Gina Kronstadt - Come Over

Size: 79,0 MB
Time: 33:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2013
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Magic (3:40)
02. Tell Me (Or Not) (4:54)
03. Come Over (4:24)
04. Twitter Stole My Boyfriend (4:02)
05. That Night (5:39)
06. Turn Around (3:04)
07. One More Time (4:01)
08. Just Ask (4:04)

Everybody wants to be a star and everybody wants their turn in the spotlight. The recent documentary 20 Feet From Stardom focused on the struggles of background singers to emerge from the shadows. Gina Kronstadt can surely identify with that struggle.

Whatever motivated Kronstadt's debut, Come Over, she demonstrates she's ready for her close-up. A veteran studio and concert performer, the Los Angeles based singer and songwriter can boast of an impressive resume performing on film soundtracks, television commercials, scores, and backing up a multitude of artists including Stevie Wonder, Chris Botti, and Michael Buble.

Kronstadt's skill sets are as an in-demand violinist and a vocalist, but Come Over emphasizes her singing talents as she wrote, composed, arranged, and produced the whole affair. The success of the album is in no small part due to the exceptional support she receives from John Beasley, Christian McBride, Reggie Hamilton and Bob Sheppard among a drum- head tight group of players.

"Magic" is a breezin' jazzer with Kronstadt bopping along to Sheppard's saxophone, McBride's upright bass, Gary Novak's in the pocket drumming and Beasley on Fender Rhodes complimented by the lush, string section conducted by Joel DeRouin. Kronstadt's expressive vocals are well-served by how effectively her arrangements match her talents. The moody, swaying "Come Over" embraces the listener as Sheppard's sax plays off of Kronstadt's sensuous crooning.

The only misfire is "Twitter Stole My Boyfriend,."a sort of half- sung/half-rapped stab at trendiness, but its mostly all lame. It a throwaway tune and one that should have remained buried deep on Kronstadt's hard drive. "That Night" offers a full recovery as her bluesy crooning meshes with another Sheppard sweet sax solo.

Come Over is one of the pleasant discoveries of the summer and leaves a lasting first impression. This is Kronstadt's time in the spotlight and she makes a strong case it is where she has belonged all along. ~By Jeff Winbush

Personnel: Gina Kronstadt: vocals; John Beasley: fender rhodes; Christian McBride: upright bass (1, 2, 5, 6); Reggie Hamilton: upright bass (3, 4, 7, 8); Gary Novak: drums; Luis Conte: percussion; John Daversa: trumpet (3, 5); Walt Fowler: trumpet (4); Bob Sheppard: flute, sax, bass clarinet; Joel Deroun: concertmaster; John Wittenberg, Daphne Chen, Susan Chatman, Cameron Patrick, Calabria Foti, Adrianna Zoppo, Shari Zippert: violins; Lynn Grants, Nancy Roth: violas; Maurice Grants, Stefanie Fife: celli.

Come Over

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Raul De Souza - Voila

Size: 112,9 MB
Time: 48:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Brazilian Jazz
Art: Front

01. Por Aqui Por Ali (4:49)
02. Alibi (5:19)
03. Todas As Tribos (5:03)
04. Up Jumped Spring (6:29)
05. Ligia (4:53)
06. 10 Minutos (5:08)
07. Isabella (6:13)
08. Voila (6:07)
09. Viva O Rio (4:39)

