Russ Lorenson "In the Holiday Spirit"

"In the Holiday Spirit", San Francisco crooner Russ Lorenson's 2015 Christmas album, is aptly named, as listening to the 15 tracks will certainly get you in the spirit of the season. From the opening notes of the rousing "Shake Hands with Santa Claus" through the closer "It's Christmas Time All Over The World" (with the San Francisco Boys Chorus), Mr. Lorenson's 2nd Christmas album, following the 2006 release "What I Want For Christmas", will alternately get your toes tapping with up-tempo numbers and then let you relax and enjoy the more adagio arrangements.

"Shake Hands with Santa Claus" is a terrific start to the album - upbeat, energetic, and a perfect introduction to Mr. Lorenson's style and his band, the Kelly Park Big Band.  "Holiday for Two" continues the jazzy, finger-snappin' beat and features outstanding work on sax and trumpet.  "Let's Share Christmas", the first of two songs by jazz great John Pizzarelli, slows down the tempo for a touching love song for the holiday season.  "You're All I Want For Christmas" brings the groovin' swing back.

One of my favorites on the album is "Mrs. Claus", an ode to ol' Santa's better half, featuring Marcel Marchetti on flugelhorn.  It's slow and bluesy, loving and tender, and beautifully done,  Extra eggnog for the songwriters Nancy Schimmel and Candace Forrest.

For me, one of the best features of "In the Holiday Spirit" is the selection of songs.  Too-often recorded standards like "Silver Bells" and "Winter Wonderland" are nowhere to be found.  The closest to the top tier Christmas canon are "The Christmas Blues", "Kissin' by the Mistletoe", and Mr. Lorenson's fine interpretation of "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth".  Russ's rendition of "Kissin' by the Mistletoe" is one that just makes you smile :-)  The broad selection of songs makes this a tremendously enjoyable Christmas album.

The 15 songs on "In the Holiday Spirit" are a rapid-fire mix of up-beat swinging Christmas tunes and slower crooner ballads that will keep you hopping from beginning to end.  It would be a perfect soundtrack to trimming your tree on a cold December night, accompanied by a nice clove and cinnamon spiced hot toddy :-)

I have to give a Merry and Bright shout-out to the Kelly Park Big Band:  Kelly Park, Daniel Fabricant, Kent Bryson, Terrence Brewer, Tony Malfatti, Rich Armstrong, Marcel Marchetti, and Rene Jenkins.  The band, plus a long roster of backup vocalists, really make this a special album to kick off the holiday season.

"In the Holiday Spirit" will be on sale November 6th.

Russ Lorenson website
Amazon link
iTunes link

Jillaine Returns with Jazzy Duets for Christmas

Our favorite Christmas jazz singer, Jillaine, has released a new album of Christmas songs for 2015.  This time around, Jillaine is joined by vocalist and pianist Jacob for "Jazzy Duets for Christmas", a collection of seven seasonal tunes sure to kick-start your holiday spirit!

Jillaine has a strong, beautiful voice. which she has used to full potential in her three previous Christmas albums, especially in the up-tempo original arrangements of well-known Christmas songs.  On "Jazzy Duets", her vocals are as awesome as ever, with strengths in dynamics and phrasing and her love of Christmas music shining through.  Duet partner Jacob, in addition to his excellent piano work, joins Jillaine with complementary vocals that blend and smooth.  He's the cream in the coffee, the ala mode with the cherry pie, making already great songs even better.

The album kicks off with a nice, upbeat "Marshmallow World", followed by "Winter Wonderland", which for me is the highlight of the record.  "Winter Wonderland" highlights a creative arrangement, features some of Jacob's best vocal accompaniment, and wows when Jillaine kicks up the final refrain.  Standards "Silver Bells" and "Winter Weather", following the trio of "Give Me Your Heart for Christmas", "Warm December" and "Christmas Dreaming", round out the album.

I need to give a shout-out to Jillaine's brother Erik, who has been a major contributor on all of Jillaine's Christmas albums, including "Jazzy Duets", either as a musician or engineer/general studio dude. Erik's talents have helped produce Jillaine's four exceptional Christmas records.

I'm a big fan of Jillaine, not only her Christmas music but her entire body of work, most notably her collection of patriotic songs "As American as Jazz".  She is a hard-working, talented musician who is also in law school studying for her law degree.  In her spare time she guest DJs at her hometown radio station in Dubuque, IA , KLYV Y105, and she writes a food blog!  (Jazzy Morsels - yum). Foremost, though, she is an amazing musician who has chosen to gift us with now four albums of wonderful Christmas music. I hope there is still more to come.

"Jazzy Duets for Christmas" is available for digital download at Jillaine's website, www.jillaine.com, or at the usual outlets (see below).

• iTunes
• Apple Music
• Spotify
• Rhapsody
• Amazon
• Groove
• SoundCloud
• ReverbNation

Thisbe Vos: A Jazzy Christmas

In late 2014 jazz singer Thisbe Vos recorded her first Christmas album, "A Jazzy Christmas", through crowd-funding, and made the CD available to those who contributed to the album.  Being a big supporter of worthy crowd-funded projects, I signed up as a backer and received her CD fairly late in the holiday season, too late to give it much attention here, although it did make my Top 5 list, posted after Christmas.  As "A Jazzy Christmas" is such a magnificent record, I decided to kick off this year's Christmas posts with a full review.

Thisbe Vos is a Netherlands-born jazz singer now residing in the Los Angeles area, appearing frequently with her band in and around LA.  Prior to recording her Christmas record last year, she had released two jazz albums, "Sophistication" and "Under Your Spell", both excellent collections of standards and self-penned songs.

"A Jazzy Christmas" continues in this vein, featuring seven classic Christmas tunes, reinterpreted by Thisbe and her outstanding band, and three new songs written by Thisbe plus one, "Christmas is Everywhere", co-written by Thisbe and collaborator Gary Matsumoto.

The album kicks off with a rollicking rendition of "Let Snow", a superb, upbeat beginning to a great album.  Thisbe's vocals immediately grab your attention and don't let go.  (For any fans of NBC's "The Voice", it's just like those moments when a coach hits their button after about 3 seconds into the performance).

Traditionals "The Christmas Song", "Baby It's Cold Outside", and the inestimable "Jingle Bells" become gold standards of jazz Christmas vocal performances.  Even "Santa Baby", usually not one of my personal faves, is a great listen.  The album closer, a slowed-down, sultry, waltzy version of the usually lively "Deck the Halls" is a simply wonderful interpretation of the Christmas classic, with Thisbe's vocals offset and complemented by an outstanding tenor sax.

The true highlights of "A Jazzy Christmas" are Thisbe's original compositions.  "It Must Be Christmas Time", "It's Beginning to Snow", "When Moonlight Has Hit the Town", and "Christmas is Everywhere" hit the mark by not only being exceptional vocal and instrumental jazz performances, but they sound like Christmas standards.  You know, sometimes an artist's original compositions just don't hit the "Christmas" mark and don't blend so well with the traditionals, well, that's not the case here.  Thisbe's four originals flow and fit alongside the standards and help flesh out a truly notable and refreshing Christmas jazz record.  They sound like you've been hearing them for years.

Thisbe's vocal performance on this record is just wonderful.  Her phrasing will make you melt, her pitch is amazingly natural and effortless.  It's just aural honey flowing over and through you as you listen.  There's a bit of Jane Monheit here in terms of jazz style, but mostly it's completely original.  When I got this CD last year, I just kept playing and playing it.  High praise, since it was competing with a Santa's sack-full of competition for playtime :-)

"A Jazzy Christmas" is due for release this year on November 6th on Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes.  If  you can wait until November 20th you can get a signed copy directly from Thisbe's website.

This was one of the best new records I heard last year.  Especially if you're a jazz lover, "A Jazzy Christmas" gets my highest recommendation.

By the way, "Sophistication" and "Under Your Spell" are excellent as well for, you know, those few times when you're not listening to Christmas Music :-)

Thisbe Vos website
Thisbe Vos Facebook page

Album Review: "Guitar in Hand" by Kasey Rausch

Missouri native Kasey Rausch is one of the hardest working musicians in the Kansas City area.  Follow her on Facebook and you'll get an event invitation here, an event invitation there, maybe two on any given Saturday, say, an afternoon at a local winery and then a nighttime gig downtown.  House shows, breweries, honky tonks, farmers' markets, as well as some of the best live music venues in the city - you'll find country girl Kasey at them all.

In November of 2014 Kasey released an album of new music, "Guitar in Hand" on the Mudstomp label.  "Guitar in Hand" is a testament to Kasey's talent, hard work, dedication to her craft, and relationships in the local music scene.  The album is a showcase of Kasey's musicianship with her guitar, her superb song-writing skills, and her voice.

The best one word that describes Kasey's voice is home.  If you can imagine a family gathering in an old country home, laughter, smiles, a crowded kitchen, and hugs aplenty, Kasey's music is the soundtrack for the day.  It's roots and new, it's country and never twangy and trite, it's honky-tonkin' and front porchin' all together.

"Guitar in Hand" features twelve songs, eleven written by Kasey (one - "Moonshiner's Dream" - with an assist from Scott Stanton), and one by songwriting great Johnny Mullins of "Blue Kentucky Girl" fame.  The first eight songs are roots-acoustic, with instrumentation by guitar, upright bass, mandolin, violin, and banjo.  The album closes with four songs featuring The Naughty Pines,  Kasey's regular gig partners at the KC hangout Coda.  The Naughty Pines kick things up a notch or two with electric guitar and bass, and pedal steel guitar.

"Fly" opens the album, and immediately you're drawn in to a world of superbly arranged instrumentals with guitar, upright bass, mandolin, and violin.  Kasey soon adds her vocals, blending sublimely to complete the musical canvas.

