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Young Rell \u2013 Young Rell<\/i><\/b>\nThe team at the Little Village foundation have long distinguished themselves by their curated approach to selecting artists. That trend continues unbroken with this, the self-titled full-length debut from Harrell \u201cYoung Rell\u201d Davenport. Still shy of his 20th<\/sup> birthday, the Mississippi native leads a crack ensemble (featuring Kid Anderson, Jim Pugh, June Core and other reliably first-rate players) through a bouncy set that suggests the work of a seasoned bluesman three times his age. Davenport can play like mad, but he never overplays, focusing instead on crafting fully-formed tunes and then layering his excellent fretwork atop them. Rock-solid blues here.<\/p>\n
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Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band \u2013 Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall<\/i><\/b>
\nArsenio Rodriguez was a major figure in Cuban music and a master of the tres<\/i> (a sort of mandolin-meets-guitar instrument). On Bobby Sanabria\u2019s latest with his Multiverse Big Band, he dives into the Rodriguez songbook for eight songs (plus one other). The results are steeped in that brassy, polyrhythmic and irresistible vibe unique to Cuban music. The horns squawk with abandon. The massed lead vocals are in tight formation yet display a fun, loose feel. Non-Spanish speakers won\u2019t understand a word of those vocals, but that shouldn’t diminish enjoyment; the emotions \u2013 mostly jubilant and carefree \u2013 come through loud and proud.<\/p>\n
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Doug MacDonald \u2013 Tribute to South Central<\/i><\/b>
\nTasty jazz guitar in spirited interplay with soulful electric piano is at the center of the arrangement on this instro jazz set. The title refers (I understand) to the live jazz scene of the 1940s in Los Angeles. MacDonald\u2019s musical pedigree is connected to that scene by dint of his past work with Ernie Andrews, Mack McDuff and others. Five of the tracks are guitarist MacDonald originals; the others include a spirited take on Wes Montgomery\u2019s \u201cMr. Walker,\u201d Jobim\u2019s \u201cCaptain Bacardi\u201d and Ellington\u2019s \u201cSelf Portrait of the Bean.\u201d It\u2019s sometimes a bit close to Weather Channel™ jazz, but still enjoyable.<\/p>\n
Here are four more quick reviews. Solid stuff all. Young Rell \u2013 Young Rell The team at the Little Village foundation have long distinguished themselves by their curated approach to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42,49,65],"tags":[5951,3825,4416,5950],"class_list":["post-31547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-bobby-sanabria","tag-doug-macdonald","tag-smithsonian-jazz-masterworks-orchesatra","tag-young-rell","cat-9-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31547"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32543,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547\/revisions\/32543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ellington_masterworks.jpg\")
Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra \u2013 Ellington Masterworks<\/i><\/b>
\nEdward \u201cDuke\u201d Ellington was among the most important and prolific composers of the 20th<\/sup> century. The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra is the orchestra-in-residence at Washington D.C.’s National Museum of American History. So it stands to reason that the SJMO wold tackle Ellington\u2019s works. But this set \u2013recorded live in 2024 in Pittsburgh \u2013 focuses on lesser-known material. Presented in state-of-the-art fidelity, the 15-person orchestra led by conductor Charlie Young presents a varied set that swings hard (\u201cTattooed Bride\u201d), engages in sublime, near-classical grandeur (\u201cThe Flaming Sword\u201d), serves up sultry, contemplative works (\u201cRace\u201d) and much more. Enjoyable from start to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"