Thursday, March 27, 2025

Cheryl Bentyne - The Cole Porter Song Book

Styles: Vocal, Swing
Year: 2009
Time: 55:34
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 127,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:18) 1. Love For Sale
(3:55) 2. It's De-Lovely
(3:16) 3. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(4:10) 4. It's All Right With Me
(4:18) 5. Night And Day / Find Me A Primitive Man
(3:24) 6. I Love Paris
(3:39) 7. All Of You
(6:44) 8. I Concentrate On You
(3:06) 9. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(5:47) 10. Everytime We Say Goodbye
(3:36) 11. Begin The Beguine
(3:40) 12. What Is This Thing Called Love?
(2:20) 13. Just One Of Those Things
(2:14) 14. Let's Misbehave

While much of the world knows Cheryl Bentyne as one-quarter of the multi-Grammy-winning Manhattan Transfer, this compelling vocalist has a story all her own - one that includes a solo career that encompasses a variety of musical styles.

Born and raised near Seattle, Washington, Bentyne was exposed to music at a very early age. Her father, a jazz clarinetist and bandleader, held his band's rehearsals at the family's home. It wasn't long before Cheryl was singing in her dad's band. After high school, she performed in Seattle area coffee houses where she met and joined a regional group called The New Deal Rhythm Band. The band combined campy comedy numbers with improvisation and “theatrical” swing. The New Deal served as a training ground for Bentyne to sharpen her performance technique and develop her own distinct style.

While on tour with The New Deal, Bentyne caught the attention of a talent agent who assured her that her singing ability could support a solo career and encouraged her to assemble material for her own show. Within a few months she moved to Los Angeles and was booked regularly at such legendary clubs as the Troubadour and the Bla-Bla Cafe.

In the spring of 1979, Bentyne’s manager told her about an audition that was to change her life. The Manhattan Transfer was searching for a new singer to replace the departing Lauren Masse. What they were looking for seemed like an impossible combination at the time - a soprano who was gifted and agile enough to immediately blend with the group’s unique four-part harmony sound, and yet who also possessed a strong individual musical personality which would contribute to the group's evolution. But Bentyne accomplished the impossible: she landed the job and made a vocal contribution that was immediate and decisive. The Manhattan Transfer won its first Grammy, for “Birdland,” a track from the 1979 album, Extensions (Best Jazz Fusion Performance). Since then, the Transfer has scored ten more Grammys.

Bentyne has sung some of the most memorable solos in the Transfer's repertoire: “Good-bye Love,” Benny Goodman's solo on “Down South Camp Meeting” (both on the 1983 release, Bodies and Souls) and “Meet Benny Bailey” (on their landmark 1985 recording, Vocalese). She won a Grammy (which she shares with Bobby McFerrin) for her arrangement of “Another Night In Tunisia” (also on Vocalese). Her hot performance in the video and single release “So You Say” (from Brasil, 1987) helped broaden the Transfer’s audience via frequent appearances on BET. She also wrote and co-wrote tracks for the Transfer’s 1992 release, The Offbeat of Avenues, including the Grammy winning “Sassy.”

But Bentyne has maintained a solid solo career separate and apart from her work with the world-famous vocal quartet. In 1988, she appeared on bassist Rob Wasserman’s highly acclaimed Duets album. Four years later, she released her solo debut album, Something Cool, a tribute to June Christy and other jazz singers of the 1950s.

Beyond the recording studio and performance stage, Bentyne has also dabbled in recording for motion pictures. She appears on the soundtrack to the 1990 film Dick Tracy, in “Back in Business,” a song she performed with Lorraine Feather and fellow Transfer member Janis Siegel. She also collaborated with trumpeter/composer Mark Isham in the soundtrack to the 1991 Alan Rudolph film, Mortal Thoughts.

In 2000, Cheryl recorded and released an original cast album of her new musical revue based the music and wit of Cole Porter. Dreaming Of Mister Porter has played to sold-out audiences and received rave reviews in Boston and Seattle.

Bentyne joined the Telarc label in 2004 with the release of Talk of the Town, an album that featured a number of standards from the great American songbook. The album also featured a star-studded lineup of session players: pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, flugelhornist Chuck Mangione, percussionist Don Alias and drummer Lewis Nash.

Bentyne’s second Telarc outing released in April 2005, Let Me Off Uptown, is a tribute to legendary songstress Anita O’Day.https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/cheryl-bentyne/

The Cole Porter Song Book

Nat Birchall - Dimension of the Drums

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 36:51
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 85,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:48) 1. Guiding Light / Guidance Dub
(5:50) 2. Fight Against Evil
(5:34) 3. Sounds of Meditation
(5:12) 4. Satta in the Hills
(5:15) 5. Lalibela
(8:11) 6. Dimension of the Drums / Gathering Dub

Manchester-based multi-instrumentalist Nat Birchall, who’s mostly made a name for himself as a saxophonist among the UK jazz scene, continues his explorations into the sounds of Jamaica with another superb instrumental roots reggae-influence album, titled Dimension of the Drums.

This 6-track 36-plus minute recording was inspired by the music coming out of Jamaica in the mid 1970s, in particular the use of drum machines by Lee Perry and Aston Family Man Barrett, as well as the instrumentals and dubs by Keith Hudson and Cedric “Im” Brooks & Count Ossie and others.

Even though Birchall has teamed up on a few reggae-inspired recordings with legendary dub producer Al Breadwinner, and Jamaican trombonist great Vin Gordon, this represents his first solo outing diving into this sound. Much like many of his most recent releases, Birchall impressively also plays all the instruments on the session.

With Dimension of the Drums, Birchall continues to show his diversity as a musician and celebrate a genre of music that has played a major influence on him throughout his life.
https://beatcaffeine.com/nat-birchall-continues-his-exploration-into-roots-reggae-on-dimension-of-the-drums/

All instruments, recording and mixing by Nat Birchall

Dimension of the Drums

Monica Mancini - Cinema Paradiso

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:00
Size: 113,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:32) 1. Cinema Paradiso
(4:02) 2. A Day In The Life Of A Fool
(4:49) 3. The Summer Knows
(3:42) 4. A Love Before Time
(3:31) 5. Soldier In The Rain
(3:59) 6. Alfie
(5:00) 7. Too Late Now
(5:12) 8. The Shadow Of Your Smile
(4:26) 9. Baby Mine
(2:43) 10. Senza Fine
(3:46) 11. I'll Never Say Goodbye
(3:11) 12. Over The Rainbow

Monica Mancini has been careful in her recording projects to reflect her heritage and promote it without exploiting it. Her first album, Monica Mancini, was, naturally enough, a collection of songs written by her father, Henry Mancini. Her second, The Dreams of Johnny Mercer, was a tribute to one of her father's main collaborators. Cinema Paradiso features songs by many different songwriters, but its source is the kind of movie theme music in which her father worked successfully for his entire career. Mancini deliberately mixes things up in her choices of material, going back in time as far as the late '30s for "Over the Rainbow" and as far forward as "Senza Fine" from Ghost Ship, a film that opened 11 days before her album was released. And she mixes well-known songs like "Alfie" and "The Shadow of Your Smile" with worthy but lesser-known efforts such as Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner's "Too Late Now" from Royal Wedding and her father's "Soldier in the Rain" from the movie of the same name with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. She has also considered the arrangements carefully, using eight different arrangers to create settings for the songs. Some of the charts are lush, while three songs employ a single instrument as accompaniment. Yet they all work together well. And the material and arrangements prove to be good choices for Mancini's voice, which is fully showcased. It is a rich voice, and if her interpretations have their precious moments and are at times too deliberate, she also exudes warmth and feeling for the songs, making this another successful collection.~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/album/cinema-paradiso-mw0000227963

