Carol Duboc - Burt Bacharach Songbook

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:38
Size: 95,4 MB
Art: Front + Back

(4:08)  1. What the World Needs Now
(3:18)  2. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
(3:45)  3. Wives and Lovers
(3:13)  4. My Melody
(3:31)  5. Anyone Who Had a Heart
(3:35)  6. Walk on By
(3:00)  7. I'll Never Fall in Love Again
(3:14)  8. The Look of Love
(4:52)  9. A House Is Not a Home
(3:15) 10. Close to You
(2:51) 11. Always Something There to Remind Me
(2:50) 12. Say a Little Prayer

Pianist Jimmy Rowles once famously remarked, "Burt Bacharach's tunes sound like third alto parts." Well, don't try to sell singer Carol Duboc on that notion. Based on the effort she expended on her latest album, she's quite comfortable with the songwriter who hails from Carol's hometown, Kansas City. That effort extended to producing the session; doing all the arrangements; adding one of her own songs to the mix; and above all, securing flutist Hubert Laws to be principal soloist and gap-filler. Their music-making pays off handsomely. While Bacharach's rangy lines and awkward intervals post a challenge to most singers, Ms Duboc is not your average vocalist. She boasts a clear soprano range so necessary to scale the frequent Bacharach peaks plus firm intonation, as well as the ability to swing. In short, she's an intelligent jazz stylist. 

Duboc also possesses a warm, soothing alto range, which she puts to good use on her original bossa, "My Melody," and especially on "A House Is Not A Home." She takes "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" slower than most, plumbing its depth and finding a surprising poignancy in the tune, turning it into a ear-opener. "Wives and Lovers" is also given unique treatment: it has bookends in 3/4, but they bracket a straightforward, swinging 4/4. She also turns "The Look of Love" into a seductive swinger. Listen carefully to the beginning of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again:" following a clever, economical instrumental introduction, the first time Duboc sings the title, the first word, "I'll," slides off her tongue just like a Hubert Laws flute lick.  Whether that was planned, or a matter of osmosis, it makes for a convenient segue. Laws goes well beyond his second billing and very nearly dominates the session. His timbre is ideal for her voice; her gaps are custom-ma de for his pithy comments. The same kind of rapport is heard elsewhere: listen for the comping support from pianist Joe Cartwright; guitarist Danny Embrey; and particularly bassist Bob Bowman. Must be something in that K.C. water. Thank you, Carol...3rd alto parts never sounded so good. ~ Harvey Siders   http://jazztimes.com/articles/25347-burt-bacharach-songbook-carol-duboc-featuring-hubert-laws.

Personnel: Carol Duboc (vocals); Danny Embrey (guitar); Hubert Laws (flute); Joe Cartwright (piano); Luis Conte (percussion).

Burt Bacharach Songbook

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Helen Sung - Anthem for a New Day

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:41
Size: 118,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:37)  1. Brother Thelonious
(4:37)  2. Armando's Rhumba
(5:48)  3. Hidden
(4:11)  4. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
(5:33)  5. Hope Springs Eternally
(5:44)  6. Anthem for a New Day
(7:18)  7. Never Let Me Go
(5:04)  8. Chaos Theory
(5:30)  9. Epistrophy
(2:16) 10. Equipoise

There's a bit of the iconoclast in pianist Helen Sung. Her musical journey began in the classical world, and didn't take its rebellious tangent into jazz until her college years, after a chance encounter with a Harry Connick, Jr. concert, in a "bang on the piano" solo interlude. And then there was pianist Tommy Flanagan's solo on saxophonist Charlie Parker "Confirmation," and Sung was jazz bitten, in the best way. Anthem for a New Day, Sung's sixth album her first on Concord Records represents a full blossoming of Sung's talents as a pianist, band leader, arranger and writer. Not that Sung has turned her back on her classical experience. You can hear it in her take on Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing,)" which doesn't swing much, but does indeed showcase her classically tinged technique. And the album's opener, "Brother Thelonious" written on commission as a theme song for a Belgian ale of the same name  features a crisp Sung piano solo that revs into high gear for some "piano banging" of the highest and most technically-proficient order. This is mostly a sextet outing, with Sung employing a trumpeter (the always marvelous Ingrid Jensen) for the first time on one of her discs. 

Jensen's front line playing with saxophonist Seamus Blake opens "Brother Thelonious," leading into her searing trumpet solo that gives way to Blake's robustly smoldering bluster that Sung fans into high flames on her solo. Sung brings in some guests. Clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera joins the pianist in an ebullient duet (with accompanying palmas) on Chick Corea's "Armundo's Rhumba," and violinist Regina Carter sits in on "Hidden," a pensive Sung original, and on a very distinctively-arranged Great American Songbook tune, "Never Let Me Go." "Chaos Theory," another Sung-penned tune, takes things into freer territory, with the piano slipping into an exquisite rapid- fire mode. Sung adds another color to her palette on the disc's title tune, with bass clarinetist John Ellis sitting in. Beginning as a dark-hued tone poem, with Sung shining on Fender Rhodes, the sound shifts to a proud and bold proclamation, a neo-funk/free flying "Here I Am!" anthem that has Sung, Jensen and Blake playing off each other in what sounds like a choreographed street fight, jazz style. And what has Helen Sung done to Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy?" The sextet sounds like a big band; Monk's quirky angularity is translated into an anthem, that leads into the set's closer, a Sung piano solo that represents, it seems a centered-ness, a confident calm from the always evolving Helen Sung. ~ Dan McClenaghan   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=46238#.Uznhq1dSvro
 

Personnel: Helen Sung: piano, Fender Rhodes; Seamus Blake: tenor and soprano saxophones; Ingrid Jensen: trumpet; Reuben Rogers: bass; Obed Calvaire: drums; Samuel Torres: percussion; John Ellis: bass clarinet (6); Regina Carter: violin (3, 7); Paquito D'Rivera: clarinet (2).

