The Marcels - The Best Of The Marcels

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:26
Size: 99.4 MB
Styles: Doo-wop, R&B
Year: 1986
Art: Front

[2:15] 1. Blue Moon
[2:32] 2. Heartaches
[2:33] 3. One Last Kiss
[2:23] 4. Honestly Sincere
[2:32] 5. Goodbye To Love
[2:18] 6. Crazy Bells
[2:12] 7. Summertime
[2:34] 8. Another Fool
[2:36] 9. Over The Rainbow
[2:36] 10. Blue Heartaches
[2:20] 11. Friendly Loans
[2:07] 12. Sweet Was The Wine
[2:21] 13. Footprints In The Sand
[2:19] 14. I'll Be Forever Loving You
[2:20] 15. I Wanna Be The Leader
[2:14] 16. That Old Black Magic
[2:38] 17. Allright, Okay, You Win
[2:26] 18. My Melancholy Baby

Lest anyone think the Marcels were a one-song phenomenon (i.e. "Blue Moon"), this CD will be a valuable learning experience, as well as delightful listening. Drawing primarily from their singles (with three LP cuts and an unissued outtake filling out the song lineup), this is a fairly dazzling array of vocal acrobatics, much of it hung around old pop standards, among them "Summertime," "That Old Black Magic," "My Melancholy Baby," and "Over the Rainbow," as well as songs of more recent vintage. Among the discoveries to be made here is a gloriously radiant recording of an otherwise "lost" Barry Mann/Cynthia Weill number called "Find Another Fool." Cornelius Harp's lead on "Summertime" is a glorious thing to hear, while the brilliantly arranged "Heartaches" -- dominated by Walt Maddox's baritone -- which managed to hit number nine nationally, manages to encompass something essentially poignant about R&B and rock & roll, and elicit a laugh or two (or three) in the process. Original producer Stu Phillips, whose subsequent career involved him in everything from the Monkees to the soundtrack of Battlestar Galactica, did a brilliant job on these tracks, which hold up very well today, the voices always out front and in your face, and just enough rhythm section and whatever lead instrument (usually a sax) to sweeten the mix and add a little punch behind the group. If this disc has any flaw, it's that the makers didn't follow the chronological order of the recording dates, which means that the sounds of the two distinctly different lineups of the group are intermingled -- but the notes also include a chart delineating precisely which lineup sang on which songs, and that's excellent compensation. The sound holds up extremely well for a CD mastered in 1990, and the only reason for not picking this up would be to grab Sequel records' Complete Colpix Sessions instead, which features 38 songs from the same source as these 18. ~Bruce Eder

The Best Of The Marcels

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Sean & Jimmy Gourley - Board The Straight Ahead Express

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:11
Size: 112.6 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[3:38] 1. Oh Look At Me Now
[4:01] 2. Moonlight Saving Time
[4:22] 3. Speak Low
[5:19] 4. Angel Eyes
[3:37] 5. Still There
[2:32] 6. Biloxy Blues Walk
[4:18] 7. The Night We Call It A Day
[4:34] 8. Too Late Now
[4:20] 9. A Nightingale Sang In Berekeley Square
[4:06] 10. In A Mellow Tone
[3:47] 11. Blue Daze
[4:30] 12. Syracuse

It's a real pleasure for any listener to hear Jimmy and his son, not only playing guitar with style but most important of all, singing unforgettable standards.

Board The Straight Ahead Express

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Jazz In Blume - What A Wonderful World

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:10
Size: 92.0 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[2:40] 1. The Best Is Yet To Come
[2:12] 2. 'deed I Do
[5:43] 3. Angel Eyes
[5:43] 4. Honky Tonk
[2:41] 5. Baby It's Cold Outside
[3:58] 6. One Mint Julep
[4:17] 7. Smile
[2:40] 8. Ain't Misbehavin'
[4:39] 9. Saturday Night Fish Fry
[2:31] 10. Orange Colored Sky
[3:02] 11. What A Wonderful World

Smooth. Crystal Clear. Tracy Blume transcends each song she sings going right to the heart of the music. You'll be delightfully transported by her joyful and evocative delivery of many of your favorite tunes from the classic jazz/swing era. Tracy began singing at the age of three with her first solo “I’m A Lonely Little Petunia In An Onion Patch” and has been singing ever since.

