New Jazz Releases – 06/16/2025
By Russell Perry
Brandee Younger
Two compelling debuts this week – drummer John Sturino with a little big band and 27-year old singer Tyreek McDole. Israel’s Alon Farber & Hagiga and Chicago’s Entre Amigos follow up with strong releases. Brandee Younger’s latest is simple, calm and beautiful and Denny Zeitlin renews our interest in composer Richard Rogers with a solo piano set.
Jasper Høiby & Fellow Creatures – We Must Flight(Edition Records, release 06/18/2025). Alex Hitchcock – saxophone, Keija Ringa Karahona – flute, Xavi Torres – piano, Saied Silbak – oud, Jasper Høiby – bass, Luca Caruso – drums.
Danish bassist Jasper Høiby has assembled an international sextet from Denmark, UK, Palestine, Latvia and Spain to interpret a mix of new compositions and several from his celebrated tenure with the piano trio Phronesis (eight discs between 2005 – 2018). Since the suspension of Phronesis, Høiby has recorded with a new piano trio 3Elements (Like Water, previewed 04/08/2024), a saxophone trio Planet B and the larger ensemble Fellow Creatures. With the sextet, he has more melody instruments at his disposal and the music is richer for it.
Alon Farber & Hagiga – Dreams I Dream(Origin Records, release 06/16/2025). Alon Farber – soprano saxophone / alto saxophone / tenor saxophone, Katia Toobool – piano, Assaf Hakimi – acoustic bass, Yonatan Rosen – drums.
Israeli saxophonist Alon Farber’s last time out (The Magician – Live in Jerusalem, previewed 02/19/2024) was a septet with four in the front line. He is back with a streamlined saxophone quartet (although he overdubs more saxophones when the spirit moves him.) As on the previous outing, pianist Katia Toobool contributes mightily to the proceedings including composing one of the strongest tunes, An Old Friend. Recommended.
Review: Paris Move, AllAboutJazz
Entre Amigos – Magpie (Entre Amigos Records, release 06/13/2025). Roy McGrath – tenor saxophone / soprano saxophone, Hana Fujisaki – piano, Kitt Lyles – bass, Gustavo Cortiñas – drums.
All-star Chicago quartet Entre Amigos is back to follow up their terrific debut (Entre Amigos, previewed 11/18/2024) with a new straight-ahead effort. The new disc celebrates the joyful compositions of Chicago composer Joe Clark. This is a distinguished quartet playing at the top of their game. Highly recommended.
Review: Paris Move
Brandee Younger – Gadabout Season (Impulse Records, release 06/13/2025). Brandee Younger – harp, Rashaan Carter – bass, Allan Mednard – drums, with Shabaka – flute / clarinet, Joel Ross – vibraphone, Makaya McCraven – percussion, Niia – vocals, Courtney Bryan – piano, Josh Johnson – saxophone.
For her latest, harpist Brandee younger strips back the ensemble to a harp – bass – drums trio for half of the disc and brings in selected guests (Shabaka, Joel Ross, Josh Johnson, Makaya McRaven) for the balance. The music tends to be spare and slowly paced. As Filipe Freitas wrote, “The spacious, spiritual vibe is a constant throughout, giving Younger’s music a peaceful, uplifting, and luminous aura.” I loved the simplicity of this release. Did I mention that this was recorded on Alice Coltrane’s harp? Highly recommended.
Review: Jazz Trail, New York Times, Glide Magazine
Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap – Elemental (Mack Avenue, release 06/13/2025). Bill Charlap – piano, Dee Dee Bridgewater – vocals.
In the past decade, DeeDee Bridgewater has grown into her role as senior eminence in the jazz vocal world and in so doing her delivery has gotten more and more stylized and idiosyncratic (groans, growls, scats, odd voices). She is approaching the extremes of Fats Waller for whom the song was less and less important and the delivery was everything. In this duo release, pianist Bill Charlap maintains his cool, providing a elegant bed for Bridgewater.
Review: The Urban Music Scene
Marcello Carelli – First Impression (Cellar Music, release 06/13/2025). Bob Mintzer – tenor saxophone, Russell Ferrante – piano, Mike Gurrola – bass, Marcello Carelli – drums.
For his sophomore recording, LA-based drummer Marcello Carelli enlists the assistance of Yellow Jackets’ Bob Mintzer on tenor and Russell Ferrante on keys. Rounding out the quartet is emerging bassist Mike Gurrola (Charles Ruggiero, Veronica Thomas, Doug MacDonald.)
Denny Zeitlin – Falling In Love With Love: Exploring Richard Rodgers (Sunnyside Records, release 06/06/2025). Denny Zeitlin – piano.
