Dmitri Matheny - Starlight Cafe

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:07
Size: 135.3 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[8:45] 1. Stardust
[7:18] 2. When Lights Are Low
[6:18] 3. Twilight World
[6:09] 4. Spring Skylight
[5:01] 5. Whisper, Muse
[6:39] 6. Geneva
[4:13] 7. Soca Nova
[6:03] 8. Corcovado (Quiet Nights)
[5:03] 9. Saturn's Child
[3:34] 10. When You Wish Upon A Star

Already tabbed a "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in the 1998 Down Beat Critics' Poll, flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny seems on the verge of establishing himself as a major new jazz star. His third release on San Francisco's Monarch label may just put him over the top.

Conceived as a "collection of nocturnes," Starlight Cafe is a quiet, hauntingly beautiful album of ballads and standards (including "Stardust," "Corcovado," "When You Wish Upon a Star," and Benny Carter's "When Lights Are Low") plus several of Matheny's similarly themed originals. The 34-year-old Nashville native, now a stalwart on the Bay Area jazz scene, is a velvety smooth player who favors the lyrical and poetic side of jazz over the fire and brimstone side championed by many of his contemporaries. His tone and overall approach bear the strong influence of his mentor, the impeccable "flumpet" player Art Farmer. His ballad playing also recalls that of another master of California romanticism, Chet Baker.

The album was recorded live in Berkeley with a drummer-less trio featuring the fine pianist Darrell Grant (ex-Betty Carter, Frank Morgan, Tony Williams) and bassist Bill Douglass (Mario McPartland's West Coast partner). Matheny and his talented cohorts have made a highly enjoyable album of late-night jazz that proves you don't need to make a lot of noise to make a strong impression. ~Joel Roberts

Starlight Cafe

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Helen Forrest - The Voice Of The Name Bands

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:14
Size: 117.3 MB
Styles: Vocal, Big band
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[3:02] 1. Moonray
[2:50] 2. Yes, My Darling Daughter
[2:42] 3. The Devil Sat Down And Cried
[2:50] 4. I Don't Want To Walk Without You
[3:22] 5. I Had The Craziest Dream
[2:29] 6. Close To You
[3:34] 7. Day In, Day Out
[2:56] 8. How High The Moon
[2:49] 9. Shake Down The Stars
[3:18] 10. Deep In A Dream
[3:12] 11. All The Things You Are
[2:58] 12. It Never Entered My Mind
[3:23] 13. Skylark
[2:58] 14. You Made Me Love You
[3:10] 15. Deep Purple
[3:08] 16. Taking A Chance On Love
[2:26] 17. Baby, What You Do For Me

Helen Forrest (April 12, 1917 – July 11, 1999) was an American singer. She served as the “girl singer” for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James), thereby earning a reputation as “the voice of the name bands.” Helen was born Helen Fogel in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 12, 1917. Her parents, Louis and Rebecca Fogel, were Russian-born Jews.

At the peak of her career, Helen Forrest was the most popular female singer in the United States. Because of her work with the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James, she is known as “the voice of the name bands” and is regarded by some as the best female vocalist of the swing era. In addition, AllMusic describes Forrest as “a performer that some might not consider a jazz vocalist, but one with exceptional ability to project lyrics and also an excellent interpreter.” Also, IMDb describes Forrest: “though Helen was not, perhaps, a jazz singer in the truest sense, she brought to her songs a wistful ‘girl-next-door’ quality” through her “femininity and warmth of her voice and the clear, emotional phrasing of her lyrics.” In his book The Big Bands, writer George Simon wrote, “Helen was a wonderfully warm and natural singer.” Over the course of her career, Helen Forrest recorded more than 500 songs. In 2001, she was posthumously inducted into the now-defunct Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. According to many of her fans, Forrest is reported to have been a warm, amiable woman who was always willing to chat with her fans and sign autographs. Despite Helen Forrest’s legacy, her grave is still marked with a temporary grave marker (as of 2010).

