Thursday, March 6, 2014

Renee Yoxon & Mark Ferguson - Here We Go Again

Size: 123,2 MB
Time: 53:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2012
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. So Far (4:38)
02. Drinking Coffee (4:28)
03. Here We Go Again (4:30)
04. Watching (5:52)
05. Just Say The Word (4:10)
06. Just As We Are (3:32)
07. Sao Paulo (5:05)
08. Canary (4:24)
09. 1-2-3 (3:58)
10. Have We Been In Love Before? (5:17)
11. Don't Go (3:43)
12. There's Only You (3:21)

Here We Go Again is Canadian singer/songwriter Renee Yoxon's follow-up to 2010's Let's Call It A Day (Self Produced). She teams with pianist/trombonist Mark Ferguson for a dozen original compositions that are refreshingly familiar, meaning they all have a traditional form and mainstream sensibility that softens the blow to even the most stalwart traditionalist deaf to any material composed after 1960.

But new material, this is. From afar, this is a collection of slow- and medium-tempo ballads that have a faint familiarity that is difficult to pin down. "Drinking Coffee" has a whiff of Jackson Browne in its structure (or is it Warren Zevon) and sounds as if Linda Ronstadt would have sung this 30 years previous. Craig Pedersen's pinched trumpet adds just enough jazz to keep things unbalanced, not a bad thing here as it curtails this music's predictability making it at once fresh but not out of reach. The title piece is a lyrically complex waltz that modulates through times and tempi providing the listener something continually new. "Watching" is a delicate pastoral, opened with Joel Kerr's arco bass delicately balanced upon Ferguson's piano. Yoxon's voice is confident and knowing, comfortable and intimate.

Intimate may best describe this recording. Yoxon's writing and voice are clearly out there with no net. Even on the more up-tempo "Just As We Are," Yoxon sings as if telling a humorous secret:

"We make such a pair; we match like a new pair of shoes
Why go spoil it all with a pair of "I dos."
And We stay just as we are, our love still shiny and new
No fuss no fight , stayin up all night, whispering dreamily
We should stay just as we are, just you and me..."

"Sao Paulo" is proto-Bossa Nova so fresh and humid, Yoxon's wordless singing equally fresh. the piece, "1-2-3" opens with a jaunty walking bass, Ferguson's trombone doubling with Yoxon's be bop voice that leads into a bit of impressive scat singing. Ferguson's solo is understated and bluesy, contrasting well with Yoxon's voice. Here We Go Again echos the method on Thisbe Vos' Under Your Spell (Self Produced, 2013), one where the mainstream is not forsaken but is tilled into itself making a richer foundation for the newly composed. The music will only grow deeper from such. ~Review by C. Michael Bailey

Personnel: Renee Yoxon: vocals; Mark Ferguson: piano, trombone; ; Joel Kerr: bass; Jeff Asselin: drums; Rene Gely: guitar; Craig Pedersen: trumpet; Frank Lozano: saxophone.

Here We Go Again

Renee Yoxon & Rene Gely - Let's Call It A Day

Size: 105,8 MB
Time: 41:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. The Look Of Love (4:08)
02. Willow Weep For Me (4:37)
03. Never Let Me Go (3:42)
04. Let's Call It A Day (3:01)
05. Candy (2:54)
06. Lovers' Lullaby (3:25)
07. Centerpiece (3:50)
08. The Masquerade Is Over (3:58)
09. Par Ce Beau Jour De Printemps (3:06)
10. Don't Explain (5:14)
11. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) (3:47)

About Let's Call it a Day:
As Yoxon’s debut album, this work showcases her clear and unembellished lyrical delivery, poignant song choice, and emotionally charged performance. Using a wide variety of guitars, Yoxon & Gely create atmospheric, folk-influenced interpretations of jazz standards.

Artists' Bios:
Young vocalist Renée Yoxon is quickly becoming one of the most in demand jazz singers in the Ottawa region thanks to her grace, captivating presence and beautiful voice. Introduced to jazz music in high school, her tastes and vocal repertoire range from bebop to contemporary favourites. After graduating from high school Renée studied voice with Tena Palmer while completing a degree in physics with minors in math and music from Carleton University. Recently, Renée has participated in the National Arts Centre’s Manhattan on the Rideau masterclasses led by Theo Bleckmann and Peter Eldridge.
Distinguished by more poise and assurance than most young women her age, Renée delivers unique interpretations of jazz standards. Hear her every Monday night at Bar 56 in Ottawa’s Byward Market.

