GIANTS is jazz guitarist Barry Greene's most fully realized recording to date-a powerful tribute to the players who shaped his musical voice, including Pat Martino, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, and Russell Malone. Spanning organ trio, modern ensemble, and solo guitar settings, the album reflects a lifetime of deep immersion in the jazz tradition, delivered with authority, swing, and an unmistakable personal voice. With Pat Bianchi on B3 organ and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., Greene captures the raw energy and soulful drive of the classic organ trio. The broader sound palette of his quintet setting with David Kikoski on piano, Steve Nelson on vibraphone, bassist Marco Panascia, and Owens, yields richly textured performances that balance fire, lyricism, and harmonic depth. More than a tribute, Giants is a statement-an artist at the peak of his powers honoring the lineage while speaking unmistakably in his own voice. "Monster chops, soulful feel, full/rich classic jazz tone, and virtuosic harmonic techniques establish him as a top-tier guitarist." - Benedetto Guitars. Barry Greene is just about one of the best; not only as a player, but also as a writer and a teacher & a world-class musician. Pat Martino

Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) is regarded as ‘the father of Ukrainian classical music’ but his music is virtually unknown outside his home country.

As did Bartók later in Hungary, Lysenko went out into the field, listened to what the people were singing and fashioned an individual musical language that brought together the styles of Chopin and Liszt and the essence of Ukrainian folksong.

This CD presents his complete output of music for violin and piano, the main piece being the popular Second Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes also known as ‘Dumka-Shumka’.

It is complemented by Spring Kaleidoscope, a new work for violin and piano commissioned by the performers on this CD to display the lyrical riches of Lysenko’s vocal writing: it is a transcription for violin and piano by the Ukrainian composer Viktor Kaminsky of ten Lysenko songs.

This CD is launched together with another Toccata Classics CD, Mykola Lysenko – Piano Music: Volume One, also played .by Arthur Greene.

The booklet contains commentary in both English and Ukrainian.

Solomia Soroka, violin, studied in her native Ukraine and resides in the USA. She has recorded CDs of Leone Sinigaglia, Arthur Hartmann and Myroslav Skoryk for Toccata Classics, where one critic praised the ‘elegance and refinement’ of her playing, continuing that ‘the ensemble between her and Arthur Greene, a husband and wife team, is splendid’. Arthur Greene was born in New York and grew up in Sheffield, Mass.; he studied at Yale and Juilliard where he studied with Martin Canin. He now teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

SKORYK The High Pass: Melody. Violin Sonatas: No. 1; No. 2. Hutsulian Triptych: Allegretto and Dance. Caprice for Solo Violin. Carpathian Rhapsody. Poem. Spanish Dance • Solomia Soroka (vn); Arthur Greene (pn) • TOCCATA 0137 (65:42)


Violinist Solomia Soroka, who has collaborated with the composer in performances of his works, herself wrote the booklet notes for Toccata’s collection of Miroslav Skoryk’s music for violin and piano, in which she’s joined for recital by pianist Arthur Greene. The notes trace the composer’s early years in Siberia, to which his family had been exiled, through his attempts to study musical composition in Ukraine, to his final work with Dmitri Kabalevsky. They also trace his affection for Hutsulian modes and the kolomyika , a dance of the same ethnicity (familiar from one of the most intoxicating of Béla Bartók’s duos for two violins).


The Melody (from 1981) recalls Skoryk’s work as a composer for movies, this being an adaptation from his first effort, The High Pass , which movie—and melody—Soroka relates, became “universally popular” in Ukraine. Firmly tonal and strongly evocative, it nevertheless sounds a bit edgy in Soroka’s performance, perhaps due to the strong but slightly abrasive quality of the tone she produces (still, her generally suave manner of performance hardly sounds unnuanced). The engineers have focused the spotlight on her, and she appears to dominate the piano in the recorded sound. The First Violin Sonata, from 1963, recalls the dark harmonic shimmer of Prokofiev’s work (Soroka relates that Skoryk wrote his doctoral dissertation on that composer’s modal practices). Passages crop up in the first movement (of three) that recall the earlier composer’s haunting Five Melodies , which Prokofiev himself arranged for violin and piano. In these moments, Soroka adopts a throaty manner that accentuates the music’s sultriness, a manner that continues, intensified, in the brief Largo. The finale thrusts and slashes in this performance, relieved by searingly intense expressivity.


If anything, the Allegretto and Dance from Hutsulian Triptych (1964) sound even more accessible; they come from another Ukrainian movie, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors , and Soroka and Greene extract all the poignant lyricism and stormy drama, and gaiety, respectively, that the music and its program suggest. The four-odd-minute Caprice for Solo Violin (1978), according to Soroka, harks back to Paganini’s 21st Caprice, but it also bears some connection, in its combination of a declamatory slow opening section and a brilliantly animated concluding one, with Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo Caprice (with double-stopped tremolos and pizzicatos, although, of course, in a completely different style); Gustave Samazeuilh’s similar piece, Lamento et Moto perpetuo , also comes to mind.


