Eldar Djangirov - Three Stories

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:51
Size: 174,1 MB
Art: Front

( 5:11)  1. I Should Care
( 3:56)  2. Prelude In C# Major
( 5:49)  3. Darn That Dream
( 5:00)  4. Windows
( 5:49)  5. Etude Op. 2 No. 1
( 4:53)  6. In Walked Bud
( 5:43)  7. Three Stories
( 4:17)  8. So Damn Lucky
( 4:33)  9. Embraceable You
( 3:33) 10. Russian Lullaby
( 2:58) 11. Air on a G String
( 5:45) 12. Impromptu
(14:59) 13. Rhapsody in Blue
( 3:19) 14. Donna Lee

Since emerging on the worldwide jazz scene in 2004, pianist Eldar Djangirov has been touted for the classical skill he brings to standard jazz and original material alike. With Three Stories, Eldar attacks the classical repertoire itself, mixing a pair of Bach pieces, and one from Alexander Scriabin, with standards by the likes of Sammy Cahn, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and George Gershwin, plus a few originals. The three stories classical, standards (or popular music he also covers a Dave Matthews tune) and originals are told with a consistent voice that serves to twine and intermix the narratives not unlike Claude Simon's fiction. By the time the penultimate "Rhapsody in Blue" rolls around, the inventive mix in Gershwin's jazz concerto can be heard anew. The album is Eldar's first solo piano recording and first, incidentally, to feature his full name on the cover (whether this signals an attempt to move away from the one-name moniker he has favored heretofore is unclear). He opens, appropriately enough, with a full minute's worth of classical flourishes, before advancing the melody of "I Should Care" in any sustained manner. 

But even then, the linear course is brief. The tune having been established, Eldar is off to the races, but it's a neck-and-neck gallop between classical and ragtime motifs. And a brief pause is all that separates this standard of popular music and Bach's "Prelude in C# Major" the exuberant runs that course Bach's piece stemming, seemingly, from Cahn's to bore into the German heart and emerge not much later as the dust from Tchaikovsky's "Sugar Plum Fairy" sprinkling over Van Heusen's "Darn That Dream." The high-end, raspy plunkings that form the sleepy melody of "Dream" constitute, perhaps, the album's most inspired crossing of musical tracks.

Other highlights include a take on Monk's classic celebratory piece, "In Walked Bud," here rendered with a deep undercurrent of pain, an abiding melancholy (if yet shy of all-out misery), stabbing dully but consistently at the daily effort of coming and going of sitting, of waiting, of walking in even as the motion surges inevitably ahead. Gershwin's "Embraceable You" is achingly beautiful, romantic and maybe too sweetly sentimental for some the crush of heavily scented roses but the piece never lacks for intelligence. And when Eldar reaches the "Rhapsody" apex, the entire weave of musical stories comes to seem an undressing of Gershwin's mind, his brain rattling the "musical kaleidoscope of America" on a train ride to Boston. Tchaikovsky and Scriabin are dead. Stravinsky's in flower. And the tracks race into America for all the wild vagabonds to jump onboard. Eldar stitches his one-man concerto with improvised "orchestral" fills, allowing the glimpse of a time, not far off, when the soloist will rage over the stateliness of symphonies  ragtime-infused or not. It hardly seems an accident that the pianist closes his album with a Charlie Parker tune. ~ Matt Marshall  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/three-stories-eldar-djangirov-sony-masterworks-review-by-matt-marshall.php
 

Personnel: Eldar Djangirov, piano.

