Ken Navarro - Labor of Love

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:48
Size: 112,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:25)  1. Hands On the Whee
(5:17)  2. The Labor of Love
(5:08)  3. After All These Years
(4:40)  4. Fortunate Son
(5:03)  5. From Now On
(4:23)  6. Night Light
(5:50)  7. What Could Be
(4:22)  8. Don't Give Up
(5:02)  9. One Wish
(4:35) 10. Taking Her Time

Ken Navarro is recognized as one of today's leading Contemporary Jazz guitarists. His impressive discography of top charting albums on Positive Music Records showcase his appeal to a wide range of listeners with inspiring compositions and superb guitar performances. Ken Navarro's album, "Old Friends - The Best of Ken Navarro" was released on June 5, 2001. It contains 13 remastered classics plus two new recordings for a total of 15 songs and 72 minutes of Ken's best music! His 2000 CD release "Island Life" scored two hits at smooth jazz radio including "Delicioso" as well as the title track keeping the CD on the airwaves for a solid 52 weeks!

1999's "In My Wildest Dreams" continues to be one of Ken's top sellers and 1998's live CD & Video "Ablaze in Orlando" won the Smooth Jazz Oasis Award for best video of 1998 and has been acclaimed as one of the best live jazz CDs of the decade. "Smooth Sensation, released in 1997, was in the Top 10 of Radio & Records' Smooth Jazz chart for 12 weeks, helping to make the CD the #17 Smooth Jazz album of 1997! Other recent releases from Ken Navarro include his 1996 album, When Night Calls, featuring Eric Marienthal on saxophone, and Christmas Cheer, a holiday album of contemporary jazz guitar and acoustic piano duets. Ken's 1995 album, Brighter Days, was voted the #9 album of the year by Smooth Jazz radio. Brighter Days heralded a bold step forward for Ken, bringing to the forefront the strong R & B elements that have always been a part of his music, and enlisting a powerhouse of support from featured solo artists including former Rippingtons sax man Brandon Fields. Brighter Days reached the national radio top 5 and held a position in the top 20 for six months in 1995. His 1991 release, After Dark, was selected for screening by the 1991 GRAMMY nominating committee. His successive albums, The Labor of Love(1992), I Can't Complain(1993), and Pride and Joy (1994), all reached the top 5 in national radio, firmly establishing Ken Navarro as a mainstay on Smooth Jazz radio playlists. Ken began his recording career in Los Angeles as a premier session guitarist, performer and composer, performing and recording with artists as diverse as Doc Severinsen, Nell Carter, John Pattitucci and Dave Koz. In 1990, Ken established his own musical identity with the release of his debut album, The River Flows. With each successive album, Ken has received increasing acclaim and recognition as a leading stylist in Contemporary Jazz. 

Ken maintains an active schedule of concert appearances as part of his quartet, the Ken Navarro Group. Highlights of his tour schedule have included appearances at the World Trade Center in New York, the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Washington, D.C., Merriweather Post Pavillion in MD, Jacksonville Jazz Fest, Clearwater Jazz Holiday, the Pleasure Island Jazz Fest, the Venetian Festival, the Winter Park Arts Festival, and concerts where the group shared the stage with artists such as Eric Marienthal, The Rippingtons, Joe Sample, Jean Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke/Larry Carlton, George Howard, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Fattburger, Marion Meadows, Keiko Matsui, Slim Man, Nelson Rangell, David Benoit, Alex Bugnon, Boney James and many others. Ken's contribution to Contemporary and Mainstream Jazz goes beyond his personal artistry. As founder of Positive Music Records, Ken is responsible for launching and furthering the recording careers of saxophonist Brandon Fields and guitarist Grant Geissman. Ken handles all of the A&R for Positive Music and is actively involved as a producer on many of the label's albums. Ken's vision of a musician's record label has enhanced the genre with over 35 new artists and over sixty releases in ten short years.  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kennavarro3

Personnel: Ken Navarro (guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, nylon-string guitar, keyboards, drum programming); Phil Mathieu (guitar, nylon-string guitar); Mike Tomaro (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Stefan Scaggiari (piano, keyboards); Dave Wundrow (acoustic bass); Jay Dulaney (electric bass); Mike Aubin (drums); Steve Bloom (congas, bongos, guiro, shaker, tambourine, triangle, percussion, wind chime, drum programming, percussion programming).

