Agneta Baumann - A Time For Love

Styles: Jazz Vocals

Label: Naxos

Year: 1996 / 2008

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 69:45

Size: 159,7 MB

Scans: Front

(5:33)  1. A Time For Love

(2:52)  2. I Get Along Without You Very Well

(5:14)  3. He Was Too Good To Me

(4:40)  4. Here`s That Rainy Day

(6:57)  5. More Than You Know

(3:56)  6. If You Love Me

(4:29)  7. The Good Life

(3:21)  8. When The World Was Young

(5:31)  9. I Fall In Love Too Easily

(3:57) 10. I`m Afraid The Masquerade Is Over

(3:27) 11. The Party`s Over

(5:52) 12. Everything Happens To Me

(6:10) 13. All My Tomorrows

(2:40) 14. The Best Is Yet To Come

(4:58) 15. That`s All

This is singer Agneta Baumann's come-back after an absence of nearly ten years from the scene; a musical self-portrait of artistic stature which is at the same time an open personal statement, as revealing as though the words were spoken in confidence. Up until the middle of the 80's Agneta Baumann had become established not purely as a jazz singer but more as a jazz-influenced artist-entertainer had in the glamorous environment of late-night dinner/dance restaurants. She was born in the town of Kalmar in south-eastern Sweden where as a youngster she sang in the school choir and as a teenager in the school jazz band, as she happened to prefer Anita O'Day to Elvis Presley. Later in life she also came to appreciate the artistry of Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Billie Holiday.

But it was not until after some years spent in other working activities that music took a central role in her life. During a period in the travel-agent business in Copenhagen 1965 she began to sing with The Golden Girls, a popular group in the style of The Supremes, and after an engagement in Stockholm 1968 she decided to stay and branch out on her own. During the following years she toured throughout the country and abroad with her own constellation "Agneta Baumanns Orkester". From the later part of the 70's she also often sang together with the jazz pianist Knud Jörgensen, who taught her what is perhaps the most important thing of all, that the space between phrases is also music, and that you have to mean what you sing.

A Time For Love

---

Grant Stewart - In The Still Of The Night

Styles: Mainstream Jazz

Year: 2007

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 60:26

Size: 138,4 MB

Scans: full

(6:32)  1. In The Still Of The Night

(6:42)  2. Theme For Ernie

(7:47)  3. Wives and Lovers

(8:30)  4. Autumn In New York

(7:54)  5. IF Ever I Would Leave You

(8:03)  6. Work

(8:37)  7. Lush life

(6:18)  8. Loads of Love

This is hardly tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart's first recording as a leader, but his earlier CDs were for various European labels. In the Still of the Night is the release that set his career afire, as he joins forces with three of New York's in-demand musicians in his rhythm section: the hard-driving pianist Tardo Hammer, everyone's first call bassist Peter Washington and the talented drummer Joe Farnsworth. Right of the box, the big-toned Stewart makes his presence known with an up-tempo rendition of "In the Still of the Night" that makes one stand up and take notice. Stewart and Hammer dive head first into Thelonious Monk's "Work" (not exactly one of the pianist's more frequently recorded numbers), with Washington and Farnsworth fueling their spirited solos. 

But Stewart is also no slouch playing ballads, as his dreamy take of "Autumn in New York" and haunting treatment of "Lush Life" display a profound lyricism. Stewart's astute choice of Richard Rodgers' "Loads of Love" uncovers another gem that is rarely recorded, his sizzling solo will invite comparisons to Dexter Gordon. Even Burt Bacharach's often blandly played "Wives & Lovers" is rejuvenated with Stewart's lighthearted but aggressive interpretation. Highly recommended! (by Ken Dryden)

In The Still Of The Night

---

Jesuton - Encontros

Styles: Adult Alternative Pop
Label: Som livre
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:97
Size: 101,0 MB
Scans: Front

(3:33)  1. Us(Nós)
(2:45)  2. Crosses
(4:19)  3. Same Mistake
(2:47)  4. Nothing Changes
(3:54)  5. Time Is Running Out
(4:58)  6. Holocene
(4:30)  7. Sodade
(4:37)  8. Between The Bars
(4:12)  9. The Blower's Daughter
(3:31) 10. Redemption Song
(4:41) 11. Wild Horses
(3:18) 12. O Mundo É Um Moinho
(3:13) 13. Try A Little Tenderness
(4:05) 14. I'll Never Love This Way Again [Bonus Track]
(4:35) 15. Because You Loved Me [Bonus Track]