Anthem for a New Day

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Willie Nelson - Without A Song

Styles: Country
Year: 1983
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 38:39
Size: 62,0 MB
Art: Front + Back

(3:48)  1. Without A Song
(4:21)  2. Once In A While
(3:57)  3. Autumn Leaves
(3:52)  4. I Can't Begin To Tell You
(3:45)  5. Harbor Lights
(3:41)  6. Golden Earrings
(4:05)  7. You'll Never Know
(4:00)  8. To Each His Own
(3:45)  9. As Time Goes By
(3:21) 10. A Dreamer's Holiday

In 1978, Willie struck gold with Stardust, a collection of jazz and vocal standards that might well have been titled "Great American Songs Volume I." Periodically thereafter Willie made other forays into the American songwriting catalogue. Without a Song was his third such effort (Somewhere Over The Rainbow was his second, What a wonderful World his fourth). This time Willie stuck close to the formula that had succeeded so well with Stardust. He reteamed with producer/organist Booker T. Jones (leader of the famous r&b combo Booker T. and the MGs, who do not appear on this album), and chose a pleasing collection of great ballads that includes "Autumn Leaves," "Harbor Lights," and "You'll Never Know." Also featured is a duet with Julio Iglesias on "As Time Goes By." It is no criticism to say that Without a Song  never quite reaches the heights of Stardust , since the latter is one of Willie's greatest records. Still, on tracks like "Golden Earrings" and "A Dreamer's Holiday," Nelson fully recaptures the magic of Without a Song’s classic predecessor. Strings and horns arranged by Booker T. Jones and conducted by Jules Chaikin.  http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1086117&style=music&desc=1

Personnel: Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Jody Payne (vocals, guitar); Bobby Wood (vocals, keyboards); Toni Wine, Julio Iglesias (vocals); Grady Martin, Reggie Young (guitar); Bob "Chicago" Nelson, Bobbie Nelson (piano); Booker T. Jones (organ, keyboards); Bobby Emmons (keyboards); Gene Grisman, Paul English (drums); Billy Gene English (percussion). 

Without A Song

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Tommy Ridgley - The Chronological 1949-1954

Styles: New Orleans R&B
Year: 1954
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 54:58
Size: 88,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:40)  1. Boogie Woogie Mama
(3:01)  2. Shrewsbury Blues
(2:16)  3. Early Dawn Boogie
(2:35)  4. Lonely Man Blues
(2:41)  5. Anything But Love
(2:38)  6. Once in a Lifetime
(2:31)  7. Come Home Baby
(2:32)  8. Tra La La
(1:47)  9. Got You on My Mind
(1:47) 10. Booted
(2:45) 11. Lavinia
(2:27) 12. I Live My Life
(2:21) 13. Good Times
(2:08) 14. A Day Is Coming
(2:21) 15. Looped
(2:23) 16. Junie Mae
(2:18) 17. Monkey Man
(2:15) 18. Nobody Cares
(2:49) 19. Ooh Lawdy My Baby
(2:59) 20. I'm Gonna Cross That River
(2:50) 21. Wish I Had Never
(2:43) 22. Jam Up

Tommy Ridgley was on the Crescent City R&B scene when it first caught fire, and he remained a proud part of that same scene until his death in 1999. That was a lot of years behind a microphone, but Ridgley never sounded the slightest bit tired; his 1995 Black Top album Since the Blues Began rated as one of his liveliest outings. Ridgley cut his debut sides back in 1949 for Imperial under Dave Bartholomew's direction. His "Shrewsbury Blues" and "Boogie Woogie Mama" failed to break outside of his hometown, though. Sessions for Decca in 1950 and Imperial in 1952 (where he waxed the wild "Looped") preceded four 1953-1955 sessions for Atlantic that included a blistering instrumental, "Jam Up," that sported no actual Ridgley involvement but sold relatively well under his name (incomparable tenor saxist Lee Allen was prominent). 

New York's Herald Records was Ridgley's home during the late '50s. The consistently solid singer waxed "When I Meet My Girl" for the firm in 1957, encoring with a catchy "Baby Do-Liddle." From there, it was on to his hometown-based Ric logo, where he laid down the stunning stroll-tempoed "Let's Try and Talk It Over" and a bluesy "Should I Ever Love Again" in 1960. He recorded intermittently after leaving Ric in 1963, waxing a soulful "I'm Not the Same Person" in 1969 for Ronn. Ridgley always remained a hometown favorite even when recording opportunities proved scarce. Happily, Since the Blues Began ranked with 1995's best albums, Ridgley sounding entirely contemporary but retaining his defining Crescent City R&B edge. Not long after the appearance of 1999's How Long, Ridgley passed away, on August 11th of that year. Bio ~ Bill Dahl   http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tommy-ridgley-mn0000612421/biography

Tommy Ridgley - The Chronological    1949-1954

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