Billy Butler - Night Life

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:06
Size: 155.9 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2001
Art: Front

[9:26] 1. Blow For The Crossing
[4:02] 2. Golden Earrings
[4:16] 3. The Thumb
[5:45] 4. Honky Tonk
[3:01] 5. B+B Calypso
[5:42] 6. Seven Come Eleven
[3:27] 7. Medley: Autumn Nocturne/You Go To My Head
[5:12] 8. Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
[4:55] 9. Girl Talk
[5:42] 10. Dancing On The Ceiling
[3:50] 11. Hold It
[4:08] 12. Evening Dreams
[3:46] 13. The Butler Did It
[4:47] 14. Sweet Georgia Brown

Billy Butler is well known to guitarists only, as the co-author of the early R&B funked-up standard "Honky Tonk," with organist Bill Doggett. The two albums featured in this single disc two-fer reissue -- Guitar Soul and Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, both released in 1970 -- offer a wider view of the man and his music. The opening track on Guitar Soul is a cut worthy of the Meters in its New Orleans-styled second-line funk called "Blow for the Crossing." Nine and a half minutes in length, it's dark, spooky, greasy, and funky as hell. With Seldon Powell on tenor, Sonny Phillips on organ, Specs Powell on drums, and Bob Bushnell on bass, it's a jam du jour. Everybody solos, but Butler and Phillips are the pair that bend the tune all over the place like Gumby on Pokey. With an elongated melodic line played by Powell on the saxophone and punched-up by the drums, there's nothing to keep the body still in its massive groove-o-phonics. But the almighty groove wasn't Butler's only strength. With a saxophonist like Houston Person, he could play the most elegant swing -- as in their read of the Rodgers & Hart classic "Dancing on the Ceiling" on the second half of the album, or as a solo guitarist he could play from the Montoya fake book as he does on "Golden Earrings," with a classical guitar. There's even a reworked version of "Honky Tonk" here that adds the explosiveness of Butler's playing to the grove of the original. Further, there's the gorgeous jazz-only medley of "Autumn Nocturne" and "You Go to My Head," where Butler and Seldon Powell reach for the most subtle nuances possible to get the melodic idea across by understatement. Solos wind into one another, each one keeping the melodic fragment inherent in the harmonic changes of the breaks so it's there, in both tunes, ever present like a ghost that can't decide which direction to turn and just hovers there. The wildest tune on the Person sessions on the second half of the album is Neil Hefti and Booby Troup's "Girl Talk." Before this I could never have imagined hearing this tune as an instrumental, but it works like grease on a bicycle chain with Butler punching up the melody and bending his strings all over it to make the language impenetrable to all but his rhythm section, and Person who flies over the top making the simple pop song into a work of groove jazz artistry. This disc is a welcome introduction to one of the great, all-but-lost talents in jazz history. Billy Butler was a guitarist's guitarist and an innovator in both production and arrangements. This disc is solid from top to bottom and reveals the restless spirit of a quiet yet demanding artist. ~Thom Jurek

Night Life

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Robert Stewart - Nat The Cat: The Music Of Nat King Cole

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:40
Size: 118.3 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[5:54] 1. Nat The Cat
[4:31] 2. Make Her Mine
[8:31] 3. Harlem After Midnight
[4:06] 4. Blue Gardenia
[5:22] 5. Somewhere Along The Way
[3:54] 6. A Blossom Fell
[2:27] 7. That Sunday, That Summer
[3:59] 8. The Sand And The Sea
[2:47] 9. I Don't Want To See Tomorrow
[6:03] 10. The Ruby And The Pearl
[4:00] 11. Mona Lisa

Robert Stewart, ts; Ed Kelly, p; Mark Williams, bs; Sly Randolph, dr; K. Stewart, piano; R. Stewart, fl.