Boasting a distinctive and highly appealing tone, Raul de Souza was a Brazilian trombonist who kept busy in the '70s but faded into obscurity in the '80s. De Souza, although essentially a jazz artist, was quite versatile -- he played his share of fusion, pop-jazz, and Brazilian jazz, but could also handle funk and disco. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 23, 1934, de Souza was employed as a sideman by some of Brazil's musical heavyweights in the '70s, including Sergio Mendez, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Milton Nascimento. The trombonist, who also appeared on '70s albums by Sonny Rollins and Cal Tjader, signed with Capitol in 1976, and his first Capitol session, Sweet Lucy, was released the following year. Both Sweet Lucy and de Souza's second Capitol date, Don't Ask My Neighbors, were produced by George Duke. But de Souza changed producers on his next album, 'Til Tomorrow Comes, which was produced by Arthur Wright and found the Rio native jumping on the disco bandwagon. Devoid of jazz, the 1979 release is pure disco. 'Til Tomorrow Comes was his last album for Capitol -- after that, he faded into obscurity. All three of de Souza's Capitol albums are out of print, although his 1974 recording, Colors, is available on CD as part of Fantasy's Original Jazz Classics series. ~Biography by Alex Henderson

Voila

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The Rebecca Kilgore Trio - Just Imagine

Size: 160,1 MB
Time: 68:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Ragtime
Art: Front

01. Oh, Look At Me Now (4:13)
02. Daddy Won't You Please Come Home (5:04)
03. Just A Little Bit South Of North Carolina (4:29)
04. Song Of The Blues (5:31)
05. Seventh Avenue (3:36)
06. Just Imagine (5:16)
07. Lucky Day (3:14)
08. Almost In Your Arms (4:15)
09. I'm In A Low Down Groove (5:12)
10. I'm Rhythm Crazy Now (4:31)
11. Three Coins In The Fountain (4:35)
12. Cry Me A River (4:51)
13. Serenade To Sweden (4:49)
14. Soft Winds (4:51)
15. Mis'ry And The Blues (4:12)

More often than not, jazz is asked to blossom forth in inhospitable places: the noisy club where musicians must compete with the bartender’s blender, or the recording studio, a maze of headphones and wires. Imagine a quiet room, shaded as if an Edward Hopper nightscape, with three musicians, two grand pianos, the only other people a recording engineer, himself a musician; another man taking notes. It was no fantasy, for this all happened during two December 2013 sessions in Portland, Oregon, in a back room at CLASSIC PIANOS, where three friends gathered for warm, intimate musical conversations in the name of classic jazz.

Becky, Dan, and Paolo believe that music, created on the spot, can bring joy in the moment and renew us in the future. They gave each of the songs they had chosen its own life, reflective or ebullient: the poignancy of DADDY, the bounce of CAROLINA, the swagger of RHYTHM CRAZY, the romance of COINS, the melancholy of MIS’RY AND THE BLUES. Many of the songs have associations with Annette Hanshaw, Anita O’Day, Jack Teagarden, Julie London, Billie Holiday, Ellington, Charlie Christian, Trummy Young, Sophia Loren, Joe Bushkin, Lee Wiley, Fletcher Henderson. But these sessions were no “tribute,” no “repertory” re-creation, for the musicians brought their own personalities to this project, adding new melodies to the ones we know.

When Becky sings, we hear a gently compelling honesty. Yes, we admire the way she glides from note to note, the creamy naturalness of her voice, the way her smallest melodic embellishments enhance the song, her infallible swing. But what sets her apart is her quiet determination to share the song’s emotional message candidly, fully. Becky doesn’t overstate or dramatize. She doesn’t place herself in front of the material, but she opens the song for us, so that we feel what its creators hoped for.

Hearing Dan, I think, “That is how any creative player should sound: forthright, assured, subtle, inventive.” Like a great musical conversationalist, he always knows the right epigram to add at the right time. I can guess what some other musicians might play in their next phrase, but Dan’s imagination is larger and more rewarding than we expect. His reading of a melody is a joy; his improvisations are witty, pungent. The trombone can be a buffoon or a bully; in his hands it can be divinely inspired, even when Dan’s aural messages are earthy indeed.

Becky and Dan could float or soar all by themselves, and they’ve proved that many times in concert and on recordings since they first met in 1994. CRY ME A RIVER on this disc, majestic and mournful, is proof. But recently they have called in an Italian sorcerer, Paolo Alderighi, who generously spreads rich sound-weavings, Garneresque threads glittering – lovely orchestral tapestries, neither formulaic nor overemphatic. His solos gleam and chime.

