Lisa Biales - Singing In My Soul

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 31:05
Size: 71.2 MB
Styles: Blues vocals
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:17] 1. A Little Bird Told Me
[2:44] 2. Strange Things Happening Every Day
[2:46] 3. Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me
[3:20] 4. You Got To Know How
[3:46] 5. Magic Garden
[3:20] 6. Careless Love
[4:28] 7. I Only Have Eyes For You
[2:51] 8. Waiting For The Train To Come In
[2:36] 9. Write Me In Care Of The Blues
[2:52] 10. Singing In My Soul

It is simple: for a really good time slap on a Lisa Biales CD! The Ohio blues chanteuse’s second album is pure fun end to end. She offers 10 songs, mostly vintage gems. Mississippi John Hurt’s “Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me” is a sweet one and Lisa clearly relishes singing it. There are two Sister Rosetta Tharpe songs in “Strange Things Are Happening Every Day” and the closer “Singing In My Soul.” Sippie Wallace’s “Woman Be Wise” is a perfect fit for the sassy Ms. Biales. W.C. Handy’s “Careless Love” dating to the earliest days of the blues received a delicious take here. The Tin Pan Alley standard “I Only Have Eyes for You” lets Lisa amp down for a smoky, sexy take. “Waiting for the Train to Come In” is an aching, swaying piece. “Write Me in Care of the Blues” has a 50s rock & roll feel and feels right doing that. Lisa’s own “Magic Garden” is a funny, sexy ode to growing things.

Sturdy, inventive support comes from the Parisian trio of upright bassist Thibaut Chopen, guitarist Anthony Stelmaszac and drummer Simon “Shuffle” Boyer able abetted by pianist/producer Ricky Nye. Doug Hamilton’s violin notably brightens 2. There’s sweet playing all the way through with just enough swing to make it all flow.

Face it, there’s no deep thinking here. What Singing in My Soul is about is the fun of the doing. Lisa Biales sings from the heart and clearly deeply loves what she does. And she does it quite well indeed. Singing will brighten your day any time you play it. ~ Michael Tearson

Singing In My Soul

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Statesmen Of Jazz - S/T

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 60:07
Size: 137.6 MB
Styles: Early jazz, Swing
Year: 1994/2004
Art: Front

[12:46] 1. Moten Swing
[ 2:31] 2. No Bridge
[ 5:20] 3. It Could Happen To You
[ 5:28] 4. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
[ 5:49] 5. Coquette
[ 4:24] 6. Open Wider Please
[ 5:26] 7. Blue Waters
[ 4:29] 8. Just Squeeze Me (Don't Tease Me)
[ 7:19] 9. Tangerine
[ 6:31] 10. C Jam Blues

This is a rather historic recording, for it finds altoist Benny Waters, the oldest active jazz musician at a month shy of 93, in surprisingly fiery form; his feature on "Blue Waters" is easily the high point. The other members of the Statesmen of Jazz (a group sponsored by the American Federation of Jazz Societies) are all senior citizens too: violinist Claude Williams (86), flugelhornist Clark Terry (74), trumpeter Joe Wilder (72), trombonist Al Grey (69), tenor saxoponist Buddy Tate (79), pianist Jane Jarvis (79), bassist Milt Hinton (84), and drummer Panama Francis (76). Although Tate was a little past his prime and Wilder a bit erratic due to dental surgery, this is a particularly infectious date of well-played swing. Waters, Williams, and Terry take solo honors. Recommended. ~Scott Yanow

Statesmen Of Jazz

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Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys - Oh!

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 56:43
Size: 129.9 MB
Styles: Americana, Early jazz, Early pop
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[2:44] 1. Oh!
[3:06] 2. Concentratin' On You
[3:25] 3. When The World Is At Rest
[2:58] 4. That's Love!
[3:07] 5. Baltimore
[2:51] 6. Ida, I Do
[2:16] 7. Who-Oo You-Oo! That's Who!
[2:08] 8. Mon Ami Perdu
[3:25] 9. Don't Worry 'bout Me
[3:03] 10. Undecided Now
[3:03] 11. Sweet Man
[2:39] 12. Hello Bluebird
[4:07] 13. Little Coquette
[3:40] 14. I'm Busy And You Cant Come In
[2:26] 15. Lonesome & Sorry
[1:54] 16. Butterflies In The Rain
[2:55] 17. If You Hadn't Gone Away
[3:26] 18. Rebecca Came Back From Mecca
[3:22] 19. When

Throwback flapper Janet Klein is the very definition of an “old soul.” She grew up in 1970s San Bernardino, yet fell in love with the bits of the IE she never knew the historical images she’d seen of early turn-of-the-century postcards with orange groves and the old Carnegie Library with the onion dome. The way things were got into her blood, and today she’s the most refreshing anachronism to ever materialize from the ether of the Prohibition. Klein is a channel to a definitive time in American music when Eton crops were the rage and batting-eyes meant you had a live one on your hands.