Tracy studied opera at the Escuela Superior de Canto in Madrid, Spain and she also has a background in musical theatre, jazz/pop ensembles and production. Tracy and her husband, Roger, moved to the peninsula in the fall of 2002 and have been enjoying the wealth of talented musicians and musical opportunities that life on the North Olympic Peninsula has to offer. Tracy enjoys playing around the Peninsula in all formats from duo combinations at Michael’s Divine Dining of Port Angeles the trio format at the Olympic Cellars Winery to the “anything goes!” excitement of the weekly JazzExpress Jazz jam that she and her band, Jazz in Blume host every Wednesday at the Crazy Fish Restaurant in Port Angeles.

It’s a pleasure and a privilege to play with the wonderfully talented musicians of area and its Tracy’s hope to keep live music alive and thriving on the peninsula for all to enjoy! Tracy’s vocal range along with her infectious joy in the songs that she sings makes her a true delight.

What A Wonderful World

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Manhattan Jazz Quintet - Come Together

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop

Year: 2005

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 60:01

Size: 137,6 MB

Art: Front

(5:58)  1. Come Together

(7:19)  2. A Day in the Life

(6:24)  3. Big Apple Jam Part II

(7:55)  4. Michelle

(5:51)  5. We Can Work It Out

(6:44)  6. I Was Born to Love You

(6:18)  7. All My Loving

(6:11)  8. Don't Stop Me Now

(7:16)  9. Over the Rainbow

The Manhattan Jazz Quintet are an unusual group in that they very rarely perform as a unit in the United States (much less Manhattan) but have been a major hit in Japan, both for their recordings and occasional tours. Originally comprised of leader/pianist David Matthews, trumpeter Lew Soloff, tenor saxophonist George Young, bassist Eddie Gomez, and drummer Steve Gadd, the band (which emphasizes straight-ahead hard bop swinging) first came together in 1983 at the suggestion of the King label and the top Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal. To everyone's surprise, its first recording (simply called Manhattan Jazz Quintet) became such a big seller that it was awarded Swing Journal's annual 1984 Gold Disk Award as the number one album in Japan. Several years later the group broke up when Gomez and Gadd needed more time to pursue their individual projects and all of the quintet members later became quite successful in their own careers but this edition of the MJQ recorded reunions in 1990 (which found John Scofield guesting on a few selections) and in 1993. Victor Lewis replaced Gadd that year, and subsequently Young was replaced by Andy Snitzer and Gomez by Charnett Moffett. The Manhattan Jazz Quintet recorded primarily for King in Japan (those dates were mostly made available in the U.S. by Projazz) during the 1980s, although they cut some later recordings among the comparative very few that actually took place in Manhattan! for the Sweet Basil label. During the new millennium the Manhattan Jazz Quintet have recorded regularly for Video Arts. ~ Scott Yanow https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/manhattan-jazz-quintet/id79729527#fullText

Personnel:  Lew Soloff – Trumpet;  Andy Snitzer – Tenor Saxophone;  David Mathews – Piano;  Charnett Moffett – Bass;  Victor Lewis – Drums.

Come Together

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Jill Barber - Chances

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:38
Size: 77,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. Chances
(3:00)  2. Be My Man
(2:41)  3. Old Flame
(4:42)  4. Oh My My
(3:38)  5. Take It Off Your Mind
(3:41)  6. Wishing Well
(2:58)  7. Never Quit Loving You
(2:40)  8. All My Dreams
(2:51)  9. Leaving You
(3:41) 10. One More Time

On her album Chances, Canadian chanteuse Jill Barber picks up the torch where the golden age of music left off. Stepping away from her folk past, Jill delivers an album of ten original, fully orchestrated songs that strongly evoke and could themselves become classics. From the moment you hear her sultry voice on the opening title track, you are transported to another time and place. 