In duet, Dan and Paolo are a model of creative conversation in jazz – empathic, intuitive, concise yet fervent. And when they sat down at the two pianos to accompany Becky for MIS’RY AND THE BLUES their contrasting textures were a delight. Completely original, too – neither Evans and Brookmeyer nor Ferrante and Teicher, but splendidly themselves.

What we call The Great American Songbook sometimes weaves helplessly towards songs that, if their lyrics were actual speech, would be legal documentation of domestic abuse, self-inflicted destruction. Over time, Becky has turned away from these famous masochistic outcries. But this disc shows her playing bravely in the dark, getting in a lowdown groove, calling out to an absent lover, creating rueful and vengeful tears. This isn’t a major life-shift in all things Kilgore, but a willingness to expand her repertoire into classic songs based on real life-experiences. She is having a good time being so sad for a few minutes: like Basie, she keeps the blues at bay by playing them. Or it might be her own particular jazz homeopathy practice, where dark cures dark.

These sessions produced lasting music, the rare kind that emerges from a devotion to the art. What a gift to us all!

Just Imagine

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Etta Jones - The Best Of Etta Jones: The Prestige Singles

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 59:59
Size: 137.3 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[3:48] 1. Don't Go To Strangers
[3:49] 2. If I Had You
[2:33] 3. Canadian Sunset
[3:57] 4. That's All There Is To That
[2:05] 5. Till There Was You
[4:38] 6. All The Way
[4:16] 7. Unchained Melody
[3:33] 8. Hurry Home
[2:23] 9. You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
[2:56] 10. Just Friends
[2:49] 11. I'll Be There
[2:52] 12. In The Dark
[2:52] 13. Nature Boy
[3:34] 14. Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo
[2:29] 15. Love Walked In
[4:11] 16. Old Folks
[2:59] 17. Someday My Prince Will Come
[4:06] 18. The Gal From Joe's

While Etta Jones could not be placed into the very top tier of jazz singers, she was a good one. And as this compilation draws 18 tracks from the most commercially and artistically successful phase of her career, it might be the best place to start for hearing her work. Recorded between 1960 and 1963, these did all happen to be released on singles, as the title indicates, though it's sometimes forgotten that there were still jazz tracks being issued as singles in the 1960s. Of course, the most popular of those was "Don't Go to Strangers," which actually made the pop Top 40 in 1960. Jones was a warm and versatile singer with a bit more appeal to pop listeners than most, usually backed by good small combos on this mixture of ballads and up-tempo material, though Oliver Nelson arranged and conducted the strings on a most adventurous, eccentric "Unchained Melody." More satisfying than the ballads, though, are the sassier, faster, and slightly bluesier outings, like "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis," "In the Dark," the sultry "The Gal From Joe's," and (again with Nelson's strings) "Just Friends." The cha cha pass at "Nature Boy" is good, too, with Kenny Burrell handling one of the guitars. ~Richie Unterberger

The Best Of Etta Jones: The Prestige Singles 

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Judy Philbin & Adam Levine - Keeping It Simple

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 40:38
Size: 93.1 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Vocal
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:43] 1. A Wink And A Smile
[2:40] 2. Moonglow
[2:26] 3. Django's Delight
[4:05] 4. Skylark
[3:18] 5. Keeping It Simple
[3:11] 6. Nearness Of You
[3:37] 7. Bésame Mucho
[2:58] 8. Surrey With The Fringe On Top
[5:41] 9. Nova
[4:30] 10. Blue Bayou
[2:40] 11. Why Do Fools Fall In Love
[2:45] 12. Don't Be Easy On Me

Just voice and guitar. What a great idea! Keep it simple. In collaboration with the rhythmic and improvisational talents of guitarist Adam Levine, the result is a delightfully novel musical vision of well-known jazz standards, popular classics, and original compositions.

