Joe Alterman

My review of a new album by the pianist Joe Alterman was just published in The Forward.

Here's the first bit:

The pianist Joe Alterman is only 23 years old, but on his new album, “Give Me The Simple Life,” he’s managed to round up an impressive array of jazz veterans to play by his side. Houston Person, the soulful tenor saxophonist, joins in on four tracks while bassist James Cammack and drummer Herlin Riley — who both play in Ahmad Jamal’s stellar trio — accompany Alterman throughout.

It’s a lovely record, full of romantic ballads and medium swing numbers — the kinds of standards that are the sine qua non of a traditional piano trio outing like this one.

Read the rest here.

Oliver Jones

Last week, I went to Montreal to write about the magnificent pianist Oliver Jones for NPR. He performed at the jazz festival there, and I got the chance to speak with him a couple of days before his show. You can read the story I wrote here.