Sean Wayland - Foodland (2016)

Label: Seed Music

Source: My Music Base

Genre: Jazz-Fusion/Soft-Rock

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★

Reviewers have said "Music Pours easily from Sean Wayland" : limelight CD reviews

"Superman plays for keeps" : Sydney Morning Herald CD review

His was a musical family, his father's love of jazz enabled Sean to hear the music of Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and others as a young child. His father's mother Muriel Cohen was a concert pianist and the first Australian to perform Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseax publicly. To this day Sean is still entranced by Debussy and Messiaen. Perhaps intimidated by living up to his family's talent, Sean chose to study the violin as a child. His interest in the piano increased and as a teenager he fooled around on the instrument. The fact that he was already an accomplished fiddler and had a busy schedule playing with school orchestras etc meant that he had little time to practise piano. In his final year of high school Sean met jazz pianist John Bostock. www.johnbostockmusic.com

At the time in Australia it was difficult to find out about jazz and John hipped Sean to the music of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and John Coltrane. After school Sean spent a couple of years at University studying Electrical Engineering, but the seed had been sown and he came to realise that his calling in life was to be a musician. Sean studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1992 and 1993.

He has had numerous piano teachers including Mike Nock, Roger Frampton, Judy Bailey, Paul Macnamara in Australia. In New York he has studied with Barry Harris, Kevin Hayes , Geoff Keezer, George Colligan, Sam Yahel and Bruce Barth. While at the Conservatorium he received the Jack Chrostowski piano award. In 1993 he was a finalist in the National Jazz Piano Awards at the Wangaratta Festival. In 1999 Sean recieved a grant from the Australia Council to study jazz piano in New York which helped him to relocate there.

Sean has worked for a number of internationally renowned musicians including : David Binney, Madeliene Peyroux, Ingrid Jensen, Cornell Dupree, Jesse Harris, Sheryl Bailey, Gerald Hayes, Dale Barlow, Justine Clark, Phil Slater , Jackie Orsascky, Steve Hunter, James Muller and Steve Mckenna...

1. Fried Chicken Modulation 05:53
2. Help Me 04:22
3. The Princess and the Pad 04:59
4. What is it 05:03
5. Foodland 05:13
6. Softly Softly 03:53
7. Thunderbirds 03:56
8. Salad 03:43
9. Im Back 03:58
10.Angourie 06:29
11.Solo piano Brooklyn Recording 06:38
12.Gerry Lopez 03:13
13.Onwards and Sideways 04:35
14.Scum Valley Demo 01:10

Sean Wayland (piano, organ, keayboards)
Nate Wood (drums)
Sam Minaie (bass)
Ben Eunson (guitar)
Kate Kaye - Es (vocals)
James Muller - (guitar solo)
Tim Miller (guitar Solo) 

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Rok Zalokar Trio - Vol. 2 (2016)

Label: Self Released

Source: Rok Zalokar

Genre: Modern Creative

GAB's Rating: ★★★★☆

Rok Zalokar is a pianist and composer from Slovenia, currently living in Rotterdam, leading his trio, playing in experimental pop group Kukushai, playing and singing folk songs with Dvojina(Dual) and much much more!

In 2011 he started his own trio to play  original compositions and they soon gained a national recognition on the alternative scene. The songs that the trio was evolving trough frequent live shows were captured at one point of their existence and the result was debut trio album Vol. 1.(ZARS, 2o13). Since 2008 he was exploring the fusions of rock, jazz & ethno music with a quartet Vsemogocni Mlin, part of their diverse musical universe was released on Arbitrarij ( ZARS, 2012).

His work did not go unnoticed, besides playing some festivals,  Rok was awarded with Jazzon, award for best Slovenian jazz composition and with his trio he won the Jazzon live competition.In the March 2016 he was awarded with prestigious Erasmus jazz prize.

" My musical journey started in the early childhood, I was just one of those kids who really took it seriously with exploring parents' LP and cassette collection. There were all kinds of music, one of them that I was also able to see live a lot, was folk music, so this got me into playing the accordion. The piano and the guitar followed since there was so much different music that I wanted to experience. All those different "musics" along the way were the source of influence for me, and jazz, or more openly - improvised music, offers me a good way to express, connect and evolve those influences. Most of my today's work is oriented or derived from that and playing mostly original music feels like the best choice!"