While some children strive to color outside the lines, Judy has always wanted to sing outside the melody. She injects her personal style into contemporary and folk, as well as jazz standards, delivering each song with the skill of a lyric storyteller. Her pure, clear tone has been called uplifting, healing, evocative and above all, beautiful.

“After years of classical instrumental and choral background, I yearned to express the music as it touched me personally, not necessarily as it was written,” says Judy. “I still love singing classical and Broadway-style music and, vocally, those are very challenging. But I also love the freedom that jazz brings to the table. It allows you to ‘color outside the lines’. It allows you to explore and express musical thoughts and ideas in the moment. Each performance is new, different. It’s exhilarating to create on the spot.”

Her influences have global roots, drawn from living in Latin America as a child, and Europe as an adult. “I enjoy just about all styles of singing. I’ve even sung in an Irish band. I consider myself a storyteller that draws from the musical and emotional freedom that grew out of many genres. It’s about moving the listener’s heart an inch, a mile, or sometimes light-years into another dimension.”

Keeping It Simple

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Johnny Mercer - My Huckleberry Friend: Johnny Mercer Sings The Songs Of Johnny Mercer

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 76:47

Size: 175.8 MB

Styles: Tin Pan Alley pop, Standards

Year: 1974/1996

Art: Front

[2:54] 1. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby

[2:59] 2. Little Ol' Tune

[3:37] 3. Moon River

[2:29] 4. I Wanna Be In Love Again

[3:16] 5. The Days Of Wine And Roses

[3:14] 6. Talk To Me, Baby

[2:26] 7. Goody Goody

[3:34] 8. Summer Wind

[3:14] 9. Little Ingenue

[2:30] 10. Something's Gotta Give

[2:48] 11. Satin Doll

[2:27] 12. It's Great To Be Alive

[2:42] 13. That Old Black Magic

[2:51] 14. Tangerine

[2:39] 15. The What-Cha-Ma-Call It

[4:09] 16. Midnight Sun

[3:18] 17. I'm Old Fashioned

[3:21] 18. Come Rain Or Come Shine

[2:33] 19. Too Marvelous For Words

[3:47] 20. Autumn Leaves

[3:36] 21. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home

[2:48] 22. The Air-Minded Executive

[2:43] 23. Pineapple Pete

[2:42] 24. I Thought About You

[3:56] 25. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)

Recorded in London just two years before his death, My Huckleberry Friend includes nearly an hour and half of singer Johnny Mercer updating his own compositions. The American musical giant is accompanied by the Pete Moore Orchestra and the Harry Roche Constellation. Mercer's voice is solid throughout this 25-track record that marries his Tin Pan Alley lyrical style with diverse pop arrangements. The song "It's Great to Be Alive" says it all about this release: "It's great to be alive, to work from nine to five." Fans of Mercer will enjoy this record, while purists may prefer his earlier (and more traditional) recordings. Mercer's career may have slowed down due to the onslaught of rock & roll, but he was never intimidated by the new styles. (After all, he founded Capitol Records, the home of the Beatles.) So in 1974, he flew to London to record new interpretations of some of his old classics. The results are often stunning. The "Shaft"-like version of "That Old Black Magic," with its funk-fortified guitar and soul-splashed keyboards, is an archival treat. Mercer truly gets down when he sings "Every time your lips meet mine/Down and down I go/All around I go/Loving the spin I'm in/Under that old black magic called love." This tasty morsel will be jarring for listeners who only associate the name Mercer with '40s songs like "G.I. Jive" or soundtrack cuts like "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" or "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." Mercer and arranger Pete Moore, however, do not abandon the big-band swing sound closely associated with these songs. And sometimes that is a problem. The moody and ethereal "The Days of Wine and Roses" is out of place next to some of the more modern-sounding tracks. The typical '70s instrumentations (dual use of flute and trumpet, etc.) make some songs sound hilariously familiar. The piano in "Too Marvelous for Words" hints at the "Theme From the Odd Couple." But if you are listening to Mercer, you expect some nostalgia, right? The only real criticism of this collection (besides the purists' crazy notion that funk and rock have no place in these standards) is that the pop flavors of the time are not embraced more completely: The funk guitar in "Something's Gotta Give" is strangely married to a brassy, swinging orchestration. There are some traditional takes here, especially on "Summer Wind," "Autumn Leaves," "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," and "One for My Baby." Fans of lounge music and neo-swingers who appreciate Mercer will particularly like this collection. Who else would the island sounds of "Pineapple Pete" be for? My Huckleberry Friend" ends with a great reflection on Mercer's career: "Don't let it be said Old Unsteady can't carry his load. Make it one for my baby and one more for the road. That long, long, long, long road." ~JT Griffith