The Voice Of The Name Bands

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Johnny Nash - The Best Of

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 48:22

Size: 110.8 MB

Styles: Reggae

Year: 1996

Art: Front

[2:45] 1. I Can See Clearly Now

[2:43] 2. Dream Lover

[2:42] 3. Hold Me Tight

[2:44] 4. There Are More Questions Than Answers

[2:54] 5. Let's Be Friends

[3:23] 6. Cupid

[3:55] 7. Reggae's On Broadway

[3:21] 8. Let's Move And Groove Together

[3:12] 9. Guava Jelly

[3:02] 10. Wonderful World

[3:01] 11. Stir It Up

[2:51] 12. Ooh, What A Feeling

[2:40] 13. Loving You

[3:16] 14. Tears On My Pillow (I Can't Take It)

[2:46] 15. All I Have To Do Is Dream

[3:00] 16. Halfway To Paradise

Born John Lester Nash, Jr. in Houston, Texas, he began as a pop singer in the 1950s. He released four albums for ABC-Paramount, with his self named debut in 1958. Around 20 singles were released between 1958 & 1964 on a variety of labels such as Groove, Chess, Argo and Warners. He also enjoyed success as an actor early in his career appearing in the screen version of playwright Louis S. Peterson's Take a Giant Step. Nash won a Silver Sail Award for his performance from the Locarno International Film Festival.

Besides "I Can See Clearly Now," Nash recorded several hits in Jamaica, where he travelled in early 1968, as his girlfriend had family links with local TV and radio host and novel writer Neville Willoughby. Nash planned to try breaking the local rocksteady sound in the United States. Willoughby introduced him to a local struggling vocal group, Bob Marley & The Wailing Wailers, Members Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Rita Marley introduced him to the local scene.[2] Nash signed all four to an exclusive recording contract with his JAD label and also an exclusive publishing contract with Cayman music. An advance was paid in the form of a weekly wage and JAD also financed some of their recordings, some with Byron Lee's Dragonaires and some with other local musicians such as Jackie Jackson and Lynn Taitt. None of the Marley and Tosh songs he produced were successful. Only two singles were released at the time: "Bend Down Low" (JAD 1968) and "Reggae on Broadway" (Columbia, 1972), which was recorded in London in 1972 on the same sessions that produced "I Can See Clearly Now." It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in November 1972.[3] The I Can See Clearly Now album includes four original Marley compositions published by JAD: "Guava Jelly", "Comma Comma", "You Poured Sugar On Me" and the follow-up hit "Stir It Up". "There Are More Questions Than Answers" was a third hit single taken from the album.

The Best Of

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Nilson Matta - East Side Rio Drive

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:47
Size: 114.0 MB
Styles: Latin jazz
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[6:04] 1. Sertao
[6:22] 2. Boogie Stop Shuffle
[3:50] 3. Mojave
[5:49] 4. E Menina
[6:24] 5. Verde
[4:15] 6. Blue In Green
[0:44] 7. Proemio Do Mingus
[5:16] 8. Lucas De Nadine
[6:45] 9. Angela
[4:13] 10. Mambo Inn

At the center of it all is Nilson Matta, who is both an outstanding bassist and an exceptional maestro, to employ another overused term. As a bandleader, he has an innate sense of orchestration, of flow, of sequence, of musical space and together with New York based producer/arranger Humberto (Howard) Léder (no stranger to mixing musical cultures, e,g. B.B.King with legendary Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos), they masterfully conceived an idea to make one piece, with specifically-sized ensembles and a unique groove, and to proceed emotionally and logically, how to make a well-known melody seem fresh and exciting, and then, how to contrast it with something not quite so familiar.

East Side Rio Drive

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Susannah McCorkle - As Time Goes By

Styles: Vocal Jazz

Year: 1986

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 44:26

Size: 104,0 MB

Art: Front

(3:34)  1. September In The Rain

(4:16)  2. I Can't Give You Anything But Love

(4:03)  3. Taking A Chance On Love

(4:56)  4. For All We Know

(5:12)  5. As Time Goes By

(3:12)  6. I Get A Kick Out Of You

(6:03)  7. Alone Together

(4:16)  8. Pennies From Heaven

(4:52)  9. You Don't Know What Love Is

(3:57) 10. Blues In The Night

McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation. In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics.

During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls five times and Carnegie Hall three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music. Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. She had a special affinity for Bossa Nova and often cited Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March" as her personal favorite. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West.