This entire album is dedicated in loving memory of the great Nat King Cole. May his spirit and his music live through eternity. ~Robert Stewart

One of the most impressive hard bop tenor saxophonists to emerge during the 90s, Oakland, CA native Robert Stewart did not take even take up the instrument until the age of 17; however, he so completely immersed himself in the music of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane - as well as the work of his personal mentor, Pharoah Sanders - that he quickly developed his own muscular tone. ~Scott Yanow

Nat The Cat: The Music Of Nat King Cole

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The Buckinghams - Time & Charges

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 29:16
Size: 67.0 MB
Styles: AM pop
Year: 1967/2012
Art: Front

[2:28] 1. Don't You Care
[2:25] 2. Pitied Be The Dragon Hunter
[2:44] 3. And Our Love
[2:25] 4. Why Don't You Love Me
[3:29] 5. You Are Gone
[2:37] 6. I'll Be Back
[2:46] 7. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
[2:22] 8. Remember
[3:40] 9. The Married Life
[4:15] 10. Foreign Policy

Producer James William Guercio took on such a major role in the Buckinghams' second album that he amounted to a more influential force, perhaps, than anyone in the band. He arranged, conducted, and wrote or co-wrote six of the ten selections. Most noticeably, there were orchestral arrangements, complete with tympanis and blaring horns, that wouldn't have been out of place in film scores, large jazz bands, or even (at their most dissonant) early Frank Zappa records. Obviously he and/or the band were trying to be more experimental than they could on their hit singles, and the inclusion of the hit pop singles "Don't You Care" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" made the LP all the more a strange affair. Not nearly as rock-oriented as their debut album, it was a quirky failure, as the Buckinghams were ultimately much more suited towards making AM singles than delving into somewhat strange orchestrated horn rock (although Guercio's songs were usually fairly hummable love songs when the arrangements were stripped away). In fact, the strongest cut other than the hit singles, "Remember," could have been a hit without the oddball horn charts. ~Richie Unterberger

Time & Charges

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Andrea Wright - September In The Rain

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:10
Size: 80.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[3:16] 1. September In The Rain
[3:11] 2. Day By Day
[3:30] 3. Falling In Love With Love
[3:26] 4. Where Is Love
[3:33] 5. Lullaby Of The Leaves
[3:14] 6. Watch What Happens
[3:27] 7. I've Grown Accustomed To His Face
[4:05] 8. Day Dream
[3:01] 9. I'm Beginning To See The Light
[4:22] 10. For All We Know

Harry Whitaker, piano; Saul Rubin, guitar; Noriko Ueda, bass; Quincy Davis, drums; Warren Vaché, trumpet; Andrea Wright, vocals.

Andrea migrated to New York City to pursue a performance career and her artistry flourished when she met jazz / bebop vocalist Marion Cowings. Mentoring her in his New York Smalls Jazz Vocal Workshop, she found her own identity through improvisation and now has a considerable jazz standard repertoire.

In 2009 she released her first studio Jazz Album September in the Rain. At home in New York Andrea has played Jazz spots like Carlyle Hotel’s Bemelman’s Bar and the Friar’s Club, most recently for Mayor Dinkin’s book signing. She has toured internationally in Japan, Cyprus and Canada. In addition to a US state Department tour, Andrea continues to work closely with Mercedes Ellington and The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts to promote American Jazz education and history.

September In The Rain

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Eddie Harris - The In Sound

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 35:52

Size: 82.1 MB

Styles: Hard bop, Saxophone jazz

Year: 1965/2005

Art: Front

[5:29] 1. The Shadow Of Your Smile

[5:08] 2. Born To Be Blue

[6:02] 3. Love For Sale

[4:45] 4. Cryin' Blues

[4:41] 5. 's Wonderful

[9:44] 6. Freedom Jazz Dance

This is one of Eddie Harris' great records and fortunately all of the music from the LP has returned as part of a reissue in the Rhino/Atlantic CD series (combined with Harris' Mean Greens date). The underrated but popular tenor-saxophonist introduces his standard "Freedom Jazz Dance," plays one of the earlier versions of "The Shadow of Your Smile," romps on "Love for Sale" and "'S Wonderful," and also performs "Born to Be Blue" and his own "Cryin' Blues." Harris is heard in prime form in a quartet/quintet with pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Billy Higgins, and sometimes trumpeter Ray Codrington. A gem. ~Scott Yanow

