Cheryl Jones - Like Someone In Love

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 47:17
Size: 108.3 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[3:08] 1. Like Someone In Love
[4:48] 2. Detour Ahead
[4:15] 3. I'm Just A Lucky So And So
[5:26] 4. Like A Lover
[8:22] 5. Here's That Rainy Day
[3:59] 6. Pretty World
[3:17] 7. Too Close For Comfort
[7:24] 8. You Disappoint Me
[3:02] 9. Autumn Nocturne
[3:31] 10. Night Train

Cheryl Ann Jones began her musical journey as a child growing up in Houston, Texas. At age 8, her mother enrolled her in classical piano lessons with Mrs. Joyce Young Franklin. She took piano with Mrs. Franklin for 10 years and began singing in school and church choirs. Cheryl graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, majoring in Vocal music. She performed with numerous groups including Girls' Chorus, Concert Choir and Senior Madrigals. Her love of jazz began in her home, listening to her father's vast jazz collection. Music was always playing in her home, in the car, on the record player! Cheryl went on to earn a Bachelor of Music Therapy from the University of Kansas and a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Music remained an avocation as she served as an institutional chaplain for over 20 years. Cheryl sang with the Susan Zierman Oasis Vocal Octet in Washington, DC, 1990-1997 and continued to sing in church choirs, off-off-off Broadway shows and special events.

In 2001, Cheryl began studying with the Elliston Music Studio with Ms. Ronnie Wells-Elliston and Mr. Ron Elliston. She has been a two-time semi-finalist in the Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship Competition, 2004 and 2005. Music has now come to the forefront of Cheryl's life as she pursues it as a vocation, rather than avocation. She sings weekly at several venues in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and has worked with some of the best jazz masters in the world! Cheryl is grateful to God for the opportunity to "sing her life" and share it with you.

Cheryl Jones has been nominated for a 2007 WAMMY in the Best Jazz Vocalist category! The WAMMYs (Washington Area Musicians) celebrate the artistry of musicians, producers and technicians in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Congratulations, Cheryl!

Like Someone In Love

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Bobby Sanabria - Big Band Urban Folktales

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 75:07
Size: 172.0 MB
Styles: Latin jazz
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[6:30] 1. 57th St. Mambo
[5:36] 2. Pink
[7:11] 3. Since I Fell For You
[6:52] 4. D Train
[7:22] 5. El Lider
[7:44] 6. El Aché De Sanabria En Moderación
[6:00] 7. Besame Mucho
[5:56] 8. The Crab
[8:43] 9. O Som Do Sol
[3:33] 10. Blues For Booty Shakers
[6:35] 11. The Grand Wazoo
[2:59] 12. Obrigado Mestre

Bobby Sanabria continues the tradition of creating exciting Latin jazz in a big-band setting with this outstanding release. Long after daring to ask to sit in with the legendary Tito Puente (while only a teenager), the veteran percussionist put together a memorable session by recruiting outstanding musicians and encouraging them to write for the band, along with adding a few compelling charts of his own. One can immediately feel the energy as trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman and the leader make their presence felt in the brassy opener, "57th St. Mambo," written by Mossman. Bass trombonist Chris Washburne wrote the slinky "Pink," which fuses several styles and suggests young men strutting their stuff down South Beach in Miami Beach. The band also successfully delves into a pair of Hermeto Pascoal's works (the dreamy "O Som do Sol" and the moody ballad "Obrigado Mestre") and a very fresh take of the often pedestrian "Besame Mucho," featuring an effective vocal by Hiram "El Pavo" Remón.