Pianist Denny Zeitlion has released a solo piano set of eleven Richard Rodgers compositions, eight from the fruitful 24-year partnership with Lorenz Hart and three from his subsequent 17-year stretch with Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers compositions are among the most covered songs in the Great American Songbook. Zeitlin, an inventive and clever pianist, mixes up the highly familiar (I Didn’t Know What Time It Was, Have You Met Miss Jones) with the rarely covered (He Was Too Good To Me, Happy Talk). Highly Recommended.
Review: AllAboutJazz, Something Else!, Jazz Wax
John Sturino – Blow Globe ( Outside In Music, release 06/06/2025). Summer Camargo – flugelhorn / trumpet, Kazunori Tanaka – French horn, Jason Perales – trombone, Jonathan Beshay – flute / alto flute, Nathan Reising – alto saxophone, Abdias Armenteros – tenor saxophone, Garrett Wingfield – bass clarinet / baritone saxophone, Chris McCarthy – piano, Max Light – electric guitar, Roy Ben-Bashat – acoustic guitar, Raul Reyes – double bass, John Sturino – drums.
For his debut as a leader, drummer John Sturino introduces a twelve-piece ensemble – a “little” big band that packs a wallop through cleverly arranged pieces and first-rate playing. Recommended.
Review: Paris Move
Monkey House – Crashbox (ALMA Records, release 06/06/2025). William Sperandei – trumpet, William Carn – trombone, Verne Dorge – alto saxophone, John Johnson – tenor saxophone, Don Breithaupt – piano, Phodes / Wurlitzer / organ / synthesizer / vocals, Justin Abedin – guitar, Pat Kilbride – bass, Mark Kelso – drums, Selena Evangeline – background vocals with Tony Carlucci – trumpet, Marc Johnson – vocals, Peter Cardinali – bass, Drew Jurecka – violin / viola , Lydia Muchinsky – cello.
The seventh release by Canadian band Monkey House is a jazzy pop affair in the Steely Dan mode.
Review: AllMusic
Tyreek McDole – Open Up Your Senses (Artwork Records, release 06/06/2025). Dylan Band – tenor saxophone / soprano saxophone, Caelan Cardello – piano / Fender Rhodes, Rodney Whitaker – bass, Justin Faulkner – drums, Tyreek McDole – vocals with Kenny Barron – piano, Sullivan Fortner – Hammond B3 organ / Fender Rhodes, Logan Butler – guitar, Emmanuel Michael – guitar, Michael Cruse – trumpet, Tomoki Sanders – tenor saxophone / percussion, Weedie Braimah – Djembe.
It is hard to believe that this richly nuanced voice is that of 27-year old Tyreek McDole. His resonant baritone brings to mind Johnny Hartman at his most romantic or Andy Bey at his most melancholy. Vocal covers of Pharoah Sanders’s The Creator Has A Masterplan are hard to come by and McDole takes it up a notch by putting the tenor into the hands of Pharoah’s son Tomoki Sanders. A talent to listen for. Recommended.
Review: Jazz Views, Making a Scene, Paris Move
Diva Jazz Orchestra – A Celebration of Maurice Hines, Tappin’ Through Life (Self Produced, release 05/29/2025). Jami Dauber – trumpet, Liesl Whitaker – trumpet, Jennifer Krupa – trombone, Lauren Sevian – baritone saxophone, Laura Dreyer – tenor saxophone, Leigh Pilzer – alto saxophone, Jackie Warren – piano, Amy Shook – bass, Sherrie Maricle – drums with Clint Holmes – vocals, Ann Hampton Callaway – vocals, John Manzari – tap dancer / vocals, Leo Manzari – tap dancer and vocals.
From 2013, the late tap dancer Maurice Hines (1943 – 2023) starred in the autobiographical review Tappin’ Through Life and his music director was drummer Sherrie Maricle, also musical director for the Diva Jazz Orchestra since its founding in 1993. The latest release is a posthumous cast album. While the Orchestra is full of fine players who together make driving music, I prefer their previous releases over this soundtrack.
Joe Kennedy with The David Hughes Quartet – Time Travel (Chicken Coup Records, release 05/2025). Tom Cunningham – trumpet / flugelhorn, David Hughes – tenor saxophone / alto saxophone / baritone saxophone / flute, Joe Kennedy – piano / organ, Scott Graham – double bass, Robert Kedding – drums.
LA-based keyboardist Joe Kennedy fronts a brass – reeds – keys – bass – drums quintet on a hard bop program of seven originals plus two covers.
Kristen K Bromley – Wes 101 (Self Produced, release 04/18/2025). Kristen K Bromley – guitar, Melanie Shore – organ, David Ian Baker – bass, and Matt Coleman – drums.
Utah-based guitarist Kristen Bromley and her organ – guitar quartet swings through a set of seven originals dedicated to Wes Montgomery.
Review: Jazz Weekly
We have a dozen or more 90 degree days coming up, so stay cool while you enjoy these new jazz releases.
Russell Perry
Jazz at 100 Now!
If your music isn’t changing your life, you’ve simply picked the wrong songs. – Ted Gioia