Thing is, LA-based Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys are more than some nostalgic shtick. She doesn’t merely perform songs from “lost America”obscure numbers circa 1900s-1930s such as barrelhouse jazz, foxtrots, chansonettes, ragtime ditties and vaudeville from the Great Depression she actually lives them, and transports her audiences along the way. Klein considers herself an “archeologist” for digging up buried treasures by the likes of Wilton Crawley and A.P. Randolf and Robert Cloud, the songs of the Victrola that her and the Parlor Boys featuring an all-star line-up playing banjos, uprights, trombones, trumpets, violins, piano, etc add all that authentic dang to feel the wild spirit of that bygone era. The “naughty” music of the day is Klein’s strong suit, and the ukulele chanteuse belts in an Olive Oyl-meets-Billie Holiday voice while coyly bobbling in step to the strump. ~Chuck Mindenhall

Janet Klein – Vocal & Ukulele; Benny Brydern * Violin and Stroh Violin; Corey Gemme * Cornet & trombone; Marquis Howell * Stand-Up Bass; Brad Kay * Piano; Tom Marion * Guitar; John Reynolds * National Steel Guitar, Plectrum Banjo, whistling and vocal; Dan Weinstein * Trombone, Cornet & Violin; Ian Whitcomb * Accordion, Ukulele, Piano and Vocal; Randy Woltz * Piano, Xylophone, Percussion and Vibraphone. Musician Guest Artists: Chloe Feoranzo * Alto, Tenor & C-Melody Sax, Clarinet; Daniel Glass * Vintage Drums and Percussion; Dan Levinson * C-Melody Sax and Clarinet; Robert Loveless * Marxophone, Uklin and Mandolin.

Oh! 

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Various - Dressed In Black: A Tribute To Johnny Cash

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 50:49

Size: 116.3 MB

Styles: Country, Country-pop

Year: 2002

Art: Front

[2:56] 1. Hank Williams III - Wreck Of The Old '97

[2:38] 2. Robbie Fulks - Cry Cry Cry

[3:09] 3. Rodney Crowell - Ballad Of A Teenage Queen

[3:06] 4. Raul Malo - I Guess Things Happen That Way

[2:16] 5. Chuck Mead - There You Go

[2:27] 6. The Reverend Horton Heat - Get Rhythm

[2:26] 7. Bruce Robison - Pack Up Your Sorrows

[3:46] 8. Billy Burnette - Ring Of Fire

[2:15] 9. Redd Volkaert - Luther Played The Boogie

[2:35] 10. Rosie Flores - Big River

[3:07] 11. James Intveld - Folsom Prison Blues

[2:49] 12. Earl Poole Ball - I Still Miss Someone

[2:41] 13. Damon Bramblett - I'm Gonna Sit On The Porch And Pick On My Old Guitar

[2:51] 14. Dale Watson - I Walk The Line

[3:35] 15. Kenny Vaughan - Train Of Love

[2:07] 16. Eddie Angel - Straight A's In Love

[2:49] 17. Chuck Mead - Jackson

[3:07] 18. Chris Knight - Flesh And Blood

Few artists deserve tribute more than Johnny Cash, and none pose a greater challenge to those who would offer their homage. The problem is that his sound has been pounded so deep into America's soul that it's almost impossible to play his music without lapsing into imitation -- and those who try to avoid that trap can sound a little misguided. Examples of both approaches abound throughout Dressed in Black, though even the bravest performers generally sing to a tack bass rhythm accompanied by those menacing low guitar licks that Cash patented long ago. Some do a pretty good job of evoking Cash, especially James Intveld, whose rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues" comes darn close to the original, and Chuck Mead on "There You Go." Damon Bramblett also has Cash's phrasing down; the fact that his voice is pitched about an octave higher, along with his Maybelle Carter style on guitar, makes "I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick On My Old Guitar" a special treat. Then there's Billy Burnette, whose playing comes closest to the essence of Cash but whose vocals completely miss the squint-eyed macho quality that "Ring of Fire" requires. Rarest of all are those artists who have found their own voice yet use this format to acknowledge their forebears; none does this more persuasively than Dale Watson, who turns "I Walk the Line" into something both powerful and original -- the ultimate tribute that anyone can pay to the real icons in this business. ~Robert L. Doerschuk

