Gone Fishing!

Not really, but will be out on the road until next week. In the interim, here are a couple of things I picked up since yesterday that I listened to and would recommend to anyone:

• Aruan Ortiz Quartet "Orbiting" (Fresh Sound New Talent 2012): Trio plus guitar on 8 Ortiz originals. Some great Latin tinged jazz from the mainstream.

• Manuel Valera "New Cuban Express" (Mavo Records 2012): Great sextet. Valera on keyboards is great, Yosvany Terry rips it up on saxes, and the rest provide the rhythm and soul to the beat. More Latin tinged jazz from the mainstream.
• Arturo O'Farrill "The Noguchi Sessions" (Zoho 2012); Aha you say, he is in a latin rut.....WRONG! This is one outstanding, creative, expressive, solo piano outing that shows O'Farrill in an incredible new light. This is the cream of today's crop, not that the others are bad, only that this is exceptional.

• Accidental Tourists, "The L.A. Sessions"  (Challenge 2012): The Accidental Tourists  are Markus Burger on piano. Joe LaBarbera on drums, and Bob Magnusson on bass. This is pretty standard trio work but very nice to listen to. Eight by Burger who shines here, and four standards make up the set. Recommended for those who like stright trio work in a laid back style.

Lots more recent stuff I picked up -- try Stacey Kent and Claire Martin's latest if you like jazz singers with style and class, and like everyone else I cannot say enough about the new Bill Evans from the Top of the Gate.

I will be working out of L.A. for two days and then in Ann Arbor, so I hope to hit the usual haunts -- Amoeba in L.A. and the four stores in Ann Arbor -- to see what I can add to the collection.

See you next week.