Cinema Paradiso

Monday, March 24, 2025

The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - The Rebecca Kilgore Trio, Vol. 1

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:52
Size: 108,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:01) 1. Dear Bix
(3:28) 2. Day In - Day Out
(3:56) 3. Somebody Just Like You
(2:58) 4. Run, Little Raindrop, Run
(3:18) 5. Azure-Té / Azure
(2:55) 6. Talking to Myself About You
(2:48) 7. Old Soft Shoe
(4:25) 8. I Wanna Get Married
(3:00) 9. Like the Brightest Star
(3:51) 10. That Sunday That Summer
(3:59) 11. The Gentleman Is a Dope
(4:38) 12. Because We're Kids
(3:29) 13. There's a Small Hotel

What do "Doxy," "Cottontail," "Dear Bix" and "I Wanna Get Married" all have in common? Clues to a party game on some lost episode of Playboy After Dark? Give up? All make an appearance on Rebecca Kilgore's "swing and have fun" release, which is just what Kilgore and her co-conspirators (including her husband, Dick Titterington, on cornet) accomplish. Eclectic is the word for this marvelous compilation, whose composers run from Rube Bloom to Richard Rodgers.. But that's good. Putting the recording on and hearing "Dear Bix" was like reliving a summer Saturday night listening to Jim Cullum's "Live from the Landing" circa 1990, no small thing. But then again, Kilgore really hit the memory traces with Nat King Cole's "That Sunday, That Summer," which beats Percy Faith and "A Summer Place" for sigh, lost youth. And you thought Cole owned that song and the evocation of the summer of 1963, but he doesn't. At least not any longer.

How many ways can you sell a familiar song? Well, take "The Gentleman is A Dope," which is more ironic than disillusioned, and bright, even in its minor key, because Kilgore takes it slightly up from its customary tempo. This is what adventuresome musicians can do with "conventional" material from the Great American Songbook. It doesn't have to be dull. Maybe you never heard the "Because We're Kids" lyrics by one Doctor Seuss. Oh, oh. Trigger warning. They are, gasp, woke "Just because you wear a wallet near your heart, You think you're twice as smart, You know that isn't fair." Oh, yeah, sung up front in even quarter notes, just for emphasis. One's faith in Dr Seuss is restored. And Kilgore's ongoing project of rescuing interesting tunes from death by neglect is clearly validated..

Who doesn't like "There's Small Hotel," generally identified with Chet Baker? Kilgore takes it down a bit, in a very matter of fact way. This is the way a slightly whimsical and experienced woman who's lived a little would take the song. Her version does not record the enthusiasm of a first assignation. Kilgore does not sound like she's reading from anyone's script other than her own. Age sometimes matters, and not just in wine and cheese. Experience shows and it only deepens, rather than diminishes art. "Doxy," "Cottontail," "Dear Bix," well, you'll have to hear the CD to solve the puzzle. Hint: pianist Randy Porter does have a great sense of humor. Tom Wakeling's time and sound are never obtrusive, but are always there. Swing and have fun, indeed. You will.~ Richard J.Salvucci https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-rebecca-kilgore-trio-vol-1-rebecca-kilgore-heavywood-records

Personnel: Rebecca Kilgore: voice / vocals; Randy Porter: piano; Tom Wakeling: bass, acoustic; Dick Titterington: cornet.

The Rebecca Kilgore Trio, Vol. 1

Peggy Lee - Portrait of Peggy: I'm Happy To Be A Girl

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
Time: 71:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 165,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:11) 1. I Enjoy Being A Girl (From 'Flower Drum Song') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(2:24) 2. Come Dance With Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:52) 3. As You Desire Me (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:09) 4. You Fascinate Me So (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:02) 5. C'est Magnifique (From 'Can Can') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(4:22) 6. Remind Me (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(3:16) 7. By Myself (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:01) 8. Fantastico (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:36) 9. Pretty Eyes (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:25) 10. Dance Only With Me (From 'Say Darling') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(3:03) 11. I Want To Be Loved (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:26) 12. It Could Happen To You (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:55) 13. Moments Like This (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:02) 14. Love And Marriage (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:32) 15. I Remember You (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:21) 16. Ole´ (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(3:08) 17. Because I Love Him So (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:50) 18. Just Squeeze Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(1:55) 19. The Surrey With A Fringe On The Top (From 'Meet Me In St. Louis') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(2:57) 20. Fly Me To The Moon (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:43) 21. You're So Right For Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:25) 22. You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:20) 23. Too Close For Comfort Now (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:43) 24. Wish You Were Here (Feat. Jack Marshall)
(1:44) 25. Together Whereever We Go (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:20) 26. Non Dimenticar (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:08) 27. I Can't Resist You (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(1:49) 28. From Now On Leave It To Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(3:15) 29. The Party Is Over (From 'Bells Are Ringing') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)

More than two decades have passed since Peggy Lee sang with Benny Goodman’s swing band and made her first hit recording. Yet so inexhaustible is her talent and so intense her application to her work that, almost a generation later, she stands at the peak of her career. A product of the big-band era, she derived from that apprenticeship her ability to sing anything from jazz to blues, to sing it with a beat, and with enough volume to be heard above the band. Few vocalists have had her staying power. Peggy Lee is also a successful composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, and businesswoman. To all her careers she brings a perfectionism that leaves the stamp of professionalism on everything she touches.

Of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, a farm town on the Great Plains, on May 26, 1920. She was the seventh of eight children born to Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad, and Mrs. Egstrom, who died when the child was four years old. Encouraged by the recognition she had received for her singing with the high school glee club, the church choir, and semi-professional college bands, Norma headed for Hollywood after she graduated from high school in 1938. With her she took $18 in cash and a railroad pass she had borrowed from her father. Although she got a brief singing engagement at the Jade Room, a supper club on Hollywood Boulevard, she made little impression on the film capital, and she was reduced to working as a waitress and as a carnival spieler at a Balboa midway.

Deciding to try her luck nearer home, she found work as a singer over radio station WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota, whose manager, Ken Kennedy, christened her Peggy Lee. (To supplement her income she worked for a time as a bread slicer in a Fargo bakery.) Her prospects for a career brightened when she moved to Minneapolis, where she sang in the dining room of the Radisson Hotel, appeared on a Standard Oil radio show, and sang with Sev Olsen’s band. Miss Lee broke into the big time when she became a vocalist with Will Osborne’s band, but three months after she joined the group it broke up in St. Louis, and she got a ride to California with the manager.

It was at the Doll House in Palm Springs, California that Peggy Lee first developed the soft and "cool" style that has become her trademark. Unable to shout above the clamor of the Doll House audience, Miss Lee tried to snare its attention by lowering her voice. The softer she sang the quieter the audience became. She has never forgotten the secret, and it has given her style its distinctive combination of the delicate and the driving, the husky and the purringly seductive. One of the members of the Doll House audience was Frank Bering, the owner of Chicago’s Ambassador West Hotel, who invited her to sing in his establishment’s Buttery Room.