My Huckleberry Friend: Johnny Mercer Sings The Songs Of Johnny Mercer

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Melody Diachun - Lullaby Of The Leaves

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:33
Size: 125,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:57)  1. I'm Just A Lucky So-And-So
(4:57)  2. Lullaby Of The Leaves
(4:21)  3. Table For One
(4:54)  4. You And The Night And The Music
(5:59)  5. Same Sunday
(4:17)  6. So Many Words
(4:49)  7. Comes Love
(5:47)  8. Saint Catherine
(5:02)  9. Little Head
(3:32) 10. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
(4:54) 11. Like a Lover (O Cantador)

"Melody Diachun is one of the world's finest young jazz composers and vocalists." ~ Bravo!TV

" ... There seems to be a tight, near-telepathic rapport here. Melody Diachun's voice is light and understated with a bluesy accent ... romantic moods that can be sexy or sentimental as the song requires ..." ~ Cadence Magazine

"A warm, accomplished voice ... formidable range ... sparkling guitar ... standout (piano) work ... original material that catches the ear..." ~ The Vancouver Sun
"Simply wonderful... sultry vocals ... she uses language well, capturing images and feelings, reaching out to her listeners ..." ~ The Nanino Daily News

"Terrific ... pure voice and unembroidered style..." ~ The Vancouver Sun

" Lullaby Of The Leaves is a soothing, twilight companion ... includes originals and such gems as You and the Night and the Music." ~ The Montreal  Gazette

"It's hard to keep up with all the jazz vocalists emerging in these singer-saturated days, but Canadian singer Melody Diachun is worth keeping up with ... She sings attractively and is patient with the slowest ballad tempos ... Throughout, she resists the annoying temptation to be self-consciously jazzy." ~The Ottawa Citizen

"Melody Diachun is the quintessential vocalist, reminiscent of those great 'girl singers' of the past - Ella, Peggy, Sarah, Helen and the rest. Melody’s voice and feel for the music are a joy to hear as she delivers her repertoire with flare, elan, and her own unique style." ~ Dal Richards, Radio host, "Dal's Place", 600Am

"You have perfect phrasing! It's scary." ~ Kenny Werner, Jazz Pianist, Educator & Author

Conceived as a collaboration, the album explores and reveals classic and original songs from three points of view. Melody's warm voice and unaffected, sensitive approach wed perfectly with Murphy's expansive manipulation of harmony and time. Combined with "sparkling guitar" (The Vancouver Sun) and lyrical and supportive bass playing from Stephenson, the three take turns shining a light on the very soul of each composition. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/melody

Personnel:  Melody Diachun – Vocal; Bob Murphy -  piano, and Doug Stephenson, acoustic bass & guitar.

