Al Green
Lay It Down
(Blue Note)
The power and beauty of Al Green’s early 1970s records can’t be denied. Songs like “Let’s Stay Together” and “Tired Of Being Alone,” to name but two, stand immortal, due as much to the taut arrangements and backing musicians as to Green’s voice. So it’s no [...]

Larry Vuckovich Trio
High Wall: Real Life Film Noir
(Tetrachord)
Pianist Larry Vuckovich follows up his 2006 collection of film noir-inspired music (Street Scene) with another helping of songs meant to call up the enduring cinematic form. However, Vuckovich’s sunny musical disposition seems at odds with the dark portents and generally cynical view [...]

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis
Two Men with the Blues
(Blue Note)
Willie Nelson has recorded with Herb Ellis, Tin Hat Trio, and Dr. John, so it follows that the intrepid country legend would agree to team with Wynton Marsalis. More surprising is that Marsalis, the buttoned-down trumpeter and apparent chief of jazz [...]

David Sanborn
Here & Gone
(Decca)
As the progenitor of the smooth-jazz alto saxophone, 63-year-old David Sanborn has repeatedly denied being a “jazz saxophonist.” The man knows music history and seems too humble to rank himself with Charlie Parker or John Coltrane. After all, it was Stevie Wonder’s expressive harmonica that provided the [...]

Hugh Masekela
Live At The Market Theatre
(Four Quarters)
Hugh Masekela is enough of a legend that he gets taken for granted. Or maybe he’s just enough of a legend that what he’s actually playing, on an album like this one, doesn’t get heard over the din of what he played years ago, [...]

Maynard Ferguson
The One and Only Maynard Ferguson
(Maynard Ferguson Trust)
There truly was only one Maynard Ferguson. While critics sometimes panned his bravura style, fans – and fellow trumpeters – stood in awe of his audacious chops. The One and Only is as good a going-away present as he could have left [...]