Originally from London, Jesuton was born as Rachel Jesuton Olaolu Amosu in 1985 and goes by her middle name which was given to her by her Nigerian father. She arrived in Rio in March 2012 with the desire gain a broader knowledge of South America, a region she had always felt drawn to explore.She had previously spent time in Washington D.C. getting a masters degree and had traveled around Latin America to Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Peru, where she lived for two years. Upon arriving in Rio she wanted to dedicate herself to music but didn’t know how to begin. “During that time where I was doing a lot of soul searching,” said Jesuton.“I was walking along the street in Ipanema and I saw a guy, his name was Alfredo Buendia, he had an amazing setup. I heard his voice before I saw him.” It was Buendia who encouraged Jesuton and told her the equipment she’d need to sing on the streets. “I started and I really really loved it. There’s so much freedom in it.” said Jesuton. “I really liked her voice and style,” Rio piano and musical theory teacher, Ana Espinola told The Rio Times. “She’s very well tuned and didn’t sound like everyone else.” Espinola became any early fan of Jesuton through videos posted online of her singing on the streets.

At the same time another Carioca, writer Glória Perez, was also discovering Jestuon’s live performances. Later when Perez was looking for an international song for her upcoming novela “Salve Jorge”, she thought of Jesuton and contacted her to cover Dione Warwick’s “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” for the novela soundtrack.

From there Jesuton began to be known be a broader audience in Brazil. When asked how it felt to gain popularity in a foreign.~ country, Jesuton said, “I don’t know if it’s strange because I would say that I didn’t try to forge a musical career in London. I think sometimes people might have the idea that I was singing on the streets in various different countries around Latin America or I tried my luck in London and it didn’t work out.”~Chesney Hearst(http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-entertainment/jesuton-british-singer-shines-in-rio/#).

Encontros

---

John Mayer - Paradise Valley

Styles: Americana, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter
Label: Columbia
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:48
Size: 91,1 MB
Scans: Front

(4:12)  1. Wildfire
(3:42)  2. Dear Marie
(4:32)  3. Waitin' On The Day
(4:18)  4. Paper Doll
(3:26)  5. Call Me The Breeze
(4:10)  6. Who You Love [Feat. Katy Perry]
(4:02)  7. I Will Be Found (Lost At Sea)
(1:26)  8. Wildfire [Feat. Frank Ocean]
(2:46)  9. You're No One 'Til Someone Lets You Down
(3:13) 10. Badge And Gun
(3:57) 11. On The Way Home

John Mayer's 2013 album, the Americana-tinged Paradise Valley, is an introspective if somewhat more upbeat affair than his similarly country-inflected 2012 release, Born and Raised. With that album, Mayer was coming off a rough career patch that found him issuing a mea culpa for an infamously loose-lipped 2010 Rolling Stone interview. Making matters worse, in 2011 the singer/songwriter announced he would be going on extended hiatus from performing while he received treatment for granulomas found near his vocal cords. Subsequently, with Born and Raised, Mayer moved away from the commercial pop of 2010's Battle Studies and toward an intimate, largely acoustic, '70s Laurel Canyon-inspired sound with songs that featured plenty of apologetic soul-searching. Named after the Montana river valley where Mayer owns a cabin and spends much of his time when not touring, Paradise Valley continues in this more intimate country-folk style and often feels less like a stand-alone album and more like a companion piece to Born and Raised. Which isn't to say it's a lesser work. 

