Jonathan Butler Christmas Together Artistry Music / Mack Avenue Music Group (release date: October 4, 2019) www.mackavenue.com By Bob Marovich Christmas Together is the second holiday-themed album for singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Butler, one that he recorded and mixed in his home studio in Southern California. Whenever the album isn’t offering up dreamy instrumental arrangements of classic Christmas carols by some of smooth jazz’s best-known musicians, it is evoking the soulfulness of Stevie Wonder. You hear Wonder’s frictionless resonance in Butler’s lead vocals on “Winter Wonderland” (no pun intended) and “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel.” “Mary Did You Know,” ...

By Bob Marovich From Mary Lou Williams to John Coltrane, jazz musicians over the years have, as Kirk Whalum puts it, “made a spiritual offering through their music.” With his celebrated series, The Gospel According to Jazz, Whalum makes his own spiritual offering, using jazz to describe the indescribable Savior. The DVD version of Whalum’s latest installment, The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV, was released yesterday (May 19). JGM’s Bob Marovich spoke with the jazz legend about the new project and the link between jazz and spirituality. JGM: What encouraged you to do the first Gospel According to Jazz project? ...

Kirk Whalum The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV – Film/DVD Running time: 148 minutes Rendezvous Music (release date: May 19, 2015) www.kirkwhalum.com By Bob Marovich Whether you did or did not purchase the CD version of Kirk Whalum’s The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV when it was released this past March, you will enjoy the DVD version of the concert, set for release this Tuesday. The DVD captures the Chapter IV concert at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York.  Live performance segments are interspersed with conversations with Whalum on a variety of subjects, from being a musician to the spirit ...