Asylum Street Spankers - Mercurial

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:01
Size: 135.1 MB
Styles: Jazz/Blues/Swing/R&B
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[4:09] 1. Digga Digga Doo
[3:35] 2. Paul Revere
[4:10] 3. D.R.I.N.K
[4:05] 4. Since I Met You Baby
[4:30] 5. Shine On Harvest Moon
[4:26] 6. Got My Mojo Workin'
[2:50] 7. Some Of These Days
[4:35] 8. Dance This Mess Around
[4:28] 9. Tv Party
[4:19] 10. Hick Hop
[3:33] 11. Tight Like That
[7:02] 12. Sugar In My Bowl
[3:21] 13. Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue
[3:53] 14. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie

The Asylum Street Spankers defy easy categorization. Sticking resolutely to acoustic instruments including clarinet, harmonica, banjo and at times even musical saw, the Spankers perform a bewildering array of songs in just about every popular style extant in America since the end of World War I. Though the band's lineup changes with each recording, the two leaders have remained constant: Christina Marrs, whose vocal tone and range remind me of Barbara Cook with touches of Aretha Franklin and Betty Boop, and Wammo, who is truly one of a kind. The Spankers' MO is to take absolutely nothing seriously except their musicianship (which is polished to the point of glowing) and to celebrate all forms of pleasure, not excluding those that are generally considered to be either immoral, illegal or fattening. (For their sake, I hope John Ashcroft never gets hold of a copy of "Spanker Madness.") Their new album, "Mercurial"--so named for Mercury Hall in their home town of Austin, where this CD was recorded--basically is a sampler of everything that makes the Spankers great. They perform everything from true old-time numbers such as "Shine On Harvest Moon" and "Digga Digga Doo" to a hilarious cover of the B-52's "Dance This Mess Around." Christina Marrs lights up the torches in such down-and-dirty blues numbers as "Got My Mojo Workin'" and "Sugar in My Bowl," but it's Wammo who is the album's standout in his wonderful original, "Hick Hop," best described as a rumble between the posses of Toby Keith and Snoop Dogg. Sadly, "Mercurial" probably marks the last appearances of Stanley Smith and Korey Simeone as regular Spankers--Smith quit the band because of ill health, Simeone to pursue an acting career--but the new touring group of Spankers is as tight an ensemble as ever, and bodes well for the band's survival as a living monument to the Pleasure Principle. ~Miles D Moore

Mercurial

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Blue Mitchell - Plays For Lovers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:43
Size: 139.0 MB
Styles: Post bop, Trumpet jazz
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[3:21] 1. The Nearness Of You
[5:39] 2. When I Fall In Love
[5:24] 3. Why Do I Love You
[5:46] 4. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
[3:35] 5. But Beautiful
[3:45] 6. I Can't Get Started
[5:01] 7. There Will Never Be Another You
[6:40] 8. How Deep Is The Ocean
[3:35] 9. I'm A Fool To Want You
[4:59] 10. Turquoise
[5:39] 11. Missing You
[3:20] 12. For All We Know
[3:54] 13. Peace

In the '60s, Prestige launched its Plays for Lovers series with LPs by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and others. The concept was jazz as romantic mood music -- collections of previously released material that are dominated by ballads and emphasize a player's more lyrical side. Fantasy has long since acquired the Prestige catalog, and in the 2000s, it helped keep the Plays for Lovers concept alive -- not only with Prestige recordings, but also with recordings from the Fantasy-owned catalogs of Riverside, Contemporary, and other labels. The Blue Mitchell Plays for Lovers collection, in fact, doesn't contain a single Prestige recording; all of the material originally came out on Riverside. In 2003, the late Mitchell was an obvious choice for a Plays for Lovers release because the Clifford Brown-influenced trumpeter was, quite simply, a superb ballad player. He had no problem swinging aggressively at a fast tempo, but he was equally skillful when it came to ballads -- a fact that is obvious on Blue Mitchell Plays for Lovers, which spans 1958-1962 and finds him playing quite soulfully on "I Can't Get Started," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and other famous Tin Pan Alley standards. Not everything on the 61-minute CD is a ballad; Cedar Walton's "Turquoise" is a moody, dusky post-bop offering that is played at a medium tempo. The tune's appealing melody bears a slight resemblance to the standard "You Don't Know What Love Is," and even though "Turquoise" is faster than any of the other selections, it doesn't really disrupt the overall mood and ambiance -- it's a momentary diversion but not an outright disruption. Besides, the Plays for Lovers series was meant to be ballad-heavy but not ballad-exclusive; being dominated by ballads isn't the same as excluding medium-tempo material altogether. And when all is said and done, Blue Mitchell Plays for Lovers lives up its title. ~Alex Henderson

