Pete Fucinaro’s Little Window is a dynamic journey through contemporary jazz, expertly blending traditional roots with modern improvisational flair.
Completed at Clubhouse Recording Studios on November 16, 2014, by Paul Antonell, the album features nine original compositions that showcase Fucinaro’s versatility on tenor sax, soprano sax, and toy piano, alongside a talented ensemble: Ebba Dankel (piano, synth, voice), Ethan Ditthardt (guitar), Jared Beckstead-Craan (bass), and Alex Souris (drums).
The dynamic interaction of the band is striking, especially considering this is the first project these musicians have worked together as an ensemble. Little Window thrives on its diversity.
“Bonfire” burns with classic swing vibes,…
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You have to admire a bandleader who enhances an album by dedicating one of his compositions to an Uber driver and inviting his 85-year-old mother to play piano on the last two numbers. That is exactly what bassist Mike Pope does on The Parts You Keep, and they are two of the recording’s more pleasing episodes. Pope also adds a four-member string section on the standard “That Old Feeling” and his quirky composition “Past Is Prologue” (both of which encompass guest appearances by acclaimed trumpeter Randy Brecker).
A masterclass of 20th century Cuban-American showbiz, this has all the vintage allure of a night at Havana’s Tropicana, or indeed one of the Miami clubs Albita Rodriguez is still playing 40 years after abandoning her career as a country singer in Cuba for a white trouser suit and the bright lights (and anti-Castrists) of Florida.
Trombonist and composer 
Tenor saxophonist George Coleman decided to leave the orbit of trumpeter Miles Davis in 1964. Or he got an elbow to the ribs and a hip check to leave the quintet, to be replaced by Wayne Shorter in the saxophone slot. Three top-notch live albums came out of the group that featured Coleman: In Europe: Live at the Antibes Jazz Festival (1964); My Funny Valentine: In Concert (1965); and “Four” and More: In Concert (1966). Add the studio outing, Seven Steps to Heaven (1963), and it is a wrap on the Coleman/Davis collaboration. Each of the hornmen went his own way, Davis to his second Great Quintet with Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and the powerhouse young drummer Tony Williams, and Coleman to a prolific leader/sideman career.
Cuban Cubism is central to 
It’s only been a year since guitarist 
Following the quintet album 
The fourth album by the 17-piece 
With Ride Into the Sun, pianist/composer 
There is a restive, Christmas-time sound of new hope and expectations running throughout Shir Yedidot that is hard to fathom at first, given that the repertoire moves effortlessly from Chabad nigunim (Hasidic wordless melodies) into original compositions. It is as if the gifted trio — leader/bassist Yosef Gutman Levitt, pianist Yonathan Avishai (Joys and Solitudes, 2019; with trumpeter Avishai Cohen Playing the Room, 2019) and oudist Yagel Haroush. Haroush also adds depth and texture playing the kamancheh (Persian bowed instrument) and ney (end-blown wood flute). The players seem to have set out to exclaim all the joy in all our voices and how those voices together radiate out to each other. Over days, over years, over centuries.
Building on a title concept that references the way trees connect below ground, Philadelphia-based pianist 
With “ok”, his new album and ACT debut, French trumpeter ‘daoud’ offers a quiet manifesto – a record shaped by contrast and contradiction, by collapse and the stubborn act of beginning again. Built around the idea of accepting what cannot be changed. He explains: “The whole record is built around the concept of reluctant acceptance of things that you can’t control. All right, fuck it, fine, I guess.” The album explores failure, loss, repetition, and the soft absurdity of pretending everything’s fine. Across 14 tracks, daoud weaves tragedy and humor, chaos and tenderness, melody and noise into a rich and emotionally charged soundscape.