Lullaby Of The Leaves

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Angela Hagenbach - Weaver Of Dreams

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:22
Size: 145,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:26)  1. You Turned The Tables On Me
(4:43)  2. Simone
(5:25)  3. Autumn's Flame
(3:24)  4. You Do Something To Me
(6:48)  5. Return To Paradise
(4:20)  6. Altos De Chavon
(6:35)  7. Street of Dreams
(5:22)  8. Now's The Time
(5:12)  9. Sometimes I'm Happy
(4:54) 10. It Had Better Be Tonight
(6:10) 11. Angel Eyes
(5:58) 12. Caravan

Weaver of Dreams marks Kansas City chanteuse Angela Hagenbach's national debut. Lucky listeners already familiar with her work will know that she's been working in jazz for ten years. Previous albums, including the remarkable Feel the Magic, and touring abroad has served as excellent dues-paying and her smoky voice and musicianship clearly deserve their debutante ball. This album, a mix of ballads and latin swing, showcases her vocal skills, featured on tracks like "Street of Dreams" with deliciously dizzying scatting, "Now's the time," a tribute to Charlie Parker, where she zips through the lyrics like the way Bird blew his saxophone, and the breezy "Return to Paradise," with the infectious beat cooly shuffling behind her voice lilting and dipping and winding around the words. She does Latin equally well, having a particular knack for Brazilian flavoring. She burns up the airwaves with her ensemble Musa Nova on tracks like the Ellington-penned "Caravan" and "It Had Better Be Tonight." 

Hagenbach's voice might remind one of Shirley Horn in its rich deep tone, but where Horn stylizes with pauses and working in conjunction with her piano, Hagenbach has a wider range and sings more aggressively, fitting well within the total orchestration. She improvises with great ease. She's listened to the albums of the legends and no doubt her own studies on the trombone and percussion have helped developed her scat talents. Weaver of Dreams comes well-recommended to fans of vocal jazz and Hagenbach is a new young musician whose career will be exciting to watch. ~ Robin Lickel   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/weaver-of-dreams-angela-hagenbach-amazon-records-review-by-robin-lickel.php#.U4vzNyioqdk

Personnel: Angela Habenbach, vocals; Danny Embrey, guitar; Joe Cartwright, piano; Bob Bowman, acoustic bass; Steve Rigazzi, electric bass; Greg Carroll, vibes; Gary Helm, percussion; Todd Stright, drums; Doug Aurwarter, drums & percussion

Weaver Of Dreams

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Marty Grosz - Rhythm Is Our Business

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:56
Size: 154,2 MB
Art: Front

( 3:39)  1. Rhythm Is Our Business
( 3:36)  2. Believe It Beloved
( 5:10)  3. Yellow Dog Blues
( 4:47)  4. Diga Diga Doo
( 3:44)  5. Penthouse Serenade
( 5:02)  6. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
( 3:42)  7. I'm In the Mood For Love
( 4:01)  8. Heartaches
( 3:41)  9. If We Never Meet Again
( 4:18) 10. That Da Da Strain
( 4:33) 11. Squeeze Me
( 2:37) 12. The Japanese Sandman
( 4:26) 13. Wabash Blues
( 3:18) 14. Dream Man
(10:15) 15. Rhythm For Sale  He Ain't Got Rhythm  I Got Rhythm

Marty Grosz recordings are always fun. Grosz, a top humorist (though his monologues have yet to be fully included on recordings), is a cheerful vocalist whose style is influenced by Fats Waller, and a superior acoustic chordal guitarist. His combos are superb examples of small group swing with an emphasis on songs from the 1920s and '30s. For this date recorded in Germany, Grosz leads his Hot Puppies, a quintet with fellow American Randy Reinhart on trumpet and three excellent German players. 

Frank Roberscheuten shows his versatility by playing clarinet (his best ax), tenor, and alto while bassist Nico Gastreich and drummer Moritz Gastreich are swinging and subtle in support. The repertoire is inspired and some of the frameworks (including a version of "Heartaches" that hints strongly at Ted Weems' hit recording) are inventive. Reinhart and Grosz are the solo stars and this set is easily recommended to fans of vintage swing and classic jazz. ~ Scott Yanow    http://www.allmusic.com/album/rhythm-is-our-business-mw0000693801

Personnel: Marty Grosz (vocals, guitar); Frank Roberscheuten (clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Randy Reinhart (trumpet); Moritz Gastreich (drums).