Benny Goodman discovered Peggy Lee’s vocalizing in the Buttery Room at a time when he was looking for a replacement for Helen Forrest. Miss Lee joined Goodman’s band in July, 1941, when the band was at the height of its popularity, and for over two years she toured the United States with the most famous swing outfit of the day, playing hotel engagements, college proms, theater dates, and radio programs.

Much of her present success Miss Lee credits to her apprenticeship with the big bands. "I learned more about music from the men I worked with in bands than I’ve learned anywhere else," she has said. "They taught me discipline and the value of rehearsing and even how to train…. Band singing taught us the importance of interplay with musicians. And we had to work close to the arrangement." In July, 1942, Peggy Lee recorded her first smash hit, "Why Don’t You Do Right?" It sold over 1,000,000 copies and made her famous.

In March, 1943, Peggy Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman’s band; shortly thereafter she left the band. After her daughter, Nicki, was born in 1944, Peggy Lee and her husband worked successfully on the West Coast. In 1944 she began to record for Capitol Records, for whom she has produced a long string of hits " many of them with lyrics and music by Miss Lee and Dave Barbour. Among them are "Golden Earrings," which sold over 1,000,000 copies [sic; song not written by Lee and Barbour]; "You Was Right, Baby;" "It’s a Good Day;" "Mañana" (which sold over 2,000,000 records); "What More Can a Woman Do?;" and "I Don’t Know Enough About You." Today Peggy Lee has a top rating as a songwriter with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
More ....................https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/peggy-lee/

Portrait of Peggy: I'm Happy To Be A Girl

Sylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson - Bone Bells

Styles: Piano And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 42:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 98,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:31) 1. Bone Bells
(5:41) 2. Esmeralda
(5:08) 3. Folded Secret
(3:40) 4. Nags Head Valse
(6:17) 5. Beclouded
(4:58) 6. Silly Walk
(5:35) 7. Float Queens
(4:44) 8. Cristellina e Lontano

Given that Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson are two of the most distinctive instrumentalists in the world of jazz and improvised music, it is a particular treat to hear them together in a duo configuration, where the intimacy of the setting allows for a fuller appreciation of their virtuosity and empathetic sensibilities than is sometimes possible on their more ambitious group projects. Courvoisier's pianistic prowess can be astonishing, but on recordings like 2023's Chimaera (Intakt Records) it was her arranging and composing skills that came to the fore; the same goes for Halvorson's Cloudward (Nonesuch, 2024), in which Halvorson displayed her own evolving vision as a composer. Here, on Bone Bells, Courvoisier and Halvorson's third release together, the emphasis is squarely on the formidable mastery of their respective instruments and the power of their mutual expression, and it is a thoroughly stimulating listen from start to finish.

Unlike its 2021 predecessor, Searching for the Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic Records), Bone Bells has no jointly improvised tracks to complement the pair's compositions; each player is credited with half of the album's eight pieces. One can hear Courvoisier's classical background peek through in the stately opening title track, built around Courvoisier's steady chordal accompaniment while Halvorson winds her beguiling path through the piece's somber theme; yet midway through, the two switch roles, with Halvorson now providing support for Courvoisier's arresting excursion, augmented with streams of cascading notes. True to form, Courvoisier spends a fair bit of time on the album utilizing prepared sounds, as on "Folded Secret," where an infectious vamp serves as the core of a piece allowing both players opportunities for sprightly explorations.

The recording generates much of its appeal by juxtaposing order with freedom. Take Halvorson's "Nags Head Valse," for instance, which alternates a bright, jaunty waltz theme with periods of almost-free improvisation and here Halvorson's own experimental instincts emerge, with a battery of quirky sounds and techniques only she can produce from her instrument. Or "Silly Walk," which is hardly silly in light of the piece's diabolically tricky unison passages that still manage to make room for the players' individual personalities to emerge, with both exerting themselves mightily amidst the thunderous collisions that ensue. And "Float Queens" carves out space for am evocative mutual reverie in the middle of a piece that otherwise barrels along formidably.

Closing with Courvoisier's fascinating "Cristellina e Lontano," the two create almost dancelike magic that is especially remarkable in light of the piece's complex and layered structure. It is an unqualified success, much like the album as a whole, which never ceases to captivate and charm. By Troy Dostert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/bone-bells-sylvie-courvoisier-and-mary-halvorson-pyroclastic-records

Personnel: Sylvie Courvoisier, Piano; Mary Halvorson, Guitar

Bone Bells

Tom Grant and Rebecca Kilgore - Winter Warm

Styles: Vocal, Piano
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:00
Size: 115,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:29)  1. Christmas Waltz
(3:17)  2. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
(3:22)  3. Christmas Time is Here
(3:39)  4. I'll Be Home for Christmas
(4:06)  5. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
(4:49)  6. The Christmas Song
(3:11)  7. A Song for Christmas
(2:30)  8. Let it Snow
(4:50)  9. Winter Warm
(4:12) 10. Winter Wonderland
(3:30) 11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
(4:02) 12. Sleigh Ride
(2:43) 13. Christmas Dreaming
(3:14) 14. Snowbound

Warm is a treasure from two Northwest jazz icons. Pianist Tom Grant has produced over twenty albums of chart-topping smooth jazz and singer Rebecca Kilgore, a featured regular on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and Terry Gross’ Fresh Air (both on NPR), is an acclaimed performer of the Great American Songbook. Rebecca tours the world with her own band and has sung on over 30 records. Famed guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli has said of her “If Benny Goodman were alive today, he’d hire Becky to sing in his band.” Dick Hadlock, author and jazz host on KCSM-FM, San Mateo CA says that Rebecca “has refined her vocal gifts and stands now….as a leading interpreter of America’s classic popular songs.” She has toured with the famed pianist, humorist-composer Dave Frishberg and they have recorded together as well. He says of Rebecca “she has a great sense of swing…and a heartfelt unpretentiousness.” Tom Grant has toured the world with such jazz greats as Joe Henderson, Tony Williams and Charles Lloyd. Jeff Lorber says “Tom is a terrific improviser and writer. He plays with an inventiveness, elegance and economy. He is one of the best players on the scene today.” He has recorded on Verve Forecast, Windham Hill and many smaller labels and during the 80’s and 90’s had sales of 30-50 thousand units on various titles.

Tom Grant is a fixture on the Northwest music scene. He was a pioneer of jazz fusion and adult contemporary jazz. His longtime group, the Tom Grant Band, was one of the biggest drawing bands of the ’80s and ’90s. Tom’s numerous recordings consistently landed at the top of the New Adult Contemporary and Smooth Jazz charts, a genre Tom helped pioneer in the mid-80s. Over the years he has played with numerous jazz icons, including Jim Pepper, Woody Shaw, Tony Williams and Joe Henderson. He plays jazz piano with the harmonic sophistication and deep sense of swing that comes from more than three decades on the bandstand, and his smooth crooning voice blends perfectly with Day’s clear-cut interpretations of the classics. Grant was recognized for his lifetime of work by the Jazz Society of Oregon, being its inductee to the Hall of Fame for 2004. The material on this Holiday record reflects Rebecca’s unique gift for finding little-known song gems. The title track “Winter Warm”, is a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song whose only prior recording is by the relatively obscure 50’s artist, Gale Storm. Another great track is the singularly quirky (and jazzy) Frishberg winner, “Snowbound”. Tom and Rebecca do a charming duet on a slightly obscure Sinatra classic called “Christmas Dreaming.” Another rare beauty is “A Song for Christmas” which Rebecca sings with a tenderness that touches the soul. http://tomgrant.com/winter-warm