“The best songs ever written are the ones that somehow transcend time and fashion, “says Jill. ”They may be old, but they haven’t aged. It is that timeless quality that I aspire to in my own songwriting."https://jillbarber.bandcamp.com/album/chances

Personnel: Les Cooper (guitar); Aisslinn Nosky, Nancy Kershaw, Karen Graves, Chris Church (violin); Johann Lotter, Julia Knight, Karen Moffatt (viola); Orley Bitov, Kevin Fox , Alex Grant (cello); Robbie Grunwald (piano); Victor Bateman (bass guitar); Joel Stouffer (drums); Jill Barber (vocal).

Chances

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Joshua Redman - Wish

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:44
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

( 6:25)  1. Turnaround
( 6:32)  2. Soul Dance
( 5:26)  3. Make Sure You're Sure
( 5:40)  4. The Deserving Many
( 5:47)  5. We Had A Sister
( 3:32)  6. Moose The Mooche
( 3:23)  7. Tears In Heaven
( 5:22)  8. Whittlin'
( 7:24)  9. Wish (Live)
(12:08) 10. Blues For Pat (Live)

Joshua Redman's sophomore effort found him leading a piano-less quartet that also included guitar great Pat Metheny and half of Ornette Coleman's trailblazing late-'50s/early-'60s quartet: acoustic bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins. With such company, Redman could have delivered a strong avant-garde or free jazz album; Haden and Higgins had played an important role in jazz's avant-garde because of their association with Coleman, and Metheny had himself joined forces with Coleman on their thrilling Song X session of 1985. But Wish isn't avant-garde; instead, it's a mostly inside post-bop date that emphasizes the lyrical and the introspective. The musicians swing hard and fast on Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche," but things become very reflective on pieces like Redman's "The Undeserving Many" and Metheny's "We Had a Sister." One of the nice things about Redman is his ability to provide jazz interpretations of rock and R&B songs. While neo-conservatives ignore them and many NAC artists simply provide boring, predictable, note-for-note covers, Redman isn't afraid to dig into them and show their jazz potential. In Redman's hands, Stevie Wonder's "Make Sure You're Sure" becomes a haunting jazz-noir statement, while Eric Clapton's ballad "Tears in Heaven" is changed from moving pop/rock to moving pop-jazz. The latter, in fact, could be called "smooth jazz with substance." Some of bop's neo-conservatives disliked the fact that Redman was playing with two of Coleman's former sidemen and a fusion icon like Metheny, but then, Redman never claimed to be a purist. Although Wish isn't innovative, it's an appealing CD from an improviser who is willing to enter a variety of musical situations.~Alex Henderson http://www.allmusic.com/album/wish-mw0000104577

Personnel:  Joshua Redman – tenor saxophone;  Pat Metheny – guitar;  Charlie Haden – bass;  Billy Higgins – drums

Wish

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Eric Gale - In a Jazz Tradition

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:08
Size: 115,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:17)  1. Eric's Gale
(6:39)  2. If You Could See Me Now
(5:46)  3. Bloomdido
(7:54)  4. Lover Man
(7:19)  5. Jordu
(7:39)  6. Loose Change
(8:29)  7. Blues for Everybody

Guitarist Eric Gale, best known for his work in R&B, funk, and commercial settings, was presented by bassist/producer Ron Carter on a strictly jazz date in 1987. With tenor saxophonist Houston Person, organist Lonnie Smith, and drummer Grady Tate completing the quintet, the music is soul-jazz with a strong dose of bebop. Gale performs his original "Eric's Gale," a couple of basic tunes by Carter, and four standards, including Charlie Parker's "Bloomdido" and "Jordu." Since Eric Gale rarely recorded in this type of freewheeling group, the swinging set was his definitive jazz recording.~Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-a-jazz-tradition-mw0000198410

Personnel:  Eric Gale: guitar;  Houston Person: tenor saxophone;  Lonnie Smith: organ;  Ron Carter: bass;  Grady Tate: drums

In a Jazz Tradition

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