Kayla Taylor Jazz - You'd Be Surprised

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:43
Size: 93,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:50)  1. Good Morning Heartache
(4:28)  2. Just One of Those Things
(3:21)  3. You'd Be Surprised
(2:28)  4. Our Love Is Here To Stay
(4:55)  5. I Only Have Eyes For You
(2:18)  6. You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)
(3:05)  7. Treat Me Rough
(3:01)  8. Where Or When
(2:49)  9. It's De-Lovely
(3:10) 10. Devil May Care
(6:13) 11. Blues Stay Away from Me

Though her early forays were more rock and pop, in recent years Atlanta’s Kayla Taylor has, in partnership with guitarist Steve Moore, found her musical focus with jazz standards. There’s a slight, if persistent, twang to Taylor’s voice that reveals her Southern roots. But the effect, like an amalgamation of dewy Sophie Milman with fellow Canadian k.d. lang, is thoroughly enticing pert, yet a wee bit pouty. It serves her well on an opening “Good Morning Heartache,” more gently regretful than maudlin, and is equally effective on a bossa-swung “Just One of Those Things” and a flirty “You’d Be Surprised.”  

Moore and his piano-less band drummer-percussionist Michael Dana, bassist Justin Owen-Head and saxophonist Will Scruggs draw on the Flamingos’ classic 1959 version to shape “I Only Have Eyes for You,” with Taylor ably following their shimmering lead. The lesser-known Gershwin gem “Treat Me Rough” is delivered with showgirl sauciness and, kudos to all four players, a shadowy “Devil May Care” finds her dancing among undulating flames. But the closing track, a Moore-led “Blues Stay Away From Me,” seems plucked from an entirely different album. Taylor’s vocal, though powerfully mournful, feels neither down nor dirty enough, particularly when measured against the cut-loose wail of lang’s “Honky Tonk Angels’ Medley” version from 1988’s Shadowland. 

~ Christopher Loudon  http://jazztimes.com/articles/29396-you-d-be-surprised-kayla-taylor

You'd Be Surprised

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Eddie Thompson Trio - Ain't She Sweet

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:49
Size: 153,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:02)  1. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
(5:18)  2. Cool Blues
(5:53)  3. Ain't She Sweet
(5:43)  4. You Are My Sunshine
(4:26)  5. Easy Does It
(5:31)  6. One Morning In May
(5:40)  7. Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
(4:21)  8. There Is No Greater Love
(3:51)  9. Just Friends
(4:59) 10. I've Got the World On a String
(4:40) 11. Wave
(4:49) 12. Why Don't You Do Right?
(5:31) 13. When Lights Are Low

Eddie Thompson was born in Shoreditch, London on May 31, 1925. Blind from birth he first attended Linden Lodge School for the Blind, Wandsworth (as did George Shearing) and then, during the war, at Dorton House, Seal, Sevenoaks. He had been introduced to jazz through listening to the family radio and was awestruck by such greats as Fats Waller, Earl Hines, and especially Art Tatum.  His strong personality and love of jazz eventually led to a curtailment of his formal education and by 1947 he was part of the London jazz scene and playing in the company of Vic Ash, Tony Crombie, Ronnie Scott, and Carlo Krahmer. He was able to supplement his jazz income, always precarious, with a career as a piano tuner. One of his first recordings was made in February 1948 with the Johnny Dankworth quartet which had teenage Vic Feldman on drums.

Throughout the fifties he consolidated his reputation playing with top London musicians and was at home playing mainstream or bop. In 1962 he decided to try New York as he felt he needed that challenge that only New York, then as now, can give jazz musicians. He secured a residency at the Hickory House between 1963-67 and made many musical friendships including Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, and Thelonious Monk. In spite of a growing reputation in New York he returned to London in 1972 where he was soon in demand and formed his own trio. There were regular BBC Jazz Club gigs, he recorded for the German BASF label and Doug Dobell's 77 label, and as visiting American soloists proliferated he became one of the first call accompanists.

Eddie's strength other than his prodigious technique was that he knew literally hundreds of tunes with a preference for Gershwin. He also had the ability, when he felt it necessary, to drop into the style of his heroes Garner, Peterson, and Nat Cole. In the late seventies and early eighties he made a series of recordings for HEP as soloist and as equal musical partner along with Roy Williams and tenor saxist Spike Robinson. These are generally regarded as his finest work. Although blind he fearlessly travelled to evening work in London clubs by the Underground, and also to clubs throughout the UK often accompanied by his faithful guide dog, Maida. Sadly, due to a lifelong smoking habit, he developed emphysema which contributed to his early death on November 6, 1986. Paradoxically, in the late eighties his playing enjoyed a sudden popularity in Japan. Such an irony would have caused him to smile.  Bio ~ http://www.hepjazz.com/hep_jazz_artist_biographies/eddie_thompson.html

Personnel: Eddie Thompson (piano); Martin Drew (drums); Len Skeat ( bass).

Ain't She Sweet

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Jim Snidero - Main Street

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:16
Size: 117,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:21)  1. Duluth at Noon
(6:39)  2. Post Time Saratoga
(6:34)  3. Las Vegas Tango
(4:33)  4. Oxford Square
(7:18)  5. Autumn In New York
(6:31)  6. Born In Redwood City
(6:05)  7. Walla Walla
(8:11)  8. The Streets of Laredo

A determinedly straightahead alto saxophonist, Jim Snidero staffs his Main Street quartet with determinedly adventurous young musicians and gets them swinging along with him. It’s no surprise to hear that pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Linda Oh and drummer Rudy Royston have the meat-and-potatoes bop chops that a Snidero record requires; it is, however, invigorating.Those musicians sneak in bits and pieces of their own conceptions, too. Snidero’s soulful blues “Post Time Saratoga” features scorchers from Oh and Snidero, and behind them, Royston’s latticework marks him as the best decorative drummer in the business. (He continues to prove it throughout, topping himself with a reason-defying solo on the closing “The Streets of Laredo.”) Almazan matches that artistry with subtle figures and note choices that fatten up his comp lines, then bursts forth with a solo that explodes both the tune’s rhythmic and harmonic framework. He does the same on “Duluth at Noon,” “Walla Walla” and “The Streets of Laredo,” making him the album’s MVP.

Oh has tricks up her sleeve, too. When Royston and Almazan ratchet up to double time in “Duluth,” she steadfastly maintains the original tempo even as it displaces her accents. She also finds new ways to express the pulse with every bar of “Las Vegas Tango,” and offers perhaps the album’s best improvisation with her nuanced light touch on “Autumn in New York.” Snidero, meanwhile, maintains the consistent gifts that have marked his 30-plus-year career: juicy sax work crafted with soul, flawless tone and a keen sense of narrative (his solo on “The Streets of Laredo” rivals Oh for album best). His compositions are impressive, too, eking surprises out of licks in “Duluth at Noon” and building a durable melody out of a mixed meter and an R&B lick on “Born in Redwood City.” Main Street is a solid addition to his résumé.

Personnel: Jim Snidero (alto saxophone); Fabian Almazan (piano); Rudy Royston (drums).

Main Street

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