Winter Warm

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Louis Armstrong - Wonderful World: The Best of Louis Armstrong

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2024
Time: 46:22
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 106,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:05) 1. A Kiss to Build a Dream On
(2:26) 2. Hello, Dolly!
(3:08) 3. Dream a Little Dream of Me (feat. Ella Fitzgerald)
(3:27) 4. La Vie en Rose
(5:51) 5. On the Sunny Side of the Street
(4:05) 6. When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)
(5:54) 7. Cheek to Cheek (feat. Ella Fitzgerald)
(2:45) 8. Cabaret
(2:22) 9. It's Been a Long, Long Time
(4:40) 10. They Can't Take That Away from Me (feat. Ella Fitzgerald)
(2:59) 11. Moon River
(3:19) 12. Blueberry Hill
(2:16) 13. What a Wonderful World

Today, with the advent of streaming and the resurgence of popularity in vinyl, there is more music available to the public to listen to than at any previous time in history. Yet, year after year, people from around the world still choose to listen to Louis Armstrong more than any other artist born at the turn of the 20th century.

The question remains: Why? This new collection, the first authorized Louis Armstrong hits collection to be released in decades, helps to provide answers. Wonderful World: The Best of Louis Armstrong contains 13 of his biggest hits, including "A Kiss To Build A Dream On," "La Vie En Rose," "Hello, Dolly!" and "What A Wonderful World," plus timeless duets with Ella Fitzgerald like, "Cheek To Cheek" and "Dream A Little Dream of Me."By Editorial Reviews
https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-World-Best-Louis-Armstrong/dp/B0DB9HM55B

Wonderful World: The Best of Louis Armstrong

The Emily Masser Quintet - Songs With My Father

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 44:39
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 41,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:00) 1. Old Devil Moon
(5:48) 2. Dat Dere
(4:52) 3. The Boy Next Door
(4:46) 4. Room 608
(5:26) 5. Song For My Mother
(4:10) 6. Take A Little Time To Smile
(5:09) 7. I'll Be Seeing You
(4:58) 8. Double Rainbow
(5:26) 9. Hackensack

Rising vocal talent Emily Masser has already attracted positive attention from British jazz luminaries Claire Martin, Liane Carroll and Clark Tracey. This is no small feat for an artist who has recorded an album while still studying at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is also helped by having on-tap mentorship and artistic guidance from her father, the highly regarded saxophonist Dean Masser, who joins her on Songs With My Father to add another dimension to her rapidly ascending career.

She first came to attention on the Clark Tracey Quintet's album Introducing Emily Masser (StrayHorn Records, 2024). This shone the spotlight on her vocal abilities, receiving positive reactions and comparisons to Annie Ross. She now returns under the guise of The Emily Masser Quintet with an album dedicated to her late mother. She is joined by her father on saxophone and a top-notch rhythm section of pianist Matyas Gayer (Eddie Henderson, Scott Hamilton), bassist James Owston (Gwilym Simcock, Greg Abate) and drummer Steve Brown (UK) (Alan Barnes, Barry Harris).

The album mainly features her take on standards, many of them favourites of her mother. It is always a risk offering modern twists on some of the jewels of the jazz world, but Masser has the ambition, voice and maturity to inject new vigour and vitality into these classics. Masser opens the album with a playful rendition of "Old Devil Moon," displaying her original phrasing alongside impressive solos from Masser (the elder) and Gayer. She also puts her spin on Oscar Brown Jr.'s lyrics to Bobby Timmons "Dat Dere," a song that perfectly complements the father-daughter aspects of the album. Her rapid phrasing emphasises the clarity of her diction as the rest of the quintet locks into just the right level of swing.

Her warm-toned nostalgic vocals bring charm to the opening of "The Boy Next Door." The gentle swing is elevated when her father dials up the swing with a top-notch saxophone solo, followed by Gayer's piano and clever interplay from Owston and Brown. Two tracks take on a more personal and reflective tone: "Song For My Mother," composed by father and daughter, together with a beautiful version of "I'll Be Seeing You," a song Masser sang at her mother's funeral.

On "Room 608" and "Hackensack," the band unleashes their power, creating a fine backdrop for Masser's adventurous vocal improvisations. Her playful scatting, riffing against the band's energy, and her joy in performance are evident throughout. The album stands as both a tribute and a showcase of the empathy and connection between father and daughter. Masser's classy and mature vocal performance focuses on getting the most from the lyrics and adding a sparkle of freshness to classic songs. She is content to find her own path through the material, is totally assured of her range and suggests an artist whose creative journey carries much promise and potential for the future. By Neil Duggan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/songs-with-my-father-the-emily-masser-quintet-self-produced

Personnel: Emily Masser (vocals), Dean Masser (tenor saxophone), Matyas Gayer (piano), James Owston (bass), and Steve Brown (drums)

Songs With My Father

Dave Holland Quintet - Points Of View

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop 
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:01
Size: 163,3 MB
Art: Front

( 9:18)  1. The Balance
(10:54)  2. Mr. B.
( 8:48)  3. Bedouin Trail
( 8:23)  4. Metamorphos
(10:12)  5. Ario
( 9:40)  6. Herbaceous
( 6:53)  7. The Benevolent One
( 6:49)  8. Serenade

The eight compositions which make up Points of View are so varied that this in itself becomes a hallmark of Dave Holland's style here. Consistency instead comes from the interaction of the players, whom Holland's arrangements give ensemble roles during each other's solos; from the unusual instrumentation, used both for frank exoticism ("Bedouin Trail", "Serenade") and to leaven more traditional compositions with surprise. The soloists are imaginative, and swinging on those tunes where swing is part of the picture. Holland and Kilson power the ensemble, Holland with his rich tone, Kilson with clarity and a fine percussionist's melodic sense, both with impeccable time."The balance" seemingly begins with the sound of a bass tuning, as if for a live date, with the other players joining in with an improvised ensemble worthy of Mingus. The tune turns into a characteristic opener, but with a difference: swift and exciting, to be sure, but with a tricky time signature and a restlessness about settling on a major or minor mode."Mr. B" is like one of those great 1950's hard bop tunes seen through a post-modern prism, Holland playing a walking bass line throughout."Bedouin trail," beginning with Eubanks high on the trombone, almost a French horn sound, moves into a medium tempo clave groove. The virtues of Holland's group stand out in this sensous tune, which seems almost to suspend time.

