Flora Purim - Nothing Will Be As It Was... Tomorrow

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:53
Size: 86.7 MB
Styles: Latin jazz, Fusion
Year: 1977/2005
Art: Front

[5:38] 1. You Love Me Only
[5:01] 2. Nothing Will Be As It Was (Nada Sera Como Antes)
[6:18] 3. I'm Coming For Your Love
[3:34] 4. Angels
[6:30] 5. Corre Niña
[5:18] 6. Bridges
[4:07] 7. Fairy Tale Song
[1:23] 8. Angels (Reprise)

Bass – Byron Miller; Brass – George Bohanon, Oscar Brashear; Drums, Tom Tom [Roto Toms] – Ndugu (Leon Chancler); Handclaps – Dennis Moody, Eryke McClinton*, Gregory Walker; Harp – Dorothy Ashby; Reeds – Ernie Watts, Fred Jackson.

This is Purim's first album for Warner Bros. after spending 1973-1976 with Milestone. While Purim's last dates with Milestone began to reflect a more commercial jazz sound, the style came to fruition by the time of this 1977 album. Drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler is listed as producer, and George Duke is also here, under his alias of Dawili Gonga. Given that fact, this effort sounds like a Duke production job, and like one of his late-'70s classic albums. Patrice Rushen's meditative "You Love Me Only" strikes the delicate balance between Purim's singular phrasing and persona and more streamlined production values. Earth Wind and Fire members Al McKay and Phillip Bailey contribute "Angels," and it has the sound of period EWF juxtaposed to Purim's patented and sensual wordless vocalizations. Although the artist adapts to each style, Nothing Will Be As It Was...Tommorow also has her covering the work of Brazilian artist Milton Nascimento, who co-wrote the title. Nascimento's whimsical "Fairy Tale Friend" gets a funkier treatment, as the song's lyrics lose nothing in translation. The album's most poignant track from Nascimento, "Bridges," has a doleful arrangement and a gentle vocal from Purim. Although this effort seemed to get lost in the shuffle, it is well worth seeking out, especially for lovers of late-'70s jazz fusion. ~Jason Elias

Nothing Will Be As It Was... Tomorrow

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Stan Kenton - The Stage Door Swings

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 31:49

Size: 72.8 MB

Styles: Big band

Year: 1958/2005

Art: Front

[2:38] 1. Lullaby Of Broadway

[2:54] 2. The Party's Over

[2:42] 3. Baubles, Bangles And Beads

[3:14] 4. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye

[2:25] 5. Whatever Lola Wants

[2:02] 6. Bali Ha'i

[2:29] 7. Hey There

[2:57] 8. Younger Than Springtime

[2:08] 9. On The Street Where You Live

[2:25] 10. I Love Paris

[3:10] 11. I've Never Been In Love Before

[2:37] 12. All At Once You Love Her

Stan Kenton's orchestra was never the place to hear a nice tune played sweetly; arrangers including Kenton himself, Pete Rugolo, Bob Graettinger, and Bill Holman commonly emphasized the progressive end of jazz -- advanced harmonics, complex charts, powerful soloists -- much more than such a simple thing as swing. When Kenton decided to record an album of show tunes in 1958, however, he proceeded directly to Lennie Niehaus. Niehaus, an altoist with the Kenton band beginning nearly a decade earlier, had written a chart for "Pennies from Heaven" in 1953 that proved to be a highlight of the Sketches on Standards LP. (Kenton would probably have chosen Bill Russo, who had helmed his two previous standards LPs of the '50s, but he had left the band a few years earlier.) Kenton's band of 1958 didn't boast the firepower of earlier editions, but new arrivals Jack Sheldon and Bill Trujillo contribute a lot to the highlight, "The Party's Over" (which, Michael Sparke's liner notes tell us, was often used by the contrarian Kenton to begin his sets). Elsewhere, Niehaus gives himself a feature on the hard-swinging "Baubles, Bangles & Beads. ~John Bush

