Monday, April 11, 2016

Peggy Lee - Let's Do It

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:46
Size: 135,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:51)  1. Elmer's Tune
(3:08)  2. My Old Flame
(3:20)  3. How Deep Is The Ocean?
(3:10)  4. That's The Way It Goes
(3:00)  5. I Threw A Kiss In The Ocean
(3:16)  6. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
(2:46)  7. Shady Lady Bird
(2:02)  8. Let's Do It
(3:09)  9. Somebody Else It Taking My Place
(3:17) 10. We'll Meet Again
(2:10) 11. Full Moon
(3:22) 12. All I Need Is You
(3:13) 13. Why Don't You Do Right?
(3:22) 14. Not A Care In The World
(3:16) 15. How Long Has It Been Going On?
(2:30) 16. That Did It Marie
(3:17) 17. Not Mine
(2:17) 18. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)
(2:11) 19. The Lady Is A Tramp
(3:01) 20. Winter Weather

Peggy Lee's alluring tone, distinctive delivery, breadth of material, and ability to write many of her own songs made her one of the most captivating artists of the vocal era, from her breakthrough on the Benny Goodman hit "Why Don't You Do Right" to her many solo successes, singles including "Mañana," "Lover" and "Fever" that showed her bewitching vocal power, a balance between sultry swing and impeccable musicianship. Born Norma Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, she suffered the death of her mother at the age of four and endured a difficult stepmother after her father remarried. Given her sense of swing by listening to Count Basie on the radio, she taught herself to sing and made her radio debut at the age of 14. She made the jump to Fargo (where she was christened Peggy Lee), then to Minneapolis and St. Louis to sing with a regional band. Lee twice journeyed to Hollywood to make her fortune, but returned unsuccessful from both trips. She finally got her big break in 1941, when a vocal group she worked with began appearing at a club in Chicago. While there, she was heard by Benny Goodman, whose regular vocalist Helen Forrest was about to leave his band. Lee recorded with Goodman just a few days later, debuting with the popular "Elmer's Tune" despite a good deal of nerves. That same year, several songs became commercial successes including "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" and "Winter Weather." In 1943, "Why Don't You Do Right" became her first major hit, but she left the Goodman band (and the music industry altogether) later that year after marrying Goodman's guitarist, Dave Barbour. After just over a year of domestic life, Peggy Lee returned to music, first as part of an all-star jazz album. Then, in late 1945, Capitol signed her to a solo contract and she hit the charts with her first shot, "Waitin' for the Train to Come In." Lee continued to score during the late '40s, with over two dozen chart entries before the end of the decade, including "It's a Good Day," "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)" the most popular song of 1948 and "I Don't Know Enough About You." Many of her singles were done in conjunction with Barbour, her frequent writing and recording partner.

After moving to Decca in 1952, Peggy Lee scored with the single "Lover" and an LP, Songs From Pete Kelly's Blues recorded with Ella Fitzgerald (both singers also made appearances in the film). She spent only five years at Decca however, before moving back to Capitol. There, she distinguished herself through recording a wide variety of material, including songs -- and occasionally, entire LPs  influenced by the blues, Latin and cabaret as well as pop. Lee also used many different settings, like an orchestra conducted by none other than Frank Sinatra for 1957's The Man I Love, the George Shearing Quintet for 1959's live appearance Beauty and the Beat, Quincey Jones as arranger and conductor for 1961's If You Go, and arrangements by Benny Carter on 1963's Mink Jazz. Barbour's problems with alcoholism ended their marriage, though they remained good friends until his death in 1965.

Peggy Lee was an early advocate of rock and made a quick transition into rock-oriented material. Given her depth and open mind for great songs no matter the source, it wasn't much of a surprise that she sounded quite comfortable covering the more song-oriented end of late-'60s rock, including great choices by Jimmy Webb, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Burt Bacharach, Randy Newman, Goffin & King and John Sebastian. She nearly brushed the Top Ten in 1969 with Leiber & Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" She continued recording contemporary material until 1972's Norma Deloris Egstrom From Jamestown, North Dakota brought her back to her roots. It was her last LP for Capitol, however. Lee recorded single LPs for Atlantic, A&M, Polydor UK and DRG before effectively retiring at the beginning of the 1980s. She returned in 1988 with two LPs for Music Masters that revisited her earlier successes. Her last album, Moments Like This, was recorded in 1992 for Chesky. Her voice was effectively silenced after a 1998 stroke, and she died of a heart attack at her Bel Air home in early 2002.~John Bush http://www.allmusic.com/artist/peggy-lee-mn0000256349/biography

Let's Do It

Clarence Penn - Dali in Cobble Hill

Styles: Post-Bop, Straight-Ahead Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:06
Size: 152,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:10)  1. The B 61
(5:34)  2. Cobble Hill
(7:49)  3. A Walk on the B-H-P
(6:12)  4. Dali
(7:02)  5. I Hear Music
(6:46)  6. Mr. C
(6:00)  7. Persistence of Memory
(7:01)  8. My Romance
(6:06)  9. Solato's Morning Blues
(6:21) 10. Zoom Zoom

