Susannah McCorkle - Hearts And Minds

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 66:08
Size: 151.4 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[4:25] 1. I Can Dream, Can't I
[4:59] 2. Love Is Here To Stay
[4:39] 3. Love, Look Away
[4:02] 4. My Attorney Bernie
[3:14] 5. For All We Know
[4:19] 6. It Could Happen To You
[5:17] 7. Haunted Heart
[4:05] 8. What Did I Forget
[4:26] 9. Down
[5:29] 10. The Computer Age (In Motion)
[5:47] 11. Evolution
[3:14] 12. Feet Do Your Stuff
[5:26] 13. Do You Miss New York
[3:10] 14. Scars
[3:30] 15. I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire

Susannah McCorkle's 16th release available through Concord begins with "I Can Dream, Can't I" and ends with "I Don't Want ro Set the World on Fire," two highly desirous songs that may reflect the intentions of the dynamic vocalist, but needless to say after 15 successful releases cannot begin to measure the tremendous impact she has had as one of the most expressive singers on the jazz scene since the mid-'70s. McCorkle utilizes two rhythm sections, her longtime musical director/arranger/pianist Allen Farnham, guitarist Paul Meyers, and tenor saxophonist Dick Oatts on straight-ahead, Brazilian-influenced and swing compositions. They span nearly 70 years say a lot about human nature and what people feel and think about. She handles humor on three Dave Frishberg songs, tackles a funny song about depression on "Down," sings of fleeting romance and contemporary relationships on "For All We Know," and "Haunted Heart" and the Ivan Lins song "Evolution." Susannah McCorkle has the remarkable capability to bring rarely heard songs back to life through updated interpretations and 21st century appeal. ~ Paula Edelstein

Recorded at Sound On Sound Studios, New York, New York from March 28-30, 2000.

Susannah McCorkle (vocals); Allen Farnham (arranger, piano); Dick Oatts (tenor saxophone); Paul Meyers (acoustic & electric guitars); Steve Gilmore, Dennis Irwin (bass); Tim Horner, Vanderlei Pereira (drums); Thiago DeMello (percussion).

Hearts And Minds

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Charlie Byrd - Blues Sonata

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 40:22

Size: 92.4 MB

Styles: Guitar jazz

Year: 1962/2001

Art: Front

[6:58] 1. Polonaise For Pour Pietro Ballad In B Minor Scherzo ..

[4:59] 2. Ballad In B Minor

[9:05] 3. Scherzo For An Old Shoe

[5:23] 4. Alexander's Ragtime Band

[4:35] 5. Jordu

[4:49] 6. That Ole Devil Called Love

[4:30] 7. Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart

Though recorded on one day, at standard length for an LP, this is really two albums in one sleeve, showcasing two rather different formats for this highly original guitarist to pursue. "The Blues Sonata" is set up in a pseudo-classical three-movement manner, with a polonaise, ballad, and scherzo, and the liner notes refer to a sonata form of development. Well, sorry, but the classical trappings, if any exist, are worn very lightly by Byrd, his bassist Keter Betts, and drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt. "Polonaise Pour Pietro" t'ain't nothin' the blues, and a very fluid blues workout at that. "Ballade in B Minor" is Chopinesque in melodic influence only, including the brush-stroked improvisation segment, and "Scherzo for an Old Shoe" sets up as a Latinish number, then stays on one chord with an Andalusian strain. On side two, the scene abruptly becomes very urbane as Byrd switches to electric guitar, takes on Barry Harris' comping, bopping piano, and engages in straightforward swinging and balladeering without any textbook definitions getting in the way. "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Jordu," and "Zing! Went the Strings on My Heart" are the merry swingers, "That Ole Devil Called Love" the relaxed ballad showcase. Whatever you call the music, the whole CD goes down easily and musically. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York, New York on October 23, 1961.

Charlie Byrd (acoustic & electric guitars); Barry Harris (piano); Keter Betts (bass); Buddy Deppenschmidt (drums).

Blues Sonata

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Indigo Swing - All Aboard!

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:32
Size: 104.3 MB
Styles: Swing
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[2:43] 1. The Indigo Swing
[4:01] 2. (Today's The Day) I'm Glad I'm Not Dead
[3:11] 3. How Lucky Can One Guy Be
[3:50] 4. Blue Suit Boogie
[2:58] 5. Baron Plays The Horses
[2:54] 6. That's Where My Money Goes
[2:58] 7. Hot In Harlem
[3:25] 8. Regular Joe
[3:17] 9. What's The Matter Baby
[3:43] 10. Violent Love
[2:11] 11. The Way We Ought To Be
[2:00] 12. Drinkin' It Up
[4:08] 13. So Long!
[4:07] 14. Memory Of You

In the fin-de-siecle dance clubs, Swing is the thing. Indigo Swing is a San Francisco outfit which has been working the neo-swing circuit non-stop. Actually, '90s swing is less a recreation of Artie Shaw-era Big Band music than the proto-R&B jump bands which followed in its wake. On ALL ABOARD!, Indigo Swing mixes originals and obscure "territory" gems ("Hot In Harlem," "Violent Love") in a relaxed yet driving style that does Louis Jordan proud. Special mention should go to William Beatty's fine rockin' piano along with Johnny "The Swing Lover" Boyd's insinuatingly weaselly vocals.