"Metamorphosis" alternates rapidly between swing and funk, terms that don't do justice either to the edgy composition or the impassioned improvisations.The rhythm section opens "Ario" with an ostinato feel, moving eventually into a Latin groove. As usual on this recording, the horn parts belie the small group size. Likewise the vibes' fills provide a bigger than usual sound in the percussive/chordal instrument's role: richer than a piano, fuller than a guitar. The track shifts between the mellowness of a medium-tempo ballad and a series of climaxes."Herbaceous" has a samba-then-swing feel, opened up by spontaneity and virtuosity of the ensemble, making for a tumultuous ride. "The benevolent one" begins out of tempo as a duet between Nelson's ringing vibes and Holland's bowed bass, before turning into a ballad, with Kilson's brushes shimmering like aspen leaves. The rhythm section is nearly equal in the foreground during the solos, giving the tune a chamber-music intimacy "Serenade" concludes the recording with a taste of Latin folk-music, the marimba trilling a simple melody over the initially unchanging harmony implied by Holland's repetitive bass figure. This track's optimistic serenity, played only by the rhythm section, creates yet another musical world among the several in this unusual and brilliantly realized production.By Larry Koenigsberg https://www.allaboutjazz.com/points-of-view-dave-holland-ecm-records-review-by-larry-koenigsberg.php

Personnel: Dave Holland, bass; Robin Eubanks, trombone; Steve Wilson, soprano and alto saxophone; Steve Nelson, vibraphone and marimba; Billy Kilson, drums

Points Of View

Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett - Vocal Encounters

Styles: Vocal, Piano Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:02
Size: 133,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:18)  1. That Old Black Magic
(3:14)  2. Summer Song
(3:58)  3. My Melancholy Baby (with Jimmy Rushing)
(1:56)  4. It's a Raggy Waltz
(3:06)  5. The Real Ambassador
(2:37)  6. My One Bad Habit
(3:17)  7. Because All Men Are Brothers
(2:06)  8. There'll Be Some Changes Made
(2:48)  9. Weep No More
(4:38) 10. Cultural Exchange
(2:54) 11. Travelin' Blues - Live
(3:21) 12. Ain't Misbehavin' (with Jimmy Rushing)
(5:27) 13. They Say I Look Like God
(2:29) 14. In The Lurch
(2:21) 15. Autumn In Our Town
(2:31) 16. Since Love Had Its Way
(4:37) 17. Blues in the Dark (with Jimmy Rushing)
(2:15) 18. Take Five (with The Dave Brubeck Quartet) - Single Version

Dave and Iola Brubeck wrote most of the songs on this vocal compilation, including excerpts from their show The Real Ambassadors. Culled from several early 1960s releases, each selection features a singer or singers. Two previously unreleased tracks are included: a take of “It’s A Raggy Waltz” with Carmen McRae and an arrangement of “Autumn In Our Town” with whispery singer Ranny Sinclair. The refreshing “Raggy Waltz” works well as a vocal number, while “Autumn In Our Town” proves to be much less effective. The combination of Sinclair’s pure, young and innocent voice alongside harsher pickups of guitar and piano creates problems. Precious moments include Paul Desmond’s few appearances, Tony Bennett’s “That Old Black Magic” thrill, the firm confidence of both Rushing and McRae, Louis Armstrong’s storytellin’ and LHR’s dazzling scat display. Brubeck and Desmond both provide examples of their best solo work on “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Rushing. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross work hand in hand with Armstrong on The Real Ambassadors selections to remind the world that jazz is indeed a universal language. Featuring its own cast of expressive singers, the Vocal Encounters compilation offers the reader an interesting program  on CD.By Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/vocal-encounters-dave-brubeck-columbia-records-review-by-jim-santella.php

Personnel: Dave Brubeck- piano; Paul Desmond- alto saxophone; Eugene Wright- bass; Joe Morello- drums; Danny Barcelona- drums; Trummy Young- trombone; Joe Darensbourg- clarinet; Louis Armstrong- trumpet, vocal; Tony Bennett, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Jimmy Rushing, Carmen McRae, Peter, Paul & Mary, Ranny Sinclair- vocals; other instrumentalists.

Vocal Encounters

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Herbie Hancock - The Best Of Funky Jazz

Styles: Jazz Funk
Year: 2004
Time: 64:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 146,8 MB
Art: Front

( 5:30) 1. Cantaloupe Island
( 6:12) 2. Tom Thumb
( 7:11) 3. Watermelon Man
( 8:19) 4. Blind Man, Blind Man
( 6:58) 5. Driftin
( 7:42) 6. Kuru Speak Like A Child
( 6:35) 7. And What If I Don T
(15:38) 8. Chameleon

Herbie Hancock will always be one of the most revered and controversial figures in jazz just as his employer/mentor Miles Davis was when he was alive. Unlike Miles, who pressed ahead relentlessly and never looked back until near the very end, Hancock has cut a zigzagging forward path, shuttling between almost every development in electronic and acoustic jazz and R&B over the last third of the 20th century and into the 21st. Though grounded in Bill Evans and able to absorb blues, funk, gospel, and even modern classical influences, Hancock's piano and keyboard voices are entirely his own, with their own urbane harmonic and complex, earthy rhythmic signatures and young pianists cop his licks constantly.

Having studied engineering and professing to love gadgets and buttons, Hancock was perfectly suited for the electronic age; he was one of the earliest champions of the Rhodes electric piano and Hohner clavinet, and would field an ever-growing collection of synthesizers and computers on his electric dates. Yet his love for the grand piano never waned, and despite his peripatetic activities all around the musical map, his piano style continued to evolve into tougher, ever more complex forms. He is as much at home trading riffs with a smoking funk band as he is communing with a world-class post-bop rhythm section and that drives purists on both sides of the fence up the wall.

Having taken up the piano at age seven, Hancock quickly became known as a prodigy, soloing in the first movement of a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11. After studies at Grinnell College, Hancock was invited by Donald Byrd in 1961 to join his group in New York City, and before long, Blue Note offered him a solo contract. His debut album, Takin' Off, took off indeed after Mongo Santamaria covered one of the album's songs, "Watermelon Man." In May 1963,

Miles Davis asked him to join his band in time for the Seven Steps to Heaven sessions, and he remained there for five years, greatly influencing Miles' evolving direction, loosening up his own style, and, upon Miles' suggestion, converting to the Rhodes electric piano. In that time span, Hancock's solo career also blossomed on Blue Note, pouring forth increasingly sophisticated compositions like "Maiden Voyage," "Cantaloupe Island," "Goodbye to Childhood," and the exquisite "Speak Like a Child." He also played on many East Coast recording sessions for producer Creed Taylor and provided a groundbreaking score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow Up, which gradually led to further movie assignments.

Having left the Davis band in 1968, Hancock recorded an elegant funk album, Fat Albert Rotunda, and in 1969 formed a sextet that evolved into one of the most exciting, forward-looking jazz-rock groups of the era. Now deeply immersed in electronics, Hancock added the synthesizer of Patrick Gleeson to his Echoplexed, fuzz-wah-pedaled electric piano and clavinet, and the recordings became spacier and more complex rhythmically and structurally, creating its own corner of the avant-garde. By 1970, all of the musicians used both English and African names (Herbie's was Mwandishi). Alas, Hancock had to break up the band in 1973 when it ran out of money, and having studied Buddhism, he concluded that his ultimate goal should be to make his audiences happy. Head Hunters The next step, then, was a terrific funk group whose first album, Head Hunters, with its Sly Stone-influenced hit single,

"Chameleon," became the biggest-selling jazz LP up to that time. Now handling all of the synthesizers himself, Hancock's heavily rhythmic comping often became part of the rhythm section, leavened by interludes of the old urbane harmonies. Hancock recorded several electric albums of mostly superior quality in the '70s, followed by a wrong turn into disco around the decade's end. In the meantime, Hancock refused to abandon acoustic jazz. After a one-shot reunion of the 1965 Miles Davis Quintet (Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, with Freddie Hubbard sitting in for Miles) at New York's 1976 Newport Jazz Festival, they went on tour the following year as V.S.O.P. The near-universal acclaim of the reunions proved that Hancock was still a whale of a pianist; that Miles' loose mid-'60s post-bop direction was far from spent; and that the time for a neo-traditional revival was near, finally bearing fruit in the '80s with Wynton Marsalis and his ilk. V.S.O.P. continued to hold sporadic reunions through 1992, though the death of the indispensable Williams in 1997 cast much doubt as to whether these gatherings would continue.