Plays For Lovers

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Chris Flory With Duke Robillard And Friends - Blues In My Heart

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:12
Size: 108,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:46)  1. Scam
(7:20)  2. Willow Weep For Me
(4:49)  3. Bernie's Tune
(5:01)  4. I've Got A Right To Sing The Blues
(3:34)  5. Shine
(4:51)  6. Blue Bossa
(5:09)  7. Please Send Me Someone To Love
(4:27)  8. If Dreams Come True
(5:10)  9. Blues In My Heart

Celebrated jazz guitarist Chris Flory (formerly of the Scott Hamilton Quartet and longtime associate of pianist Judy Carmichael) is joined for his fifth album as a leader by members of the New England jump blues aristocracy: guitarist Duke Robillard (who produced the album and sings on its closing track), Roomful of Blues vocalist Sugar Ray Norcia, bassist Marty Ballou, and drummer Chuck Riggs. Flory's former boss, Scott Hamilton, sits in on two track as well. The result is a program of small-ensemble swing that comes across as genuinely joyful, but maybe just a bit too gentle. Flory's tone is warm and soft, and Robillard seems to be holding back just a bit in response. 

The rhythm section keeps things moving along nicely but doesn't drive the proceedings as hard as they perhaps should have. But that's not to say that the album isn't thoroughly lovely and genuinely enjoyable the group's rendition of "Shine" offers a perfect balance between light virtuosity and inexorable swing, Flory's graceful, tripping solos on "Bernie's Tune" are especially impressive, and Norcia's vocal appearances are all highlights on the program. It's just that if the players had let loose a bit more, this album could have been a real blast. As it is, it's just thoroughly lovely and genuinely enjoyable. ~ Rick Anderson  http://www.allmusic.com/album/blues-in-my-heart-mw0000598465

Personnel: Chris Flory (guitar);  Duke Robillard (vocals, guitar);  Sugar Ray Norcia (vocals);  Scott Hamilton (saxophone);  Chuck Riggs (drums);  Marty Ballou (bass).

Blues In My Heart

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Stan Kenton - Cuban Fire!

Styles: Piano Jazz, Latin Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:06
Size: 125,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:02)  1. Fuego Cubano (Cuban Fire)
(5:53)  2. El Congo Valiente (Valiant Congo)
(5:01)  3. Recuerdos (Reminiscences)
(4:49)  4. Quien Sabe (Who Knows)
(5:09)  5. La Quera Baila (The Fair One Dances)
(4:20)  6. La Suerte De Los Tontos (Fortune Of Fools)
(2:59)  7. Tres Corazones (Three Hearts)
(3:51)  8. Malibu Moonlight
(4:34)  9. El Panzon
(5:22) 10. Carnival
(3:05) 11. Wagon
(2:56) 12. Early Hours (Lady Luck)

This CD contains one of the classic Stan Kenton albums, a six-part suite composed and arranged by Johnny Richards. The Kenton orchestra was expanded to 27 pieces for these dates including six percussionists, two French horns and six trumpets. With such soloists as tenor-great Lucky Thompson (on "Fuego Cubano,") trombonist Carl Fontana, altoist Lennie Niehaus, Bill Perkins on tenor and trumpeters Sam Noto and Vinnie Tanno, and plenty of raging ensembles, this is one of Stan Kenton's more memorable concept albums of the 1950s. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/cuban-fire!-mw0000264239

Personnel : Stan Kenton (piano);  Lennie Neihaus, Gene Baltazar (alto saxophone);  Bill Perkins, Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone);  Billy Root, Marvin Holliday (baritone saxophone);  Ed Leddy, Sam Noto, Lee Katzman, Phil Gilbert, Al Mattaliano (trumpets); Vinnie Tano (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bob Fitzpatrick, Carl Fontana, Kent Larsen (trombone); Irving Rosenthal, Julius Watikins (French horn); Jay McAllister (tuba); Gene Roland (mellophonium); Ralph Blaze (guitar); Curtis Counce, Pete Chivily (bass); Art Anton, Mel Lewis (drums); Tommy Lopez, George Acevedo (congas); George Laguna (timbales); Roger Mozian (claves); Mario Alvarez (maracas).

Cuban Fire!

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