But the big surprise is a driving Afro-Cuban arrangement of rocker Frank Zappa's big-band piece "The Grand Wazoo," which retains enough elements of the original while adding plenty of Latin spice. This CD was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award as Best Latin Jazz Album. ~Ken Dryden

Big Band Urban Folktales

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Amandah Jantzen - Northern Star (The Singapore Sessions)

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:59
Size: 122,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:04)  1. Sequined Mermaid Dress
(4:59)  2. Lady Wants To Know
(2:03)  3. Social Call
(4:44)  4. The Night We Called It A Day
(4:34)  5. All Or Nothing At All / Stolen Moments
(4:30)  6. Northern Star
(4:08)  7. Willow Weep For Me
(4:50)  8. Bye Bye Country Boy
(3:27)  9. (I'm Just) Foolin' Myself
(2:39) 10. You Don't Know What Love Is
(5:00) 11. There's No Such Thing As Love
(2:45) 12. Ev'rything I've Got
(5:10) 13. We'll Be Together Again

Jazz and popular music are overloaded with "overnight successes" who gain a great deal of attention when they burst upon the scene, only to slip away into obscurity within a short time. Amandah Jantzen is the complete opposite. Throughout her career she has gradually earned a strong reputation while mastering her craft. She is a singer who, once experienced, one never forgets. Amandah has the rare ability to uplift standards and make vintage songs sound fresh, new and topical. Her warm voice and swinging style, combined with a large repertoire, result in consistently memorable performances. She is never shy to embrace melodies and lyrics from the Great American Songbook, bringing out the hidden beauty in both, but her renditions are never predictable. She is a jazz singer yet also quite accessible to a wide audience. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Amandah was drawn to music from an early age. 

Although she occasionally performed at jam sessions and in piano bars, she primarily worked outside of the music industry until 1986. By then, having discovered in turn Al Jarreau, Linda Ronstadt's Nelson Riddle recordings, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan, Amandah knew that she simply had to sing jazz. She relocated to Portland, Oregon five years later and became active locally, performing in jazz clubs and at concerts. She was particularly inspired by bassist Leroy Vinnegar and guitarist Charlie Byrd, developing into the warm and highly expressive singer that she is today. Byrd convinced Amandah that she should accompany herself on piano, a move which has added to the appeal and musicality of her performances. Amandah Jantzen's singing is well showcased on her three recordings, Some Other Time, Devil May Care and My Secret Love. She is also featured on a third of the songs on the Ellen Vanderslice compilation, Once in A Blue Moon, and half of the tunes on The Standard Vanderslice. Her newest CD, Northern Star/The Singapore Sessions was released in mid-2007. Because of the quality of these recordings and the popularity of her live engagements, I have picked Amandah as one of the top 500 jazz singers of all time and have included her in my book, The Jazz Singers, published by Backbeat Books in October, 2008. In addition to working in Portland (including long-term bookings at both the Doubletree and Heathman Hotels), Amandah has performed at extended engagements in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, at the Salishan Golf Resort on the Oregon Coast, at the Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and at the historic Ankeny's Restaurant atop the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane, Washington. 

She has also been featured as a soloist at the Du Maurier Jazz Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia; in Florida with tenor-saxophonist Turk Mauro and multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas, and has opened concerts for both Mc Coy Tyner and Charlie Byrd. She has been steadily building a growing following in Key West, Florida as well over the past few years.Internationally, she’s worked two engagements in Singapore, with multiple extensions that kept her busy for 15 months, culminating in the recording of her latest CD, (Northern Star.) Continuing her tour of Asia, she then performed extended bookings in Seoul, South Korea; Bali, Indonesia; New Delhi, India; Shanghai, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Hanoi, Vietnam; and her latest, a full year in The Maldives. Additionally, in early 2008, she was featured in the Emirates Air Jazz Vocal Concert Series at Nardis Jazz Club in Istanbul, Turkey.In early 2006 she placed second in the 5th Annual Jazz Connect International Vocal Competition. She has also developed a steady base of “House Concert” appearances in the US where she works at regional jazz venues in between her long term bookings in Asia. Her most recent overseas jazz concert was at the Esplanade in Singapore in July of 2010 with a powerhouse trio & a captivated audience. An enthusiastic and charismatic performer who is also subtle, Amandah Jantzen is a constant joy, both musically and personally. She is on her way to becoming a major name in the overlapping worlds of jazz, cabaret and classic American pop music. ~ Bio written by Scott Yanow, Los Angeles, CA    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amandah-Jantzen/e/B001LHMPWW

Northern Star (The Singapore Sessions)

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Abigail Riccards & Tony Romano - Soft Rains Fall

