Jane Bunnett - Cuban Odyssey

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:00
Size: 153.4 MB
Styles: Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[ 3:08] 1. Arrival
[ 6:07] 2. Quítate El Chaquetón
[ 8:08] 3. La Rumba
[12:19] 4. Suite Matanzas
[ 9:59] 5. Pensando En Jane
[ 6:27] 6. El Diablo
[ 3:27] 7. Nan Fonn Bwaa
[ 2:00] 8. Alabans
[ 4:39] 9. Prizon
[ 7:47] 10. Ron Con Ron
[ 2:53] 11. Movin' On

Jane Bunnett's love of Cuban music is demonstrated in this collaboration with over 80 Cuban musicians and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer. Although Bunnett is the leader, she is also very comfortable taking a backseat during numbers featuring the larger groups. Most tracks were recorded during their visit to Cuba as they moved around the country, covering traditional tunes such as the percussive and fun-filled "Quitate el Chaqueton," "A la Rhumba," and "El Diablo," with the infectious rhythm and heartfelt vocals adding to the fun of the sessions. Three songs feature a stunning ten-piece vocal choir, Desandann, who sing in Patios, the language of their Haitian ancestors. The session is highlighted by Bunnett's lyrical flute (especially on "Nan Fon Bwaa") and her spirited soprano sax (showcased on her originals "Arrival" and "Movin' On"). It is impossible to listen to this CD and not be caught up in the celebration; this highly recommended CD is easily one of Jane Bunnett's greatest accomplishments during her career. ~Ken Dryden

Cuban Odyssey

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Shawn Colvin - Playlist: The Very Best Of Shawn Colvin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:03
Size: 137.5 MB
Styles: Alternative pop/rock
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[4:43] 1. Round Of Blues
[4:23] 2. Sunny Came Home
[4:59] 3. Steady On
[4:14] 4. Get Out Of This House
[4:13] 5. You And The Mona Lisa
[3:33] 6. Heart Of Saturday Night
[4:20] 7. Diamond In The Rough
[3:44] 8. Another Long One
[3:59] 9. Whole New You
[5:51] 10. Polaroids
[5:05] 11. A Matter Of Minutes
[4:13] 12. Climb On (A Back That's Strong)
[4:08] 13. Someone Like You
[2:31] 14. Rocking

Just one track shorter than 2004's excellent Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection, Playlist: The Very Best of Shawn Colvin, despite the omission of one of the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter's best-known hits in "I Don't Know Why," serves as a solid introduction to Colvin's work, boasting enough notable tracks like "Round of Blues, "Sunny Came Home," "Steady On," and "Get Out of This House" to warrant equal consideration from both newbies and longtime fans looking for a lean career overview. ~James Christopher Monger

Playlist: The Very Best Of Shawn Colvin

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Jon Mayer - Full Circle

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:50
Size: 130,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:30)  1. Round up the Usual Suspects
(5:37)  2. Night And Day
(7:02)  3. Day Dream
(4:43)  4. For All We Know
(4:54)  5. From Now On
(6:35)  6. Full Circle
(7:09)  7. Stolen Moments
(4:48)  8. Falling In Love With Love
(3:07)  9. Lament
(7:21) 10. I Should Care

Veteran New York musician Jon Mayer debuts on Reservoir Records with a balmy trio set that takes full advantage of Mr. Mayer's experience as a hard bop pianist. Mr. Mayer's credentials are impressive. In the early to mid 1950s, Mayer performed with Pete LaRoca and Ray Draper before moving on to Kenny Dorman's big band and then replacing Bill Evans in clarinetist Tony Scott's quartet. He went on to record with Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, and Les McCann. Mr. Mayer arrives here with Full Circle, his follow-up to the well-received Rip Van Winkle: Live at the Jazz Bakery (Fresh sound 5027, 1998). Full Circle opens on the hot side with Mayer's own "Round Up the Usual Suspects." This is followed by a tense "Night and Day," highlighting Mayer's block approach to melody. Mr. Mayer covers Oliver Nelson's brilliant "Stolen Moments" with great care and respect, all the while injecting this gold standard with humor and grace. The disc ends with a humidly pensive "I Should Care," preceded by an impressionistic take on J.J. Johnson's "Lament." Full Circle marks the return of Jon Mayer to New York. He allied himself with the bionic rhythm section of Rufus Reid and victor Lewis, both of whom provided a perfect backdrop to Mayer's pianistic statements. More than a decent trio recording, Full Circle deserves a long look as it surfaces from the sea of current trio offerings. 

~ C.Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/full-circle-jon-mayer-reservoir-music-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Jon Mayer- piano; Rufus Reid - bass; Victor Lewis - drums.