The Carpathian Rhapsody (2004) and Poem (2006), the most recent items on the program, both began their lives, according to Soroka, as required repertoire for violin competitions. The first sounds forbidding, perhaps because Soroka makes it seem more difficult than ingratiating. Although the Poem opens more reflectively, and overall sounds less ethnic, it nevertheless contains its share of purely violinistic difficulties and probes further into the harmonic penumbra than any of the pieces that precede it on the program. The Second Violin Sonata (1990) explores differing styles, but Soroka points to the recurrence of material from Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata as a unifying element. The slow movement (the center one of three) makes a more consistent impression, centered on a single somber mood, captured by Soroka in a long-breathed melodic outpouring. The virtuosic finale recalls that of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto but also interweaves some lyrical jazzy elements. The Spanish Dance, from 1978, also began as incidental music, for The Stone Ruler . It’s heavier, darker, and more smoldering than Sarasate’s pieces, and could serve as a substitute for one of them on almost any program. According to Soroka, Bodhar Kotorovych, of the Kiev Conservatory, considered the original arrangement of this final movement from a suite for string orchestra to be technically too simple. Violinists should hear how Skoryk responded. In fact, violinists should hear the whole disc, as should those interested in relatively recent repertoire for the instrument. In fact, its workable performances, fascinating booklet, and clear recorded sound should appeal to almost anyone with the slightest interest in the violin.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

The forgotten man of Soviet music history, vilified in his day for having aspired to be a 'Russian Schoenberg', Roslavets began his career as one of the most rebellious of all Soviet avant-garde composers of the first two decades of the 20th century.

various Ensemble Torculus; Ronald Greene, cantor; Haig Mardirosian, cond. Mors et Ressurectio

Yevhen Stankovych is one of teh Ukraine's leading contemporary composers. His music for violin and piano is recorded here almost all of it for the first time. The works on this album cover a wide range of emotions, from wild highland dances that distantly recall Szymanowski to the plangent, lyrical lament of Maydan Fresco, protesting the deaths of demonstrators in Maydan Square in 2013. The musicians here - wife and husband team Ukrainian Solomia Soroka and American Arthur Greene - have consulted the composer on the preparation of this program, giving their interpretations a rare authenticity. Solomia Soroka was born in Lviv, Ukraine. She earned her master's degree and completed her postgraduate studies in the Kiev Conservatoire, and later served on its staff in the department of chamber music. Since her American debut in 1997, she has performed throughout the United States as well.

REVIEW:

Both Solomia Soroka and Arthur Greene play with sensitivity and passion and have been well recorded. The violinist’s own booklet notes are customarily excellent. This is a valuable addition to the roster of approachable and valuable new violin music available on the Toccata label.

-- MusicWeb International

Sacred music has long been a source of inspiration and creativity for the jazz musician. "Forever," Jimmy Greene's second release as a leader for Criss Cross, finds the tenor saxophonist continuing this rich tradition. Backed by the hard swinging rhythm section of Xavier Davis on piano, John Benitez on bass and Jeff 'Tain" Watts on drums, Greene combines modern arrangements of traditional spirituals with originals inspired by sacred themes. Greene's talents as an arranger and bandleader are in full view, as he gives classic spirituals a fresh, contemporary treatment.

Seldom heard since the days of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin, saxophonist Jimmy Greene joins forces with Marcus Strickland for a two tenor line on his fourth set as a leader for Criss Cross. Easily his best album to date, Gifts and Givers crackles with excitement on a program of originals and iconic standards such as Sonny Stitt's Eternal Triangle, John Coltrane's 26-2 and Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa, taken here in 7/4. Supported by veterans Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland, the horn men are also joined by two-up-and-coming talents, guitarist Mike Moreno and pianist Danny Grissett.

On his third Criss Cross date, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene presents a recital of originals and standards as Evidence and My Ideal, with a band of young New York A-listers: Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Xavier Davis (piano), Reuben Rogers (bass), and Eric Harland (drums). Mixing an individual harmonic palette with an up-to-the-second rhythmic sensibility and an open mind, Greene and company produce a worthy follow up to 2004's Forever, a strong quartet session with Jeff "Tain" Watts.

On CD for the first time. Recorded on December 30, 1964 at Preservation Hall, New Orleans this album is unique because at the time there were few sessions being done by traditional jazz units other than six or seven piece bands. And it found favor with a wide range of fans, combining elements of both the West Coast and New Orleans styles. It's been 45 years since pianist Bob Greene and banjoist Steve Larner strutted down St. Peter Street from Preservation Hall to the Red Garter to meet cornetist Ernie Carson and tubaist Hal Johnson. But the great music lives on with the addition of 4 previously unissued songs, 14 songs in all.