Recorded at Mobius Music Recordings, San Francisco, and Capitol Records, Studio B, Hollywood, California.

Johnny Boyd (vocals); Josh Workman (guitar, background vocals); Baron Shul (tenor & baritone saxophones); William Beatty (piano, background vocals); Vance Ehlers (acoustic bass); "Big Jim" Overton (drums).

All Aboard!

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Maud Hixson - Love's Refrain

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:39
Size: 88,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:03)  1. With A Song In My Heart
(4:52)  2. There's Never Been A Day
(2:30)  3. A Ghost Of A Chance
(3:22)  4. Meet Me At No Special Place
(3:38)  5. Bad For Each Other
(4:26)  6. Here's That Rainy Day
(2:47)  7. Remind Me
(3:35)  8. Star Dust
(4:58)  9. Lotus Blossom
(3:23) 10. Lucky To Be Me

"Maud Hixson brings to these songs the casual sophistication they call for, so that they sound like what Ira Gershwin said a lyric should be “everyday conversation that happens to rhyme.” She brings out of them the wit and ingenuity the lyricists and composer used in handling the Tin Pan Alley formulas. She sings these great songs as their songwriters wanted. The song becomes not an occasion to display her gorgeously sultry voice but to inhabit the song and become the character the lyric portrays. As songwriters say, “She reads the lyric.” Her performance (and that of Rick Carlson) understated, sensuous, insouciant shows why such songs are the closest thing America has to a vital classical repertory of song."  ~ Philip Furia, author of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America's Great Lyricists and biographies of Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, and Johnny Mercer.

"Maud is a wonderful singer. I like her angelic, peaceful way of portraying a song. And she has excellent taste in material. I congratulate her on her stellar CD!" ~ Meredith D’Ambrosio, jazz vocalist, musician, composer, and visual artist.

"Love's Refrain features the singer Maud Hixson, new to me. She has a calm, restrained, sweet delivery, and her enunciation is letter-perfect. Where others of her generation ornament their performances with percussion and horns, she stays out in the open, with only Rick Carlson's empathic piano as her colleague. Her time is good, her voice pleasing. And the standards she has selected are valuable a few surprises amid the monuments of Tin Pan Alley. I have often written snidely of singers who emoted through every song, who took their efforts at top volume, registering high numbers on a Jazz Richter scale. Hixson does neither of these things, and her CD is a pleasure to listen to." ~ Michael Steinman  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/maudhixson2

Love's Refrain

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Anita Wardell Quartet - Until The Stars Fade

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:16
Size: 144,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:01)  1. Get Out Of Town
(8:15)  2. Love For Sale
(8:39)  3. Make Someone Happy
(6:41)  4. Yor Are Looking At Me
(5:55)  5. I Have Never Been In Love Before
(6:52)  6. For All We Know
(5:38)  7. People Will Say We Are In Love
(6:10)  8. With A Song In My Heart
(6:20)  9. Devil May Care
(4:41) 10. My Shining Hour

Anita Wardell is one of England's best-kept secrets, but with talent like hers she won't be a secret for much longer. Possessing a natural swing and scatting ability like Kitty Margolis but with the sensuality of Julie London, Wardell is the complete jazz singer. Her sidemen are extremely gifted soloists in their own rights, and hearing this album should make North American jazz fans with the wherewithal want to hop the next plane to Ronnie Scott's when Wardell's quartet plays there the next time.

Until the Stars Fade contains only standards, but they are all performed with new interpretations that make the tunes sound as fresh as the day they were composed. The latin groove is a particularly nice touch to Bobby Troup's tragically-neglected classic "You're Looking at Me." Nothing short of amazing is the complete reharmonization of Rogers and Hammerstein's "People Will Say We're in Love." In the hands of Wardell and company the tune sounds as though it were composed by Herbie Hancock or McCoy Tyner.

Wardell also knows how to sing a torch song, and her rendition of "For All We Know" is particularly lugubrious and poignant. But when it comes to scatting, Wardell is right up there with Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy. Her performances of "Devil May Care" (most recently recorded by Diana Krall), "I've Never Been in Love Before" and "My Shining Hour" are masterpieces of vocal improvisation. Anita Wardell is an amazing talent whose artistry deserves much wider recognition. Until the Stars Fade is a flawless recording of a great jazz singer at the top of her game. ~ William Grim 
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=10746#.UoJTA-Jc_vs

Personnel: Anita Wardell, voice; Robin Aspland, piano; Jeremy Brown, bass; Gene Caldarazzo, drums; Mark Taylor, drums

Until The Stars Fade

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Keith Cooper Quartet - Hot Club & Trad Jazz

Styles: Gypsy Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:20
Size: 85,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:47)  1. Black And White
(2:15)  2. Duchess
(1:59)  3. H.C.Q. Strut
(2:20)  4. Limehouse Blues
(3:25)  5. Nuages
(2:28)  6. Shine
(2:53)  7. Sweet Georgia Brown
(2:54)  8. Swing '39
(1:49)  9. Canary Bank
(2:08) 10. The Continental
(1:47) 11. Lemon Yellow
(1:51) 12. Par 6
(2:05) 13. Roamin' In The Gloamin'
(2:06) 14. Something Tells Me (I'm Into Something Good)
(2:22) 15. When You Were Sweet Sixteen
(2:04) 16. While The Sahara Sleeps

We will appreciate any information on this artist or his album. Please put it in comments. Thank you.