Clarence Penn's 2012 album, Dali in Cobble Hill, is a rhythmically and harmonically varied date conceptualized around the fanciful notion of painter Salvador Dali taking a walk through Penn's Brooklyn neighborhood. Penn evokes the disjointed surrealism of Dali with some original compositions that include several propulsive, high-energy cuts, as well as a few more sparse, atmospheric, and stream-of-consciousness arrangements. Adding to the high level of craft exhibited on Dali in Cobble Hill is Penn's choice of sidemen here: saxophonist Chris Potter, guitarist Adam Rogers, and bassist Ben Street. The rounded tone of Rogers' amplified guitar set against Potter's bright but full-sounding tenor sax helps give the ensemble a unified sound out front, while Penn and Street fill in the layers underneath them. 

To these ends, the band flies through the frenetic Afro-Cuban/drum'n'bass-inflected "The B 6 1 "; floats together through the languid atmosphere of "A Walk on the B-H-P," and spars jauntily over the midtempo swing of "Solato's Morning Blues." Penn is one of the most accomplished and in-demand sideman of his generation, and it’s always a joy to hear him leading his own ensemble. These are adroit, fluid, and virtuosic post-bop tracks that should appeal to fans of the cerebral, adventurous jazz that just skirts the avant-garde while remaining firmly grounded in the straight-ahead jazz tradition.~Matt Collar http://www.allmusic.com/album/dali-in-cobble-hill-mw0002409319

Personnel: Clarence Penn (drums, percussion); Adam Rogers (guitar); Chris Potter (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone).

Dali in Cobble Hill

Sonny Rollins - Tour De Force

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:56
Size: 96,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:56)  1. Ee-Ah
(9:13)  2. B. Quick
(7:41)  3. Two Different Worlds
(5:18)  4. B. Swift
(4:23)  5. My Ideal
(8:22)  6. Sonny Boy

A better purchase than Sonny Boy (OJC 348) which has four of this set's six numbers plus "The House I Live In" from an earlier date. None of the Sonny Rollins' originals (which include "B. Swift," "B. Quick" and "Ee-Ah") on this release caught on. With pianist Kenny Drew, bassist George Morrow and drummer Max Roach completing the quartet, Rollins was in consistently creative form during this prime period but the overall set is not as classic as most of the tenor's other recordings from the 1950s.~Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/tour-de-force-mw0000654776

Personnel: Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone); Earl Coleman (vocals); Kenny Drew (piano); George Morrow (bass); Max Roach (drums).

Tour De Force

David Linx - Rock My boat

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:12
Size: 122,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:01)  1. Rock My Boat
(5:09)  2. I Never Went Away
(3:13)  3. Just Give Me Time
(5:57)  4. Letter To My Son/Aos Nossos Filhos
(4:52)  5. Childhood
(2:06)  6. Foolkiller
(5:22)  7. Northern Star
(4:01)  8. Where Rivers Join
(5:14)  9. A Quiet Place
(5:41) 10. Even Make It Up
(2:48) 11. Yesternow
(3:42) 12. On The Other Side

Belgian vocalist David Linx is to jazz what Rufus Wainwright is to pop, a chameleonic avant-gardist of the first order. Though Linx has been recording since the mid-1980s, a survey of just his 2010 projectsthe richly imaginative tribute Follow Jon Hendricks… If You Can, with Michele Hendricks and the French singer-songwriter André Minvielle; the clever quasi-travelogue Follow the Songlines, with Portuguese vocalist Maria João; and One Heart, Three Voices, a magnificent summit with Dutch vocalist Fay Claassen and pianist Diederik Wissels is enough to illustrate his remarkable dexterity. Throughout Rock My Boat, featuring Rhoda Scott on Hammond B3 and André Ceccarelli on drums, Linx’s adventurous eclecticism continues unabated. At various points, Linx suggests Kurt Elling channeling Jimmy Scott and Allen Ginsberg by way of Smokey Robinson, with shades of Hendricks and George Benson. Half of the dozen tracks are given over to a wide-ranging assortment of covers, extending from the hushed glory of Christian music pioneer Ralph Carmichael’s “A Quiet Place” and a bruised, bilingual exploration of Ivan Lins’ “Aos Nossos Filhos,” to a coolly swinging reading of Mose Allison’s “Foolkiller” and an arresting treatment of Miles Davis’ “Yesternow,” fitted to a Tejan Karefa poem, that suggests a lost, smoke-filled night at San Francisco’s City Lights bookstore. 

The six originals are equally heterogeneous. There’s the rollicking Carnaby Street-esque title track, the sweet innocence of “Childhood,” the stealthily romantic “Where Rivers Join,” the joyful, fresh-from-Sunday-service closer, “On the Other Side,” and, most arresting, the swirling carnival of “Even Make It Up.”~Christopher Loudon http://jazztimes.com/articles/29194-rock-my-boat-david-linx

Personnel: David Linx (vocals); André Ceccarelli (drums); Rhoda Scott (Hammond b-3 organ).

Rock My boat