1. Heart wants to be good 08:30
2. The alternative realities of my father 08:47
3. I hope, soon 05:06
4. I'm... 00:38
5. ...from... 04:41
6. ...old school 04:19
7. Same river 06:53
8. Prelude for towel, sheet and plastic bag 02:03
9. Spartacus 05:57
10.Homebound 09:25
   

Jože Cesar - drums
Dejan Hudoklin - bass
Rok Zalokar - keys 

Andy Fusco - Whirlwind (2016)

Label:

Source: Proper Music

Genre: Post-bop

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

Veteran altoist Andy Fusco makes his belated SteepleChase leader debut here with this 2003 quintet recording, showcasing his intense and strong command of the instrument in the bebop tradition.

Growing up in New Jersey his interests were music and football. He first studied at the Syracuse University with football scholarship. After almost making it to NFL Fusco diverted his attention to music and landed the lead alto saxophone post at the Buddy Rich Big Band (1978-1983). He has performed and recorded with Gerry Mulligan, Mel Lewis and Walt Weiskopf, to mention a few. Fusco is also a dedicated educator currently a member of the Music Faculty of Kean University, New Jersey.

 "Andy Fusco is a player's player, a steely-edged bopper whose wide swaths suggest Bird as well as Trane." - Chuck Berg, JazzTimes

"We can be grateful for being exposed to yet another substantial jazz man who is on the rise and will hopefully be bringing us much more great music in the coming years." - Andrew Hovan, AllaboutJazz 

01. Acceptance
02. Count's The Thing
03. Waltz For Judy
04. Django
05. The Touch Of Your Lips
06. Whirlwind
07. How About Me
08. In Dominic's Time

ANDY FUSCO, alto sax
JOHN MOSCA, trombone
JOEL WEISKOPF, piano
DENNIS IRWIN, bass
BILLY DRUMMOND, drums

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Joel Weiskopf - Where Angels Fear To Tread (2016)

Label: 

Source: Proper Music

Genre: Hard-bop

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

Award-winning pianist/composer Joel Weiskopf has long been established in the straightahead jazz scene in the USA and abroad. While he has released a number of leader albums, this is his debut leader outing on SteepleChase.

On this album Weiskopf brings out his time-tested repertoire (all originals plus Bill Evans' "Time Remembered") for a quintet date with his Syracuse compatriots, trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and saxophonist Andy Fusco, plus drumming sensation Jaimeo Brown.

"Joel Weiskopf is a serious jazz pianist with an individualistic style that is an amalgam of a great number of influences from American jazz to Brazilian samba." - C. Andrew Hovan 

01. Patience
02. Breakthrough
03. Came to Believe
04. Love Song
05. Elegy for D Sharpe
06. Lonely Evening
07. Where Angels Fear to Tread
08. Time Remembered
09. Free Fall

Joel Weiskopf (piano)

Joe Magnarelli (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Andy Fusco (alto and soprano saxophone)

Doug Weiss (bass)

Jaimeo Brown (drums) 

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Harold Danko - Lost In The Breeze (2016)

Label:

Source: Jazz Messengers

Genre: Piano Trio

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

 Harold Danko is a perfect example of a veteran musician who might not be recognized by the average jazz listener but who is composing interesting originals and finding new approaches to others' songs. An underrated but consistently creative modern jazz pianist, Danko has been an asset to many sessions through the years. From the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Lee Konitz, or as the pianist of choice for Chet Baker.

Many of his CDs have been for the Danish label Steeplechase and fans will discover on our website easy access to the wealth of great music that Danko has recorded for the label since the mid-'90s, which features fresh interpretations of familiar songs along with deserving but lesser-known works. This trio session with Jay Anderson on bass, who steps in replacing Michael Formanek – who is currently involved in his on projects like the fascinating Ensemble Kolossus  - and Jeff Hirsfield on drums perform eight original compositions plus two Duke Jordan tunes, "Paula" and "If I Did - Would You?", which Duke performed on his classic 1974 SteepleChase album 'Flight to Denmark'. This is not a typical piano-bass-drums session, but one where all three players are actively engaged in interplay, rather than just a "follow the leader" date.

01. Fall Splits
02. Homing Instinct
03. Big Squeeze
04. Lost in the Breeeze
05. Salt ‘n’ Sugar
06. Stumble Crush
07. Fish Road
08. Paula
09. If I Did - Would You?
10. Singularity

HAROLD DANKO, piano
JAY ANDERSON, bass
JEFF HIRSFIELD. drums

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