Three Stories

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Jackie Ryan - Speak Low

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:49
Size: 144,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:08)  1. Doozy
(5:14)  2. Speak Low
(6:33)  3. Caminhos Cruzados
(4:49)  4. Do Something
(4:52)  5. Opportunity Please Knock
(8:34)  6. I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do
(5:25)  7. Brigas Nunca Mais/A Felicidade
(3:25)  8. Tell Me More and More and Then Some
(5:12)  9. Dat Dere
(5:08) 10. With the Wind and the Rain In Your Hair
(4:56) 11. My How the Time Goes By
(4:26) 12. Solamente una Vez

"One of the outstanding jazz vocalists of her generation and, quite possibly, of all time...rivaling the dexterous sass of Sarah Vaughan, the instinctive smarts of Carmen McRae and the scintillating verve of Diana Krall." ~ Christopher Loudon, Jazz Times

Jackie teamed with Grammy Award winner John Clayton to deliver her latest chart-topping CD "Listen Here" - a tour de force through a myriad of jazz idioms from blues and gospel flavored jazz gems, to luscious love songs, a soaring Spanish ballad, a Gershwin classic, pulsating samba rhythms, an original with lyrics penned by Grammy/Oscar/Emmy Award winners all culminating with the title track: a stunning duet with 3-time Grammy nominee Gerald Clayton. "Those who hear her are the fortunate ones," writes Howard Mandel - president, Jazz Journalists Association; "An astonishing contralto voice," (Downbeat), thrilling audiences across the globe with her powerful 3 & 1/2 octave range and her magnetic stage presence - and amassing, along the way, an impressive array of records (three back-to-back #1 CDs on JazzWeek's nationwide chart) and glowing reviews. Her last outing - a double CD, "Doozy" - featured Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Alexander, Jeremy Pelt, Carl Allen, Ray Drummond and Romero Lubambo, garnered universal praise (4-Stars from both Downbeat and AMG), and held the #1 position nationwide on JazzWeek's industry-standard chart for a record-breaking 7 solid weeks. Her previous CD, "You and The Night and The Music" featuring Red Holloway, Tamir Hendelman, and Jeff Hamilton among others, also received 4 stars from AMG and Downbeat. In addition to these jazz greats , Ms. Ryan has recorded and/or performed with: Toots Thielemans, Clark Terry, Buddy DeFranco, Ernie Watts, Harry Allen, Scott Hamilton, John Clayton, Gerald Clayton, Amina Figarova, Mike Wofford, Jon Mayer, Larry Vuckovich, Barry Harris, Bill Cunliffe, Shelly Berg, Benny Green, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs, Emil Richards, and Jon Hendricks

Grammy- Award winning John Clayton - who produced and arranged her latest chart-topping CD for Jackie "Listen Here" (#1 on Jazzweeks nationwide radio chart for 4 weeks!) - has a gift for arranging for singers (Diana Krall, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Whitney Houston, among others), and this pairing was a match made in musical heaven. "I first paid attention to Jackie when I heard her stunning recordings with The Jeff Hamilton Trio," John says. "Her version of 'Besame Mucho' stopped me in my tracks." For these special recordings, John called on members of both the Grammy - nominated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, and the Clayton Brothers Quintet (nominated for two Grammy Awards)  the extraordinary pianist Gerald Clayton, fiery percussionist Obed Calvaire, soulful saxmaster Rickey Woodard, trumpet virtuoso Gilbert Castellanos, and gifted guitarist Graham Dechter. John also lent his prodigious talents to this CD, weaving a sensitive bow - as on "A Time For Love," that literally melts into Ms. Ryan's sultry voice. Ms. Ryan's rousing rendition of "The Gypsy In My Soul" perfectly reflects the gypsy in her soul - the far-reaching range of musical territory she traverses in her concerts and her lifelong love of jazz in all its manifold permutations. This ability to explore genres both culturally outside of jazz's mainstream, as well as those conventional touchstones within its borders, is the mark of a true jazz mind. Not content to merely rehash the safety of well-worn standards, Jackie will often overlook the ordinary, and seek out and delve into the extraordinary, the a-typical, the exotic. Ms. Ryan has been profiled as the featured artist for NPR, Voice of America, Primetime A&E and CNN TV en Español and has filled premier venues both here and abroad - Asia, Australia, and Europe (such as eight years at London's famed Ronnie Scott's Club) - and festivals at home such as Telluride, Monterey, and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and packed concerts at New York's Birdland, Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Florida's Broward Center, and the San Francisco Bay Area's Yoshi's. But it is not by accident that her cross-cultural appeal "bridges the gap between both geography and generations," as Billboard so aptly put it. Part Irish, part Mexican, she was born into it - and grew up listening to a unique blend of voices around her family's small home. Her father was of Irish descent, born in San Francisco's Butchertown, working night shifts and educating himself in Greek and Latin and singing classical pieces around the house in his trained baritone.