The Stage Door Swings

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Mary Ann Hurst - Jazzz...d

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:18
Size: 119.7 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[5:30] 1. In My Own Little Corner
[5:38] 2. I Can't Say No
[4:44] 3. Lush Life
[4:16] 4. Some Cats Know
[2:48] 5. Slow Boat To China
[5:16] 6. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[4:15] 7. My Head's Ok But Heart's Not Smart
[6:52] 8. Some Other Time
[3:30] 9. Call Me
[3:40] 10. Hit The Road Jack, Why Don't You Do Right
[5:44] 11. Time After, You Make Me Feel So Young

I was born in Long Island, New York on an Air Force base and have been mobile ever since. “Home” was many places growing up: Japan, Germany, Thailand, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and later on my own in California, Minnesota, Texas, Massachusetts, South Carolina and China. My first encounters with the jazz idiom came from my father’s record collection: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Jackie Gleason, Louis Armstrong, Sophie Tucker. Highlights of my jazz education include seeing Ellington perform under the stars, seaside, in a bandshell, along with French sophisticates in Marseilles, France; watching Ella perform in San Francisco and Minneapolis; at age 9 sitting front-row to hear Louis Armstrong sing; taking workshops with Sheila Jordan and Kurt Elling; and having the opportunity to perform with great musicians like Tuna Otenel in Turkey, to Bucky Pizzarelli in South Carolina. I started singing at age 7 on in choirs, musical theater, symphony choruses and in jazz settings -- duos, trios, quartets, quintets, and once in a while big bands -- all the while working at various other jobs in life...

My life veered toward China when the opportunity to be a Chinese Mandarin linguist in the army reserves presented itself. After the army sent me to language school (basic training and radio operation school first!) I had the opportunity to study in China from 1981-82 in Shanxi, Taiyuan as a graduate exchange student from the University of South Carolina. Then graduate school at the University of Minnesota brought me an M.A. in East Asian Studies and a summer job as a tour guide in China, and the chance to work at China’s most prestigious art academy in Zhejiang Province in the beautiful city of Hangzhou. It was at this art academy I came to fully appreciate the arts of China, from calligraphy to landscape painting. I took a year at Harvard to study Classical Chinese, then worked for a non-profit study abroad consortium taking students to study Chinese at Beijing University. I later helped SBC, Inc (now AT&T) open an office in Beijing. I lived corporate, non-profit, and student lives in China - all diverse, but interesting experiences in a country now making headlines on a daily basis. Jazz in Beijing was just getting going in the 90s. I sang with a Chinese-Japanese quintet there called Beijing Jazz for six months in the Foreign Correspondents Club overlooking the city of 12 million. We jammed with ambassadors and businessmen from around the world. Sometimes Cui Jian, China’s rock star, would come in to play his horn. He sounded a lot like Miles Davis at times. On my last return from China I decided to take the folksongs I’d collected there and turn them into a jazz project. It’s a unique offering of East-West fusion, easy on the ears, very listenable.

Jazzz...d

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Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - The Best Of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:25
Size: 113.1 MB
Styles: R&B, Doo-wop
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[2:19] 1. Why Do Fools Fall In Love
[3:08] 2. Please Be Mine
[2:52] 3. Love Is A Clown
[2:38] 4. Am I Fooling Myself Again
[2:58] 5. I Want You To Be My Girl 2
[2:49] 6. I'm Not A Know It All
[2:13] 7. Who Can Explain
[2:52] 8. I Promise To Remember
[1:56] 9. The Abc's Of Love
[2:38] 10. Share
[2:39] 11. I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent
[2:06] 12. Baby Baby
[2:05] 13. Paper Castles
[2:10] 14. Teenage Love
[2:27] 15. Out In The Cold Again
[2:13] 16. Goody Goody
[2:28] 17. Creation Of Love
[2:19] 18. Thumb Thumb
[1:47] 19. Portable On My Shoulder
[2:39] 20. Little Bitty Pretty One

