335 Results for "michael brooks"

Although he had been a major tenor saxophonist in the studios for nearly 20 years and was quite popular for his work with the Brecker Brothers, this MCA/Impulse set was Michael Brecker's first as a leader. Playing in a quintet with guitarist Pat Metheny, keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, bassist...

Tina Brooks was one of the lost legends of jazz. An excellent hard bop tenor-saxophonist, Brooks led four sessions for Blue Note during 1958-61 but only one was released during his lifetime. He also recorded on dates headed by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, altoist Jackie McLean, organist Jimmy...

Deluxe Edition rounds up 15 highlights from Lonnie Brooks' late-'70s and '80s recordings for Alligator. Like many Alligator artists, Brooks made records that were just a little too slick to demonstrate the depth of his talents and the grittiness of his playing, yet they still...

Although a four-LP Complete Blue Note Recordings box set on Mosaic purportedly includes every recording led by the obscure but talented tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, this 1994 CD has previously unreleased alternate takes of "True Blue" and "Good Old Soul" that Mosaic...

The Best of Michael Franks: A Backward Glance is a good 15-track collection that is equally divided between soft rock like "Popsicle Toes" and smooth jazz. Any curious listener looking for a one-stop introduction to Franks would be well served with this collection. Among the highlights...

This is the finest album from Michael Hedges, the man who is responsible for the greatest revolution in solo acoustic guitar playing since Leo Kottke. There are moments on Aerial Boundaries where it seems literally impossible that so much music is coming from one man and his guitar. Attacking...

There is such joy and power to the music heard on this CD that it is difficult to believe that Big Leon Brooks passed away before the record was released. This is a reissue of an LP from the B.O.B. label and it features Brooks at his best. One of the top lues harmonica players based in Chicago...

The U.K. collection The Very Best of Michael Bolton -- initially released in 2005, repackaged as a slide pack in 2007 -- is a good overview of the singer's peak years, containing all the big hits except "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" (only natural, considering the lawsuit surrounding...

Michael Brecker's second album as a leader is almost the equal of his first. Surprisingly, only one song ("Suspone") uses his working quintet of the period (which consists of guitarist Mike Stern, pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Jeff Andrews and drummer Adam Nussbaum) although...

This recording celebrates a friendship going back many years, dating to when Bob Brookmeyer was struggling with alcoholism in the mid-'70s and a young drummer, Michael Stephans, was trying to encourage him to return to performing. Fast forward to the year 2000 and all is well; Brookmeyer is...

It's a wonder an album like this took so very long to compile. If ever there were a singer/songwriter who evoked the true spirit of "love song" collections, it's pop jazzer Michael Franks. His Reprise run that covered nine albums from 1975 through 1995 is fraught with...

Michael Gibbs/Tanglewood '63 assembles arranger Michael Gibbs classic LPs for the Deram label. If Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band had actually existed -- a sprawling, Nehru-jacketed psychedelic orchestra come to life -- their music would have undoubtedly sounded exactly like...

Nice Work If You Can Get It: Songs by the Gershwins is Michael Feinstein's second all-Gershwin album. His first, Pure Gershwin, was his best record, probably because, as a former secretary to Ira Gershwin, he knew his way around the material. This time, Feinstein puts his extensive...

Those familiar with the respective musicians discographies might normally expect this affair to be a turbocharged, jazz/fusion set also featuring wacko, prog metal type characteristics. Such is not the case with this production, as these artists opt for the "unplugged" route. On the...

As the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) had done a year earlier, Super Session (1968) initially ushered in several new phases in ock & roll's concurrent transformation. In the space of mere months, the soundscape of ock shifted radically from two- and...

As the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) had done a year earlier, Super Session (1968) initially ushered in several new phases in ock & roll's concurrent transformation. In the space of mere months, the soundscape of ock shifted radically from two- and...

With his sly, subtle blend of jazz, Brazilian music, and folk-rock, Michael Franks may be a bit of an acquired taste, which is why Rhino's double-disc, 31-track The Michael Franks Anthology: The Art of Love may not be the best way to get acquainted with his music -- there's simply to...

Louisiana-born and Texas-toughened, Brooks (66), Hunter (68), and Walker (62) show what blues peers can do in what seem to be peaking years. There are three numbers where all three go full tilt together; the rest of the material varies in personnel, group and solo emphasis. The distinctive,...

Torched consists of recordings that guitarist Michael Hedges was working on at the time of his fatal automobile accident in December 1997. A collection of demos, this 1999 Windham Hill release has all the intimacy listeners might expect from such a recording without the haphazard performances,...

Breakfast in the Field introduced virtuoso guitarist Michael Hedges to the ew age and instrumental music community in stunning fashion. After Windham Hill founder Will Ackerman discovered the passionate yet ethereal musician, he immediately inked Hedges to a recording contract and joined him as...