Rhythm Is Our Business

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Saxophone Summit - Seraphic Light

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:29
Size: 157,3 MB
Art: Front

( 5:54)  1. Transition
( 5:21)  2. The Thirteenth Floor
( 5:34)  3. Reneda
( 5:25)  4. All About You
( 5:46)  5. Message To Mike
( 5:42)  6. Alpha And Omega
( 6:47)  7. Our Daily Bread
( 7:12)  8. Cosmos
(11:11)  9. Seraphic Light
( 9:31) 10. Expresssion

Formed in the mid-1990s by three of jazz's leading post-Coltrane exponents not just to pay homage to the saxophone legend's exploratory latter period work, but to advance his collaborative and collective soloing aesthetic into a fully contemporary context nearly thirty years after his death Saxophone Summit was dealt a tremendous blow, as was the entire jazz world, when co-founding member Michael Brecker passed away in 2007. Still, Saxophone Summit's remaining front-liners, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, decided that continuing on with pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart would better honor Brecker than throwing in the towel. Recruiting Coltrane's son Ravi to fill the third saxophone chair ("replacing" would be an absolutely inappropriate description) seemed a logical choice, making Seraphic Light not only a moving tribute to Brecker, but a logical extension and expansion of what made Saxophone Summit: Gathering of Spirits (Telarc, 2004) such a powerful record, and an unusually experimental one for the more centrist Telarc label. 

That's not to say Seraphic Light isn't completely accessible. Markowitz's "Transitions" opens the disc on a fiery note, but with an attention-grabbing groove and front-line melody that's equally attractive, so much so as to almost disguise the song's full depth. But by the time Saxophone Summit gets to the title track, first heard on Coltrane's Stellar Regions (Impulse!, 1967), it's fully migrated towards the "no-time, no changes, no harmonies" approach that so dominated Coltrane's final two years. Still, as free as it is, and with Lovano using his custom-built aulochrome (a twin-soprano hybrid that allows him a degree of polyphony that even multiphonics can't on a single horn), it's proof that Coltrane wasn't striving for chaos, but rather a deep, transcendent spirituality. It's no coincidence that the three Coltrane tunes are collected at the end of the disc, including "Cosmos," which begins with poetic beauty but dissolves into greater freedom for one of Markowitz's most stunningly unfettered solos on record. The first seven tracks are a democratic distribution of one song each by the group's six members, plus the up-tempo modal workout "Message to Mike" by brother Randy Brecker, who guests on trumpet on two tracks. Thus, Seraphic Light works its way gradually towards the more expansive freedom of the Coltrane covers. While Ravi Coltrane hasn't made the leap to broadly influential yet that both Liebman and Lovano have, his is a voice evolving in leaps and bounds. 

Here, while his warmer tone unmistakably alters Saxophone Summit's complexion, it's still a truly mighty meeting of three saxophonists whose lives have been inexorably altered by the spirit of John Coltrane. With Markowitz, McBee and Hart a creative and fluid triumvirate far beyond the restrictive term "rhythm section," Seraphic Light not only captures Coltrane's spirit but, dedicated to Michael Brecker, captures his intrepid soul as well. For those who consider Coltrane's latter period inaccessible, Seraphic Light capitalizes on its dense beauty in a most approachable fashion, without compromising its elan vital one iota. ~ John Kelman   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/seraphic-light-dave-liebman-telarc-records-review-by-john-kelman.php#.U4u7uyioqdk
 

Personnel:  Ravi Coltrane: tenor saxophone (1-6, 8-10), soprano saxophone (7); Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone (1, 3-6), tenor saxophone (8-10), C flute (2, 7), wooden flute (2); Joe Lovano; tenor saxophone (1, 3-5, 7, 8, 10), alto clarinet (2,6), Scottish flute (2), aulochrome (9); Randy Brecker: trumpet (5, 10); Phil Markowitz: piano; Cecil McBee: bass; Billy Hart: drums.

Seraphic Light

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