, but it is also the name of the outstanding CD released in August of this year by the New Jersey-based jazz group, Airborne. In September, I had the opportunity to speak with Thomas and Gregory Borino, the two brothers who, along with lifelong friend Thomas Sansone, founded the group twenty years ago. Each of the three play several instruments on the album. In addition, they produced, engineered and mixed the project themselves.  

In describing what the listener will hear when they don their headphones, earbuds or pump up the volume on their speakers, Gregory Borino says, “They are going to get hit with a lot. There will be some light, smooth mellow stuff, but on some of the endings [to the songs], we are really rocking it out quite a bit. The listener will also hear a big band piece, solos and improv, because improvisation is still an important part of what we do. They will hear a CD that has an edge to it.” Thomas Borino adds, “You can still tell it is us, even though there are a lot of different kinds of music. We definitely captured an Airborne Sound on this CD.” 

Front and Center

I have been listening to jazz for 37 years and believe me when I say that it’s rare to come across an artist, particularly among many of the young players of today, who has such a unique sound and style that you could easily identify him within just a few notes played.  It’s for that reason that New York-based alto saxophonist Shenole Latimer and his CD Front and Center are special.

Front and Center, released by the German record label Tierra Records, contains nine tracks.  Five are original compositions with very catchy melodies.  I for one caught myself humming the melodies to “Hope” and “Always” on a number of occasions since listening to Shenole Latimer’s CD.  The remaining four tracks are standards that are presented with first class performances by all band members, which include two different rhythm section line-ups: pianists Sean Fitzpatrick and Gabe Shuford; Nameer Shukri and Kyle Struve on drums; and bassists Mark Verdino and Steve Kaell.  

Distant Borders Revisited

Born by the banks of the Mississippi in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Helgeson’s music does not necessarily reflect the place where his soul originated, and listening to the music of Glen Helgeson proves this point well. Influenced by his journeys and performances in more than 25 countries throughout South America, Europe and Africa, Helgeson fuses instruments and world musical styles with his own guitar playing and compositions.

Attractions

“She takes us into places where you’d never expect the banjo to be admitted and makes herself completely at home.” --Dick Hyman

Like many of my certain age, my early acquaintance with the banjo was limited to the theme song of the Beverly Hillbillies, the records of the Kingston Trio (and their contemporaries in 60s folk music) and, later, the soundtrack (“Dueling Banjos”) for Deliverance. But in the hands of jazz musicians from the earliest New Orleans and Dixieland bands to the swing era and beyond, the banjo has enjoyed a different level of virtuosity, if not ongoing popularity. One such musician who has helped fuel a resurgence of interest in jazz banjo is Cynthia Sayer, one of the world’s foremost practitioners of the plecturn or 4-string banjo. Her latest release, Attractions, featuring guitar master Bucky Pizzarelli, should further garner respect for one of America’s most enduring, if underappreciated, instruments.