Dressed In Black: A Tribute To Johnny Cash

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Antoinette Montague - Behind The Smile

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:57
Size: 119,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:13)  1. Behind The Smile
(4:56)  2. I Hadn't Anyone Till You
(3:34)  3. Give Your Mama One Smile
(4:46)  4. Ever Since the One I Love's Been Gone
(4:32)  5. What's Going On
(3:12)  6. The Song Is You
(4:55)  7. I'd Rather Have a Memory Than a Dream
(2:56)  8. Lost in Meditation
(4:28)  9. Get Ready
(4:21) 10. Summer Song
(3:08) 11. Somewhere in the Night
(4:01) 12. Meet Me at No Special Place
(2:50) 13. 23rd Psalm

With every smile is a story. Singer Antoinette Montague explores this concept with Behind the Smile, a collection of 13 songs that represent things that have influenced the smiles in her life. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Montague has performed at a variety of venues, including Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Jazzmobile's Summer Breeze concert series and the Zebra Room in Harlem's Lenox Lounge. Accompanying her on this effort are woodwind player Bill Easley, pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington - Vocals.

"Behind the Smile," written by Montague with musical notation by Bertha Hope, is a sassy, blues-flavored selection. Easley solos on saxophone, complemented by Miller who follows with a solo of his own and the Washingtons. "I love your style; you stole my heart," Montague sings, with a flare reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald but with her own vocal imprint.  Easley plays clarinet on "Give Your Mama a Smile," where the rhythm section is cool and relaxed behind Montague's charming lead. Montague and the band deliver a jazz lounge rendition of Marvin Gaye's hit, "What's Going On." During the middle break, Easley covers the vocal chant on saxophone while Montague sings lyrics that aren't in the original recording. The band's ad-lib during the fade adds to the uniqueness of this arrangement.

Several of the songs chosen for Behind the Smile are from genres other than jazz, including blues and pop. However, the arrangements by Montague and Miller serve as an example of how well music can be adapted to a jazz context. ~ Woodrow Wilkins  

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35146#.Ur18rbTJI0g

Personnel: Antoinette Montague: vocals; Bill Easley: saxophone, flute, clarinet; Mulgrew Miller: piano; Peter Washington: bass; Kenny Washington: drums.

Behind The Smile

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Donny Blair With Judy Blair - The Other Place

Styles: Hammond Organ
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:27
Size: 113,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:42)  1. Off The Top
(5:37)  2. So What
(7:04)  3. High Cotton
(7:12)  4. The Other Place
(5:00)  5. Tamara
(5:47)  6. Footprints
(5:08)  7. Groove's Groove
(5:54)  8. A Child Is Born

JUDY BLAIR was born in East Texas and has been singing and playing the piano, synthesizer and the Hammond B3 organ professionally for more than 40 years. JUDY has performed solo and with groups all over the UNITED STATES in NEW YORK, DALLAS, SAN FRANCISCO, LOS ANGELES, PEBBLE BEACH, CARMEL, RENO, SANTA FE, and many other cities including a three year stint in NEW ORLEANS playing with the best. She also performed during a two year period in the CARIBBEAN and has appeared on JAPANESE television in a travel series about CALIFORNIA.

She has played numerous jazz and blues concerts, festivals and clubs in FRANCE as well as in other parts of EUROPE. 1997 - She recorded and produced an album in FRANCE, “LES COULEURS DU NOIR ET BLANC” on which she plays solo piano and sings ballads and American Standards. It includes original compositions by JUDY. 1999. She recorded a second CD in DALLAS, TEXAS called “THE OTHER PLACE” in collaboration with her brother DONNY BLAIR on guitar, BRUCE TATE on electric bass and DINO VERA on drums. On it, she plays piano and Hammond B3 organ and it includes original pieces by both JUDY and DONNY BLAIR. 2000 - She recorded a third one “CLOSE ENCOUNTER” in NEW YORK, playing the Hammond B3 organ with HOUSTON PERSON (tenor-sax), ALVIN QUEEN (drums), REGGIE JOHNSON (bass) and DONNY BLAIR (guitar). Like the others, this CD included original material.   Her fourth CD “SUNSHINE” was recorded in DALLAS, TEXAS. She sings, plays piano and Hammond B3 along with her brother DONNY BLAIR (guitar), ABDU SALIM (tenor sax), CHRISTIAN (Ton Ton) SALUT (drums) and guest artist LUCKY PETERSON (vocals, piano and Hammond B3). All the songs on this album were written by JUDY and one was co-written with LUCKY PETERSON.