A survivor of breast cancer, McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and committed suicide at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the manner of death. One year later, in a New York magazine tribute entitled "Jazz Bird", Gwenda Blair wrote, "Onstage, singer Susannah McCorkle exuded a sultry self-confidence that won her lifelong fans. But in private, she fought depression so deep and so well hidden that a year after her suicide, even some in her most intimate circle wonder how they missed the cries for help." Haunted Heart, a biography of Susannah McCorkle written by Linda Dahl, was published in September 2006 by University of Michigan Press. ~ Bio  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susannah_McCorkle

Personnel: Susannah McCorkle (vocal),  Jimmy Heath (ts), Ted Dunbar (g), Billy Taylor (p), Victor Gaskin (b), Tony Reedus (d)

As Time Goes By

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Lee Ritenour - Overtime

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:32
Size: 168,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:48)  1. Boss City
(9:14)  2. Blue in Green
(4:27)  3. Ocean Ave.
(5:01)  4. She Walks This Earth
(5:12)  5. Sugarloaf Express
(4:38)  6. Possibilities
(6:52)  7. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
(5:37)  8. Morning Glory
(7:24)  9. Captain Fingers
(3:47) 10. P.a.L.S.
(5:56) 11. Night Rhythms
(5:00) 12. Lil' Bumpin'
(4:30) 13. Is It You?

Overtime is really two CDs in one. On the instrumentals, particularly "Bass City" and "Blue in Green," guitarist Lee Ritenour sounds a lot like Wes Montgomery and he leads his group (which features either Ernie Watts or Eric Marienthal on tenor) through some relatively straight-ahead numbers filled with soulful and creative playing. However the five vocals numbers are much more in the R&B/smooth vein and are largely throwaways despite the occasional presence of Ivan Lins. Clearly Ritenour was going for variety on this project but will probably only satisfy his greatest fans. The jazz listeners will be turned off by the vocals and the pop/smooth fans will probably only tolerate some of the more adventurous originals. Ritenour sounds fine in both settings but probably should have recorded twice as much music and split this CD into two. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/overtime-mw0000209550

Personnel: Lee Ritenour (guitar); Ivan Lins (vocals, Fender Rhodes piano); Eric Marienthal (flute, saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Patrice Rushen (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizer); Dave Carpenter (acoustic bass, double bass); Melvin Davis , Anthony Jackson (bass guitar); Steve Forman (percussion); Tim Carmen (programming); Grady Harrell, Kenya Hathaway (vocals); Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Chris Botti (trumpet); Dave Grusin (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards); Barnaby Finch (keyboards); Harvey Mason, Sr. , Oscar Seaton (drums); Alex Acuña (percussion); Jochem van der Saag (programming).

Overtime

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Massimo Farao Trio - I Left My Heart In San Francisco

Styles: Piano Jazz

Year: 2015

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 66:39

Size: 153,0 MB

Art: Front

(7:08)  1. I Left My Heart In San Francisco

(4:54)  2. Chega De Saudade

(6:50)  3. Whisper Not

(5:22)  4. Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing

(5:56)  5. In A Sentimental Mood

(6:15)  6. All of You

(6:25)  7. What A Difference A Day Made

(6:27)  8. Ain't Misbehavin'

(5:34)  9. I'm a Fool to Want You

(6:11) 10. Georgia on My Mind

(5:33) 11. Very Thought Of You

Massimo Farao is a wonderful Italian pianist who has played and recorded with Red Holloway, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Tony Scott, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jeff Tain Watts, Jack DeJohnette and Chris Potter, among others. Venus Records' producer Tetsuo Hara must have really fallen in love with Farao's music because in less than a year he has released no less than five of the Italian pianist's albums. The debut CD by his trio Luiza was followed by Bohemia After Dark which featured his bassist Aldo Zunino in a duo setting. Now we have three new albums (Autumn Leaves, My Funny Valentine and I Left My Heart In San Francisco) that were all recorded in a three-day session in February, 2014.

It seems quite a feat for a piano trio to produce three albums-worth music in three days, but the quality of the performance is consistently high. Farao's passionate style and romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. He doesn't play too many notes and his arrangements are relatively straight forward, but his choice of notes is exquisite. With his unfailing sense of swing, all his music including ballads radiates an aura of happiness. Recommended to fans of piano trios! http://www.eastwindimport.com/product-info.asp?ProductID=13340

Personnel:  Massimo Farao (piano); Aldo Zunino (bass); Marco Tolotti (drums).

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

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