Jay McShann - Jumpin' The Blues

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 59:23
Size: 136.0 MB
Styles: Jump blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[5:28] 1. Lady Be Good
[4:25] 2. Jumpin At The Woodside
[4:39] 3. Back Slider And Hypocrite
[5:51] 4. Jumpin The Blues
[4:18] 5. Laura
[4:55] 6. Jumpin' The Blues (Take 1)
[7:32] 7. Moten Swing
[4:59] 8. Back Slider & Hypocrite (Take 1)
[3:57] 9. Food For Thought
[9:05] 10. Satin Doll
[4:08] 11. Watermelon Man

Jay McShann typically is lumped in the "other" category of Kansas City big bands, after Basie. True, no one could keep up with Basie's roster of superstars, and Basie's rhythm section was innovative, but McShann made up for all that with a grittier, earthier version of the blues. This whole collection swings and rocks in a good, low-down way. Another winner from Proper. ~Hank Schwab

Jumpin' The Blues 1970

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John Swana - Tug Of War

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 69:06

Size: 158.2 MB

Styles: Post bop, Trumpet jazz

Year: 1999

Art: Front

[ 7:59] 1. Freddie

[10:02] 2. Tug Of War

[ 7:57] 3. Vic Arpeggio

[ 8:05] 4. Innocence

[ 8:01] 5. Pure Bliss

[ 7:22] 6. Smile

[ 6:38] 7. Puss 'n' Boots

[ 7:25] 8. Pure Imagination

[ 5:33] 9. Quick Fix

On Philadelphia-based trumpeter John Swana's sixth Criss Cross recording, the Philadelphia-based trumpeter joins forces with drummer and fellow Philadelphian Byron Landham and other musical peers -- tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist David Hazeltine, and bassist Dwayne Burno -- to perform a good mixture of up-tempo swingers, medium swingers, and ballads, with seven of the nine selections written by Swana. Highlights include "Freddie" -- dedicated to Freddie Hubbard but reminiscent of Wayne Shorter's classic composition "Black Nile" -- "Vic Arpeggio," a humorous swinger named after a character on a TV comedy, the slow blues "Puss 'n Boots," and the up-tempo "Quick Fix." Tug of War exemplifies the high-quality modern mainstream jazz usually found on this Dutch label and is a welcome addition to the Swana discography. ~Greg Turner

Recorded December 17, 1997 & December 14, 1998 in New York City, NY, USA & Brooklyn, NY, USA by Max Bolleman

Tug Of War

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Rodney Jones-Tommy Flanagan Quartet - My Funny Valentine

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 38:14
Size: 87.5 MB
Styles: Post bop, Guitar & Piano jazz
Year: 1980
Art: Front

[4:25] 1. Giant Steps
[3:30] 2. Oleo
[7:16] 3. I'll Remember April
[1:33] 4. Yesterday
[6:02] 5. D Natural Blues
[4:23] 6. Star Eyes
[2:29] 7. Morning Of The Carnival (Theme From Black Orpheus)
[8:31] 8. My Funny Valentine

It's hard to imagine a pianist like Tommy Flanagan sounding less than his best, but the Timeless label evidently was a bit too cheap with its production budget for this studio date featuring a quartet co-led by the pianist with guitarist Rodney Jones. The sound is a consistently muddy and poorly mixed, while the piano often sounds out of tune, nullifying somewhat a fine effort by the two men. They are joined by the fine bassist Major Holley and drummer Jesse Hameen, the latter who evidently made his recording debut with this session. The program mixes standards ("I'll Remember April," "Star Eyes," and "My Funny Valentine"), classic jazz works ("Giant Steps" and "Oleo"), along with a miniature unaccompanied performance by Jones of the Beatles' "Yesterday." This meeting had a lot of potential, but the producer owed it to the musicians to hire a first-rate engineer and provide a superb instrument for a giant like Tommy Flanagan, instead of rivaling the miserly attitude of the legendary skinflint Herman Lubinsky (founder of the Savoy label). ~Ken Dryden

My Funny Valentine

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Julie Kelly - Everything I Love