The In Sound                

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Connie Evingson - Fever: A Tribute to Peggy Lee

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:36
Size: 116,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:52)  1. I Love Being Here With You
(6:22)  2. Some Cats Know
(4:52)  3. I Wanna Be Loved
(2:44)  4. He's a Tramp
(6:30)  5. Black Coffee
(2:39)  6. It's a Good Day
(3:10)  7. Why Don't You Do Right
(4:26)  8. Fever
(3:47)  9. I Don't Know Enough About You
(2:41) 10. I'm Gonna Go Fishin'
(5:04) 11. Where Can I Go Without You
(4:24) 12. Is That All There Is?

It's a daunting task to record a tribute album to a legend like Peggy Lee, if for no other reason than every song will be compared to the original, but Minneapolis-based Connie Evingson does it, and does it well. While she uses similar arrangements, she doesn't try to sound like Lee. Her voice is deep and sultry like Lee's, but it's also somewhat lighter. To her credit, Evingson's tribute is not only to songs that Lee sang, but to those she wrote, reminding us that the multi-talented Lee was also a composer of some note. Most of the tunes on the album are familiar Lee fare. On "Black Coffee," Dave Karr's tenor sax assumes the role that Conte Candoli's muted trumpet played on the 1953 release. "It's a Good Day," written with former husband, guitarist Dave Barbour, was a big pop hit for Lee in 1947. 

Evingson's version features some outstanding guitar work by Reuben Ristrom. While Evingson brings her own style to these tunes, on "Fever," she pretty much follows Lee's finger-poppin' tom-tom arrangement. Another Lee classic, the sardonic "Is That All There Is?," is one of the album's highlights; Karr's flute is prominent on this cut. The Duke Ellington-Lee composition "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'" is the album's barnburner, with Karr's sax swinging at a frenetic pace behind Evingson. Despite the fast pace, though, they never lose their place, and Evingson's diction remains crisp. Things slow down considerably on "Where Can I Go Without You?" On this tune more than any, Evingson shows that she has a style all her own. Featuring a set of fine Minneapolis musicians, this album is not only a tribute to the inestimable brilliance of Peggy Lee, but also to the singing talent of Connie Evingson. ~ Dave Nathan  http://www.allmusic.com/album/fever-a-tribute-to-peggy-lee-mw0000011855

Fever:A Tribute to Peggy Lee

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Jeff Rupert + Dirty Martini - Save Your Love For Me

Styles: Latin And Brazilian Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:58
Size: 122,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:04)  1. Desafinado
(4:46)  2. Eu Quero Um Samba
(3:11)  3. Falsa Bahaina
(3:28)  4. Save Your Love For Me
(4:15)  5. Lotus blossom
(4:51)  6. Leva E Traz
(6:08)  7. Nancy With the Laughing Face
(4:05)  8. So danço samba
(4:50)  9. Love For Sale
(5:03) 10. Cherokee
(4:19) 11. The Jester
(3:39) 12. Change Partners and Dance With Me
(1:15) 13. Desafinado (Reprise)

Jeff Rupert and Dirty Martini began playing Bossa Novas a few years ago. Jeff Rupert had been in NYC for a year, and upon returning to Orlando in 2002 rejoined Keith Wilson and Chuck Archard, who introduced Jeff to Chris Rottmayer. It was that first gig as a quartet that the group realized that we were all in a similar space.... yearning to play music full of passion, with a lyrical quality. Bossa Nova loosely translated means new flair. 

