Rigmor Gustafsson/ Jacky Terrasson Trio - Close to You

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:04
Size: 117,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:03)  1. Close to You
(2:42)  2. Walk on By
(3:38)  3. Move Me No Mountain
(4:13)  4. So Amazing
(4:10)  5. I'll Never Fall in Love Again
(3:56)  6. Much Too Much
(2:42)  7. Odds and Ends
(4:11)  8. Alfie
(3:39)  9. What the World Needs Now
(4:53) 10. Windows of the World
(2:22) 11. Always Something There to Remind Me
(3:07) 12. Raindrops Keeps Falling on My Head
(3:46) 13. I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself
(3:35) 14. World of My Dreams

The Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson sounded just dandy throughout 2003's I Will Wait for You. She sounds even better when teamed with exemplary French pianist Jacky Terrasson on Close to You (ACT Music). Billed as a celebration of Dionne Warwick, it's really more an homage to the combined genius of Bacharach and David, since several of the selected songs were more famously recorded by artists other than Warwick, including "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (B.J. Thomas), "What the World Needs Now" (Jackie DeShannon) and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" (originally done to near-suicidal perfection by Dusty Springfield). Weaving through such pop chestnuts (along with such later, lesser-known delights as Luther Vandross' "So Amazing" and Jerry Ragovoy's "Move Me No Mountain"), Gustafsson suggests Blondie's Debbie Harry after a big gulp of Astrud Gilberto and a Julie London chaser. She is as cool and bracing as a northern breeze on a sunny Stockholm afternoon. ~ Christopher Loudon   http://jazztimes.com/articles/15665-close-to-you-rigmor-gustafsson

Close to You

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Diana Panton - If The Moon Turns Green…

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:56
Size: 142,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:24)  1. Destination Moon
(3:21)  2. I'm Old Fashioned
(2:46)  3. It's Like Reaching for the Moon
(4:37)  4. If the Moon Turns Green
(3:39)  5. Reaching for the Moon
(5:10)  6. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars
(4:57)  7. Moonlight Serenade
(3:28)  8. There Ought To Be a Moonlight Saving Time
(3:29)  9. A Little Girl A Little Boy A Little Moon
(3:45) 10. Moon and Sand
(2:54) 11. I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
(3:29) 12. A Handful of Stars
(3:52) 13. Oh You Crazy Moon
(5:01) 14. So Many Stars
(4:28) 15. Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)
(3:29) 16. Moon River

Her keen aesthetic sense has attracted the attention of some of the jazz world’s most respected masters. When Order of Canada and legendary multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson first heard Panton sing at age 19, he recommended she audition for the reputed jazz workshop at the Banff Center for the Arts (Canada). There, she studied under Norma Winstone (and in subsequent visits, Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan). "When the great singer Sheila Jordan said Diana Panton 'sounds like the sweetest bird you'll ever hear', she helped define some of the ephemeral delicacy that marks Panton as unique." (Stuart Broomer, Toronto Life)

Before recording her first album, Panton completed an Honours Masters degree in French literature and fulfilled a teaching engagement at the University of Paris (France), followed by a position as a French Sessional Lecturer at McMaster University (Canada). She then completed a teaching degree in French, Visual and Dramatic Arts which would eventually lead to her current position at Westdale Secondary (Canada).

When the time finally arrived to go into the studio, national award-winning guitarist Reg Schwager was invited to join Don Thompson for some stellar accompaniment behind Panton’s pure vocals. The late great Montreal jazz critic Len Dobbin called “...yesterday perhaps” one of the finest debut CDs he had heard in years! It landed Diana on the covers of VIEW and NOW Magazine and the album made NOW's TOP 10 Discs of the Year. The album was also awarded a Silver Disc Award upon its release in Japan in 2011. Since her initial CD release, Panton’s career has been gathering steady momentum. Her impressive catalogue of internationally acclaimed albums have garnered numerous honours, including a second Silver Disc Award in Japan, three JUNO nominations, 7 Hamilton Music Awards, a host of National Jazz Award nominations, Canadian and American Independent Music Award nominations. Her sophomore album, "if the moon turns green ..." was the first place jury-selection to perform at the Jazz à Juan Révélations where she was voted Première Dauphine by the Juan public. Most recently, she was named one of Canada’s TOP 5 Jazz Vocalists by CBC radio host Tim Tamashiro. One gets the feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg for Panton... this artist is on the brink of something big.  http://www.dianapanton.com/story.html

