This is the ninety eighth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.
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Born and raised in Hollywood, Florida, alto-saxophonist Patrick Bartley made his recording debut when he was 17, moved to New York, and graduated from the Manhattan School Of Music.
In his young career so far, Bartley has performed and recorded with Mulgrew Miller, Louis Hayes, Jonathan Batiste, Jeff Coffin, and Wynton Marsalis, he became part of the trad jazz scene in NY, and worked with the fusion band XD 7 and the adventurous group The Arsonists.
For this hard-swinging LiveStream from August 20, 2020, Bartley leads a trio also featuring Ben Rosenblum on accordion and bassist Wallace Stelzer.
The bop-oriented set includes such numbers as “Stars Fell On Alabama” (dedicated to Cannonball Adderley), an uptempo “Tea For Two” (which has an outstanding accordion solo), “Embraceable You,” and “Cherokee,” with the good-humored altoist displaying a tone that at times recalls Adderley and Richie Cole but with his own musical personality.
This is the two hundred ninth in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.
Support live music – even when it’s streamed!
Aki Kumar was born and raised in India, an unusual place for a blues harmonica player to start.
He studied keyboards and tabla and was exposed to a wide variety of music while growing up.
Kumar enjoyed playing harmonica (his father bought him his first one) although he studied computer science when he moved to the U.S., discovering the blues in San Francisco Bay area nightclubs.
While Little Walter was an early influence, Kumar developed his own sound within the vintage music, occasionally blending in melodies from Indian classical music and Bollywood into his blues.
On his LiveStream from Aug. 20, 2020, Kumar performs a variety of spirited blues and an occasional ballad with his trio, taking some vocals and giving listeners who enjoy blues a great time.