While most of the repertoire on this recording is not new, perhaps the idea of playing purely for the sake of passion is something we rekindled in ourselves. In addition, it is our pleasure to add vocalist Michelle Amato, who contributes to the passion on two cuts of this recording. As we chose repertoire for our gigs and this recording, it became obvious that the tunes had a similar quality- they made us smile. If music is merely a metaphor for the life experience, then perhaps we have embraced its unforeseen passion and hope it reaches you through our debut album. Cheers. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rupertmartini

Save Your Love For Me

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Nina Ferro - Waiting For The Sunset

Styles: Jazz Soul
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:28
Size: 139,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:50)  1. Sweet Dreams
(3:25)  2. Tossin' & Turnin'
(4:50)  3. Creepin'
(5:25)  4. Waiting For the Sunset
(5:03)  5. Overcrowded Dreams
(4:52)  6. All I Have to Do Is Dream
(5:08)  7. I Wanna See You
(5:20)  8. I Should Care
(3:29)  9. I'm Only Sleeping
(3:48) 10. Talking In My Sleep
(4:40) 11. All Night Long
(9:33) 12. Dreamweaver

"A fabulous performer with a knockout voice." ~ Tony Bennett

Nina Ferro is a multi award winning vocalist and songwriter, whose warm sensuous voice, impeccable timing and stunning vocal range have done much to establish her enviable international reputation. Her wealth of experience has seen her perform at festivals, clubs and concerts throughout the USA (San Diego, Las Vegas, Arizona and Californian Jazz Festivals, The Landing Jazz Club Texas), Europe (Copenhagen, Malta, Brecon, Haugesund, Malmo, Gent, Breda, Dusselldorf Jazz Festivals), Asia and Australia (Sth Pacific and Kobe Jazz Festivals and the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth International Festivals, Melbourne Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony) and The Middle East (Bahrain Music Festival). Originally hailing from Australia and now residing in London, Nina is fast establishing her mark as one of the hottest Soul-Jazz vocalists on the UK scene. Nina has appeared alongside such greats as Tony Bennett, Hugh Jackman, Jose Feliciano, Michael Buble, Billy Ocean, Ricky Martin, Curtis Stigers, Gilbert O'Sullivan and Kyle Eastwood. Jazz legends including Chick Corea, Dave Sanborn, Jimmy Scott, Monty Alexander and Les Paul. As well as The Commitments, The Blues Brothers Band, The Cat Empire and The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Nina has been performing regularly at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Cafe De Paris, The Barbican, 606 Club, Shepherd's Bush Empire, Pizza on the Park, Octave Jazz Bar, The Spice of Life and many more. Nina's music can be regularly heard on BBC Radio 2 and her own albums, songs, and performances have received rave reviews world wide.

"Ms Ferro's mellifluous voice reflected her warm personality & as Bob Hope said of Dinah Shore: "Naturally the voice is good. Just look where it's been." Jack Massarik, Evening Standard, London.

"Ferro's voice is a pleasure to hear.... natural, sexy and effortless." Cadence Magazine, New York.

"What an amazing voice, a standout performance." Hugh Jackman.

This soul-full songstress has a quality of tone, honest emotion and technique that make her performances nothing short of inspirational. Her energetic style and musical grace ensure an entertaining and powerful evening of slick Jazz Standards, sultry soul as well as her own original compositions.

"Nina Ferro may be an unfamiliar name to some in the US but that won't last long. Nina's voice is smooth, consistent and rich. Her energy and feeling for the music is fresh and infectious. The US will want to hear more of this stellar vocalist." - Paul Pearce, Bass World Magazine, USA.

AWARDS: 4th Place for "Tossing & Turning" (Rock/Metal/Indie Category) Australian Song Writing Association Competition 2006. Yalumba Jazz medal for most up and coming Jazz Artist. Congratulations to the "CAT EMPIRE" on winning an Aria Award for their album "Cities" (Nina is a featured vocalist on several tracks). http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ninaferro4

Waiting For The Sunset

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Richard Tee - Strokin'/Natural Ingredients