If The Moon Turns Green…

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Larry Coryell - The Lift

Styles: Jazz Guitar
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:19
Size: 120,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:32)  1. Going Up
(6:52)  2. Arena Blues
(4:47)  3. The Lift
(3:33)  4. Lafayette
(3:48)  5. Clear Skies
(3:59)  6. Rough Cut
(4:57)  7. Alternative Recollection
(3:20)  8. Broken Blues
(3:45)  9. Counterweight
(5:46) 10. Stadium Wave
(4:05) 11. Wild Rye
(3:50) 12. First Day of Autumn

Recently I came across a video of televised performance featuring the Gary Burton Quartet, and its guitarist Larry Coryell was using his solo time to deliver some tasty licks that perfectly bridged the gap between rock guitar and jazz guitar. That might not sound like a unique skill among good guitarists today, but that performance was from 1967 and Coryell was around 24 years old at the time. Miles Davis was still in the middle of his all-acoustic Second Great Quintet and Bitches Brew was a couple of years away. Coryell went on to participate at the forefront of the fusion revolution as a solo artist and leading the Eleventh House fusion combo in the early 70s. Though he’s since built up equally impressive credentials as a post-bop guitarist, Coryell’s been in a fusion state of mind lately. He’s going to turn 70 next month but shows not even a trace of slowing down. If anything, he’s been revitalized on his Wide Hive records and his third one for the label is as raw and energetic as anything he’s done in a studio for decades. The Lift, as this latest one is called, scales back from the large, horn-laden backing band he used on 2011's righteous Larry Coryell With The Wide Hive Players down to mostly just a tidy electric guitar/electric bass/drums unit. 

Matt Montgomery (bass) and Lumpy (drums) are the only other musicians present on the album, save for Chester Smith and his organ on three cuts. The performances here are raw, a natural outcome from these being single take recordings, and the warm, vintage analog sound captured by record label founder Gregory Howe. Even more credit for that rough-and-ready sound goes to Coryell himself, whose delightfully dirty tone and broken notes are his trademark, and it’s even more ragged on The Lift.  These dozen tracks are essentially concise jams but each brings some kind of unique twist. “Going Up” utilizes an odd time signature (at one point, Lumpy slips in a 4/4 beat while Coryell continues to play the odd meter and somehow it still fits). The 9/8 strut of “Rough Cut” frames Coryell’s circular riff, as Smith improvises over that. The groove on “The Lift” is a lighter, jazzier one while the one on “Lafayette” is rubbery, “Wild Rye” is a straight rocker and “Stadium Wave” boasts a Latin flavor. Coryell plays the blues in his own way, too: “Arena Blues” is heavily psychedelic, his fuzzy notes bouncing off the walls of the studio, while “Broken Blues” rocks hard against a jazz swing beat.  Coryell also dubs a lead acoustic guitar over a rhythm one for a couple of tracks. “Clear Skies” is an agile, percussive blues number using jazz chords, while “The First Day Of Autumn” closes out the album with a gentle folk tune.

Liberally alternating between fully chorded attacks and single-line barrages, Coryell is lick machine on The Lift, sounding much closer to that twenty-four year old spring chicken than a guy about to enter his eighth decade on earth. The Lift could have been a time capsule from forty years plus ago opened up to demonstrate how Coryell used to sound like. But it isn’t; the original fusion guitarist remains as sharp and energetic today as he ever did. And you best believe this ol’ guy can still rock his ass off. ~ S.Victor Aaron   

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/03/05/larry-coryell-the-lift-2013/

Personnel: Larry Coryell (guitar); Chester Smith (organ)

 

The Song Lives On

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