Browse: Smoke Sessions (label)

Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson’s quintet keeps it real on this entertaining album by hewing to the general hard-bop format the bandleader absorbed and refined during his stint as music director... — Downbeat, August 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Trio jazz of this quality is to be prized: Barron and company seldom disappoint and haven’t this time. — Jazzwise, November 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

His instantly identifiable style makes every track come alive. An excellent CD and another feather in the cap for Smoke’s producer Paul Stache. Alexander fans: don’t forget to seek out that ‘Iron... — Jazzwise, November 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

At 79, her newest recording on Smoke Sessions, like her entire catalog, embodies time-honored jazz virtues: authenticity, rather than breathless artifice; concise, rather than overlong, solos;... — Downbeat, July 2019, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Mabern was a pianist of tremendous verve and profound invention, and on each of the tracks he invokes different performers. There are lengthy runs that resemble the pulsating technique of McCoy... — Downbeat, February 2022, 4 and a half out of 5 stars More…

Her writing, as with her improvising, though devoted largely to her mainstream-to-contemporary post-bop and expansive latin-jazz roots, is naturally adventurous and the ensemble dialogue is explosive... — Jazzwise, October 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…