Hancock continued his chameleonic ways in the '80s: scoring an MTV hit in 1983 with the scratch-driven, proto-industrial single "Rockit" (accompanied by a striking video); launching an exciting partnership with Gambian kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso that culminated in the swinging 1986 live album Jazz Africa; doing film scores; and playing festivals and tours with the Marsalis brothers, George Benson, Michael Brecker, and many others. After his 1988 techno-pop album, Perfect Machine, Hancock left Columbia (his label since 1973), signed a contract with Qwest that came to virtually nothing (save for A Tribute to Miles in 1992), and finally made a deal with Polygram in 1994 to record jazz for Verve and release pop albums on Mercury. Well into a youthful middle age, Hancock's curiosity, versatility, and capacity for growth showed no signs of fading, and in 1998 he issued Gershwin's World.

His curiosity with the fusion of electronic music and jazz continued with 2001's Future 2 Future, but he also continued to explore the future of straight-ahead contemporary jazz with 2005's Possibilities. An intriguing album of jazz treatments of Joni Mitchell compositions called River: The Joni Letters was released in 2007. In 2010 Hancock released his The Imagine Project album, which was recorded in seven countries and featured a host of collaborators, including Dave Matthews, Anoushka Shankar, Jeff Beck, the Chieftains, John Legend, India.Arie, Seal, P!nk, Juanes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Chaka Khan, K'NAAN, Wayne Shorter, James Morrison, and Lisa Hannigan. He was also named Creative Chair for the New Los Angeles Philharmonic.https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/herbie-hancock

The Best Of Funky Jazz

Jeremy Pelt - Woven

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 50:14
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 115,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:12) 1. Prologue: Invention #1
(6:54) 2. Rhapsody
(5:16) 3. Afrofuturism
(4:52) 4. 13/14
(6:52) 5. Dreamcatcher
(5:17) 6. Michelle
(4:44) 7. Fair Weather
(9:29) 8. Invention #2 / Black Conscience
(4:34) 9. Labyrinth

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's latest project, Woven, is a fascinating album that fuses more traditional aspects of 21st-century jazz with the myriad possibilities of electronic synthesized sound. This collection of mostly original compositions showcases Pelt's instrumental artistry together with his commitment to composing works that explore new dimensions in jazz. Each track on Woven is meticulously crafted, perfectly balancing innovation with communicative emotional depth.

The full range of contemporary jazz can be found here, from neo-bop, hard-driving rhythms to touchingly intimate balladic utterances. But Pelt's trumpet can also weave through electronic textures, creating a sonic landscape where the group's kaleidoscopic tone colors become a fundamental part of the melodic content. Joined by an impressive ensemble of musicians, Pelt and his collaborators create a fluid interplay of acoustic and electronic sounds, displaying their skill in integrating bold, contemporary elements while simultaneously underlining the very essence of jazz. https://www.amazon.com/Woven-Jeremy-Pelt/dp/B0DNWRLG22

Woven

Rebecca Kilgore, Andy Brown - Together - Live

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:56
Size: 112,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:20) 1. The Touch of Your Lips (Live)
(3:33) 2. Better Than Anything (Live)
(4:26) 3. Can't Get out of This Mood (Live)
(4:00) 4. Nobody Else but Me (Live)
(4:31) 5. A Woman's Intuition (Live)
(3:20) 6. Rock Me to Sleep (Live)
(5:20) 7. The Gentle Rain (Live)
(3:27) 8. Give Me the Simple Life (Live)
(4:33) 9. Where Can I Go Without You (Live)
(3:43) 10. Destination Moon (Live)
(3:34) 11. Any Old Time (Live)
(4:03) 12. You Are There (Live)

Sometimes I hear music so touching that it leaves me rarely at a loss for words nearly speechless. The new duo CD by two of my heroes, Rebecca Kilgore and guitarist Andy Brown, did and does just that. It was recorded in performance fourteen months ago for Heavywood Records, and it is memorably intimate. But before I get my verbalizing together, perhaps you should hear what I hear, at least two delicious offerings. Listen to this (a song new to me, music by Victor Young, lyrics by Peggy Lee): or this, music by David “Buck” Wheat, lyrics by Bill Loughborough: Those performances should answer the question of why this disc is remarkable, but perhaps some words might be appropriate, like extra dressing on the already delicious salad. I think, first, that “TOGETHER” and “LIVE” are beautifully candid descriptions of what you will hear.

Rebecca and Andy have a wonderful unity, even though their respective individualities shine through it is as if they are wondrous listeners, the most sensitive and knowing musical conversationalists, who are both expert and eager to make something larger than their solitary selves spring into being. What results is warm, personal, and full of small sweet surprises. The fact that this lovely music came out of a live performance is both understandable and a triumph. Jazz clubs are full of people who, even if they are not dropping cutlery (something I have been guilty of in capital letters) are busy shifting in their chairs, inhaling and exhaling so many live recordings sound as if one is listening through a haze of low-level background noise, like looking at the beautiful landscape through eyeglasses that need a good cleaning.

Not here: the sound is warm but not clinical. And both Rebecca and Andy are professionals who create memorable music under the least happy circumstances the chilly isolation and pressure of the recording studio, and in Rebecca’s case, sometimes the “vocal booth,” which has all the physical ease of a coffin they sound happy and free here, making spacious music. There you have it. Two rewarding artists, a delightfully unhackneyed repertoire, a lovely intimacy. My only objection to this otherwise flawless CD is that I think the title needed an exclamation point. But no one asked me. You can read a little more about it in the liner note, but I urge you to go right into the deep end of the pool and (whisper it) make a purchase. It will reward your ears and heart. The music can be downloaded through Amazon, Apple, Spotify, and I think other sources. https://jazzlives.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/together-%E2%80%A2-live-rebecca-kilgore-andy-brown/

Together - Live

Monday, March 17, 2025

Hilary Kole - The Judy Garland Project

Size: 149,3 MB
Time: 65:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart (4:12)
02. The Boy Next Door (4:14)
03. Just In Time (2:55)
04. You Made Me Love You (4:59)
05. Stompin' At The Savoy (3:34)
06. The Man That Got Away (4:21)
07. A Cottage For Sale (6:28)
08. I Wish I Were In Love Again (3:13)
09. Look For The Silver Lining (3:41)
10. The Trolley Song (3:27)
11. Get Happy (3:38)
12. Embraceable You (4:33)
13. As Long As He Needs Me (5:19)
14. It Never Was You (4:21)
15. Over The Rainbow (6:01)

A great singer is a method actor. Within each song is a role, a character. And what we refer to as interpretation is acting. The caveat of course is, to ring true and be believable, it has to be real. The actor must reach down to the deepest depths and up to the highest heights of her own experience to deliver a performance that completes the electrical/emotional circuit of truth.

Hilary Kole, on this stunningly fresh collection of performances of songs from the well-worn repertoire of Judy Garland, reveals and brings new life to the emotional core of each tune while revealing herself as a consummate interpreter. A goddess, wielding lightning bolts of electricity and emotion that break through the clouds and reach our very souls. While never attempting to imitate Garland, she succeeds in telling Judy’s story — relaying the joy of falling in love, the hope that love will prevail, the heartbreak when love fails. And most importantly, the gathering of the will and desire to pick oneself up again to give it one more try.