On the contrary, Paradise Valley actually hangs together better than Born and Raised, with songs that achieve a balance between Mayer's electric Eric Clapton influence and his softer James Taylor-inspired side. Although his self-imposed period of supplication seems to have ended, Mayer still has plenty of troubles on his mind. Whether comparing his life on the road to the life of an old girlfriend he webstalks online, as he does on "Dear Marie," or struggling with his wanderlust and inability to call one place home, as he does on "Badge and Gun," Mayer is clearly still struggling with some of life's bigger issues. As he sings to his old girlfriend on "Dear Marie," "Yeah I got that dream, but you got yourself a family." It's this knack for turning his personal worries into universally relatable ones that helps Mayer avoid coming off as too self-absorbed and entitled. It is also this ability that helps him finesse "Paper Doll" from simply being a nasty swipe at rumored onetime paramour Taylor Swift (Swift purportedly wrote the song "Dear John" after being dumped by Mayer) into a superbly crafted and gorgeous song about romancing someone more emotionally vulnerable than yourself. Elsewhere, Mayer delivers a soulful rendition of J.J. Cale's "Call Me the Breeze" the most straightforward blues cut on the album -- and delves into two synergistic duets, the first with on-and-off girlfriend Katy Perry on "Who You Love" and the second with R&B auteur Frank Ocean on "Wildfire."

That Mayer fails to cite country legend Ernest Tubb as the inspiration for "You're No One 'Til Someone Lets You Down," which basically cribs the melody from Tubb's "Walking the Floor Over You," might seem more of an oversight if he hadn't made it so obvious from the start that he was clearly drawing from the deep well of country music's past on Paradise Valley. Ultimately, whether it's Tubb's honky tonk twang, or the twang of Mayer's own heart, the sound of Paradise Valley rings true.(by Matt Collar)

Paradise Valley

---

Sue Nixon & The Leo Raymundo Quartet - Moonglow

Styles: Jazz Vocals
Label: Self Released
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:15
Size: 140,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:40)  1. East of the Sun
(3:29)  2. Ain't No Sunshine
(3:32)  3. Lullaby of Birdland
(4:15)  4. Turn Me On
(5:18)  5. The Nearness of You
(4:46)  6. Song For My Father
(3:39)  7. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
(4:31)  8. Fever
(3:59)  9. I Remember You
(4:25) 10. Speak Low
(5:11) 11. Moonglow
(3:11) 12. The Girl From Ipanema
(3:19) 13. Fly Me to the Moon
(2:34) 14. Easy Living
(5:20) 15. All of Me

Sue Nixon and the Leo Raymundo Quartet interpret classic jazz and latin standards with its own distinctive style, and have become a fixture at Serafina Restaurant and the local jazz scene. With a voice described as soulful and rich, Sue Nixon walks the line between jazz, blues, and gospel. In 2000, She recorded her first CD release, Even There, a collection of time-honored hymns. Produced and arranged by noted composer/performer, Walt Wagner, the CD includes eleven beautiful hymns; classic and soulful. Formally trained on the alto saxophone, Leo Raymundo taught himself to play guitar and electric bass during high school, where he formed his first rock band, before eventually gravitating to the stand up bass and his first love - jazz music. Since his first professional jazz gig in 1991, Leo has had the honor of sharing the stage with some of the finest jazz legends of Seattle, like Greta Matassa, Dehner Franks, Pat Wright, and Clarence Acox.

At age 7, Aaron Mesaros began a life long passion for music with a focus in jazz and other improvised music. He studied music at the University of Washington and the University of Montana with such greats as Robin McCabe, Jerome Gray, and Marc Seales. Over the last 15 years Aaron has performed as soloist, sideman, and leader in various musical settings. Aaron loves the standards, invoking his own musical ideas in a fresh, imaginative, yet respectful way. Artie Huycke brings a musical background as diverse as high school All-State Band, a Top-40 cover band, a 3-piece blues band, a church pop band, to a biker rock band, and has been playing jazz with the Leo Raymundo Trio since 1996. With his excellent sense of time and drumming skills, Artie has helped create a solid and unique rhythm section that has become a hallmark of the band.(http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7381008&style=music&fulldesc=T).

Moonglow

---

Sue Matthews - One At A Time

Styles: Vocal
Label: Renata Music Company
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:41
Size: 111,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:11)  1. My Romance
(4:39)  2. On My Way To You
(4:23)  3. Rocks In My Bed
(2:02)  4. Down With Love
(6:06)  5. Here's To Life
(3:55)  6. Imagine That
(3:44)  7. Caledonia
(3:31)  8. Wild Women Don't Get The Blues
(4:25)  9. How Insensitive
(2:42) 10. One At A Time
(5:01) 11. Losing My Mind
(3:56) 12. Amazing Grace

For her third effort as a soloist, Mid-Atlantic singer Sue Matthews has opted to go with an agenda of standards, show tunes and traditional pop, all of which of she sings with an innate appreciation of intimacy and savoir-faire, mixing some blues inflection and torch where it makes sense. She also has a way about her that gives one a warm, cuddly feeling after listening to her do something like "Down with Love" where she gets a big assist from veteran bassist Keter Betts and long time Washington, D. C. guitarist, Steve Abshire. 

