Today on The Canadian Jazz Review, we're going to be featuring a wonderful Canadian jazz duo. Hailing from our west coast, this twosome consists of pianist Miles Black, and bassist Rene Worst. As well, vocalist Jennifer Scott also makes guest appearances throughout the album. Lets start off with a couple bios. Born in New Guinea, Rene Worst has been a professional upright and electric bassist on the Canadian scene since 1971. Despite many impressive appearances with the likes of Chet Baker and Joe Pas, Worst is arguably most well known for being the leader of the renowned jazz fusion group, Skywalk. Miles Black was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and has been playing professionally since he was fourteen. Like Worst, Black has collaborated with some world class musicians including Lee Konitz and Slide Hampton. However, Black is perhaps most well known for his collaborations with vocalist Glenda Rae, with whom he has co-written over 300 songs with. The first song that we're going to note is "Quiet Ballad". This composition starts off, rather quietly for that matter, with a beautiful movement by Black. Shortly afterwords, Worst joins in, and Black takes off on an impressive improvisation. Following this, Worst pulls out a virtuosic solo that clearly shows why he has been touted as one of the best bassists in the country. The next song that we're going to mention is "Whitt". This is one of the pieces that features singer Jennifer Scott. The song is characterized by Scott's scatting and non-lyrical vocals, which adds perfectly to the duos already established chemistry. Jazz is either performed individually, or with a group. However, in the group category, it is very rare to see a collaboration between a pianist and a bassist. Nevertheless, Black and Worst come together on "Escorial" like a chemical bond.We look forward to seeing future collaborations between these two fantastic Canadian jazz musicians.
Purchase "Escorial"
Rene Worst
http://www.milesblack.com/
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