Accompanied by pianist John DiMartino, bassist Paul Gill, and drummer Aaron Kimmel, this album cooks. These are swingin' jazz interpretations, loaded with improvisation and solos, like a late-night set in a smoky Village jazz club. The ballads luxuriate you in washes of tone and texture, then wrap you in vocal and instrumental silks and satins.

The song choices are based on Hilary’s successful live performances of the Judy canon, her “Over the Rainbow” tribute concerts held the world over. It was fresh from a series of these performances in Japan that Hilary came to the studio, bringing the energy and vitality of the live concert hall into the studio on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. With the tape machine rolling, Hilary and the boys performed at a remarkable level of focus and concentration; a well-oiled jazz machine of intricate interplay and in-the-moment flourishes that only those well versed in the language of jazz can provide.

And then, finally the icing on the cake: Hilary Kole’s stunning interpretation of the most famous song of all. The signature tune that followed Judy through her whole life, changing meanings constantly from her teen years through her battles with demons of all kinds. The song that was almost cut from its famous movie because it was “too sad”. The song written in 1939, as World War II was brewing in Europe, the Great Depression was in full swing here at home, and storm clouds were gathering. It is from that starting point that Kole sat with pen to paper and began writing her remarkable string quartet arrangement to that remarkable song. In her equally stunning vocal performance, she embodies every measure of despair yet every measure of hope the composers intended. It is a show stopper.

This album is the work of a true artist in every sense of the word. It is an honor and privilege to have captured these performances, and to share them with you now. ~Richard Barone

The Judy Garland Project

Sullivan Fortner - Southern Nights

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 49:19
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 113,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:37) 1. Southern Nights
(5:13) 2. I Love You
(3:45) 3. 9 Bar Tune
(6:36) 4. Tres Palabras
(4:07) 5. Waltz For Monk
(7:13) 6. Again, Never
(5:26) 7. Discovery
(5:46) 8. Daahoud
(5:31) 9. Organ Grinder

There’s a smile to the music Sullivan Fortner makes. It can be über serious, but inside, it smiles because that’s Sullivan Fortner a pianist of unabashed charm and incredible technique all wrapped up in a bit of New Orleans showmanship. New Orleans. That’s where Fortner comes from even though he now lives in New York City. And New Orleans remains the center of his musical heart.

As a result, it’s not surprising that his latest recording, Southern Nights, brims with the spirit conjured by that title. Written by Allen Toussaint, truly a patron saint of New Orleans musical history, the title track became a hit for pop legend Glen Campbell back in the 1970s, but leading off this album, Fortner’s version is a breezy, lovely lope that conjures the best of that southern city on a spring morning. But don’t let that fool you. What he’s doing with his left and right hands is crazy complex yet incredibly catchy. “Southern Nights” is the opening tune on this terrific nine-song set, which includes tunes from other great composers as well.

Cole Porter’s “I Love You” kicks off with an avant garde-ish intro before taking off on a quick-paced thrill ride with Fortner backed beautifully by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Marcus Gilmore. From there, Fortner makes even more interesting song choices. Osvaldo Farres’ “Tres Palabras” sends shivers with an awesome solo by Washington; Donald Brown’s “Waltz For Monk” is quirky cool; Bill Lee’s “Never Again” shows Fortner’s love for getting inside a ballad; Consuela Lee’s “Discovery” packs in the drama and pianistic glitter; Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud” has Gilmore setting the tone with a tasteful, tight drum solo to kick off the piece; and Woody Shaw’s “The Organ Grinder” swings just right.

There’s one Fortner original on the set, “9 Bar Tune,” a Monkish tip of the cap that suits the program perfectly. Throughout, it’s amazing to listen to what this trio accomplishes: complex rhythms and chord changes, beautiful melodies and quirky “out” passages, all presented as if gliding on air. The album was recorded right after Fortner, Washington and Gilmore finished a week at the Village Vanguard in New York. So, the music was selected, rehearsed, minted and audience-approved before taking it into the studio. We’re lucky they did. It’s is a wonderful document of one of our true rising stars on the piano and a trio that refines its presentation with each live performance. Hopefully, they’ll tour.
https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32157&title=sullivan-fortner-southern-nights-review

Southern Nights

Jo Stafford - Autumn In New York And Other Classics

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:37
Size: 153,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:42)  1. Autumn In New York
(2:47)  2. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
(2:57)  3. If I Loved You
(2:58)  4. Almost Like Being In Love
(2:27)  5. Make Believe
(2:39)  6. Through The Years
(3:10)  7. Sometimes I'm Happy
(2:48)  8. In The Still Of The Night
(3:12)  9. Some Enchanted Evening
(2:25) 10. The Best Things In Life Are Free
(2:42) 11. Just One Of Those Things
(2:46) 12. Haunted Heart
(2:54) 13. Alice Blue Gown
(2:33) 14. Tell Me Why
(2:40) 15. Let The Rest Of The World Go By
(2:44) 16. Gee, It's Good To Hold You
(2:35) 17. The Wish That I Wish Tonight
(2:51) 18. As Long As I Know You're Somewhere
(3:03) 19. Rockin' Chair
(3:02) 20. Georgia On My Mind
(2:49) 21. Dream - Edit
(3:13) 22. Jamboree Jones
(3:29) 23. Temptation (Tim-Tayshun) - 1949 Version

An early LP for Jo Stafford (and the LP format itself), 1950's Autumn in New York assembled a dozen standards set at ballad tempo and arranged with crying strings by Stafford's primary arranger (and husband), Paul Weston. Most of them were show tunes, some dating back to the '20s, and all seemed tailor-made for Stafford's sweet, pure tone and way with a lovelorn lyric. The title song and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" earned pride of place, but there simply wasn't a deficient tune in the bunch "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Just One of Those Things" and Stafford treated them all with the reverence and devotion they deserve. The LP was released in several formats, including a collection of 78-rpm EPs, while a 2009 reissue by DRG boasted 11 bonus tracks, including a few previously unreleased songs as well as a pair of big hits: "Jamboree Jones" (featuring Johnny Mercer) and "Tim-Tayshun (Temptation)" (Stafford's cornpone sendup of the Bing Crosby standard). ~ John Bush https://www.allmusic.com/album/autumn-in-new-york-mw0000814176

Autumn In New York And Other Classics

Judy Wexler - Crowded Heart

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:49
Size: 110,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:40)  1. Circus Life
(5:00)  2. Parisian Heartbreak
(5:23)  3. Crowded Heart
(3:51)  4. Painted on Canvas
(4:45)  5. Stars
(4:55)  6. The Last Goodbye
(4:33)  7. Take My Breath Away
(4:17)  8. I Took Your Hand
(4:53)  9. It's Only Smoke
(5:27) 10. And We Will Fly

For her fifth album, Judy Wexler has embraced a concept that's oddly foreign in the jazz vocal realm. Instead of walking her way down the all-too-familiar avenues for singers classic Broadway-cum-jazz material, canonical works written by revered jazz figures, pop tunes reshaped with harmonic facelifts, self-penned originals she takes the road less traveled by focusing on the work of jazz composers thriving in the present. In doing so she magnifies the importance of these artists, highlights material worthy of greater attention, and elevates her own standing as a gifted stylist and interpreter. Wexler winds her way through this series of new jazz standards with comfort and ease, telling stories and shaping melodies with smarts and sophistication. Whether exploring love's various shades and shapes, peeling back the many layers of emotion in the human experience, moving deftly through simile and metaphor, or unpacking day-to-day life in all its turbulence, she remains a font of feeling and truth. Working closely with pianist Alan Pasqua, her longtime musical partner and co-producer/arranger on this project, Wexler manages to inhabit these songs and deal with them on her own terms while still remaining true to the source material. That's apparent right from the start, as she steps into a world of Luciana Souza's making for "Circus Life." The adrenaline rush and buoyancy of the original prove influential, but there's added weight and poignancy in Wexler's performance. She doesn't simply work from the mold here, and this performance is all the richer because of that fact. 