The same two show up for a rueful, blueful version of "Rocks in My Bed". At the same time, Matthews can wrench at your heart strings with a lovely Stephen Sondheim "Losing My Mind" from Follies. Another heart twister, "Here's to Life" is countered by a folk like "Caledonia" done A Capella showing her Irish roots which is also offset by a down and dirty, Sophie Tucker like "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues". Matthews does all of these wonderful vocal things with on the mark articulation, phrasing that's attuned to the meaning and direction of the lyrics. She has the ability to use her band members to her best advantage.

For instance, she hones in on the melodically rich and lyrically tender "My Romance" with strong and equal participation from pianist Stefan Scaggiari as well as trading phrases with guitarist Gerry Kunkel. Because of her willingness to share the song, musicians must like to work with her putting her in a class of vocalists that a Helen Merrill belongs to. This album is highly recommended.~Dave Nathan

(http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=10372#.UfQk_qyAc1I).

Personnel: Sue Matthews - Vocals; Stefan Scaggiari - Piano; Keter Betts, Viktor Dvoskin - Bass; Steve Abshire, Gerry Kunkel - Guitar; Frank Russo - Drums

One At A Time

---

Tianna Hall - Never Let Me Go

Styles: Jazz Vocals, Bossa Nova
Label: Blue Bamboo Music
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:45
Size: 123,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:29)  1. My Blue Heaven
(5:42)  2. I Wanna Be Around
(3:38)  3. Never Let Me Go
(3:14)  4. Samba Do Aviao
(5:27)  5. You Don't Know What Love Is
(4:46)  6. Secret Love
(5:52)  7. Charade
(3:56)  8. Fotografia
(3:29)  9. You And The Night And The Music
(4:28) 10. I Can't Get Started (With You)
(4:16) 11. I Love You
(5:23) 12. Everything Happens To Me

Never Let Me Go is Houston-native vocalist Tianna Hall's third release, and first for Blue Bamboo Music, following her self-produced Lost in the Stars (2007) and Ballads and Bossas (2010). Hall has preferred the intimacy of smaller accompaniment on her first two recordings, a preference she carries to Never Let Me Go. The singer is support by guitarists Mike Wheeler and Mike Nase, cellist Lisa Vasdoganes and percussionist James Metcalfe in a style that is equal parts Hot Club, Carnegie Hall, and Grand Old Opry. Hall's performance style is one of Americana, paralleling that of fellow singer and Houstonian Jacqui Sutton and her Frontier Orchestra (Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter, 2010)). 

The music's personality is a bit sepia-toned with contemporary notes of modernity. Americana is not all that is featured as Hall's Portuguese is impeccable and she can spin a web with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. On Never Let Me Go, it is about standards and Hall's steamy-sardonic take on the Broadway writers Arthur Schwartz

Howard Dietz classic "You and the Night and the Music" from the 1934 Broadway show Revenge With Music removes the love song to a more complex and provocative level. Well-covered, the piece is propelled into full swing mode by Wheeler and Nase, who provide an orchestra of support.

One guitar provides a bass line and rhythm and the other filigree with Hall rushing the lyrics just ahead of the beat, giving her singing a laconic, matter-of-fact tone. Hall's voice is a solid alto with sensual grit, not too little and not too much: just enough love dust to get the point across. She sings as an impatient lover comforting her insecure love object in seduction. The projected sentiment is compounded and compelling. Wheeler and Nase both solo to great effect within these small confines proving often less is more. The piece is a triumph of minimization, where brevity wins every time.~C.Michael Bailey

(http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=39987#.UfRO2ayAc1I).

Personnel: Tianna Hall: vocals; Mike Wheeler: guitar; Mike Nase: guitar.

Never Let Me Go

---