Mitch Dalton: Out Of The Shadows
You may not know him but you’ve more than likely heard his music somewhere. Dalton is a veteran, in-demand British session guitarist who has played on countless recordings, including those of Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, Abdullah Ibrahim, Melody Gardot and Robbie Williams. He’s been on film soundtracks such as Chicago and the Bond movies and played for numerous television shows and commercials. He made a few albums of his own in the 80s but then withdrew from the public eye – until now, when he’s decided to step out of the shadows.
On his new release, Dalton is accompanied by the equally in-demand rhythm section of David Arch (piano with Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney, Diana Ross and Greg Lake), Steve Pearce (bass with Johnny Cash, Al Jarreau, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, Madonna and Van Morrison) and Tim Goodyer (drums with Andrea Bocelli, Tony Hadley, Marcella Detroit and Symphonic Queen amongst others). Special guests include vocalist Jazz Morley, saxophonist Sam Mayne and Germany’s SWR Big Band.
The album’s 12 tracks comprise clever rearrangements of numbers by Russell Stone, Larry Carlton, Tito Puente & Consuelo Velazquez, Mongo Santamaria, Lee Ritenour, Sharpe & Odell, Chick Corea, Jacques Revaux and Eric Idle alongside four originals by Dalton. It’s an intriguing and eclectic mix of jazz, jazz fusion, blues, bebop, Latin jazz and the Great American Songbook, all delivered by artists who are top of the class.
Discography
First Thoughts Are Best; Bird Meets Cat; We Do It; I Got Room 335; Besame Mash Up; Yeh Yeh; Rio Funk/Night Birds; Take The YouTube; Freberg’s Folly; I Took The Blows; No Flippin’!; Li’l Brian (62.28)
Dalton (g); David Arch (p, kyb); Steve Pearce (b); Tim Goodyer (d). Guests: Sam Mayne (as, ts, f); Jazz Morley (v); Bill Sharpe (p); Edwin Bonilla (pc); SWR Big Band. Red Kite Studio, Llwandra, 2025.
Regius CD001
Martin Wind: Stars
German bassist Martin Wind has lived in New York for 30 years. He’s composed and arranged music for films and theatre and released more than 20 albums as band leader or co-leader. As well as fronting his own bands, he has played bass in those led by the late Ken Peplowski and Matt Wilson, and in the trios of Ted Rosenthal, Bill Mays, Dena DeRose, Ann Hampton Callaway and Bill Cunliffe.
On his new album, Wind is joined by first-rate musicians – Anat Cohen on clarinet, Kenny Barron piano and Matt Wilson drums. The repertoire is an unusual mix of cheerfulness, contentment and melancholia, sometimes all within the same piece. Three of the tunes are Wind originals: a tribute to saxophonist James Moody entitled Moody, the reflective Standing At The Window Waving Goodbye, and the wistful Life.
The other six comprise great arrangements of Duke Ellington’s Black Butterfly and The Feeling Of Jazz along with Passing Thoughts, by Aaron Bell (who played bass with Ellington), Bud Powell’s Wail, Pra Dizer Adeus by Brazilian guitarist and composer Edu Lobo and a splendid retelling of Stars Fell On Alabama. The digital version of the album has two bonus tracks – the surprisingly perky Blues With Two Naturals and the part-wistful, part-jolly Marc’s Moments. The interplay between all four artists is superb and the music they make is congenial, relaxing and melodic, all making for an excellent album.
To add further background, Wind has recorded and/or performed with a raft of other artists including Clark Terry, Hank Jones, Slide Hampton, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Michael & Randy Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Bucky Pizzarelli, Monty Alexander, Buddy DeFranco, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern and John Scofield. Plus, he’s played bass with the Radio Big Bands of Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin, the Metropole Orchestra and Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and for 11 years he’s been with the Kennedy Centre Gala Orchestra performing with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan and others.
Discography
Passing Thoughts; Life; Black Butterfly; Moody; Wail; The Feeling Of Jazz; Pra Dizer Adeus; Standing At The Window Waving Goodbye; Stars Fell On Alabama (41.18)
Wind (b); Anat Cohen (cl); Kenny Barron (p); Matt Wilson (d). New York City, 5 & 6 February 2025.
Newvelle Records
Vance Thompson: Lost And Found
As music director and arranger of Tennessee’s highly regarded Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, Vance Thompson has performed internationally and worked with artists such as Hank Jones, Monty Alexander, Eric Reed, Carmen Bradford and Michael Dease amongst others. But in 2022 he had to stop playing trumpet owing to the disabling effects of embouchure dystonia. The Grammy-nominated trumpeter and professor of jazz trumpet had been battling the disorder since 2017. All seemed lost but Thompson found a pathway back into playing music by taking up the vibraphone. Lost And Found, his first album as leader in over 10 years, is the happy outcome.
Six of its nine numbers are elegantly penned Thompson originals. The other three are creative renditions of Chick Corea’s Bud Powell, Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow and Donald Brown’s My Three Sons, the latter a hitherto unrecorded piece by the former Jazz Messenger. Thompson is accompanied on the album by his accomplished longstanding henchmen Taber Gable (piano with Marcus Strickland, Braxton Cook), Steve Kovalcheck (guitar with Jeff Hamilton), Tommy Sauter (bass with Jason Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut) and Marcus Finnie (drums with Kurt Elling, Kirk Whalum). This band really gels – it’s breezy, modern jazz with foot-tapping melodies and the occasional hint of funk and fusion along the way.
Discography
Tell It Like It Is; The Thread Of All Sorrows; Mixed Feelings; Sleight Of Hand; Lost And Found; Bud Powell; The Ladies At Rose Cottage; My Three Sons; Over The Rainbow (56.22)
Thompson (vib); Taber Gable (p); Steve Kovalcheck (g); Tommy Sauter (b); Marcus Finnie (d). Nashville, 13 & 14 August 2024.
Moondo Records MDO 2215
