Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Daria - Strawberry Fields Forever
by Bruce Crowther, Jazz Mostly
With this album, Daria takes up a demanding challenge, because in common with many latterday composers of pop songs, John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not customarily follow the 32-bar AABA pattern for popular songs that has supplied so much material to the jazz repertoire. One result of this is that with only scattered exceptions the songs of the Beatles, for the most part composed by Lennon and McCartney, have not been widely used by jazz... read more
Danny Green - Altered Narratives
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS Pianist Danny Green took a big step up in the piano trio rankings with 2014's After The Calm (OA2 Records). The San Diego-based group focused in on a distinctive and beautiful set of Green originals and recorded them with a continuity of mood and an ebullient brio - like three guys who knew what they were doing in an art that demands nuance and delicacy sitting beside - in time's flow - a rise and fall of robustness of... read more
LP and the Vinyl - Heard and Seen
by Frank Kocher, San Diego Troubadour
Jazz lovers are in for a treat: the Danny Green Trio is established as a solid presence in the San Diego area jazz scene, with five CD releases and well-earned international recognition. Leonard Patton likewise has a considerable cachet as an expressive jazz, gospel, and blues singer, with several of his own solo recordings, and has been heard with such local jazz luminaries as Peter Sprague and Geoffrey Keezer. No surprise that when both... read more
Randy Napoleon - Rust Belt Roots: Randy Napoleon Plays Wes Montgomery, Grant Green & Kenny Burrell
by Linda Yohn, SEMJA (Michigan)
In any endeavor — business, education, the arts — the teacher-student relationship is critical for growth of new talent and skills. The mentor-mentee relationship takes the educational and growth commitment to a higher level. In the two recordings Rust Belt Roots by Randy Napoleon and Each Step by Nathan Borton, you hear the living mentor-mentee liaison through the lens of six strings thoughtfully stroked on beautiful guitars.
Napoleon's... read more
Mai-Liis - Mai-Liis On Life
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Vocalist and lyricist Mai-Liss delivers reflections on her experiences supported by a core of Darin Clendenin/p, Clipper Anderson/b and Mark Ivester/dr along with guests Brian Monroney/g, Charlie Porter/tp, Cory Weeds/as-ts and David Lange/acc. Mai-Liis has a world wise breathy tone to her voice, stark with her vibrato with Clendenin on "Sister Child" or slinky during "Number 9" while regretful with Lange's accordion for "Oh Well". A gospel... read more
Michael Kocour - Wherever You Go, There You Are
by Dave Rogers, WTJU - Richmond
Pianist Michael Kocour played with the late saxophonist James Moody for the last decade of his life and was profoundly influenced by his musical and philosophical insights. He also cites the words of pianist Mulgrew Miller as the anchor for his own musical belief: "...jazz is both a progressive art and a folk art...moving the music forward or establishing a unique identity do not demand leaving traditional elements like swing, blues and song... read more
Live Edge Trio with Steve Nelson - Closing Time
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Sounds inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet are delivered by the trio of Ben Markley/p, Seth Lewis/b, Andrew Wheelock/dr and guest Steve Nelson/vibes. The comparison to the MJQ is inevitable, but the sound hear has a bit more muscle as on a bopping take of Horace Silver's "Cape V erdean Blues" and the journey of Wheeler's "Hope" that builds up to a dramatic climax after featuring each teammate in the spotlight. Wheelock's brushes waft on the... read more
Liam Sillery - On The Fly
by Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition
Liam Sillery, the New York-based young trumpeter, is back with his second OA2 release, and has hit paydirt with On the Fly. For those of you who mourn for a modern version of the classic Blue Note sound, you no longer have to search out pricey Criss Cross label imports, the one label that has tried to put out Blue Note quality CDs with young jazz artists as leaders. Now you can throw the OA2 label into the mix.
Sillery is blessed again with... read more
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