Tiny Reviews: Arthur Kell, Aaron Bahr Dectet, & The Jazz Convention

Tiny Reviews:  Featuring Arthur Kell Jester, Aaron Bahr Dectet Prologue, and The Jazz Convention Sound Briefing.

*****

Arthur Kell – Jester

Nothing ordinary in this new release by bassist Arthur Kell,  This probably has as much to do with the eclectic choice in musicians to round out a quartet as it does this compositions themselves.  Shepik is as unique a voice in jazz guitar as there is, and his pointillism style on strings makes for an enticing counterpart of Loren Stillman’s journey-round-the-bend saxophone approach.  Ferber keeps things in perspective and ties to the two styles together with plenty of rhythms that insist on being heard without poking their beak where they don’t belong.  This frees up Kell to give his part of the story however he chooses.  On “Tiki Time Bomb,” Kell’s bass attains a poetic chatter that’s not to be missed.  Recorded live, at a series of concerts throughout Germany, but has studio-quality sound.

Your album personnel:  Arthur Kell (bass), Brad Shepik (guitar), Loren Stillman (alto sax), and Mark Ferber (drums).

Released on the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records label.

You can stream the album on the label’s bandcamp page.

Available on eMusic.  Available on Amazon: MP3

Aaron Bahr Dectet – Prologue

Trumpet man Aaron Bahr’s debut recording is something to proud of, especially in light of the fact that he went large ensemble on the first go around in the recording studio.  Mostly originals compositions.  Cover of Miles Davis’s “Seven Steps To Heaven” and The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” both fall sort of flat, but his four part suite “Dawn/World’s On Fire/Waiting/The World Has Potential” is worth the price of admission alone.

Your album personnel:  Aaron Bahr (trumpet & flugelhorn), Tiziano Bianchi (trumpet & flugelhorn), Jessica Lee (alto & soprano saxes), Paul-Eirik Melhus (tenor sax), Devin Riley (trombone), Ben Whiting (baritone sax & bass clarinet), Sam Dickey (guitar), Alan Benzie (piano), Aaron Darrell (bass), and Jun Young Song (drums).

The album is Self-Produced.  Jazz from the Boston scene.

Available on eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

The Jazz Convention – Sound Briefing

Nice straight-ahead recording session from the Italian quintet who initially formed to play the music of Art Blakey.  Over the years, the group has changed personnel and themes, but it’s still the sound of classic Hard Bop, both covers and a shift to doing some of their own tunes.  Nice.

Your album personnel:  Fabrizio Bosso (trumpet), Gaetano Partipilo (alto sax), Fabio Accardi (drums), Giuseppe Bassi (bass), and Claudio Filippini (piano).

Released on the Mordente Records label.

Available on eMusic.

*****

The Arthur Kell and Aaron Bahr Dectet reviews are original to Bird is the Worm, but the Jazz Convention review was originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.