Her mother (who sang operettas at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara) was Mexican and crooned Spanish folk songs to her as a child. "I remember those romantic album covers she had with the Spanish ladies in brilliant colors; and the melodies I heard, the songs I heard, just filled me up. So that's what I kept inside of me." Tragically, Jackie lost her mother at the age of 15 and, in memory, always includes a Spanish song in each of her CDs - in this case, the passionate "La Puerta."  Ms. Ryan's natural affinity for languages extends deeply into the language of jazz and its intricate structures. She possesses a keen ear for jazz phrasing and its internal rhymes - and, as a lyricist, has composed note-for-note vocalese to the scorching sax solos of Benny Carter's "DOOZY" and Joe Henderson's "The Kicker." Her love of a great lyric is reflected in her choices for this concert and her CD - a collection celebrating some of her favorite lyricists - from lesser-recorded jazz gems such as Carolyn Leigh's wry lyrics in "How Little We Know," to Abbey Lincoln's joyous ode to love and life in "Throw It away." "Dear wonderful Abbey Lincoln was a true original, one of my heroines," Jackie says. "I've been a fan of her ever since I saw her as an actress in 'Nothing But A Man.' She had a freedom of expression - a voice for social activism she shared with her husband, Max Roach - their 'We Insist/Freedom Jazz Suite' was a masterpiece." In her CDs, like in her concerts, Jackie offers us a bounty of lyrical choices. So give a "Listen Here," and you will be joining Jackie and these superb musicians on an adventurous journey across a most inviting, expansive terrain - and maybe put a little gypsy in your soul!  http://www.jackieryanmusic.com/bio.html

Personnel:  Jackie Ryan (vocal);  Cyrus Chestnut (piano);  Eric Alexander (tenor sax);  Jeremy Pelt (flugelhorn,trumpet);  Romero Lubambo (guitar);  Carl Allen (drums);  Ray Drummond (bass);  Neal Smith (drums);  Dezron Douglas (bass)

Speak Low

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Bobby Durham, Massimo Farao, Lorenzo Conte - Fascinating

Styles: Jazz, Mainstream Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:22
Size: 180,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:24)  1. Aranjuez Mon Amour (J.Rodrigo)
(4:43)  2. Recuerdos de Alhambra (F.Tarrega)
(3:13)  3. Romance (Jeux inter dits) (Trad.)
(6:26)  4. Adriana
(4:11)  5. Toccata (G.Rolland)
(5:25)  6. This masquerade (L.Russel)
(2:42)  7. Scarborought Fair (P.Simon-Garfunkel)
(6:04)  8. Badahmbe
(4:46)  9. Estrellita (P.Ponce)
(5:27) 10. Gelsomina (M.Galdieri-N.Rota)
(6:34) 11. Brutus Is Gone
(4:26) 12. Never on Sunday (M.Hadjdakis-B.Towne)
(4:21) 13. The Third Man Theme (A.Karas)
(5:34) 14. My funny Valentine (R.Rodgers)
(2:51) 15. Washington square (B.Goldtsein)
(5:07) 16. The Duck

Bobby Durham (February 3, 1937 – July 6, 2008) was an American jazz drummer. Durham was born in Philadelphia and learned to play drums while a child. He played with The Orioles at age 16, and was in a military band between 1956 and 1959. After his discharge he played with King James and Stan Hunter. In 1960 he moved to New York City, where he played with Lloyd Price, Wild Bill Davis, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Slide Hampton, Grant Green, Sweets Edison, Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, in which he played for five years. While working with Basie he met Al Grey, and was a member of several of Grey's small ensembles. 