René Gely has pursued his musical passions in San Francisco, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Paris. A Parisian for 12 years, he studied with the French world music guitarist Pierre Bensusan and the acclaimed American expatriate, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. René has recorded with Toronto jazz musicians such as Perry White and George Koller, as well as with the Irish singer Mary Reidy. While in San Francisco in 2003, René started his world beat trio Pulse Mondiale. He later relocated to the Ottawa area where he is originally from. Here he has formed a new edition of Pulse Mondiale, as well as new collaborations with the city's best musicians.

Let's Call It A Day

Chris Standring - Main Course / Don't Talk, Dance!

Album: Main Course (The Early Tapes)
Size: 113,1 MB
Time: 48:51
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2011
Styles: Jazz Funk, Smooth Jazz
Art: Front

01. Tabbouleh (6:49)
02. Look No Strings (5:11)
03. Baklava And Cream (4:47)
04. Touchdown (5:14)
05. Pastourelle (3:45)
06. City Shuffle (5:40)
07. Prelude (1:09)
08. Who Knows (5:01)
09. What Was That (5:49)
10. Sticky Fingers (5:22)

The success of Chris Standring’s groundbreaking 2010 CD Blue Bolero, which topped several year-end lists and produced a No. 1 single, made it a tough act for the guitarist to follow. But Standring has managed quite nicely with Electric Wonderland (March 20, 2012, Ultimate Vibe Recordings), a 10-song CD of original songs that fuses elements of Blue Bolero’s orchestral touches with a deft jazz-pop touch that’s been a hall mark of Standring’s stellar career.

Chris Standring grew up in the small town of Aylesbury in England, later studying at London College of Music and writing music for the BBC and for several theatrical orchestrations before moving to Los Angeles in February of 1991. That’s where Standring first hooked up with Rodney Lee, as they both were playing with Lauren Christy, a U.K. singer who had also moved to Southern California. In 1996, Standring and Lee released an acid-jazz CD by their group Solar System. The CD, featuring vocal covers of “Walk on the Wild Side” and “Me & Mrs. Jones,” introduced Standring’s vibey instrumental tunes to the world.

Main Course

Album: Don't Talk, Dance!
Size: 137,3 MB
Time: 58:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz Funk, Smooth Jazz
Art: Front

01. Sky High (5:16)
02. Inside Outside (3:54)
03. Sneakin' Out The Front Door (3:54)
04. Voices In My Head (4:16)
05. Soul Symphony (4:20)
06. Another Fine Mess (4:49)
07. Crazy Bom Baizy (5:33)
08. Ride (Feat. Lauren Christy) (4:14)
09. Absolute Madness (4:18)
10. Yesterday's Heaven (4:33)
11. Imagine That (3:56)
12. Scatterfunk (5:05)
13. Nothing Lasts Forever (4:35)

Chris Standring returns in 2014 with another musical left turn with Don't Talk, Dance!, a deep European progressive soul-jazz-dance influenced project featuring the best funk and soul studio musicians in Los Angeles. This 13-track set features Chris as arranger, orchestrator and producer, along with his signature solo jazz and fusion guitar sounds.

Drawing on 70's style funk and soul inspiration, Chris raises the bar once again with an album that is impossible to sit still to. The first radio single "Sneakin' Out The Front Door," features Chris on guitar talkbox, and harks back to a time reminiscent of early Jeff Beck or Herbie Hancock, with a hook that is clearly all Chris Standring.

Don't Talk, Dance!

Mariana Martin - Bossa Nova

Size: 85,7 MB
Time: 36:52
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Bossa Nova, Brazilian Jazz
Art: Front

01. A Felicidade (4:32)
02. Summer Samba (So Nice) (3:37)
03. Girl From Ipanema (3:46)
04. Flor De Lis (4:27)
05. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) (3:37)
06. Madalena (3:11)
07. Triste (4:14)
08. Pra Dizer Adeus (4:43)
09. Wave (4:39)