"103" follows, as a loving upbeat foot-stompin' homage to Kasey's grandmother who lived to be 103, and, as Kasey's lyrics tell us, is "finally free".

"Crazy Heart", my personal favorite on the album, will get your toes tappin' and fingers snappin', and features harmony vocals by another Kansas City favorite, Mikal Shapiro.

"Moonshiner's Dream" is an amazing song about the creation of some of mighty fine beverage of the spirited variety, and how the head, tail, and heart must be handled with respect and care.

"Field of Greens", "Just an Old Man" by Johnny Mullins, "The Gospel of Winfield" about the annual Walnut Valley Festival of bluegrass music in Winfield, KS, and the beautiful "Sweet Missouri" lead into the closing four songs with The Naughty Pines - "Heavy Fog","Alabama", "My Piney Wood Home" and the closer "An East Texas Day", an exhilarating tale of a unexpectedly exciting horse ride down in Texas.

One last note - the cover art for "Guitar in Hand" is amazing!  It was done by Sonya Andrews, deserving of a shout-out for her contribution.  Check Sonya out at her website.

"Guitar in Hand" is a wonderful album by a treasure of the Kansas City music scene.

Kasey Rausch Music website
Kasey Rausch on Mudstomp Records
"Guitar in Hand" on Amazon

Concert Review: Rush R40 Tour at Sprint Center in Kansas City

The Canadian Royal Trio of Rock and Roll, better known as Rush, played in Kansas City at the Sprint Center on July 9th as part of their R40 tour, celebrating the 40th year of the group with Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson.

I'm a late in life Rush fan, really gaining a rapid appreciation for their music only in the past 6-7 years.  I actually had their comp set "Chronicles" many years ago, but it just didn't stick.  Then, all of a sudden - wham!  I was hit with a complete love of their music, and set out to acquire their studio catalog (done - check).

R40 is the third time I've seen them in concert.  All three of their last tours have come through Kansas City, so I've gone each time, taking a different one of my children along each time.  ("World's greatest living rock and roll drummer" piques their interest a bit, anyway...)

I thought that this was the best performance of the three.  It could be that this is near the beginning of the tour instead of close to the end (their last tour ended in Kansas City), and they are not yet tour-weary.  Regardless, they were in excellent form.  Geddy Lee sounded fantastic - by far the best I've seen him.  Alex and Neil played with more energy than ever.  Together they showed why they are Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

Seriously, they play so tight, with so much pure energy and vigor.  If you looked up "rock and roll" in the dictionary, you'd see this performance - it was that good. (yeah, I've mixed a metaphor here...onward...)

The set list moved through their career in reverse chronological order, starting with two songs from their most recent album "The Anarchist" and "The Wreckers", and moving backwards through time - "Far Cry", "Roll the Bones", "Subdivisions", "Tom Sawyer", "Cygnus X-1 Book II followed by Cygnus X-1 Book 1, finally ending with "Working Man" in the encore.  The stage props, videos, and show effects followed suit, moving backward through time.  Awesome lasers (see picture below) gave way to a mirror ball in a faux high school gym.  Amazing.

I loved this show, I loved the music, I loved being able to experience a band that, after 40 years, is still at the top of its game.  No one does better rock and roll than Rush in 2015.  Folks, if they come through your town on the R40 tour, go see them.  It may be your last opportunity to see Alex, Neil, and Geddy, and believe me, it's worth it.  Even my 20 year old daughter thought it was a great show.

Kansas City Star Photo Gallery:  link

Set list (courtesy Kansas City Star): The Anarchist; The Wreckers; Headlong Flight; Far Cry; The Main Monkey Business; How it Is; Animate; Roll the Bones; Between the Wheels; Subdivisions. Intermission. Tom Sawyer; the Camera Eye; the Spirit of Radio; Jacob’s Ladder; Cygnus X-1 Book II > Cygnus X-1 Book I; Closer to the Heart; Xanadu; 2112. Encore: Lakeside Park; Anthem; What You’re Doing; Working Man/Garden Road.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/back-to-rockville/article26955364.html#storylink=cpy

Der Bingle Books blog is up!

My new book review blog is up!

http://derbinglebooks.blogspot.com/

Time To Catch Up

Well hello there good readers.  It's time for me to catch up on a few things here on the blog where I've fallen behind over the past few months.  Mainly, music reviews.  There are some terrific local artists that I want to share with the world, so I'll be getting some album reviews out in the next few days/weeks.  I may throw in a concert review or two for good measure.

One item of note - I'm going to spin off the book reviews to a new blog.  They seem to disrupt the flow over here a bit (unless the books are related to Christmas).  I enjoy doing the book reviews, so they will live elsewhere, with announcements posted here for a while until the new space takes hold.  I hope that some of you have enjoyed the book reviews.  I'm a huge reader, and like to share some thoughts out about what I've read.

Anyway, I'm off to start a new album review.  Check back in a day or so...