Tommy Newsom & His Octo-Pussycats - S/T

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:13
Size: 128.7 MB
Styles: Mainstream jazz, Saxophone jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[4:16] 1. Titter Pipes
[5:28] 2. Detour Ahead
[8:04] 3. Cinnamon And Clove
[6:55] 4. In A Mellow Tone
[7:11] 5. Speak Low
[8:02] 6. Come Sunday
[5:26] 7. Poor Little Rich Girl
[5:52] 8. Maids Of Cadiz
[4:55] 9. Upper Manhattan Medical Group

If you're over 35-years-old, chances are good that you remember Tommy Newsom (if at all) as the tenor saxophonist for the NBC Orchestra during the Johnny Carson years, and as that ensemble's stand-in conductor when Doc Severinsen wasn't around. The running joke on the show was that Newsom was so square -- he'd stand there quietly, hands clasped behind his back, a little smile on his face, while Johnny and Ed poked fun at him for his implacable Midwestern reserve. Those who bought that pose may be surprised by the fiery swing, fierce energy and uncompromising chops that Newsom brings to his recorded work -- there's nothing reticent or modest about his beautifully dancing composition "Titter Pipes" or his sturdily swinging arrangement of the Noël Coward tune "Poor Little Rich Girl." In fact, his arrangements are about as impressive as his playing and that of the rest of his octet -- though the best track of all is probably that wonderful "Titter Pipes," the sole original on what is otherwise a program of standards. The album's only less-than-stellar moment comes at the weak and out-of-tune flute solo on "Cinnamon and Clove." Highly recommended overall. ~Rick Anderson

Tommy Newsom & His Octo-Pussycats

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Erroll Garner, Billy Taylor - Separate Keyboards

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 33:44

Size: 77.2 MB

Styles: Piano jazz

Year: 1955/2009

Art: Front

[2:56] 1. A Cottage For Sale

[3:02] 2. Rosalie

[3:02] 3. Everything Happens To Me

[2:48] 4. Stairway To The Stars

[3:01] 5. September Song

[2:56] 6. All The Things You Are

[2:36] 7. Mad Work

[2:32] 8. Solace

[2:40] 9. Night And Day

[2:43] 10. Alexander's Ragtime Band

[2:39] 11. The Bug

[2:43] 12. Take The 'A' Train

For this CD (put out by the Japanese Denon label), there are six selections apiece from pianists Erroll Garner and Billy Taylor. The Garner titles (which are also available elsewhere) are rhapsodic ballads that are both melodic and whimsical. The Taylor sides include the four songs that he cut at his very first session as a leader (March 20, 1945) plus two cuts made with a quintet (comprised of tenor saxophonist Jon Hardee, organist Milt Page, bassist John Simmons and drummer Shadow Wilson) in 1949. Despite the brief playing time (just 36 minutes) and lazy packaging (which includes three major misspellings on the back cover), the music is enjoyable and worth picking up if it can be found at a budget price. ~Scott Yanow

Separate Keyboards  

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Lena Horne - Being Myself

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:09
Size: 87.4 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[3:40] 1. Some Of My Best Friends Are The Blues
[2:25] 2. As Long As I Live
[4:24] 3. Autumn In New York
[3:14] 4. It's All Right With Me
[3:35] 5. A Sleepin' Bee
[5:47] 6. Imagination
[4:40] 7. How Long Has This Been Going On
[3:12] 8. After You
[3:51] 9. Willow Weep For Me
[3:16] 10. What Am I Here For

At 81, Lena Horne's voice has retained its wonderful clarity and abundant expression. She seems to sound better in every outing, and these 10 tracks underscore that conviction. Her distinctive style is most evident on the ballads, "As Long as I Live," "Autumn in New York," "Imagination," "Willow Weep for Me" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?"

Horne's blues bag is enhanced by tenor saxophonist Houston Person and organist Bobby Forrester on "Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues" and guitarist George Benson on "It's All Right With Me." Also on the album are vibraphonist Milt Jackson, saxophonist Donald Harrison, pianist Mike Renzi, bassist Benjamin Brown, drummer Akira Tana, and her longtime producer, Rodney Jones, on guitar. A thoroughly enjoyable half-hour-plus. ~Patricia Myers

Being Myself

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Richie Havens - Sings Beatles And Dylan

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:04
Size: 167.3 MB
Styles: Folk rock
Year: 1986/2003
Art: Front

[2:44] 1. Here Comes The Sun
[2:47] 2. If Not For You
[4:30] 3. Lay Lady Lay
[5:14] 4. In My Life
[3:52] 5. Strawberry Fields Forever
[3:22] 6. All Along The Watchtower
[5:11] 7. Imagine
[3:01] 8. My Sweet Lord
[4:28] 9. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
[3:10] 10. Eleanor Rigby
[5:16] 11. Just Like A Woman
[3:29] 12. The Long And Winding Road
[4:32] 13. Let It Be
[4:49] 14. License To Kill
[4:54] 15. The Times They Are A-Changin'
[5:02] 16. Working Class Hero
[4:13] 17. Rocky Raccoon
[2:21] 18. With A Little Help From My Friends

Richie Havens is probably the only '60s icon who could get away with an album like this without apology. But for the presence of the electric keyboards, synth bass, and '80s-style drums, these performances by Havens could easily have appeared 18 years earlier. His performances of "Here Comes the Sun," "If Not for You," "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Lay Lady Lay" all display a satisfying intimacy, and "Rocky Raccoon" is just plain fun, but his cover of "The Long and Winding Road" is probably the best version of this song ever done, with "Let It Be" not far behind. Overall, they're more sophisticated than some of Havens' earlier work, a mix of soul and folk traditions with an overlay of rock, that any longtime fan will appreciate. ~Bruce Eder

Sings Beatles And Dylan

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Don Friedman - Jazz Dancing

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:17
Size: 83.1 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[3:44] 1. Donna Lee
[4:41] 2. Just Friends
[3:45] 3. Billie's Bounce
[5:11] 4. Well You Nedn't
[5:25] 5. Jazz Dancing
[4:43] 6. Woody N' You
[3:59] 7. Yardbird Suite
[4:45] 8. Half Nelson

There have been moments in every concert and club date of Don Friedman’s I’ve attended when I found it hard to credit my ears. It’s not just the technical virtuosity. That’s to be expected of performers at his level. Rather, it’s a combination of emotional depth and harmonic complexity that come together with all those notes. For me, they result in the kind of beauty that takes my breath away. Most pianists we hear perform on this afternoon’s Steinway offer us programs of meticulously composed, arduously rehearsed and beautifully played works. The difference today is that Don will be making up all the important stuff as he goes.

The music we call jazz has come a long way since Civil War surplus band instruments began to turn up in the street markets of New Orleans. From marching bands to dance hall frolics; from blues improvisations based on an elemental twelve-bar pattern to more sophisticated versions of popular songs; from jitterbug dance bands to night club acts; from self-taught sufficiency to conservatory trained prodigies, jazz has evolved from what the critic Clement Greenberg once called classical folk art to what musicians throughout the world today endorse as one of the highest fine arts.

Among the greatest challenges to purveyors of this art form is solo performance; that is, without supporting players. Because of the unique melodic, percussive and harmonic potential of their instrument, by far the largest number of solo performers in jazz are pianists. The solo pianist must perform the percussive function of a drummer and the harmonic function of a bass player while at the same time focusing on a melodic line. But solo piano performance has developed at the same pace as jazz itself, from ragtime to stride, from stride to swing, from swing to bebop, from bebop to free form. And with each stylistic transformation, new harmonic possibilities revealed themselves. You will hear echoes of all these styles in Don’s music since they are all incorporated, if only unconsciously. His playing can be voluptuously romantic. But whatever its content, its emotions are palpable.

One of Don’s greatest strengths is his mastery of jazz harmonics. It isn’t necessary to know the technical details. Just feel the waves of exquisite, always understandable sound propelling a piece forward as he develops the inexhaustible harmonic potential of one of his originals – or of a standard, a song we will all recognize when he finally presents it to us, simply and discreetly, as his gift. ~Warren Obluck

Jazz Dancing

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Eddie Thompson Trio With Roy Williams - When Lights Are Low

Styles: Piano And Trombone Jazz
Year: 1980
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:42
Size: 125,7 MB
Art: Front

(7:04)  1. The Lamp Is Low
(5:39)  2. Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
(3:36)  3. Never Say Yes
(7:18)  4. When Lights Are Low
(5:44)  5. Don't Stop The Carnival
(5:50)  6. I've Got The World On A String
(6:33)  7. Mister Bojangles
(4:03)  8. Fred
(8:52)  9. It Never Entered My Mind

Born Edgar Charles Thompson, 31 May 1925, London, England, d. 6 November 1986, London, England. Born blind, Thompson learned to play piano as a child. In the late 40s he was active in London clubs, playing with Carlo Krahmer, Vic Feldman and others. In the 50s he played on radio, in studio bands, made records under his own name and with Tony Crombie, Tommy Whittle, Freddy Randall and others and by the end of the decade was house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s club. In the early 60s he went to the USA to live, playing regularly at the Hickory House in New York. Back in the UK in the early 70s, he led a trio that toured extensively and frequently backed visiting American jazzmen, including Buddy Tate, Ruby Braff and Spike Robinson. A dazzlingly inventive player in his early days, Thompson sometimes delivered bravura performances at the expense of feeling but in his maturity he made many memorable appearances at concerts around the UK. He had an enormous repertoire and when in musical sympathy with a guest he could be the best of accompanists. His solo playing was long overlooked by record companies but Alastair Robertson of Hep Records compensated for this with some excellent sessions in the early 80s. Thompson’s death at the age of 61 came when he was at the height of his powers.https://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/eddie-thompson-trio/id134752047#fullText

Personnel:  Bass – Len Skeat;  Drums – Jim Hall (4);  Piano – Eddie Thompson;  Trombone – Roy Williams (3) (tracks: 2, 9)

When Lights Are Low

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Jane Horrocks - The Further Adventures of Little Voice

Styles: Vocal, Stage & Screen
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:48
Size: 122,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:47)  1. Hello Dolly
(3:04)  2. The Best Is Yet To Come
(5:04)  3. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
(3:50)  4. Dream A Little Dream
(3:45)  5. Just In Time
(3:35)  6. You're Just In Love (with Ewan McGregor)
(5:56)  7. It Was A Very Good Year
(3:14)  8. That Old Black Magic (with Robbie Williams)
(3:45)  9. Crazy
(3:37) 10. Too Close For Comfort
(4:12) 11. Baby Won't You Please Come Home (with Dean Martin)
(1:53) 12. Once I Loved

Jane Horrocks may not be a household name outside of the United Kingdom where she is based, and in some critics' quarters in New York, but she is an extraordinarily gifted actress who made strong men weak at their knees with her performance in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet in 1989. She appeared in the cult TV series Absolutely Fabulous, did radio performances in England and appeared as Sally Bowles in the adaptation of Cabaret. And although she provided the voice of one of the chickens in Chicken Run, it is her performance in Mark Herman's small film Little Voice that took full advantage of her outsized talent and uncanny ability to channel the personas of the great singers of the 1950s and 1960s with herself as the medium. In the film's denouement, Horrocks as LV imitated the voices of Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Shirley Bassey in one impassioned plea to her mother's boyfriend (played by Michael Caine). Summoning the ghosts of these formidable women, she displayed a rich palette of emotional colors from the gentle coos of Marilyn to a stentorian Bassey and segue without effort as Judy Garland echoing her famous line in her Carnegie Hall audience. That single scene may be unforgettable for most viewers, but it is her proven singing abilities in the film that will surely bring her closer to many people where her luminous talent can best be seen.

After the film's album made its way into people's living rooms, Horrocks came out with a solo album entitled The Further Adventures of Little Voice a release that endeavoured to showcase her vocal talents in various musical settings. She will sing by channeling the vocal inflections of Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday and Shirley Bassey in songs these singers were not known to have recorded. The album's photos showed Horrocks do a Marilyn pout, a Julie London pose, and show an authentic Garland mannerism. The songs ranged from jazz staples like "The Best Is Yet To Come" to Ervin Drake's "It Was A Very Good Year." The musical accompaniment was topnotch as it recruited the very best New York session players who were known to have provided musical accompaniment to some of the great ladies of jazz. Horrocks showed her range in the first song ("Hello Dolly") that brought together the five voices of the musical icons she was paying homage to. It started with the reedy voice of Billie: "Hell-loww Judy"; and was answered by the crystalline grandness of Garland: "Well, hello Billie. It is nice to have you back where you belong." This sequence was followed by the swoops of Bassey and the croons of Marilyn and the unmistakable baritone of Dietrich. When the crescendo of the big-band instrumentation reached fever pitch, Horrocks quoted the famous lines of Garland and Marilyn in their movies interspersed with the other ladies' distinctive vocal mannerisms (of particular interest was Bassey's jive-like song-speech). Horrocks ended the cacophonous din with LV's famous "Shut up!" that conjured schizophrenic patients hearing other voices in their heads. It was as brilliant as the actual performances of the women she is channeling. Perhaps even more so when one realizes that Horrocks provided all the vocal pyrotechnics.

She recorded three duets with three musically disparate singers/actors: Ewan McGregor, Robbie Williams and Dean Martin. Ewan McGregor did a creditable "You're Just in Love" from Annie Get Your Gun while Horrocks was singing in her Bassey persona. Rock singer Robbie Williams sounded anachronistic at first and a tad out of place, but later on dissolved with Horrocks in the musical interplay. Dean Martin's honeyed croon proved that you can't go wrong with a singing veteran whose familiarity with the songs is evident in the subtler change in vocal dynamics. But Horrocks is the obvious gem and star of this recording. She seamlessly enters the skin of Marilyn and sing songs not usually associated with the former Norma Jean Baker. The listener will wonder how much of Marilyn's vocal particularities Horrocks mastered. She can sustain a ballad channeling Dietrich's husky contralto ranges and effortlessly slide to Lady Day's raspy understatements. Horrocks made the transition so skillful and discreet one feels that you are listening to the great singers themselves, which can sometimes be a problem. Horrocks' dexterous imitation makes you remember the singers more than the artist whose inch-perfect delivery will make one forget it is her record. But the delight is reimagining how your favorite songs would sound in your favorite singers' known vocal qualities.

An exciting parallel: singer Madeleine Peyroux in her 1996 album, sounded exactly like Billie Holiday. It was reported that in a Carnegie Hall concert, she shocked the audience by her consistent Lady Day vocals that when the concert was over, the audience was convinced it was no longer impersonation but actually hearing how Billie sang songs like "La Vie En Rose." Sadly, Peyroux is no longer waxing records despite her innate musicianship and keen understanding of songs. Perhaps, people would rather listen to Billie than her modern incarnation. Peyroux may no longer be active in recording, but it is refreshing to know that Horrocks is still with us and will hopefully make more records in the future. As always, the pleasure is hearing and discovering how songs (even modern ones) sound in the immortal vocal affectations of the immortal singers the previous century ever produced with Horrocks as the medium. A musical performance of a Horrocks, just like a Peyroux always showcases the cerebral approach to making music by summoning the radiance of timeless voices but in songs they may never even dream of including in their repertoire. Horrocks is the magic link that can make this impossible possible.~Joseph Palis http://www.erasingclouds.com/14lv.html

The Further Adventures of Little Voice

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Clark Terry - Portraits

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:36
Size: 129,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:03)  1. Pennies From Heaven
(4:37)  2. Sugar Blues
(4:43)  3. Autumn Leaves
(3:52)  4. Finger Filibuster
(5:47)  5. Little Jazz
(5:13)  6. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
(8:13)  7. Jive at Five
(3:50)  8. Ciribiribin
(3:34)  9. Ow
(4:31) 10. I Can't Get Started
(6:08) 11. I Don't Wanna Be Kissed

Flugelhornist Clark Terry recorded quite frequently in the 1980s, and his consistency was very impressive. Terry's good humor, joyful and immediately distinctive sound, and creative, bop-oriented ideas combined to form a very accessible style. This Chesky CD finds C.T. joined by pianist Don Friedman, bassist Victor Gaskin and drummer Lewis Nash for a variety of superior standards and Terry's lone original "Finger Filibuster." The songs all pay tribute to various trumpeters, and some, such as "Pennies from Heaven," "Little Jazz" and "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed," were not performed by the flugelhornist all that often; the resulting music is fresher than usual and often quite inspired. Recommended.~Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/portraits-mw0000203781

Personnel: Clark Terry (trumpet, flugelhorn), Don Friedman (piano), Victor Gaskin (bass), Lewis Nash (drums).

Portraits

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Horace Parlan - Speakin' My Piece

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1960
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:02
Size: 125,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:08)  1. Wadin'
(6:20)  2. Up In Cynthia's Room
(6:13)  3. Borderline
(6:54)  4. Rastus
(7:41)  5. Oh So Blue
(6:11)  6. Speakin' My Piece
(6:50)  7. Rastus (Alternate Take)
(7:41)  8. Oh So Blue (Alternate Take)

Horace Parlan had a gift for relaxed, swinging hard bop which placed his piano in a central, yet unassuming role. Speakin' My Piece is one of the first albums to find Parlan getting all the ingridients right, from his own subtle playing to soliciting fine contributions of his backing band. Stanley Turrentine, in fact, turns out to be an excellent complement to Parlan, playing in a similarly tasteful style. Five of the six numbers are band originals, and each number is quite similar bluesy, gently swinging hard bop. No one pushes too hard on Speakin' My Piece, preferring to create an intimate atmosphere with milder numbers and performances. Such an approach gives each muscian Parlan, Turrentine, bassist George Tucker, drummer Al Harewood a chance to shine with lyrical, melodic solos and/or sympathetic support, resulting in a charmingly low-key session.~Stephen Thomas Erlewine http://www.allmusic.com/album/speakin-my-piece-mw0000536889

Personnel:  Horace Parlan – piano;  Tommy Turrentine – trumpet;  Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone;  George Tucker – bass;  Al Harewood - drums

Speakin' My Piece

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