Category Archives: Reviews

Concert Review: Beyond Django – Les Violons de Bruxelles and Rose Room

Date: February 2, 2019
Venue: The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Review by Fiona Mactaggart

The inaugural three-day long Thrill festival of Belgian and Scottish jazz, opened on this winter night with an uplifting evening entitled “Beyond Django”.

Les Violons De Bruxelles First up were guests, Les Violons De Bruxelles (LVDB) led by inestimable Belgian Manouche virtuoso violinist, guitarist and singer, Tcha Limberger. Mirroring iconic 30s Quintette du Hot Club de France, but using just one guitar (played with brio by Renaud d’Ardenne), two violins (Limberger and Renauld Crols), a viola (Alexandre Tripodi) and a double bass (Hungarian Vilmos Csikos), their sound gave all respect to Django Reinhardt but in no way sounded dated.

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Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden

CD Review: Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden “Window”

Jeanne Gies & Howard AllenArtist: Jeanne Gies & Howard Alden
Title: Window: The Music of Manu Lafer
Label: Tratore
Genre: Brazilian jazz

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Manu Lafer is an interesting man. A prolific and accomplished musician and composer with over 300 songs to his catalog, and a discography of over 15 CDs, he studied guitar with Luiz Tatit, Cezar Mendes Nogueira, and Ítalo Perón; and studied singing with Ná Ozzetti, Fernanda Gianesella and Wagner Barbosa. In addition to his extensive experience as a producer, arranger, and composer, Lafer also studied medicine at Escola Paulista de Medicina in at São Paulo. He earned a doctorate in pediatrics, and has worked as a visiting researcher at Columbia University in New York and with the Food and Drug Administration in Maryland.

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CD Review: Peter Wetzler’s Solo Piano “Falling Awake”

Peter WetzlerArtist: Peter Wetzler
Title: Falling Awake
Label: Sound Forms
Genre: solo piano/nu classic/improv

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

When I was asked to write a review of Peter Wetzler’s 2009 CD Falling Awake, I was expecting (for reasons I can’t explain) a classical pianist whose CD contained the usual standards of the genre, and one or two pieces by a living composer. My assumption was wrong, and pleasantly so.

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Lucas Pino

CD Review: Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet ” That’s a Computer”

Lucas PinoArtist: Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet
Title: That’s a Computer
Label: Outside In Music
Genre: jazz

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

“That’s a Computer!” This remark was thrown at tenor saxophonist / bass clarinetist Lucas Pino by one of his teachers at Julliard, in a less than diplomatic attempt to dismiss one of Pino’s idols.

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Future350 Bu Bossa

CD Review: Future350 Nu Bossa…Nu Bossa Nova from Kingston (NY)

Future350 Nu BossaArtist: Future350 Nu Bossa
Title: Songs for the Amygdala
Label: Movita Records
Genre: nu Bossa/world

CD review by Dawoud Kringle

The amygdale is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain in complex vertebrates, including humans. As part of the limbic system, it performs a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making and emotional responses.

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