In early 1956, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers -- Herman Santiago, Jimmy Merchant, Sherman Garnes, and Joe Negroni -- achieved international stardom with the song "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?." Lymon, as lead singer (and all of 13 years old), was the star of the act, and they remain one of the finest examples of New York vocal group singing. All of the essentials are on this album, which, among its numerous highlights also includes "Love Is a Clown" and the group's later hits, "Little Bitty Pretty One," "Portable on My Shoulder," and "Thumb Thumb." At the time of its release, this CD collection was notable not only for its generous programming -- 20 songs deep into the group's catalog -- but also for its sound quality. Previous LP compilations of the Teenagers' work, issued either through Roulette Records or labels of dubious legitimacy (such as Guest Star), had suffered from very poor quality mastering and sources; and even the commonly available U.S. LP reissue of the 1958 album The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon -- which boasted one of the coolest covers of the 1950s -- offered miserably poor sound. This collection, either as a 20-song CD or a 16-song LP, was the first decent sounding Frankie Lymon reissue heard in decades; it's been supplanted for audio quality since then, but 20 years later, it's still worth hearing and owning, for the uninitiated. ~Bruce Eder

The Best Of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

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Ben Webster - Quiet Now: Until Tonight

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 57:37

Size: 131.9 MB

Styles: Saxophone jazz

Year: 2000

Art: Front

[4:34] 1. Time After Time

[3:55] 2. Chelsea Bridge

[3:01] 3. Tenderly

[4:43] 4. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

[5:46] 5. It Never Entered My Mind

[3:36] 6. Danny Boy

[5:05] 7. Blue Moon

[4:29] 8. Makin' Whoopee

[4:46] 9. Some Other Spring

[4:40] 10. Where Are You

[5:02] 11. La Rosita

[4:09] 12. Until Tonight (Mauve)

[3:47] 13. That's All

This album features selections from five classic Webster releases: BEN WEBSTER AND ASSOCIATES, MUSIC FOR LOVING, KING OF THE TENORS, SOULVILLE, and COLEMAN HAWKINS ENCOUNTERS BEN WEBSTER. This music is part of Verve's "Quiet Now" series, which not surprisingly, highlights ballads and light swing. A romantic, even sultry compilation, UNTIL TONIGHT is the perfect jazz mood music for any occasion. However, these tunes need not be relegated to the background.

Webster's sensitive and deeply emotional approach to the ballad is elegant beyond compare. UNTIL TONIGHT features such standard love songs as, "Tenderly," "Time After Time" and "It Never Entered My Mind." Selections from MUSIC FOR LOVING are replete with a string orchestra, and other tunes showcase pianists Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, or Billy Strayhorn (all legends in their own right). Finally, Webster's idol, Coleman Hawkins sits in on the Latin-inflected "La Rosita". ~AMG

Quiet Now Until Tonight    

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Dave McKenna/Scott Hamilton/Jake Hanna - Double Play: No Bass Hit Disc 1 And Major League Disc 2

No Bass Hit  Disc 1

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:13
Size: 96,3 MB
Art: Front + Back

(5:02)  1. But Not for Me
(3:53)  2. If Dreams Come True
(3:53)  3. Long Ago and Far Away
(6:59)  4. Drum Boogie
(5:53)  5. I Love You, Samantha
(6:10)  6. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
(5:26)  7. Easy to Love
(3:53)  8. Get Happy

Major League  Disc 2

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:04
Size: 94,3 MB
Art: Front + Back

(3:29)  1. Swinging at the Copper Rail
(5:06)  2. A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody
(4:19)  3. Cocktails for Two
(4:20)  4. I'm Through with Love
(4:14)  5. Linger Awhile
(5:01)  6. September in the Rain
(5:26)  7. This Is All I Ask
(4:25)  8. It All Depends on You
(4:40)  9. April in Paris

