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Mark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman
by Edward Blanco
Veteran singer, platinum-selling lyricist and songwriter Mark Winkler delivers his twentieth album as leader, Late Bloomin' Jazzman, beginning with a George Gershwin standard, ending with a Gershwin tribute and, in between, presenting romantic ballads, a bit of swing and a touch of bossa. An educator at UCLA who teaches the art of songwriting, Winkler brings this remarkable talent to the fore on this album, providing his own lyrics to seven of the twelve songs which he suddenly realized talk about ...
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by Richard J Salvucci
Anyone who can hold their own on a stage on in a studio with Cheryl Bentyne cannot be all bad, right? Even if one's taste runs more to Harry Connick, Jr than to Mark Murphy, it is difficult not to get seriously into Mark Winkler. Oh, he can sing, for sure, but even if he could not carry a tune, he is a lyricist for the ages. Not all ages, mind you. But for those of a certain age, sensibility, ...
read moreGary Brumburgh: Full Circle
by Richard J Salvucci
A recording dedicated to New York theater and a high school music teacher. Ho, boy, one thinks. What could go wrong?" Actually, not much. Vocalist Gary Brumburgh is, all snobbery aside, a very pleasant surprise. He swings. He is plenty hip. He has an attractive style and a pleasant, companionable voice. So, what good can come of Nazareth (or anywhere else, for that matter), On Circle, plenty. This is a Friday- afternoon kind of recording, good for unwinding and the ...
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by Jack Bowers
Gary Brumburgh is living proof that a talented singer can sustain a respectable career in music without becoming a star." Even though he's not a household nameor anywhere near itBrumburgh performed in musical productions from dinner theatres to summer stock, concert stages to casinos for more than two decades before changing direction in 2003 to focus on jazz. Full Circle, Brumburgh's third album as a jazz vocalist, consists of eleven tunes he has sung in various musical productions, bedecked in ...
read moreJudy Wexler: Back to the Garden
by Richard J Salvucci
Man, if you can pick a tougher project to sell to an aging Boomer than Judy Wexler's Back to the Garden, then you will have to say what it might be. For a lot of the Swinging and Breathing Elderly, this music is intensely personal. Not just where were you, or who were you with? But what were you doing? And most of all, why? Not everyone was a protester or a demonstrator, much less a hippie. Not everyone made ...
read moreJudy Wexler: Back to the Garden
by Nicholas F. Mondello
A glance at the tracks on this album might make one think that it is a well-selected gathering of '60s message tunes from compilation stalwart, Rhino Records. That not being the case, rest assured that Back to the Garden presents those iconic Pop selections so incredibly re- imagined that what we experience could easily be considered new selections." Judy Wexler--petite in stature, but tremendously talented and agile in artistry--and her cadre of LA's best, delivers her finest performance ...
read moreMark Winkler: Old Friends
by C. Michael Bailey
The appeal of singer and lyricist Mark Winkler is not that he has an outstanding vocal instrument. Rather, it is uniquely unique; easily identifiable. Winkler has what Broadway composers once called a lyricist's voice." It is a voice of a song writer that is honest and genuine and that is where Winkler gets to the listener. A serious artist, he never sounds as if he takes himself too seriously (much like Dean Martin). And, therein lies his charm. Winkler's voice ...
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