Styles: Jazz Funk, Soul
Year: 1979/1980
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:41
Size: 167,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:57)  1. First Love
(5:27)  2. Every Day
(5:23)  3. Strokin'
(5:04)  4. I Wanted It Too
(5:32)  5. Virginia Sunday
(4:46)  6. Jesus Children of America
(4:43)  7. Take the 'A' Train
(6:11)  8. What A Woman Really Means
(6:12)  9. Wow
(4:32) 10. The Nuts Off The Screw
(4:34) 11. Tell It Like It Is
(4:43) 12. Us
(4:51) 13. Back Door Man
(4:40) 14. Spinning Song

Native New Yorker Richard Tee is one of the unsung heroes of jazz, funk and soul. He was a ubiquitous session pianist during the 1960s, '70s and '80s and he's mainly remembered - he died in 1993 from prostate cancer - for his work accompanying jazz legends, among them Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Hank Crawford and George Benson, but he also made significant contributions to albums by rock and pop artists; namely George Harrison, Billy Joel, David Bowie and the Bee Gees. A versatile musician, then, Tee was also a member of the Big Apple-based session supergroup, Stuff, in the late '70s and during the same timeframe cut a couple of albums for Bob James' CBS-distributed Tappan Zee imprint. Often overlooked and underappreciated, those two long out-of-print albums have just been reissued as a tasty twofer by the Cherry Red imprint, Robinsongs. Tee's hallmark was rolling, gospel-infused acoustic piano licks and on '79's 'Strokin'' he doesn't disappoint. 

The set was helmed by Bob James who had worked with Tee on many C.T.I./Kudu sessions for producer Creed Taylor and features a stellar line-up of sideman: including fellow Stuff members Eric Gale and Steve Gadd plus bassist Chuck Rainey, percussionist Ralph MacDonald, and horn men, Tom Scott and the Brecker brothers. The opener, the Chuck Rainey-penned, 'First Love,' is a driving instrumental with a disco-funk backbeat that highlights Tee's churchy piano chords. He supplies a textured, resonant vocal on the ballad 'Every Day,' a song he co-penned with Bill Withers. The rest of the album is devoted to slick, adroitly-executed but soulful instrumentals, such as the blithely grooving title cut which spotlights Tee's piano and 'I Wanted It Too,' a slice of mirrorball funk which features Tee on organ and Hugh McCracken on harmonica. 'Virginia Sunday' is a dreamy ballad whose mellow mood is quickly dispelled by a superb jazz-funk deconstruction of Stevie Wonder's 'Jesus Children Of America.'

The set closes with a highly imaginative retooling of Duke Ellington's Billy Strayhorn-penned 'Take The A Train,' which not only shows off Tee's virtuosity on the piano but also his sublime arranging skills as it morphs from a quasi-piano concerto into a seismic chunk of disco-funk. Also produced by Bob James, 1980's 'Natural Ingredients' featured mainly the same line up of musicians but laid more emphasis on Tee as a vocalist. It opens with the pianist's funked-up vocal take on the Ralph McDonald/William Salter tune, 'What A Woman Really Means' (a song also recorded at an earlier juncture in the '70s by Donny Hathaway). 'Now' is a fine instrumental distinguished by a bluesy Eric Gale guitar solo while the humorous 'The Nut's Off The Screw' - another Tee/Bill Withers co-write - is a fluid slice of four-on-the-floor funk featuring Tee's husky vocal and some evocative harmonica playing.  Aaron Neville's 'Tell It Like It Is' also gets a run out but is rejigged as a chugging, late night groover. Willie Dixon's blues classic, 'Back Door Man,' also gets a makeover, transmogrified into an undulating funk groove propelled by slapped bass. 

The album's closer, believe it or not, is Tee's take on 'Spinning Song' by classical composer, Felix Mendelssohn, which is transfigured into piano-led romp through blues, jazz, gospel and funk styles. The piece cogently not only demonstrates the pianist's genius at melding different musical elements into a cohesive whole but also succinctly encapsulates his unique and immediately recognisable piano style. It's been 21 years since Richard Tee's death but excellent reissues like this will certainly help in keeping his memory alive. ~ Charles Waring  http://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/reviews/2717-richard-tee-strokin-and-natural-ingredients-robinsongscherry-red.html

Strokin'

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