Styles: Vocal Jazz, Bossa Nova
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:50
Size: 107,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:38)  1. Moon Bird
(3:56)  2. Indian Summer
(4:38)  3. I Keep Going Back to Joe's
(3:16)  4. Berimbau
(5:56)  5. I'm Glad There Is You
(3:30)  6. Your Blues
(5:01)  7. Woodstock
(3:12)  8. You're My Everything (From 'The Laugh Parade')
(4:05)  9. Ela é Carioca (She's a Carioca)
(3:56) 10. Everything I Love
(4:35) 11. Both Sides Now

She looks like a suburban soccer mom and has a wide-open, sun-burnished voice to match. Which is not to suggest that Julie Kelly, who has been churning out terrific albums for over a decade, is a jazz lightweight. To appreciate the depth of Kelly’s talent, one need look no further than “Indian Summer,” the penultimate track of the dozen included on her latest, and most satisfyingly wide-ranging, disc. Most singers take the safe, predictable route with “Indian Summer,” injecting the Al Dubin/Victor Herbert chestnut with autumn chill to underscore the lyrics’ wistful sense of loss. Kelly instead does something marvelously clever, intensifying the ache by playing it lighter, filling her skies with clouds that are just starting to gray. I suspect it’s a technique she learned by studying June Christy so carefully (her previous disc was a full-length tribute to the misty Miss Christy), and it returns full force for the closing number, “I Keep Going Back to Joe’s” which, in the contemplative spirit of Christy’s classic “Something Cool,” lines the inherent regret with a layer of faint, fading hope. Such skill also pervades Kelly’s gentle blend of “Once Upon a Summertime” and “When the World Was Young” and Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” 

But there’s more to Kelly than just softly fogged remorse and reflection, as demonstrated by a double dip into the Brazilian bag she loves so intensely, with the yin-and-yang of “Ela E Carioca” and “Berimbau,” a Dr. John-worthy delight called “Your Blues,” written by Lou Rawls’ longtime pianist Jeff Colella, which Kelly aptly describes in the liner notes as a “New Orleans swampy thing,” and a gleeful reading of the title track, among the lesser known but most sublime of Cole Porter’s list songs. ~ Christopher Loudon  http://jazztimes.com/articles/18765-everything-i-love-julie-kelly

Personnel: Julie Kelly (vocals, guitar, percussion); Bob Sheppard (flute, saxophone); Mike Wofford (piano); Joe La Barbera (drums).

Everything I Love

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Harry Allen - Day Dream

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:13
Size: 142,7 MB
Art: Front

(7:33)  1. A Sleepin' Bee
(3:50)  2. Maybe September
(5:56)  3. I'm Checking Out, Goombye
(6:41)  4. A Child Is Born
(5:40)  5. Shibuya After Dark
(4:12)  6. The Midnight Sun Will Never Sets
(6:13)  7. Three And One
(5:11)  8. Day Dream
(7:31)  9. Low Life
(4:52) 10. They Say It's Spring
(4:27) 11. The Christmas Song

Fathers serious about seeing their sons one day becoming famous athletes begin developing their offspring's skills at a very young age. In the case of Harry Allen's father, who was a big-band drummer, he played jazz records each day for Harry before he went off to kindergarten. Starting off with accordion lessons, there was a fortuitous switch to saxophone later. Attending Rutgers University, Allen studied saxophone with Sahib Shihab, Bob Mintzer, and John Purcell. In 1989, he graduated from Rutgers with a degree in jazz tenor saxophone. While at Rutgers, Allen got his first gig with the help of master bass player Major Holley, where he replaced Zoot Sims at a studio recording with John Bunch, George Masso, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Ruby Braff. During the session, Dizzy Gillespie dropped by. Quite heady company for a young tenor player doing his first recording. Wholley also led Allen to Oliver Jackson, who Allen subsequently accompanied on several tours to Europe. A 1986 session with Kenny Barron was Allen's first recording date. 