There are times and places where Wexler and Pasqua choose to create by ironing out some aspects of the model Gregory Porter's "Painted On Canvas," for example, is coolly paved in 4/4 here but they're just as quick to uncover or explore an illustrative wrinkle heretofore unseen. That point shows true and clear on "It's Only Smoke," a Larry Goldings original with lyrics penned by Cliff Goldmacher. Rather than wring sentiment from Goldmacher's pen, Wexler lets his words and Goldings' melody shine under the light of their inherent beauty. She reminds us that sometimes a song just needs to be appreciated, not mined. In choosing to explore the work of artists like Porter, Souza, Kurt Elling, and Rene Marie, Wexler shows a fondness for individualism and demonstrates a keen ear for strong material. That gift is not terribly surprising, given her sterling reputation and high standing in the vocal community, but it still deserves to be noted. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/crowded-heart-judy-wexler-jewel-city-jazz-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Judy Wexler: vocals; Alan Pasqua: piano, melodica , whistling; Larry Koonse: guitar; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone; Bob Sheppard: alto flute; Stefanie Fife: cello; Darek Oles: bass; Steve Hass: drums; Aaron Serfaty: percussion.

Crowded Heart

Rebecca Kilgore - With Hal Smith's California Swing Cats

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:03
Size: 148.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[2:47] 1. With Plenty Of Money And You
[3:48] 2. 'deed I Do
[4:30] 3. Sleepy Time Down South
[2:40] 4. Swing, Brother, Swing
[3:51] 5. Georgia On My Mind
[4:13] 6. You
[3:59] 7. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
[4:09] 8. Thou Swell
[4:30] 9. A Kiss To Build A Dream On
[2:43] 10. Piano Man
[4:32] 11. When My Dreamboat Comes Home
[4:03] 12. Drum Boogie
[3:57] 13. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
[5:08] 14. Sing, Sing, Sing
[3:12] 15. Pardon My Southern Accent
[3:30] 16. Cow Cow Boogie
[3:24] 17. La Vie En Rose

As an interpreter of classic American popular songs from the 1930s and 1940s, vocalist and guitarist Rebecca Kilgore helped revive the hits of yesterday for modern-era jazz audiences. Born in Waltham, MA, in 1949, she relocated to Portland, OR, at the age of 30, beginning her music career fronting an area swing band dubbed the Wholly Cats and recording a 1982 LP titled Doggin' Around. Following the group's 1984 breakup, she formed her own unit, the Rebecca Kilgore Quintet, which quickly emerged as a mainstay of the Northwest jazz scene, and in 1989, she released the cassette-only I Hear Music. Most of Kilgore's subsequent recordings were in conjunction with other performers: In 1990, she teamed with John Miller for Put on a Happy Face, and in 1993 appeared with Portland's Tall Jazz Trio on their Plays Winter Jazz disc. However, Kilgore's most fruitful collaborations were in conjunction with pianist Dave Frishberg; after teaming for 1993's Looking at You, they reunited a year later for I Saw Stars, followed in 1997 by Not a Care in the World and again in 2001 with The Starlit Hour. At the same time, Kilgore also fronted a '60s-style country band, Beck-a-Roo, and in 1994 contributed vocals to the score of the CBS animated special Tales From the Far Side, inspired by the popular Gary Larson comic strip. ~ bio by Jason Ankeny

With Hal Smith's California Swing Cats

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1960
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:03
Size: 101,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:26)  1. Airegin
(5:23)  2. D-Natural Blues
(4:44)  3. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
(6:15)  4. Four On Six
(7:25)  5. West Coast Blues
(4:54)  6. In Your Own Sweet Way
(4:33)  7. Mister Walker
(6:20)  8. Gone With The Wind

Ask a dozen jazz guitar fans for their all-time top guitar albums and The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery is likely to be high on every list. If it isn't, chances are Montgomery's live set Full House (Riverside, 1962), recorded two years later, will be. With these discs, Indianapolis-born Montgomery (1923-68) gave the guitar its biggest quantum leaps forward, both stylistically and in terms of listener acceptance, since Charlie Christian in the late 1930s/early 1940s and Johnny Smith in the 1950s. Full House got the 24-bit remastering treatment in 2007 as part of Riverside's Keepnews Collection series, supervised and annotated by label founder/producer Orrin Keepnews. Now The Incredible Jazz Guitar joins it.  Almost entirely self-taught (initially by immersing himself in Christian's recordings with clarinetist Benny Goodman's chamber groups), and unable to read a note of music, by 1959 when he was brought to Keepnews' attention by saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, who'd been gigging in Indianapolis Montgomery had developed a revolutionary new approach to the instrument. His style featured three signature elements: he played with his thumb, never a pick, and he improvised entire choruses using either octaves or pianistic block chords. None of these techniques were unique, but until Montgomery came along no other guitarist had mastered them so completely (let alone combined them) or made them so integral to sound and improvisation. An exception is Smith, whose Moonlight in Vermont (Roulette, 1953) and later albums featured extended passages of block chording as beautiful and fluid as Montgomery's.

The Incredible Jazz Guitar burst onto the US scene in 1960 like a benign hurricane, and it still sounds like a gale almost 50 years later. Over four bluesy originals, the standards "Polka Dots And Moonbeams" and "Gone With The Wind," Dave Brubeck's gorgeous "In Your Own Sweet Way" and a fast-paced reading of Sonny Rollins' "Airegin," Montgomery empathetically accompanied by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Percy Heath (then riding high with the Modern Jazz Quartet), and drummer Albert Heath makes the guitar sound like it never had before. It has sounded similar since, of course, thanks to the legion of Montgomery-influenced players, but rarely so close to perfection. In his revealing new extended liner notes, Keepnews, born within a few days of Montgomery and at 85 a fluent anecdotal historian, paints a vivid portrait of Montgomery as a musician and as a private person. He expresses some regret that he was unable to give Montgomery the big mainstream audience he achieved with producer Creed Taylor on Verve and CTI 1964-68 (but is proud that Montgomery's Riverside recordings made no attempt at pop crossover) and some embarrassment over the lack of alternate takes or bonus tracks (the reissued Full House by contrast had both), recalling the many Riverside archive tape boxes he's come across with the original data crossed out and supplanted by something later. 

But he doesn't beat himself up about it, and nor should he. At 43:58 divine minutes, The Incredible Jazz Guitar endures, and will continue to do so.~Chris May http://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-incredible-jazz-guitar-of-wes-montgomery-wes-montgomery-riverside-review-by-chris-may.php

Personnel: Wes Montgomery: guitar; Tommy Flanagan: piano; Percy Heath: bass; Albert Heath: drums.

The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery