Il progetto di Enrico Pieranunzi nasce dall'idea, semplice e terribile allo stesso tempo, di restituire Bill Evans alla propria musica: inscrivere, cioè, le chiaroscurali composizioni del geniale pianista americano nel compasso della sua esistenza. E prende corpo e forma da un fortunatissimo libro, "Bill Evans. Ritratto d'artista con pianoforte", scritto da Pieranunzi qualche anno fa, che Stampa Alternativa ha da poco ripubblicato, in una nuova, splendida edizione corredata da un compact disc nel quale compaiono alcune delle selezioni che vi apprestate ad ascoltare. Eppure, ricordare Evans non è, e non può essere, impresa facile: troppe le variabili in gioco che rischiano di rinchiudere l'operazione in un imbuto interpretativo, strozzato da inattuabili paragoni e dall'impossibilità di misurarsi con un "testo" musicale che la storia ha già proiettato nel suo olimpo pubblico e privato.

It is a tremendous challenge to find a fresh approach to standards and frequently performed jazz compositions. But pianist Enrico Pieranunzi is up to the task in this collection of live trio performances from 2001 in Paris.
He is accompanied by two of Europe's finest musicians, bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer André Ceccarelli (who worked together in singer Dee Dee Bridgewater's band). The leader's take of "Body and Soul" includes a fluttering introduction and some dazzling Tatum-like runs. "I Hear a Rhapsody" is transformed into a daredevil post-bop anthem, while Van de Geyn introduces "I Fall in Love Too Easily" with a heartfelt solo.

What the pianist from Cádiz (Andalucia/Spain) is doing in terms of jazz, in the light of flamenco, may finally unite believers and non believers from either side. While taking the jazz language to the limits of those permitted by flamenco styles. . Leaving no room for doubt, Chano has placed his mainly jazz piano in the middle of flamenco art, while favoring the exaggerated "jondo" side, and has found his philosopher’s stone, he is drawing flamenco’s blood through jazz’s veins, adding an “olé” to even the blues and the more recent bebop.

Pine continued to cement himself tightly within the Marsalis cartel here, associating with the likes of alumni Kenny Kirkland (piano), Charnett Moffett (bass), and Jeff Watts (drums), with Delfeayo Marsalis again at the production console. This could almost pass as a Branford Marsalis acoustic album; Pine's virtuosity and fluency on tenor and soprano and admiration of John Coltrane run virtually parallel to Branford's acoustic pursuits (as things transpired later, Pine would also display the same renegade eclectic curiosity as the eldest Marsalis brother). In addition to his own tunes – including the screwball "A Raggamuffin and His Lance" – Pine explores Ornette Coleman's "Una Muy Bonita" with a touch of Coleman's terseness in his rhetoric, and does a dazzlingly swift turn on Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee." Ultimately, though, the music with these American musicians doesn't catch as much fire as Pine's albums with British sidemen did.

Recorded live in Rome before a polite audience - radio audiences always are - Current Conditions features what Enrico Pieranunzi has called "the trio of my heart", with Marc Johnson on bass and Joey Baron on drums.
It also marks something of a change of direction, ora at least a broadening of his concers away from the deep vein of Romantic melancholia which he's been mining. This was apparent from last year's Enrico Pieranunzi tribute Play Morricone on the same label, which showed a new-found exuberance. Most compositions are by Pieranunzi but there are also what I assume are two free improvvisations credited the three musicians, "Joey's Magic Tricks" and "Trio Reflections". Presented with these in a blidfold test, I don't think Pieranunzi would have been my first guess. Other pieces are more characteristic however.

Loved Ones is a jazz duo album by Ellis Marsalis and Branford Marsalis. Originally conceived as Ellis's solo record of songs about "unforgettable women," it became a duo project based on his realization that "Branford would sound really good on some of (the songs).". The album reached Number 5 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.

This record, Nuevo Mundo, is a classic testament to creativity of the highest order. In the music contained within it we have a volcanic confluence of modern American music, Peruvian folk motifs and the all-pervasive African roots of both musics. And what Alegria does is funnel the musical lava through his horn whereby he makes a statement that is raw and harking to an ancient future so new that although there are touchstones of the historic past there is also something elementally new, unheard before… and altogether breathtaking.

Consisting of some beautiful standards such as Smoke Gets into Your Eyes, Star Dust, Sunflower, plus some terrific new pieces created by Yamamoto, the music and sonic excellence has definitely surpassed his last album. Recorded in Tokyo in July of 2008. In DXD digital format, the details of the music are just awesome, the dynamics are scary and the musicality is so rich. This explains why extreme high definition is so important - once you've heard it, you cannot go back!

Toronto drummer and composer Larnell Lewis is set to release the follow-up to his Juno-nominated debut album In the Moment this month. The new release is called Relive the Moment, and it features reinterpretations of six of the original compositions from his first album with all-new live drum performances. It also includes one new track titled The Forgotten Ones, which is an emotional open solo that pays tribute to Lewis’s ancestral lineage.

Mike Stern does what he does very, very well. He has carved out a unique niche for himself among modern fusion guitarists, a vision that combines funk and R&B bass/drum grooves with skittish melodies often involving extended chord fragments. Stern's lead voice is one of the most distinctive in the genre as well, as his chorused and sometimes distorted tone is always prominently displayed.

There is a long tradition of "saxophone battles" in jazz with duos such as Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray or Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane performing together in a kind of sporting joust of abilities, a gentleman's contest for who is the better player. On the 2012 concert album Friendly Fire: Live at Smoke, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring join in this tradition with a swinging, passionate set of standards recorded live at the respected N.Y.C. venue. The album is actually a re-pairing of the duo, who first sparred on 2005's Battle: Live at Smoke. This time around they spar over such numbers as Hank Mobley's "Pat 'N' Chat," McCoy Tyner's "Inception," the standard "You've Changed," as well as Herring's own "Timothy," among others. Backing the saxophonists here are pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist John Webber, and drummer Carl Allen. This is a lively and exciting session of adventurous and old-school straight-ahead jazz.