Concord greatly enriched the revival of more traditional forms of jazz in the 1970s and 1980s when they bought together established players like pianist Dave McKenna and drummer Jake Hanna with new kids on the block like tenor Scott Hamilton. This bassless trio recorded No Bass Hit in 1979, then returned for an encore with Major League in 1986. The two-disc set Double Play re-introduces both titles while keeping the baseball metaphor intact. Quiet standards by the Gershwins and Cole Porter trade places with up-tempo delights like Gene Krupa and Roy Eldridge's "Drum Boogie." One might imagine missing the steady beat of the bass, but a cursory listen to "Easy to Love" verifies that this isn't the case. McKenna plays chords with one hand while keeping a steady bass rhythm with the other, assuring a solid beat even when he's playing lead. The band swings with vim and vigor on "Swinging at the Copper Rail" and "It All Depends on You," while offering relaxed versions of "I'm Through With Love" and "This Is All I Ask." Part of the joy of this band is their versatility, with Hamilton and McKenna exchanging lead lines or with Hanna kicking off a song with a snazzy drum roll. Double Play offers an hour and a half of excellent mainstream jazz and serves as a fine addition to the works of all the players involved.~Ronnie D.Lankford,Jr. http://www.allmusic.com/album/double-play-no-bass-hit-major-league-mw0000220613

Personnel: Dave McKenna (piano, bass); Scott Hamilton (tenor saxophone); Jake Hanna (drums).

No Bass Hit  Disc 1 And Major League  Disc 2

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Kevyn Lettau - Bye-Bye Blackbird

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:39
Size: 102,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:12)  1. I've Got You Under My Skin
(3:41)  2. Bye-Bye Blackbird
(5:44)  3. I Fall in Love Too Easily
(2:50)  4. Love You Madly
(4:03)  5. It Amazes Me
(3:36)  6. I Concentrate on You
(2:47)  7. It's Delovely
(4:18)  8. Being Green
(3:23)  9. Let's Fall in Love
(6:04) 10. Gone With The Wind
(3:55) 11. Sophisticated Lady

With strings and the gentle acoustic guitar of Dori Caymmi, singer Kevyn Lettau interprets favorite songs for a standards album that's been a long time coming. She first recorded with Caymmi in 1988, before her eight-year stint with Sergio Mendes took her on a whirlwind adventure that colored her life's work with a Brazilian tinge. Possessing a smooth soprano voice that lends itself to romantic interpretation, Lettau gives her audience an armful of class. Songs by Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Cy Coleman, and Harold Arlen bring her timeless message to a wide audience. Special circumstances, such as "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "Being Green," give the album a heart-melting quality.The singer is at her best with a suave bossa nova or a sentimental ballad. Caymmi's musical arrangements ensure that she's given appropriate surroundings to color each of these pleasant melodies. Rhythm and harmony add a bit of depth, but it's the melody that comes at you full force as Lettau sends her message out clearly. Wordless melodies alternate with sensual lyrics to fit each concern. At times she turns the music inwardly and projects her voice less forcefully, resulting in an uneven session. Rubato passages, such as the intro to "Let's Fall in Love," leave the listener in a vacuum, wondering where all the stars have gone. Each piece picks up, however, as Lettau steers her vocal message comfortably with passion and with genuine interest. Like the smooth sensations that she delivered with Sergio Mendes, each of these lovely standards slips gently into our lives.~Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/bye-bye-blackbird-kevyn-lettau-review-by-jim-santella.php
 

Personnel:  Kevyn Lettau: vocal;  Dori Caymmi: acoustic guitar;  Russell Ferrante: piano, electric piano;  Jerry Watts, Jr.: electric bass;  Mike Shapiro: drums;  Paulinho da Costa: percussion;  Larry Goldings: melodica on "Being Green;" Gina Kronstadt: concertmaster, violin;  Peter Kent, Armen Garabedian, Berj Garabedian, Kathleen Robertson, Vladimir Polimatidi, Norm Hughs, Shari Zippert, Pam Gates, Adriana Zoppo, Cameron Patrick, Kristen Fife: violin;  Bob Becker, Miriam Meyer, Novi Novog,  Lynn Grants: viola;  Larry Corbett, Stafanie Fife, Maurice Grants, Rudolph Stein: cello.