Styles: Vocal and Guitar Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:26
Size: 95,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:56)  1. I Get Along Without You Very Well
(3:28)  2. Chega De Saudade
(4:24)  3. Blame It On My Youth
(3:16)  4. Stardust
(4:41)  5. Both Sides Now
(2:37)  6. Beautiful Love
(3:01)  7. Kathy's Song
(4:42)  8. I Can't Make You Love Me
(3:41)  9. I Wish You Love
(2:50) 10. The Nearness Of You
(3:42) 11. Bring It On Home

Vocalist Abigail Riccards’ collaboration with guitarist Tony Romano, Soft Rains, is a stylistically unique voice and guitar recital. Although this type of pairing brings to mind the Ella Fitzgerald/Joe Pass sessions, this is disc contains a very different kind of duets. There are Spanish classical influences, as on “Chega De Suadade,” that sounds like a Joaquin Rodrigo composition both when Romano is in the spotlight and while he is driving Riccards’ evocative vocal stylings up and down the musical scales. Elsewhere, on “Beautiful Love,” Django-esque strumming is paired with vocal improvisations, one of two tracks that feature Riccards’ scatting skills. The other, “I Wish You Love,” is perhaps the “jazziest” on the album with a short but advanced guitar work. Romano plays angular lines on “Blame It On My Youth,” where his carefully placed notes frame Riccards’ mellow contralto; soft as honey with a bite of spice like heady mead.  Her voice is well suited for Joni Mitchell’s poetic words giving “Both Sides Now” a personal treatment without altering the spirit of this classic song. 

Her versatility is on display with her interpretation of Paul Simon’s “Kathy’s Song,” which flows smoothly from her lips revealing a vulnerability that is buried deep inside the music. Her heartbreaking delivery of romantic ballads is heard on “I Can’t Make You Love Me” with touches of folk music, and the Sam Cooke classic “Bring It On Home” maintains its earthiness but is infused with jazz sensibilities particularly on the closing guitar solo. On an album full of intimate moments, the most intimate tunes are “The Nearness Of You,” which is transformed to a voice and guitar conversation, “I Get Along Without You Very Well,” with enough musicality to the recitation of the lyrics to create a melancholy mood without overshadowing Romano’s sparse notes, and “Stardust,” where Riccards’ deceptively simple delivery is like someone humming to themselves but with a phrasing so exact and so one-of-a-kind that it belongs in the best of jazz venues. With the high quality of their musicianship, Riccards and Romano have created a record more stimulating and engaging with their bare-bones delivery than any overproduced vocal jazz album. ~ Hrayr Attarian  

http://www.chicagojazz.com/cd-reviews.php?SEARCH=review&REV=142.

Personnel:  Abigail Riccards – Voice; Tony Romano – Guitar

Soft Rains Fall

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Marian McPartland - Marian McPartland Plays The Benny Carter Songbook

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:33
Size: 124,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:04)  1. When The Lights Are Low
(5:16)  2. I'm In The Mood For Swing
(4:52)  3. A Kiss From You
(3:44)  4. Key Largo
(4:42)  5. Another Time, Another Place
(4:44)  6. Summer Serenade
(4:03)  7. Doozy
(5:16)  8. Lonely Woman
(7:07)  9. Only Trust Your Heart
(3:41) 10. Evening Star
(6:01) 11. Easy Money

Two aspects uplift this Marian McPartland CD above most songbooks. Benny Carter is much better-known as an altoist and an arranger than as a composer, so his compositions tend to be quite fresh since they have been underplayed through the years. Also, the fact that Carter himself performs on the majority of these selections (which also include bassist John Clayton and drummer Harold Jones) makes the set something special. Highlights include "When Lights Are Low," "I'm in the Mood for Swing," "Key Largo," "Doozy," "Lonely Woman" and "Only Trust Your Heart," but all 11 songs are enjoyable and swinging. ~ Scott Yanow   http://www.allmusic.com/album/plays-the-benny-carter-songbook-mw0000655084.

Personnel: Marian McPartland (piano), Benny Carter (alto saxophone), John Clayton (bass), Harold Jones (drums).

Marian McPartland Plays The Benny Carter Songbook

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