After that, Allen had 19 recordings to his name for such labels as Progressive, Audiophile, and Nagel-Heyer. Later, his recordings were with major label RCA-Victor. Three of his discs have been awarded a Gold Disc by Swing Journal Magazine and his CD Tenors Anyone won both the Gold Disc and New Star awards. He has recorded as a sideman with Bucky Pizzarelli (with whom he performs quite frequently), Warren Vache, and Jeff Hamilton. Allen's musical inspiration and interpretive approach come from the giants and innovators of mainstream saxophone, including Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Illinois Jacquet, and Lester Young. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Allen has pretty much eschewed the modern, avant-garde, and impressionist schools of jazz of John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and Ornette Coleman. Allen continues to record extensively and makes frequent appearances at jazz festivals and concerts. Bio ~ https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/harry-allen/id296978#fullText

Personnel: Harry Allen - tenor saxophone; Tommy Flanagan – piano; Peter Washington – bass; Lewis Nash - drums

Day Dream

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Rachelle Ferrell - First Instrument

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:54
Size: 130,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:07)  1. You Send Me
(5:14)  2. You Don't Know What Love Is
(4:25)  3. Bye Bye Blackbird
(6:01)  4. Prayer Dance
(2:21)  5. Inchworm
(6:24)  6. With Every Breath I Take
(1:33)  7. What Is This Thing Called Love
(7:15)  8. My Funny Valentine
(5:15)  9. Don't Waste Your Time
(4:59) 10. Extensions
(8:16) 11. Autumn Leaves

Rachelle Ferrell made her name performing R&B, but this strictly acoustic jazz CD is her earliest recording. Her voice is quite soulful, making her later shift to R&B less of a surprise in hindsight, but Ferrell seems quite unsure of how to use her wide range, and her improvisations are often quite eccentric. Her lack of warmth and subtlety (along with a tendency to scream and screech in unexpected spots without a buildup) makes it difficult to listen to several of the numbers on this standards-oriented set. Trumpeter Terence Blanchard and Wayne Shorter on tenor make worthwhile cameo appearances, but Rachelle Ferrell at that point in her career did not really sound ready for prime time, despite her potential. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/first-instrument-mw0000124970

Personnel:  Rachelle Ferrell (vocals, piano); Alex Foster (soprano saxophone); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Terence Blanchard (trumpet); Gil Goldstein (piano, synthesizer); Eddie Green , Michel Petrucciani (piano); Doug Goldstein (synthesizer, drums); Pete Levin (synthesizer); Doug Nally, Lenny White (drums).

First Instrument

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Jeff Golub - Blues For You

Styles: Guitar, Jazz, Blues
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:40
Size: 118,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:27)  1. Shuffleboard
(4:56)  2. Fish Fare
(5:59)  3. I'll Play The Blues For You
(3:33)  4. Rooster Blues
(5:52)  5. Goin' On
(5:36)  6. Everybody Wants You
(6:01)  7. The Blink Of An Eye
(3:37)  8. I Don't Worry 'Bout A Thing
(5:03)  9. Nikki's Walk
(3:18) 10. Lost Mind
(4:13) 11. Gone Fishin'

Guitarist Jeff Golub has long mixed his soulful crossover jazz with a healthy dose of modern electric blues. However, he's never devoted a whole album to the kind of greasy rocking blues that makes up his 2009 effort Blues for You. An assured fret-wiz with a knack for juicy, well-tempered jazz licks, here we find Golub going for more of a laid-back shuffle and rocking twang that is more Stevie Ray Vaughan than George Benson. Joining Golub are a bevy of unexpected, but no-less blues familiars, guest vocalists most likely culled from Golub's time in the pop world backing Rod Stewart. Included are such names as Tom Waits, Marc Cohn, and even '80s rocker Billy Squier who shows up here to help Golub rework his classic hit "Everybody Wants You" into funky, Southern-blues drawl. The result works surprisingly well and overall brings to mind the earthy late-career efforts of Bob Dylan. Golub-himself has never sounded as muscular and assured as he does on such tracks as the shuffling jump-blues "Rooster Blues" which also features Peter Wolf sounding as inspired and back-alley slippery as ever. This album may be Blues for You, but it is clearly a work meant to please Golub's own soul as much as his audience's. ~ Matt Collar  http://www.allmusic.com/album/blues-for-you-mw0000825508

Personnel: Jeff Golub (guitar); Billy Squier (vocals, acoustic guitar, background vocals); John Waite, Marc Cohn, Peter Wolf (vocals); Kirk Whalum (saxophone); David Woodford (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Rick Braun (trumpet); Nick Lane (trombone); Jon Cleary (piano); Kenny White (keyboards, background vocals); Tony Garnier (acoustic bass, electric bass, background vocals); Shawn Pelton (drums, percussion); Bud Harner (background vocals).

Blues For You

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