Judy has participated in numerous international JAZZ & BLUES venues, to include: MARCIAC, AIGUILLON, and MONTAUBAN , MIREPOIX, and CAHORS in France.    Her concerts include:  SOS New Orleans 2005, SOS Haïti 2010,  LE TOUQUET, and VILLENEUVE SUR LOT Jazz and Blues Festival, RIOM International Piano Festival, MONSÉGUR 24 hours swing in Monségur, 2004 quartet, and ENGHIEN-LES-BAINS (Mayday Music for Louisiana).  In 2010 Judy performed a concert with Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker at ABBAYE NOUVELLE.   IN SPAIN, she has performed the AUTUMN JAZZ FESTIVAL in CASTILLA along with ALVIN QUEEN, drums, REGGIE JOHNSON, bass. In 2006 Judy performed in TUNISIA at the TABARKA, Jazz Festival, In SICILY in 2007 at SYRACUSE and CATANIA, and in ENGLAND the WOKING concert for the new year 2009-2010, as a guest of GARY BROOKER and ERIC CLAPTON .

Donny Blair picked up his first guitar at the age of 10 in 1965 on the heels of his sister, jazz musician Judy Blair. Though his first exposure to guitar was listening to The Ventures, Donny’s roots are firmly planted in the great tradition of Texas blues and swing. In his teens, Donny continued developing his jazz chops listening to endless Blue Note recordings of the great organ trio guitar masters Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Gene Edwards, and Grant Green. An accomplished horn player in high school and college bands, Donny quit school to go on the road with his sister’s band at the age of 19 playing both trumpet and rhythm guitar on the club circuit from Texas to California, where he played a variety of pop and jazz. The early 1980s found Donny in the military playing lead guitar in a rock ‘n roll band in the Far East for several years. After his discharge from the military, Donny took leave of the guitar for a number of years to pursue a career in electrical engineering. 

In 1998 he picked the guitar up once again, producing and recording a CD with sister Judy titled “The Other Place”. This project was quickly followed by a successful concert at Montauban, France in 1999. In 2000, Donny joined his sister once again along with jazz giants Houston Person, Alvin Queen, and Reggie Johnson in New York for the CD “Close Encounter”, which garnered critical acclaim in Europe. In 2005, Donny appeared on “Sunshine” with his sister, a CD recorded in his town of Dallas, Texas. One will find with Donny’s playing a distinctively smooth blues/jazz style with strong hints of Grant Green and Wes Montgomery, always underpinned by the distinctive sound that is Texas blues guitar. http://www.judyblair.com/?section=bio

The Other Place

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Ingrid Lucia & The Flying Neutrinos - Don't Stop

Styles: Swing Revival
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:31
Size: 106,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:12)  1. A Place In The Sun
(3:21)  2. New Orleans
(2:45)  3. Mind Your Own Business
(2:26)  4. If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)
(2:47)  5. There'll Be Some Changes
(2:56)  6. Hometown Blues
(4:07)  7. Big Long Slidin' Thing
(3:19)  8. Margie
(4:53)  9. Getting Some Fun Out Of Life
(5:13) 10. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
(3:12) 11. Down Home
(4:39) 12. Why Don't You Go Down To New Orleans?
(3:36) 13. It's A Long Lonely Highway

New Orleans blues singer Ingrid Lucia took four hours to record the bakers dozen of tunes on Don't Stop, the independent release with her band The Flying Neutrinos. Lucia and The Flying Neutrinos have been touring, writing and recording together for at least two decades (the group started as a family band) and such alacrity in the studio isn't unusual for this experienced and close-knit bunch. What puzzles is that Lucia and The Flying Neutrinos haven't received more mainstream attention.

The focal point of the band's sound is Lucia's distinctive voice itself, with its trembling vibrato and growling charges into the melody. Lucia's delivery does beg comparisons to the earthy phrasings of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, but Lucia is no imitator and The Flying Neutrinos are no Dixieland tribute band. Lucia and the band do draw from their Storyville roots, but their music is fresh and hip and unassumingly so.