Born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Mariana is a consequence of the Bossa Nova movement. American mother and Brazilian father she lived most of her life between the USA and Brazil. She started her singing career at age 18 in Rio singing Brazilian Jazz at the popular local clubs of Rio. She studied music at the Brazilian conservatory of music in Rio de Janeiro and Dick Grove School of Music in LA. By the age of 19 she was a recording artist for the label Som Livre in Brazil where she had two albums produced by Guto Graca Mello. At Age 21 Mariana was invited by Chicago Musician Brazilian percussionist Laudir de Oliveira to join a Brazilian Jazz band called The Brazilian Secrets in Los Angeles. Together they performed for four consecutive years the Brazilian Carnival at the Hollywood Palladium in LA and opened a live concert for Duran Duran in Anaheim, California. Together with musicians: Don Grusin (keyboards), Lee Ritnower (guitar), Tom Scott (Winds), Jimmy Haslip (bass/Yellow Jackets), Kay Akagi (keyboards), and many others the Brazilian Secrets played live in several night clubs in LA.
Mariana is now based in Miami where she performed for 3 consecutives years at the Van Dyke Café Jazz Club in Miami Beach and together with musicians Don Wilner / Bass (Music Director of the Van Dyke Café) and Mike Orta / Piano (Head Director of the Music Dept. FIU) and Claudio Spiewak (Acoustic guitar) she recorded a Brazilian jazz CD called "BOSSA NOVA BLUES". She is now playing in local night clubs and is in the process of releasing her new album “Forbidden Fruit Lounge” better described as a fusion of her American and Brazilian heritage.

Bossa Nova

Majken Christiansen - Comes Love

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:20
Size: 114,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:13)  1. Girl Talk
(3:57)  2. Teach Me Tonight
(3:03)  3. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
(4:00)  4. 'S Wonderful
(3:54)  5. Over The Rainbow
(3:46)  6. Comes Love
(3:06)  7. Sing, Sing, Sing
(3:54)  8. Moonlight In Vermont
(5:19)  9. Stompin' At The Savoy
(5:05) 10. It Ain't Necessarily So
(5:37) 11. Take The "A" Train
(3:22) 12. Almost Like Being In Love

Majken sings revitalized jazz in the tradition of the great jazz divas, where Ella Fitzgerald always will be one of the biggest inspirations. But Majken doing their thing with an open and updated expression, and no matter what she sings, so interprets and conveys her classic lyrics and melodies from The American Songbook with warmth, honesty and conviction.

Since the mid-1990s, Majken been Denmark's most popular swing jazz singer. She has done numerous concerts in Denmark, has recorded several CDs and has got her own Danish fankkubb! From 2001 to 2010 stayed Majken stuck in Oslo, where she ia was a soloist with a number of bands. Today Majken residing in Copenhagen. published in 2011 Majken CD Speak Love . It contains nine handpicked standard melodies, both famous and less famous, plus a new song by guitarist Frode Kjekstad. In the beautiful ballad "Throw It Away" shows Majken and guest Bodil Niska extensive experience in interpreting profession. Like the rest of the CD, it seeks to address even beyond jazz church. 

- Unlike their predecessors in the history of jazz, these musicians feel at home in any genre or style (...) With such a versatile quartet from Norway, is Majken Christiansen perfect Danish counterpart. Elegant, funny and sensitive, but also powerful as a "big fat mama" a surprising contrast to the events sleek look. Trained as an actor and singer in Denmark, Norway and the United States, Majken all it takes to grab an audience, be it in a theater, a concert hall, or in a small club ... ( Erling Wicklund, producer NRK 2003) Bodil Niska Majken Christiansen on Sildajazz 2004 Crew Majken Christiansen - vocals Frode Kjekstad - Guitar Ove Billington - piano Stig Hvalryg - bass Torstein Ellingsen - drumsBooking torstein@jazzprovider.com + 47 91713877 See Majkens has sung much live in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, but also in Germany, Holland, Poland and Ukraine. She has been a lot of touring for Concerts, with the two productions Ella Fitzgerald - First Lady Of Song and weird animals .... Translate by google  http://www.jazzprovider.com/majken.html

Comes Love

Lauren Shub - Dream Dancing

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:15
Size: 114,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:27)  1. Too Darn Hot
(3:57)  2. Caravan
(3:03)  3. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
(4:22)  4. The Very Thought of You
(2:51)  5. Can't Buy Me Love
(3:19)  6. Dream Dancing
(3:08)  7. So in Love
(3:14)  8. Teach Me Tonight
(2:31)  9. Just One of Those Things
(3:23) 10. It Might as Well Be Spring
(3:52) 11. They Can't Take That Away from Me
(3:59) 12. My Funny Valentine
(3:10) 13. I've Got the World On a String
(4:49) 14. Moondance