Labor of Love

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Joan Chamorro, Andrea Motis & New Cat Ensemble - Coses Que Es Diuen Però Que No Es Fan

Styles: Vocal, Trumpet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:53
Size: 167,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:01)  1. The nearness of you
(4:22)  2. Sol
(5:26)  3. Sastre de rec
(6:34)  4. Tot l'enyor de demà
(5:35)  5. Coses que es diuen però que no es fan
(7:09)  6. Gol
(3:06)  7. Kore
(6:24)  8. Hotel Marriott
(6:10)  9. Summertime
(4:02) 10. Aquest aire suau
(7:12) 11. Corcovado
(2:30) 12. Coses que no es diuen
(8:15) 13. My favorite things

Discmedi publica el primer disco de Andrea Motis cantado mayoritariamente en catalán Coses que es diuen però que no es fan” (" Cosas que se dicen pero que no se hacen") es el título del disco de Andrea Motis. Joan Chamorro y The New Catalán Ensemble: una nueva formación que incorpora el timbre de los instrumentos solistas de la cobla catalana con la que Andrea Motis canta por primera vez una selección de poemas de autores clave en la literatura catalana contemporánea: desde clásicos escogidos por ella misma como el poema ‘Tot l’enyor de demà’, de Joan Salvat-Papasseit hasta Gabriel Ferrater (de quien canta el poema ' Kore ') o Joan Vinyoli ( 'Sol' ) , del que este año se conmemora el centenario de su nacimiento. 

El proyecto incluye poetas incuestionables como Joan Margarit (‘Hotel Marriott', del premiado 'Casa de Misericordia') , la tarraconense Montserrat Abelló (‘Aquest teu aire suau’', el único tema interpretado como quinteto con Chamorro al contrabajo y Enrique Ortí a la tenora como solista), y los reconocidos Enric Casasses (‘Sastre de rec’), Manuel Forcano ('Gol') o el mallorquín Sebastià Alzamora, cuyo poema da título al disco (extraído del poemario 'La part visible' , premio Carles Riba 2008). El álbum se completa con algunos standards jazzísticos muy conocidos que debido a la instrumentación del conjunto , toman una nueva vida: son 'The Nearness of You ', que abre el álbum , ' Summertime ' y el clásico de Jobim , ' Corvocado '. El prestigioso ilustrador Arnal Ballester ha creado la imagen del disco. http://www.amazon.es/Coses-Que-Diuen-Per%C3%B2-Fan/dp/B00IA1PV14

Coses que es diuen però que no es fan

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Zoot Sims - Gold in the Shadow

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:16
Size: 178,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:59)  1. Bernie's Tune
(5:35)  2. Cano Canoe
(3:44)  3. The Trouble With Me Is You
(4:07)  4. Cantando a Orquestra
(4:21)  5. Lonesome Road
(2:36)  6. Maria Ninguem
(2:50)  7. You and I
(6:02)  8. Sem Saudades de Voce
(2:35)  9. Recado Bossa Nova
(3:24) 10. My Old Flame
(2:39) 11. Tickle Toe
(2:52) 12. Barquinho de Papel
(2:31) 13. Poquito Cantando
(4:12) 14. Ciume
(2:35) 15. Zing Went the Strings of My Heart
(5:13) 16. The Man I Love
(2:26) 17. Instant Samba
(2:56) 18. They Call the Wind Maria
(5:02) 19. Lover Come Back to Me
(3:22) 20. Evening in Paris
(2:13) 21. Don't Fool With Love
(2:53) 22. Reaching for the Moon

Throughout his career, Zoot Sims was famous for epitomizing the swinging musician, never playing an inappropriate phrase. He always sounded inspired, and although his style did not change much after the early 1950s, Zoot's enthusiasm and creativity never wavered. Zoot's family was involved in vaudeville, and he played drums and clarinet as a youth. His older brother, Ray Sims, developed into a fine trombonist who sounded like Bill Harris. At age 13, Sims switched permanently to the tenor, and his initial inspiration was Lester Young, although he soon developed his own cool-toned sound. Sims was a professional by the age of 15, landing his first important job with Bobby Sherwood's Orchestra, and he joined Benny Goodman's big band for the first time in 1943; he would be one of BG's favorite tenormen for the next 30 years. He recorded with Joe Bushkin in 1944, and even at that early stage, his style was largely set. 

After a period in the Army, Sims was with Goodman from 1946-1947. He gained his initial fame as one of Woody Herman's "Four Brothers" during his time with the Second Herd (1947-1949). Zoot had brief stints with Buddy Rich's short-lived big band, Artie Shaw, Goodman (1950), Chubby Jackson, and Elliot Lawrence. He toured and recorded with Stan Kenton (1953) and Gerry Mulligan (1954-1956). Sims was also a star soloist with Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band of the early '60s and visited the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman in 1962. A freelancer throughout most of his career, Sims often led his own combos or co-led bands with his friend Al Cohn; the two tenors had very similar sounds and styles. Zoot started doubling on soprano quite effectively in the '70s. 

