Mose Allison - Blues Pianist

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 62:08

Size: 142.3 MB

Styles: Jazz/blues piano

Year: 2014

Art: Front

[4:05] 1. Everything I Have Is Yours

[4:08] 2. Let Me See

[3:54] 3. I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues

[2:33] 4. The Song Is Ended

[2:15] 5. I Don't Worry About A Thing

[2:41] 6. It Didn't Turn Out That Way

[2:34] 7. Your Mind Is On Vacation

[3:46] 8. If You're Goin' To The City

[3:56] 9. Stand By

[4:15] 10. Idyll

[3:22] 11. Stop This World

[3:20] 12. The Well

[3:02] 13. New Parchman

[2:44] 14. Don't Forget To Smile

[2:52] 15. What's With You

[1:45] 16. Just Like Livin'

[2:40] 17. Everybody's Cryin' Mercy

[2:58] 18. Rollin' Stone

[2:33] 19. Meet Me At No Special Place

[2:34] 20. Seventh Son

In 2012 Mose was honored with a blues marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his home town of Tippo, Mississippi.

Mose Allison, pianist/singer/composer, has been a major influence on musicians of the last 50 years and has spent a good deal of his life touring and playing in jazz rooms all over the world. His songs have been recorded by many, among them, The Who, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, The Clash and Diana Krall. His singular style, a unique blending of jazz and blues, and his profound lyrical wit, mark him as a true American original.

Blues Pianist

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Donald Byrd & Doug Watkins - The Transition Sessions (2-Disc Set)

This CD compilation collects three separate sessions recorded by Donald Byrd and Doug Watkins for Transition with various small groups. The 1955 recordings (first issued under the title Byrd's Eye View) were made shortly after Byrd replaced Kenny Dorham in the Jazz Messengers, all of whom (Horace Silver, Art Blakey, and Hank Mobley, along with Byrd and Watkins) are present, with the addition of local trumpeter Joe Gordon as a guest on two tracks. The half-dozen songs mix an improvised blues ("Doug's Blues"), a favorite from the swing era ("Crazy Rhythm"), a ballad feature for Byrd and Mobley ("Everything Happens to Me"), plus a pair of potent hard bop pieces contributed by the tenor saxophonist. The second session, recorded at engineer Stephen Fassett's Beacon Hill home, features two local musicians (pianist Ray Santisis and drummer Jimmy Zitano) joining Byrd and Watkins; it was first released as Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill. This set is heavily ballad-oriented, with the exception of the surprising choice of Joe Sullivan's "Little Rock Getaway." Byrd sits out both "People Will Say We're in Love" and "What's New." The final of the three sessions in this two-CD set marks the bassist's debut release (Watkins at Large), and it proves to be the most interesting. Hank Mobley, Kenny Burrell, Duke Jordan, and Art Taylor are on hand, with the music including a piece written for a 1953 movie soundtrack (Dmitri Tomkin's "Return to Paradise"), Thad Jones' pulsating "More of the Same," as well as originals contributed by both Burrell and Jordan. These three enjoyable but often overlooked studio dates from the early days of hard bop make this reissue well worth purchasing. ~Ken Dryden

Album: The Transition Sessions (Disc 1)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 73:16

Size: 167.7 MB

Styles: Hard bop

Year: 2002

[12:06] 1. Doug's Blues

[10:02] 2. El Sino

[ 7:33] 3. Crazy Rhythm

[ 5:44] 4. Everything Happens To Me

[ 7:28] 5. Hank's Other Tune (Aka The Late Show)

[ 7:42] 6. Hank's Tune

[ 7:01] 7. Little Rock Getaway

[ 7:18] 8. Polka Dots And Moonbeams

[ 4:38] 9. If I Love Again

[ 3:40] 10. Stella By Starlight

The Transition Sessions (Disc 1)

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Album: The Transition Sessions (Disc 2)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 49:28

Size: 113.3 MB

Styles: Hard bop

Year: 2002

Art: Front

[12:47] 1. Return To Paradise

[ 9:21] 2. Phinupi

[ 4:53] 3. Phil T. Mcnasty's Blues

[10:01] 4. More On The Same

[ 3:48] 5. Panonica

[ 3:36] 6. People Will Say We're In Love

[ 5:00] 7. What's New

The Transition Sessions (Disc 2)

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Janiece Jaffe - It Takes Two

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:56
Size: 123.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1997
Art: Front

[4:07] 1. Blue Bossa
[2:45] 2. Till There Was You
[3:46] 3. You Go To My Head
[3:27] 4. My Romance
[5:26] 5. Blue Moon
[3:20] 6. La Vie En Rose
[5:10] 7. Angel Eyes
[3:12] 8. Harlem Nocturne
[3:57] 9. Rain On The Roses
[2:52] 10. The Nearness Of You
[4:57] 11. I'm Just A Lucky So And So
[2:58] 12. Prelude To A Kiss
[3:19] 13. Lotus Blossom
[4:35] 14. Gentle Rain

For her second album as a leader, Indiana denizen Janiece Jaffe has chosen to limit her accompaniment to guitar and bass, each separately. Guitar player Marcos Cavalcante provides the support on six cuts, while bass player Tom Hildreth is on the remaining eight tracks. Jaffe is in good company with just the one instrument approach. Sheila Jordan recorded with bass players Arild Andersen and Harvie Swartz behind her. More recently, fine Chicago songstress Jackie Allen has recorded with bass player Hans Sturm. On the guitar/voice side, Nancy King has been to the studio with guitar player Glen Moore to turn out exceptional albums.

With this sparse instrumental assistance, the singer has to be ready to carry more of the performance than she otherwise would. The results of Jaffe's efforts are mixed. She has exceptional range, good diction and works well with her accompanists. Her voice carries a slight vibrato which she uses to good effect, especially at the end of a phrase. On some cuts, however, she stays too long at the higher end of her range causing her voice to get a bit thin, as on "My Romance" and "Angel Eyes." Hildreth saves the track with some choice bass soloing. When Jaffe takes a more balanced direction, using her full vocal capacity, the results are more satisfying, as on a blusey "Just a Lucky So and So," highlighted by some good wordless vocalizing. Another outstanding rendition comes with "Gentle Rain." Both these cuts find her with Cavalcante's guitar, which fits her voice better than the bass, at least on this disc. The very good vocal/bass rendition of "Till There Was You," however, shows that it is possible for Jaffe to work well with a bass without straining. But this cut is the exception rather than the rule. Nonetheless, this CD has much to offer and will be a welcome addition to one's vocal collection. ~Dave Nathan

It Takes Two

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Eric Dolphy With Booker Little - Far Cry

Styles:  Saxophone, Clarinet And Flute Jazz
Year: 1960
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:24
Size: 111,3 MB
Art: Front

(8:03)  1. Mrs.Parker of K.C. (Bird's Mother)
(8:45)  2. Ode To Charlie Parker
(3:55)  3. Far Cry
(4:18)  4. Miss Ann
(6:42)  5. Left Alone
(4:20)  6. Tenderly
(5:41)  7. It's Magic
(6:37)  8. Serene

In the early sixties, Eric Dolphy was one of the young rebels responsible for moving jazz forward in giant strides, advancements that led some to call his music “anti-jazz”. Although not quite as deliberately bizarre as Out to Lunch, Far Cry is still exactly that: a far cry from what virtually everyone considered jazz to be. On this session Dolphy is joined by two like-minded weirdos in Little and Byard, as well as an able rhythm section in Carter and Haynes (who benefit the most from the 20-bit remastering). Everything that we’ve come to love about Dolphy is on display here, from the unorthodox instruments to the stuttering, belligerent solos that seem to go from New York to LA by way of Saturn.

Although the first two tracks bear titles that pay tribute to Charlie Parker, Dolphy mainly keeps his Bird influences in his back pocket, instead exploring daring intervallic leaps and abstract phrasing (there’s even an unaccompanied saxophone solo, something no one since Coleman Hawkins had really successfully explored). Like Dolphy, Little was another prodigy who died early in his career; his smoothly wandering lines provide a sharp contrast to Dolphy’s prickly approach. Byard, of course, has an affection for all styles of piano playing and often welds them into the same passage, a technique he would really perfect in the company of Roland Kirk. At the time, this was forward thinking music that even today has a whiff of the avant-garde.However, some may prefer Dolphy’s earlier work as a sideman; in more straightforward sessions like Oliver Nelson’s Blues and the Abstract Truth or Chico Hamilton’s Gongs East, Dolphy makes more of an impact, simply because his contributions are so startling compared to the other players. Far Cry, a bold attempt to challenge the status quo, shows how others had begun to catch up to the new thing.~David Rickert http://www.allaboutjazz.com/far-cry-eric-dolphy-fantasy-jazz-review-by-david-rickert.php

Personnel: Eric Dolphy-bass clarinet, alto sax, flute; Booker Little-trumpet; Jaki Byard-piano; Ron Carter-bass; Roy Haynes-drums.

Far Cry

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Brad Mehldau - Live In Tokyo

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:40
Size: 162,9 MB
Art: Front

( 4:37)  1. Things Behind The Sun
( 2:42)  2. Intro
( 9:55)  3. Someone To Watch Over Me
( 7:55)  4. From This Moment On
( 7:59)  5. Monk's Dream
(19:29)  6. Paranoid Android
( 9:00)  7. How Long Has This Been Going On
( 8:59)  8. River Man

