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Continue reading →: Tarbaby: You Think This AmericaGIANT STEP ARTS 11 (RECORDED AUGUST 2022) Pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits demonstrate their circus skills on You Think This America. The trio, known as Tarbaby, expertly balances,juggles and contorts melodies, harmonies and rhythms through a set that includes originals and compositions from jazz legends…
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Continue reading →: Fernando Huergo Big Band: RelentlessWHALING CITY SOUND 142. (RECORDED NOVEMBER 2023) The promotional material for Fernando Huergo’s new release notes “Genre: Latin Jazz.” Although bassist, bandleader and composer Huergo is a native of Argentina and some of the tunes are in Spanish, this is a big band record, and a damn good one at…
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Continue reading →: Tony Moreno: Ballads, Volume 1SUNNYSIDE RECORDS 1720 (RELEASED MAY 2024) Some drummers might shy away from recording a whole CD of ballads fearing that the slow tempos and melancholy melodies would never give them a chance to shine. Not the case on Tony Moreno’s Ballads, Volume 1. The opening track, Matt Dennis’ “Violets for Your…
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Continue reading →: Randy Weinstein: HarmonimonkRANDOM CHANCE RECORDS 50 (NO RECORDING DATE) I host a weekly radio show called Straight, No Chaser on KFMG-FM in Des Moines, Iowa. I open each show with a different version of that Thelonius Monk classic (and there are hundreds of them). Although Randy Weinstein’s version from his recent Harmonimonkrelease made it…
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Continue reading →: Frank London: Spirit Stronger Than BloodESP-DISK (RECORDED JULY 2023) Trumpeter Frank London steps out from the shadows of the Klezmatics and radical Jewish music to deliver Spirit Stronger Than Blood, a release inspired by some of his favorite jazz recordings. The opening track, “Let There Be Peace” starts with a prayer-like melody reminiscent of Alice…
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Continue reading →: CeCe Gable: Love on the TyrrhenianCECE GABLE MUSIC 1002 (RECORDED IN 2023) On her latest release, Love on the Tyrrhenian, vocalist CeCe Gable performs Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s “Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home.” From the varied set list on this, her sixth release to date, any tune CeCe takes on is…
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Continue reading →: Leigh Pilzer: Beatin’ the OddsSTRANGE WOMAN RECORDS (RECORDED AUGUST & OCTOBER 2023) Beatin’ the Odds is baritone saxophonist and composer/arranger Leigh Pilzer’s musical celebration of surviving cancer and living through COVID. What impresses me most about this session is Pilzer’s compositions, ranging from the opening Basie-like swinger “SKCC” to the slapstick-inspired “Waterkress.” Equally impressive is the way…
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Continue reading →: Paul Tobey: It’s TimeJAZZMENTL RECORDS (RECORDED JANUARY 2024) Canadian pianist Paul Tobey captured the attention of critics in the early 2000s with his Street Culture release on the Arkadia label. That was to be the first of several releases he would do for the label, but severe tendonitis injuries cut his career short. Twenty years later…
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Continue reading →: Isrea Butler: Congo LamentVEGAS RECORDS 1026. (RECORDED OCTOBER 2023) Trombonists Bennie Green and Isrea Bulter have a few things in common. In 1961, Green sat in the Count Basie trombone section for the Basie Rides Again recording session. Today trombonist Isrea Butler is a regular member of the Basie band. Late in his career, Green…
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Continue reading →: Jason Robinson: Ancestral Numbers 1PLAYSCAPE 82323 (RECORDED AUGUST 2023) Following in the tradition of Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd, Anthony Braxton and George Lewis, Charles Lloyd and George Bohanon and Ike Quebec and Bennie Green, Jason Robinson and Micheal Dessen explore the sonic possibilities of tenor and trombone on Ancestral Numbers 1. With sympathetic and imaginative support from…
Hello,
Welcome to Papatamus Redux
I started reading Cadence in the early 1980s. Since that time, I have come to respect editor and jazz critic Robert Rusch for his intelligent, succinct and unbiased reviews. Over the past twenty years, it has been my pleasure to get to know Robert and his family, making frequent trips from our home in Iowa to New York’s North Country. Several years ago, I was honored to be asked to help edit Robert’s Papatamus column.
I was equally honored to be asked by his family to keep Robert’s legacy of intelligent, succinct and unbiased jazz reviews alive with Papatamus Redux. You can view older editions of Papatamus at papatamus.com.
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