Through the years, he appeared in countless situations, and always seemed to come out ahead. Fortunately, Zoot Sims recorded frequently, leading sessions for Prestige, Metronome, Vogue, Dawn, Storyville, Argo, ABC-Paramount, Riverside, United Artists, Pacific Jazz, Bethlehem, Colpix, Impulse, Groove Merchant, Famous Door, Choice, Sonet, and a wonderful series for Pablo. ~ Bio  https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/zoot-sims/id408729#fullText

Gold in the Shadow

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Dave Liebman - Ceremony

Styles: Flute And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:49
Size: 120,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:53)  1. The Drum Thing
(8:27)  2. Tunji
(7:41)  3. Kulu Se Mama (Juno Se Mama)
(5:08)  4. Ceremony: Morning
(7:10)  5. Ceremony: Afternoon
(6:57)  6. Ceremony: Evening
(4:04)  7. Tardes de Lindoia
(5:29)  8. Danza del Pajaro

This exciting new album returns to the haunting evocative beauty of the origins of jazz rhythms but has a contemporary feeling infused into it by very sophisticated players of contemporary jazz and Latin music who give the album a special shine. While jazz matured within an eclectic mix of American music ranging from marching bands to gospel to ragtime, vaudeville, and musical theater, it is firmly rooted in its rhythmic intensity in the rituals and ceremonies of Africa and the Caribbean. This album returns to those roots. Ceremonies consists of an unusual grouping of just one horn player, four percussionists and electric bass. It features the brilliant saxophone and flute playing of Dave Liebman backed by the legendary Oscar Stagnaro's electric bass and a team of outstanding percussionists playing a variety of drums, mostly of Cuban origin but harking back to the tribal rituals of the African continent. To capture the ceremonial effect, the album was recorded in a naturalistic way, with one binaural microphone in a church which provided richer resonance than a recording studio. The result is an ear- satisfying "living presence" in which the natural sonorities and timbres of the drums and reeds can be vividly heard. 

The music itself is stripped of many of the trappings of modern jazz such as the standard swing syncopation, AABA choruses, and familiar tunes. Neither is it "avant-garde" nor is it by any means primitive. Headed up by Liebman's extraordinary mastery of and lasting contribution to the jazz syntax, the music is infused with modernity. The obvious influence in that respect is John Coltrane, two of whose compositions ("The Drum Thing" and "Tunji") are represented and who briefly experimented with Afro-Cuban sources. However, the hidden tribal chieftains whose spirits hover over the musical inventiveness articulated here are Duke Ellington, who transformed jazz into serious expression beyond entertainment, and the classical composer Bela Bartok, who developed the modal approach to music based on the naturally occurring sounds of folk music. Like much of Ellington's and Bartok's work, this album possesses an aesthetic purity that has a hypnotic effect on the listener, a conjuring of past lives of other times and places while fully alive and unique in the present moment of creation. Two features of this album provide it with its special magic. 

One is the presence of several drummers, truly a "drum section" if you will. It is a rare pleasure to hear superb percussionists exchange well-crafted sonorities and rhythmic virtuosity with one another. They evoke both African and Cuban rhythms, with the emphasis shifting in the course of the album from the former to the latter. The drums are underpinned by Stagnaro's distinctly Afro-Cuban "tumbao" bass lines that also coincidentally carry some of Jaco Pastorius' lineage with them. Stagnaro's repetitive chants (which came to be called "riffs" during the swing era) establish a trance-like ostinato that evokes ancestral spirits. Over and against this rhythmic intensity, Liebman weaves melody lines that "tell stories" that range from lamentations to ecstatic conversations. By using an imaginative "vocabulary" that has flavors of Coltrane, as well as Afro-Cuban melodies and European impressionism (think of Debussy and Ravel) with occasional modal alterations attributable to Bartok, Liebman achieves a compositional complexity and beauty that is spontaneous yet magnificently structured.
~ Victor L.Schermer  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/ceremony-dave-liebman-chesky-records-review-by-victor-l-schermer.php

Personnel: Dave Liebman: tenor and soprano saxophones, wooden flute; Willy Rodriguez: drum set, percussion; Paolo Stagnaro: congas, batá, cajón, percussion, Iyá (1); Gabo Lugo: congas percussion, Itótele (1); Marcos López: timbales, percussion, Okónkolo (1); Oscar Stagnaro: electric bass

Ceremony

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