With boundless energy and seemingly endless imagination, Brad Mehldau has evolved into one of the most prolific jazz musicians in the world today. Little surprise then, that a little over six months after the latest release with his trio, we have another sterling piece of work, his first on his new label affiliation. Fans of his oeuvre are well acquainted with his live recordings both solo and in a group setting and some may miss the intricate interaction with drummer Jorge Rossy and Larry Grenadier on Live in Tokyo at least to start. But throughout this disc, Mehldau plays beautifully on his own, his work is florid with detail, yet never just flowery. There is a deeply felt passion in all he plays, and that's exactly why he is so engrossing to hear: in a solo setting Mehldau demonstrates how he selects his ideas altogether discriminatingly from what must be a veritable flood of variations that occur to him as he plays. It's not long into listening to Live in Tokyo that you are reminded how skillfully he runs the gamut of emotion in his playing. Like precocious guitar wunderkind Derek Trucks, Mehldau becomes so deeply immersed in his playing it's as if he is in some kind of meditation and certainly, without any religious or even secular trappings to intrude, there is a definite spiritual aspect to Mehldau's music. But it is based on a deep knowledge of jazz history and an equally profound confidence that he can pay homage to icons such as Monk and Gershwin and still transcend tribute by dint of his own technical skill and improvisational inspiration. From carefree flights of fancy to dark ruminations on a chord progression, to knotty resolutions of melodic motifs. Mehldau makes music of these songs that stands on its own, on par with the material itself, no easy task and no small accomplishment.

On 2002's Largo studio project, Brad Mehldau incorporated horns, electric guitars and electronic ambience into this solid traditional jazz foundation without shortchanging either approach. It was an utterly contemporary marriage of style, not unlike the way Jeff Tweedy and Wilco have transformed folk music into new millennium rock. Perhaps not unconfidently, Live in Tokyo is bookended by interpretations of unsung British folk iconoclast Nick Drake and in addition, during this comparatively pure solo setting Mehldau reminds us of his special fondness for Radiohead as he covers "Paranoid Android"; the young pianist covered the Beatles ("Dear Prudence" on Largo ) and Paul Simon ("Still Crazy After All These Years" appeared prominently on his early 2004 trio session Anything Goes ), proof positive he appreciates a melody both minimal and ornate, and adjusts his playing accordingly. In much the same way he modifies his pace when performing with his aforementioned bandmates: he doesn't so much slow down as make room for them and allow them to catch up and keep pace with the flow of ideas. He is the center of gravity around which they orbit, the playing intersecting at various points on their shared plane. Alone Mehldau utilizes his right and left hands in a similar manner and in so doing, expands the scope of dynamics he uses, moving slower or faster when so moved, his playing more or less spare, more or less complex, but never merely complicated for its own sake. It's not to demean Brad Mehldau to say that, watching him on stage, as he collects his thoughts, centers himself, then bends over the keyboard to play, he recalls Charles Schulz's character Schroeder from the Peanuts comic strip. Remember how the musical notes just flow without interruption from that little guy's head when he begins to play? The effect is much the same when you watch this man, a marvelous vision not all that much less impressive when you are just listening to this disc.~Doug Collette http://www.allaboutjazz.com/brad-mehldau-live-in-tokyo-by-doug-collette.php

Personnel: Brad Mehldau: solo piano

Live In Tokyo

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Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart - Live At Smalls

Styles: Guitar Jazz

Year: 2011

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 69:27

Size: 159,3 MB

Art: Front

(10:56)  1. Chant

(10:00)  2. Molto Molto

(10:53)  3. Everytime We Say Goodbye

( 9:09)  4. Just A Thought

(12:13)  5. Milestones

( 9:17)  6. Nobody Else But Me

( 6:56)  7. The Danger Zone

Here’s proof that guitarist Peter Bernstein, Hammond B3 organist Larry Goldings and drummer Bill Stewart excel at the art of the slow burn. Tempos aren’t rushed. Solos aren’t feverishly pitched. Call-and-response exchanges aren’t overheated. Instead, the trio shrewdly hews to a series of organ-combo grooves, turning this Manhattan club date into a simmering, soulful delight. Nothing is more sublime than the performance of “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.” Bernstein subtly embellishes the theme with Jim Hall-like finesse and, thanks largely to Stewart’s cushioning brushwork, it isn’t long before the melody is floating in the air. The burn factor rises on this track, and elsewhere on the album, when Goldings begins to pull out the stops, but don’t anticipate a lot of fuss and flash. Even Goldings’ performance on “Molto Molto,” which he wrote, isn’t molto busy. Look forward, instead, to Bernstein’s softly glowing rumination “Just a Thought,” and a slinky, blues-hued arrangement of Jerome Kern’s “Nobody Else But Me.” A 12-minute take on “Milestones” burns brightest, but there are times when even that track, with its bleeping sci-fi atmospherics, sounds more whimsical than wired. Not to be overlooked, too, is the way the trio salutes Ray Charles via Percy Mayfield’s “The Danger Zone,” which is saved for last. Bernstein is in slow shuffle mode, fluidly mixing blues riffs with jazz chromaticism until Goldings adds touches of Southern gospel fervor just the right note for the album’s closer. Amen.~Mike Joyce http://jazztimes.com/articles/29605-live-at-smalls-bernstein-goldings-stewart

Live At Smalls

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