Rumba Palace

If you like your jazz with great orchestration and a lot of horns--no let’s make that with really good horns-- then you will probably want to pick up Arturo Sandoval’s recent CD Rumba Palace flying under the Telarc label.

The Cuba-born Sandoval, a master of the trumpet in both jazz and classical settings, has created ten original compositions that honor the trombone (Dana Teboe, Dante Luciani), the saxophone (Felipe Lamoglia), the trumpet (Sandoval, Jason Carder) and the flugelhorn (Sandoval). Solo trumpet highlights include the exquisite “Sexy Lady,” the more boisterous “A Gozar,” and a fittingly subdued voice in the beautiful “Peaceful.”

Women’s Work

Known as one of the most adventurous jazz vocalists in modern jazz, Judi Silvano detoured from her usual bent toward the avant garde with the release of an album of standards in 2005, Let Yourself Go (Zoho Music). Two years later, she’s taken another journey, this time in celebration of “Women’s Work”—compositions by the often under-rated women who have nevertheless made their marks on a genre dominated by men. Featuring the quartet of pianist Janice Friedman, bassist Jennifer Vincent and drummer Allison Miller, Women’s Work (JSL Records) was recorded live at Sweet Rhythm in Greenwich Village. Silvano’s eighth release might be her most distinguished yet, bringing attention to an eclectic list of compositions, her own wide-ranging vocal (and writing) talents, and the skills of a rhythm section that can outswing most on the current jazz scene.

Monk On Mondays

Monk On Mondays the new CD from Monk’s Music Trio hooks you right from the start of the opening track “Let’s Call This,” a bebop tune that features an extended bass solo by Sam Bevan, fine scatting and several abbreviated drum solos by Chuck Bernstein. Si Perkoff’s piano chops are lively and impeccable. The album scheduled to hit the streets on September 1, is a tribute to Thelonious Monk and his music.

Innocently I ask about a comment her partner Jay Wagner made concerning the thought they may someday pursue writing for film and television. By now I should have been prepared for whirlwind Joyce and her boundless energy, but it was still difficult to keep up with her. “That hasn’t happened yet but I think that might change. We are doing a whole new approach, not only with our music and concept, but we are wiping the table clean and starting again,” she says. Fearing that she might leave me with the wrong impression she quickly adds, “When I say wipe the table clean it doesn’t mean there was anything bad, because we had a lot of nice, cool things happen. I get restless with the old mode of doing things, because if you do things for a long enough period of time it becomes old. It grows a little crust on it, and as soon as that starts to happen I get itchy feet. I like moving forward. I am not a person who does a whole lot of reminiscing, or has songs from high school that are ‘our song.’ I am not a retro (she stops mid sentence)..I like moving forward. I like pushing forward and that is what excites me. I like the unknown, not knowing what is going to happen next. I enjoy that feeling, it is exhilarating to me,” she says.