Hot Club & Trad Jazz

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Todd Murray - Stardust & Swing

Styles: Easy Listening
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:57
Size: 98,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:24)  1. It Might As Well Be Spring
(3:38)  2. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
(3:41)  3. Moonlight Becomes You
(3:31)  4. Patricia
(3:25)  5. The Girl From Waco
(4:04)  6. If I Ruled The World (with Douglas Sills)
(3:30)  7. Time
(3:16)  8. I Wanna Be Around
(3:05)  9. Stardust
(4:38) 10. I Fall In Love Too Easily
(4:49) 11. Teach Me Tonight (with Marilyn Maye)
(1:48) 12. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

(Los Angeles – October 11, 2008) You'll snap and swoon as Todd Murray swings and croons his way through the American songbook. His latest album, “Stardust and Swing,” romances the classics from “Dream a Little Dream of Me” to “I Wanna Be Around” to the stellar “Stardust.” Recorded in Capitol Record’s famed Studio A, “Stardust and Swing” is full of lush brass and string arrangements that bring new meaning to these exciting new renditions of American standards. In addition, Murray offers up a few original pieces as well as duets with guest artists Douglas Sills and the legendary Marilyn Maye. When Murray finished his last album, “When I Sing Low,” he began compiling a list of songs that evoked an emotional response in him. “Every time I heard a song that made me feel good…no matter how many times I have heard it over the years, I wrote it down. Before I knew it, I had more than 50 songs on the list,” says Murray. “I knew then, I would like to begin working on another album.” Before he made his final list, Murray added a few new tunes as well. Murray believes “it’s important to sing and foster new songs. There are songs of today that become the American standards of tomorrow. I don’t believe ‘those were the good old days’ or that everything was better in times gone by.” In addition, the album provided the opportunity for Murray to work with two of his favorite singers Marilyn Maye and Douglas Sills.

Murray says he always admired Marilyn Maye -- particularly her classic swinging tunes like “Get Me to the Church on Time,” “Washington Square,” and “The Lamp Is Low.” “Her singing makes me feel happy….and there is an irreverence in vocal artistry. I was thrilled when she agreed to do a duet with me on the album” explains Murray. As to working with Broadway star, Douglas Sills, Murray asks: “Who wouldn’t want to sing with the best leading man on Broadway?” The only challenge was finding a duet that would highlight both Murray’s deep bass-baritone voice and the expressive, emotional quality of Sills’dramatic bari-tenor voice. According to Murray, it was a real challenge. So rather than consider traditional duets, he reinterpreted “If I Ruled The World” as a duet. His unique arrangement feels as if two people were simply talking to each other about the romantic notion of ruling the world. The result is stunningly simple yet dramatically powerful.

One of the new tunes on the album is the whimsical “Patricia.” Murray wrote the song for his friend,world-renowned chef and writer, Patricia Wells. When Wells asked Murray to sing at her birthday party,he surprised her by writing the song. Murray recalls that she was so overjoyed that her mouth was wide open through the entire song. She now concludes her world-famous cooking classes by playing the song for her students.

Garnering much praise, Murray’s debut CD, “When I Sing Low,” was chosen as one of “Talkin’ Broadway’s” Top Ten Vocal CDs of 2002. His Los Angeles Cinegrill performances were named LA Weekly’s Pick of the Month, and OUT Magazine named him on the “Hot List” for hottest cabaret singer. Murray has performed numerous solo shows, as well as at New York City and Palm Springs Cabaret Conventions at Lincol, and Townhall’s “Broadway By The Years 1935.” In addition, Todd toured for several years as the bass in John Brack’s quartet and soloist in many Zurich based concerts. Murray was part of the first Broadway tour of “The Secret Garden,” starred Off-Broadway in NYGASP’s “The Gondoliers,” and has been seen in several productions at Papermill Playhouse. Most recently, he starred in the leading role in the west coast premiere of the Irving Berlin review “The Melody Lingers On.” His rendition of “Why Not Me” can be heard in Charles Busch’s major movie release “Die Mommy, Die.”

There's no mistaking or forgetting Murray’s smooth baritone voice and heartfelt regard for every lyric. Whether it's ripping through a blazing-hot big band number like his self-penned “The Girl from Waco” or wrapping his golden cords tenderly around “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” Murray knows how to woo and wow an audience and send them away with a swing in their step.  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/toddmurray2

Stardust & Swing

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