Three new releases from Sexmob, Lily Guarneros Maase, and the Ralph Alessi Quartet offer wildly different but equally captivating musical experiences.
“Our sweetest songs are those that tell of the saddest thought,” said Percy Bysshe Shelley. In support of that sentiment, I offer exhibit one: The Price We Pay for Love, the new release from vocalist Julie Christensen, coproduced with bassist Terry Burns, who also contributes string arrangements and orchestral programming.
The urgent angularity of Argentine Emilio Teubal’s Futuro and the lyrical sweep of Eric Reed’s Black, Brown, and Blue offer highly divergent and equally satisfying takes on jazz piano.
With “Carnaval 2023: Homage” set for February 24 and 25 at the NHCC, Frank and Pilar Leto deliver their 18th production celebrating Carnaval with original music and dance. This year, they are paying tribute to the couples who deeply influenced them, such as their friends Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, and Frank is releasing a studio album, Homage, featuring songs that have graced their Carnaval productions over the years.
The new albums from John Bailey and from pianist/accordionist Ben Rosenblum could stand in as bookends of a successful jazz career, the former a well-seasoned product of a canny and accomplished veteran, and the latter an intriguing and exuberant creation from a precocious young artist.
