The Safari finds NYC Jazz from Brian Lynch Unsung Heroes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2!

The other day I was reviewing the Weekly Jazz Chart   and there at No 19 just below Dr Lonnie Smith was an Brian Lynch and his latest album Unsung Heroes Vol. 2. The tagline on the album is “a tribute to underappreciated trumpet masters” sounds like my kind of album! I went to Spotify found the album sat back and listened to some damn good trumpet playing. So now I needed to find out some more about Brian Lynch a trumpeter that I have not come across yet! From Wikipedia… Brian Lynch (September 12, 1956, Urbana, Illinois) is a Grammy Award-winning New…

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Today in Music – Nov 29 Part 1 – Happy Birthday – Chuck Mangione !

So today’s list of birthdays containing many artists who appear in my music library including: John Mayall who celebrates his 80th birthday today. Man, it seems like just yesterday I we were celebrating his 70th with that great concert album, Felix Cavaliere turns 69 (The Rascals) I have a couple of albums he recorded with Steve Cropper in my collection, and one of my favorite acoustic guitarists Jesse Cook celebrates birthday 49! So Happy Bithday Guys!! Finally the last one on the list is Chuck Mangionne. Though I only have one of his albums in my vinyl collection his big…

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Chuck Mangione Feels So Good!

Chuck Mangione – Flugelhorn – Born November 29, 1940 So today’s list of birthdays contains many artists who appear in my music library. First, John Mayall celebrates his 83th birthday. Man, it seems like just yesterday I we were celebrating his 70th birthday. His 70th birthday concert album is a great concert album, Next, Felix Cavaliere turns 74 (The Rascals) I have a couple of albums he recorded with Steve Cropper in my collection, Then there’s Jesse Cook, one of my favorite acoustic guitarists, Jesse Cook turns birthday 52 today! Finally there’s Chuck Mangione. I only have one Chuck Mangione…

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Today in Music – November 25, 1986 – Bassist Daseul Kim is Born! Happy Birthday Dasuel!

At the top of the list of todays’ birthdays at All About Jazz was bassist Daseul Kim who was born on this date in 1986 in South Korea. Kim’s musical journey has taken him from that homeland of South Korea to a new home in New Jersey. After landing in the New York Metropolitan Area, Dasheul is quickly building his reputation as one of the most promising young bassists on the New York jazz scene. From his website: Exposed early on to traditional Korean music, Daseul quickly gained attention when he was awarded the grand prize in Korea’s National Students…

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Morning Music from Trumpeter – Avishai Cohen!

  So yesterday I wrote that as I was listening to Omer Avital’s Suite of the East, I was impressed y the trumpet playing of Avishai Cohen. Evidently I am not the only one impressed by his talent, as he was voted the rising star trumpeter in the 2012 Downbeat Jazz Critics Poll. Here’s some background on Avishai from Wikipedia: Avishai Cohen Is a New York City-based jazz musician originally from Tel Aviv, Israel. Cohen is an internationally recognized jazz trumpet player, composer, and bandleader. His playing style reflects a heavy influence from the bebop and post-bop traditions. However elements of avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion, as well as other contemporary…

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Life’s Soundtrack – Omer Avital – Suite of the East

So some times it takes me a couple of listens and also thinking about the music and what the musician is trying to accomplish to truly understanding and like an album. I believe that is the case with the latest release from bassist/composer Omer Avital Suite of the East I had never heard of this Israeli jazz bassist, composer and bandleader before the other day when his album showed up on my “Just for You” list on MOG. Here’s some background on Avital: Avital was born in the small town of Giv’atayim to Moroccan and Yemeni parents.[2] At age 11, he began his formal training, studying Classical Guitar at the…

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Omer Avital – Suite of the East

So some times it takes me a couple of listens and also thinking about the music and what the musician is trying to accomplish to truly understanding and like an album. I believe that is the case with the latest release from bassist/composer Omer Avital Suite of the East I had never heard of this Israeli jazz bassist, composer and bandleader before the other day when his album showed up on my “Just for You” list on MOG. Here’s some background on Avital: Avital was born in the small town of Giv’atayim to Moroccan and Yemeni parents.[2] At age 11, he began his formal training, studying Classical Guitar at the…

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Exploring the Trumpet of Lee Morgan

  Lee Morgan – Trumpet  (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) -Philadelphia, PA   2015 Update:I discovered Lee Morgan’s music back in 2013. When I wrote the following post I discovered that I hand already heard his magnificent trumpet on many albums! Here is my original post…… So I received one reply to the question I posed this morning – who is your favorite jazz trumpeter and that one was Lee Morgan!! So not knowing that much about Mr Morgan than his name and that he played trumpet I set out to see what I could find out. I quickly…

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Morning Thoughts about Trumpet Players leads to Blue Mitchell and Who’s Your Favorite??

Last night while I was listening to some music, various instruments and my favorite musicians who play those instruments. It’s not the first time I thought about that and I’ve even thought of starting a series of posts along that topic. The first instrument that popped into my head wad the trumpet. While the trumpet is not my favorite instrument I guess it made its appearance first in my ADD brain because I had listened to Marquis Hill the other day. Over the last few months I’ve listened to several younger trumpet players like Jeremy Pelt, Terrence Blanchard and Roy…

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An Eclectic Morning Starts with a New Album from Herb Alpert – Steppin’ Out!

Talk about an eclectic musical morning I checked out two albums from seemingly opposite ends of the musical spectrum. First I reviewed the New Releases and saw that Herb Alpert has a new album out titled Steppin’ Out Steppin’ Out includes 16 songs, including a contemporary version of Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” a video for which has just been released. The music has an undeniable charm coupled with an energetic and intricate dance routine choreographed by the Emmy® award-winning team from So You Think You Can Dance, Napoleon & Tabitha D’umo, creating a magical pied piper-like scene. The video features musicians…

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