Lauren  Shub is a professional singer and actor who has performed on Broadway, regional theater and clubs. She has appeared with a range of jazz musicians in NY and NJ she frequently performs with jazz guitarist Hal Hirsch and pianist Ilya Maslov and their respective ensembles. Most recently she has also performed with noted saxophonist Karel Ruzicka, Jr. She has also sung with guitarist Joseph Frame and the Framework Acoustic Jazz Quartet. Among Lauren's local appearances have been performances at the Watchung Arts Center, Crossroads, Verve, Perkins Art Center's DeCafe Series, the Hunt Club at the Grand Summit Hotel, North Maple Inn, Giamano's, Johnny K's and annual appearances at Westfield's Sweet Sounds Downtown.

"Lauren has a handle on the 1940s sound, yet she brings her own sensibility to the well-known standards from the American Songbook. She grabs you with a smooth, precise, and controlled approach to singing, and tops that off with a sweet tone and a lilt to her vibrato, that is reminiscent of the legendary Sarah Vaughan" . "A voice that sails on breathless notes" Star Ledger   http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/laurenshub2

Joe Sample - Old Places Old Faces

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:53
Size: 126,5 MB
Art: Front + Back

(4:27)  1. Free Yourself
(5:30)  2. Black And White
(7:40)  3. Clifton's Gold
(5:16)  4. Old Places Old Faces
(3:03)  5. Tones For Ben
(5:57)  6. Hippies On A Corner
(6:35)  7. Souly Creole
(4:41)  8. First Love
(6:05)  9. Miles Of Blues
(5:36) 10. Angels On My Mind

As many of his smooth jazz contemporaries have done later in their careers, Sample approached this set of 10 originals in a way more attuned to bop than pop. With just a bass player (Jay Anderson), drummer (Ralph Penland) and an occasional cameo by Coltrane acolyte Charles Lloyd, this is a more intimate record than most of its predecessors, more like Bill Evans than Michael Franks. "Miles of Blue" swings nicely, the pensive "Angels of My Mind" beautifully highlights Sample's affinity for chordal melodies and "Hippies On A Corner" is a sly samba groove."As many of his smooth jazz contemporaries have done later in their careers, Sample approached this set of 10 originals in a way more attuned to bop than pop. With just a bass player (Jay Anderson), drummer (Ralph Penland) and an occasional cameo by Coltrane acolyte Charles Lloyd, this is a more intimate record than most of its predecessors, more like Bill Evans than Michael Franks. "Miles of Blue" swings nicely, the pensive "Angels of My Mind" beautifully highlights Sample's affinity for chordal melodies and "Hippies On A Corner" is a sly samba groove." ~ Michael Verity   
http://jazz.about.com/od/albumreview1/ss/Jazz-Buyers-Guide-Fusion-Pianist-Joe-Sample_6.htm

Personnel: Joe Sample (piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Dean Parks (guitar); Charles Lloyd (tenor saxophone); Jay Anderson (bass guitar); Lenny Castro (drums, percussion); Ralph Penland (drums).

Old Places Old Faces

Tim Armacost - Live At Smalls

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:41
Size: 155,2 MB
Art: Front

( 0:59)  1. Tim Introduces The Band
(10:58)  2. Libra
(11:29)  3. Tenor Vibe
(11:29)  4. Invisible
( 9:57)  5. Whistling Away the Dark
(13:11)  6. Hank's Other Bag
( 9:35)  7. You Don't Know What Love Is

This is a burning set recorded live at one of New York's hottest jazz clubs, Smalls. The presence of the great Tom Harrell on trumpet and flugelhorn ratchets up the intensity, but the lesser-known quintet members Gerald Cannon on bass, Shingo Okudaira on drums, and the delightful Jonny King on piano turn in excellent performances as well. Tim Armacost's tenor sound is rich and his solos are steeped in classic post-bop vocabulary. He shines on the ballads "Whistling Away the Dark" and "You Don't Know What Love Is," ably handles the faster tempos of Gary Bartz's "Libra" and Ornette Coleman's "Invisible," and plays a mean soprano sax on Hank Mobley's "Hank's Other Bag," a 14-bar blues. ~ David R. Adler   
http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-smalls-mw0000670899

Personnel: Tim Armacost (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jonny King (piano); Gerald Cannon (upright bass); Shingo Okudaira (drums).

Live At Smalls