Eleven Short Songs Mix Bebop, Folk and Pop for Listeners Who Want a Tune
The first thing listeners hear on Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II is an alto saxophone running a quick bebop line, with piano taking over in the bridge. That is Bebopping Along, and it sets out the terms of the record: jazz playing, built around melodies short enough to remember. Behind it is Phil Lentz, a composer and jazz pianist based in New York City. The album arrived on 22 November 2024 and keeps finding new listeners.
Phil Lentz’s Bebopping Along opens a set of eleven songs, and it now sits in the GetMusic.News jazz and lounge playlist below. Every article on the pianist is collected on the Phil Lentz profile. Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Listen first, then read on for who the record is for.
Who Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II Is For, From Bebop Fans to Listeners Raised on Seventies Songwriters
The record runs to eleven songs in just over twenty-nine minutes. No track passes four minutes and fifteen seconds, and the closing Coda lasts one minute and forty-five. That length matters, especially for listeners who find long jazz improvisation hard to follow. In other words, each song states its tune, lets the players answer it, and moves on.
Also, the instruments change the colour from song to song. Alto saxophones, violin and vocals take turns at the front, with piano, guitar, bass and drums underneath. Lentz describes the album as original jazz, pop and folk songs, and the Bandcamp page adds classical and New York to its tags. So a listener who likes one of those lanes will find something here, and a listener who likes all of them will find the whole record.
In fact, the influences explain the mix. In a 2023 interview, Lentz named Paul Simon and James Taylor alongside Dave Brubeck and Chick Corea. The list also ran to the bebop of Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker and the folk revival of the 1960s. Dave Brubeck is a useful reference point here. For example, Brubeck’s quartet records of the late 1950s showed that jazz built on clear, memorable themes could reach listeners far outside the jazz clubs. James Taylor is the other half of the picture, a songwriter whose gentle melodies sit easily on an acoustic arrangement. Vol. II sits between those two traditions.
As a result, the audience is wider than the jazz label suggests. This is music for jazz fans who enjoy a good theme, and for folk and singer-songwriter fans curious about jazz harmony. It also suits anyone building a calm, melodic playlist for the evening.
Early Reviews From V13, NYS Music and the Indie Dock Music Blog Picked Out the Melodies
First, the early response came quickly. Two days after release, V13 reviewed the album and focused on the range of moods it covers. Four days later, NYS Music singled out Play Your Melody, I Remember the Early Days and Bebopping Along as highlights. That piece also reported that Lentz wanted this record to step beyond traditional jazz, with folk and classical elements drawn in.
The Indie Dock Music Blog then gave Bebopping Along a full review. It praised the warmth of the alto saxophone and noted that the melody stays in the head long after the track ends. Meanwhile, the same review credited the arrangement: saxophone on the main melody, piano on the bridge sections.
The New York Players Behind Vol. II, From Studio Mozart to the Bitter End in Greenwich Village
The album also has a community behind it. Lentz plays piano throughout, with Dennis Harte on guitar, Wolfgang Lugomarsini on bass and Dave Young on drums. Red Heller and Richard Philbin play alto saxophone, and Bob Cohen adds violin. Spotify credits Heller, Philbin, Cohen and Harte by name on the tracks they play. Harte also produced the album at Studio Mozart in Little Falls, New Jersey, with Kosta Kamcev engineering. Tom Hutten then mastered it at Bionic Mastering.
In fact, that circle grew out of New York’s live scene. Lentz has played in workshop jazz bands around Manhattan, and names a show at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village as the best concert of that playing life. Similarly, a record like this one carries the same atmosphere: friends and fellow players, each given space to be heard.
Meanwhile, the catalogue has kept moving. Phil Lentz Presents… came first in 2022, Vol. II followed in 2024, and Bounce arrived in April 2026 with ten songs that add rock to the jazz and folk mix.
From the GetMusic.News Curator Team: “Vol. II is the kind of jazz record we would hand to someone who says they do not like jazz. The tunes are short, the melodies come first, and the violin and alto saxophone make every song feel like a small, friendly band rather than a solo showcase.”
Where to Hear Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II and Follow Phil Lentz After Bounce
Start with Bebopping Along, then Play Your Melody, then let the record run in order. After all, the whole album fits inside half an hour.
Stream Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II on Apple Music, buy it on Bandcamp, or pick any service from the smartlink. Follow Phil Lentz across platforms: YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, X and the official website.
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