He accompanied Ella Fitzgerald for more than a decade, and worked with Oscar Peterson in a trio setting. Durham also played in trios with organists such as Charles Earland and Shirley Scott, and there was a resurgence in interest in Durham's work during the acid jazz upswing in the 1990s. Many of Durham's projects, both as sideman and as leader, have come due to his association with producer Norman Granz, who had him work with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Harry Edison, Flanagan, and Joe Pass. Durham has led his own combos as well; he is noted for scat singing along with his drum solos. Durham has also performed often with pop and soul musicians such as Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Marvin Gaye. He died in Genoa, Italy, aged 71. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Durham_%28jazz_musician%29

Fascinating

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Pharoah Sanders - Elevation

Styles: Post-Bop, Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1973
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:22
Size: 108,6 MB
Art: Front

(18:01)  1. Elevation
( 4:10)  2. Gretting To Sauid
( 5:38)  3. Ora-Se-Rere
(13:51)  4. The Gathering
( 5:41)  5. Spiritual Blessing

Elevation, Pharoah Sanders' final album for Impulse!, is a mixed bag. Four of the five cuts were recorded live at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles in September of 1973, and the lone studio track, "Greeting to Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner)," was recorded in the same month at Wally Heider's studio. The live date is fairly cohesive, with beautiful modal piano work from Joe Bonner, Pharoah playing tenor and soprano as well as a myriad of percussion instruments and vocalizing in places, and a percussion and rhythm section that included Michael Carvin on drums, bassist Calvin Hill, and hand drummers John Blue and Lawrence Killian. The standout on the set is the opener. At 18 minutes, it's the longest thing here and gives the band a chance to stretch into African and Latin terrains. Sanders' long, loping, suspended lines create a kind of melodic head that is underscored by Bonner's hypnotically repetitive piano work, playing the same chord progression over and over again as he begins his solos (one on each horn). Somewhere near the five-minute mark, Pharoah enters into a primal wail and the whole thing becomes unhinged, moving into a deep blowing session of free improv. 

Honks, squeals, wails, and Bonner pounding the hell out of the piano erase any trace of what came before, and this goes on for four minutes before the theme restates itself and once more the magic begins. It's utterly compelling and engaging. "Saud" finds a host of percussionists (including Sanders) along with Hill on tamboura, Bonner, and violinist Michael White. It's a subtle and droning work, full of a constant hum. The other long track, "The Gathering," clocks in at almost 14 minutes, but instead of being a somber nocturnal work it's a lively South African-inspired work that nods to Dollar Brand for inspiration. A gorgeous, nearly carnival piece, it rolls and chugs and runs along on the steam created by Bonner's beautiful chord work. 

The chorus of vocals chanting in the foreground and background adds to the party feel, but once again it choogles right off the track into some rather angry and then spooky free improv, with a fine solo by Hill. This may not rate as highly as some of Sanders' other recordings for the label like Thembi or Karma, but there is plenty here for fans, and it is well worth the investigation and the purchase. ~ Thom Jurek  http://www.allmusic.com/album/elevation-mw0000172047

Personnel: John Blue: percussion; Joe Bonner: percussion, piano, harmonium, vocals, cowbell, wood flute; Sedatrius Brown: vocals; Michael Carvin: drums, vocals; Calvin Hill: bass, vocals, tamboura; Jimmy Hopps: percussion; Lawrence Killian: percussion, Conga, Vocals, bell tree; Kenneth Nash: percussion; Pharoah Sanders: flute, Percussion, soprano sax; tenor sax; vocals, bells, shaker; Michael White: violin.

Elevation

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