To introduce the new CD in New York Lucia and select members of the band played two gigs here in December, 2007 the Rodeo Bar, their usual stomping ground, on Dec. 2nd and Arlene's Grocery on Dec. 3rd, this last a showcase of Lucia's originals, with "Playing By The Rules," a dulcet mid-tempo in three from her album Almost Blue (Independent, 2004) and the provocative Latin number "Let Me In from Fortune (Independent, 2003) being the rare departures from her usual blues-dominated set lists. Lucia's live performances demonstrate an exhaustive repertoire of all types of blues, from tongue-in-cheek burners to introspective ballads, some bawdy, some touching. Always, however, Lucia projects an optimism contrary to the genre; to this point she closed the set at Arlene's Grocery with the first tune from the new CD, "A Place In The Sun," an upbeat romp featuring Burt Cotton (guitar), Jesse Boyd (bass) and Gerald French (drums).

Don't Stop pays homage to Lucia's hometown and each tune celebrates the diverse musical traditions born in that city. On the Hank Williams' song "Mind Your Own Business, we hear the early stirrings of rock 'n' roll; Steve Earle's "Hometown Blues evokes the cowboy music of the western plains; and on the lone ballad of the disc, "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans," we find a wistful reminder of the Louis Armstrong-Billie Holiday duet. Even if you've never been there, Lucia's music makes you want to pack your bags and go. ~ Suzanne Lorge  

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27906#.UrxGkbTJI0h

Personnel: Ingrid Lucia: vocals; Duke Heitger: trumpet, vocals (4); Craig Klein: trombone, vocals (8); John Fohl: guitar; Bert Cotton: guitar; Gerald French: drums, vocals (12); Jesse Boyd: bass.

Don't Stop

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Eldar Djangirov Trio - Breakthrough

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:04
Size: 167,9 MB
Art: Front

( 7:59)  1. Point of View Redux
( 5:49)  2. Somebody Loves Me
(10:00)  3. Breakthrough
( 5:48)  4. What'll I Do
( 4:02)  5. Morning Bell
( 6:50)  6. In Pursuit
( 3:19)  7. No Moon At All
( 7:53)  8. Hope
( 7:43)  9. Tokyo Pulse
( 8:46) 10. Blink
( 4:52) 11. Good Morning Heartache

"Point Of View Redux" the eight-minute-long opener on pianist Eldar Djangirov's Breakthrough doesn't exactly say it all, but it says a hell of a lot. A firmly delivered flourish flies through the air in the opening seconds, a rollicking riff sets things in motion as titan-like technique powers the warp-speed explorations that follow, things take a bluesy turn for a spell, and Djangirov generates enough energy to power an entire city block along the way. This aptly-titled number serves as a musical manifesto-of-sorts, as Djangirov wears his likes on his sleeve and in his hands; this album is, indeed, a breakthrough, but not a completely unexpected one.

As a very young pianist getting a lot of press, Djangirov was subject to the usual raves and criticism that accompany the arrival of a child prodigy. Many a writer found nice things to say about the technique that this promising pianist possessed, and a few people found fault in the fact that his technique was the dominant aspect of his artistry; twelve year olds, apparently, tend to be easy targets for those perched behind a desk. Now, at the ripe old age of twenty six, Djangirov has delivered something that may just get the majority of those betting against him early on to rethink things.

Breakthrough is a portrait of the artist as a young man, but this young man already knows who he is, what he wants to say, and how he plans on saying it. Djangirov can be direct and transparent in his musical delivery ("No Moon At All") or purposefully duplicitous ("Breakthrough"). He takes some classics at face value and twists others a bit to suit his viewpoint ("Somebody Loves Me"), but all of his decisions are ultimately made for the good of the performance(s).

This is a trio outing, and a fine one at that, but it doesn't always feel like a three man show. Djangirov's music can be incredibly busy and complex or simple and elegant. He uses breakaway piano episodes as opportunities to explore the solo piano realm within a trio context and he has no problem asking his trio mates to shift from background to foreground, depending on what the music calls for; they comply beautifully. Saxophonist Chris Potter and vibraphonist Joe Locke drop in on one number apiece, further adding to the feeling that this isn't a run-of-the-mill trio date. Potter works his magic on the knotty title track and Locke joins in on the heart-pounding "Blink."

Djangirov's passive-aggressive pianistic tendencies make Breakthrough into a tale of two personality traits. One minute he might be ruminating on a classic theme in contemplative fashion and the next minute he might be tearing through one of his tricky originals like a post-modern Chick Corea on uppers. This who-knows-which-Djangirov-you'll-get approach is at the heart of the brilliant Breakthrough. ~ Dan Bilawsky   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=44993#.UrrgN7TJI0g

Personnel: Eldar Djangirov: piano; Armando Gola: bass; Ludwig Alfonso: drums; Chris Potter: tenor saxophone (3); Joe Locke: vibraphone (10).

Breakthrough

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