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It’s difficult to believe that after 26 years of playing in name jazz ensembles — most notably Dizzy Gillespie’s from 1980-1990 — that Codes is Ignacio Berroa’s debut album as a leader. Berroa is one of the most in-demand session and concert drummers in jazz, having played with everyone…

Richard Elliot chose to go with the production expertise of Steve Dubin on his Chill Factor, but the silky, simmering soul influence of Paul Brown — who produced the veteran saxman’s previous hit, Jumpin’ Off — has stuck. Where Elliot once routinely went for the jugular and blistering approach…

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Some might dub Richard Elliot the James Brown of contemporary jazz for the way his tenacious tenor exploded around some of the freshest R&B tinged hooks in the genre. After more than a handful of albums, the moniker still applies, though it is slightly maddening that he seems to…

After taking the jazz world by storm with his exciting debut CD on Blue Note in 1991, Gonzalo Rubalcaba continued to delight his fans throughout the decade with one great recording after another. “Yolanda Anas,” “Joan,” and “Joao” — each one a tribute to one of his children —…

Although one might assume that having the title of Diz means that this set would be a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie, only four of the nine selections were actually associated with the great trumpeter; the other numbers range from Bird and Bud Powell to Benny Golson and Charles Mingus…

The virtuosic Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s first recording to be issued in the U.S. is still one of his best. With strong accompaniment from bassist Charlie Haden (one of his early champions) and drummer Jack DeJohnette, Rubalcaba is in frequently exciting form throughout these performances. Highlights include an outstanding…

One of the most exciting major-label debuts during the 1990s was Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s Discovery, a trio date at the 1990 Montreux Jazz Festival with bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian. Haden had discovered the young pianist during an appearance in Cuba several years earlier and was surprised at…

Recorded in Arizona with Calexico’s Joey Burns producing, Amos Lee’s fourth studio album, 2011’s Mission Bell, finds the singer/songwriter in a thoughtful mood and once again wrapping his soulful folk numbers in country, blues, and soft rock. A ruminative, lazy summer day of an album, Mission Bell is not…