Bye-Bye Blackbird

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Jonathan Butler - So Strong

Styles: Vocal, Guitar, Jazz Funk
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:23
Size: 134,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:44)  1. So Strong
(5:01)  2. You Got to Believe in Something
(3:29)  3. Make Room for Me
(4:09)  4. Factual
(3:45)  5. Feels So Good
(4:38)  6. Be Here With You
(4:25)  7. Avia / For My Baby
(3:31)  8. I'm Right Here
(3:59)  9. Color Green
(4:02) 10. Good Times
(4:54) 11. I Can See Clearly Now
(5:09) 12. I Pay Respect
(4:04) 13. So Strong (Steppers Mix)
(3:27) 14. So Strong (Urban AC Mix)

Vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Butler has been fairly consistent in his quest to be the next George Benson, as his recordings could all be easily mistaken for the classic pop/jazz album Breezin'. So Strong follows those same non-discretionary lines, as Butler makes no bones about playing the exact same style of tunes that Benson popularized in the mid-'70s, establishing the so called smooth jazz format. You hear relatively similar light funk beats, spare guitar chords, or easygoing, simple lines, and the kind of underdeveloped, lazy affectations that are formulaic to this production model, cookie-cutter music. As Butler plays this genre of singer/songwriter pop, he sounds well, creeping closer vocally to Stevie Wonder, his fans should be pleased at the end result. 

In the pocket and on the make, songs like the title track and "Feels so Good," are purpose-built to slink and seduce one into a late-night lull, while moaning ballads and cooing come-ons dot the surface of these marginal compositions. Butler does hearken back to his South African heritage with ringing chords and a horn complement (Rick Braun and Dave Koz) during "Make Room for Me," and does a quite credible version of the 1972 Johnny Nash hit "I Can See Clearly Now." 

There's nothing outstanding or all that different to suggest Butler has an interest in establishing his own identity past commercial considerations. Perhaps someday he'll do the pure highlife, kwela, or township jazz album that is within his native soul.~Michael G.Nastos http://www.allmusic.com/album/so-strong-mw0001980388

So Strong

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Kevin Eubanks - Shadow Prophets

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:20
Size: 104,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:02)  1. Songhouse
(4:38)  2. Village Dance
(5:11)  3. Twilight Tears
(5:31)  4. G-Town Hang
(4:47)  5. He Smiled The Sea
(5:05)  6. Mice Mobsters
(5:45)  7. Shadow Prophets
(4:05)  8. Jenna's Dream
(5:12)  9. Eye Spy

Shadow Prophets was a marked improvement over The Heat of Heat, but it was obvious that GRP was trying desperately to find a niche for Kevin Eubanks. Despite a distinctive guitar style and an endless stream of ideas, Eubanks was again being molded in the same style as George Benson (the pop version). The inclusion of Mark Ledford also indicates an effort to ride the Pat Metheny wave that was so popular on contemporary radio stations at this time. 

Commercial efforts aside, there is some excellent playing here not just by Eubanks, but also by the underrated drummer Tommy Campbell, whose playing on the opening tune, "Songhouse," is breathtaking. Eubanks was certainly compromising his style at this point in his career, but the folks at GRP gave him a little more space and creative freedom. The results are mixed, but worth exploring for the sheer fact that Eubanks is such a great musician and makes the most of this limiting style of music.~Robert Taylor http://www.allmusic.com/album/shadow-prophets-mw0000196508

Personnel:  Acoustic Guitar, MIDI Guitar Synth – Kevin Eubanks;  Lead Vocals – Mark Ledford;  Electric Bass – Rael Wesley Grant,  Victor Bailey;  Keyboards – Onaje Allan Gumbs;  Backing Vocals – Kevin Eubanks, Mark Ledford;  Drums – Gene Jackson, Tommy Campbell.

Shadow Prophets

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