Full Circle

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Jackie Allen - Tangled

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:30
Size: 113,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:51)  1. When Will I Ever Learn
(3:42)  2. Coal Grey Eyes
(4:17)  3. You're Nearer
(3:26)  4. If I Had (Angel's Lullaby)
(4:25)  5. Tangled
(4:03)  6. Slip
(5:05)  7. You'll Never Learn
(3:36)  8. Everything I've Got Belongs To You
(3:45)  9. Hot Stone Soup
(3:16) 10. Do Wrong Shoes
(5:03) 11. Solitary Moon
(2:56) 12. Living Without You

While it's clearly a pop album, Tangled has a light, jazzy feel. John Moulder's smooth jazz guitar, Steve Eisen's gentle flute and several keyboards back up Jackie Allen's lovely voice with an easy-to-like ambience. Allen delivers an expressive, convincing session. The singer uses her voice, whispery and coated with smooth silk, to interpret this program with a relaxed ease and subtle passion. Allen leaves an enjoyable wake behind every song. Her eighth album, both contemporary and filled with an appreciation for personal forms of communication, is designed for broad audience appeal. Tangled, Allen's title song, features dramatic electric guitar and a deep blues sensation. "If I Had floats on a gentle bossa breeze, while "You're Nearer emphasizes the dramatic qualities of her expressive voice.

A vocalist should be comfortable with folk, country, pop, blues and jazz. With Tangled, we get a little bit of each. Slip features electric piano and a horn section in a soulful strut. "Hot Stone Soup and "Cold Grey Eyes provide reflections of New Age themes. Donald Fagen's "Do Wrong Shoes, the album's best track, provides an opportunity for Allen to swing. As Randy Newman's "Living Without You closes the program with a country & western feel, you can't help absorbing Jackie Allen's emotional pull. She gives her audience a personal reflection of her inner soul that everyone can enjoy. ~ Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/tangled-jackie-allen-blue-note-records-review-by-jim-santella.php

Personnel: Jackie Allen: vocals; Steve Eisen: flute, tenor saxophone; Orbert Davis, trumpet; John Molder, guitar; Ben Lewis, piano, electric piano, organ; Laurence Hobgood, piano, electric piano; Hans Sturm, bass; Dane Richeson, drums, percussion; Yvonne Gage, Eric Hochberg, Suzanne Palmer, Sue Conway: background vocals.

Tangled

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Bobby Caldwell - What You Won't Do for Love

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:45
Size: 79,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:35)  1. Special To Me
(4:16)  2. My Flame
(4:12)  3. Love Won't Wait
(5:07)  4. Can't Say Goodbye
(2:57)  5. Come To Me
(4:50)  6. What You Won't Do For Love
(1:23)  7. Kalimba Song
(3:32)  8. Take Me Back To Then
(4:50)  9. Down For The Third Time

Bobby Caldwell is one of only a handful of white vocalists (Van Morrison and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, to name a couple more) who legitimately transcended the blue-eyed soul tag. Caldwell's genuine mix of R&B and jazz signatures as well as his bittersweet yet buttery vocal tones conjure up images of a smoothed-out version of Chet Baker. On this, his breakthrough album, the native New Yorker scored a hit with the timeless "What You Won't Do for Love" and also polished off another near-classic on "My Flame." While a few of the compositions echo the dying grip of disco and some of Caldwell's vocal arrangements sound more like a hipper version of Tony Bennett ("Can't Say Goodbye"), the crooner does possess the pipes to carry the offering. Caldwell even tries his hand at the experimental on the short but sweet instrumental "Kalimba Song." Time will likely render much of Bobby Caldwell disposable, but at the album's best, the songs do carry a singular sound and contain the power to place themselves in a time period, which may just be good enough for lovers. The cut "What You Won't Do for Love" will always stack up, as even hip-hop producers saw fit to sample the horn riff and bass track a number of times (listen to 2Pac's "Do for Love," for one). ~ M.F. DiBella  http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1067131&style=music&fulldesc=T

Personnel: Bobby Caldwell (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, vibraphone, bass, drums); Alfons Kettner, Steve Mealy (guitar); Chris Colclessor (clarinet, saxophone); Gary Lindsay (clarinet); Mike Lewis, Mark Colby (saxophone); Jeffrey Kievet, Hollis Burridge (trumpet, flugelhorn); James Marshall (trombone); Benny Latimore, Bruce Malament (keyboards); George "Chocolate" Perry, Richie Valesquez, John Paulus (bass); Ed Greene, Joe Galdo, Harold Seay, Andy Newmark (drums).

What You Won't Do for Love

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Corey Christiansen - Factory Girl

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:54
Size: 112,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:14)  1. She's Gone
(5:33)  2. Cluck Ol' Hen
(5:03)  3. Shenandoah
(4:52)  4. Factory Girl
(2:21)  5. That I Should Know Your Face
(5:25)  6. John Hardy
(5:07)  7. Old Joe Clark
(6:02)  8. One's Promised
(7:14)  9. Beour

Guitarist Corey Christiansen began his stint at Origin Records in 2008 with a top notch organ jazz outing, Roll With It. He followed that with an equally engaging disc featuring the same players, Outlaw Tractor on the label in 2010. On these two dates, Christensen and his superb band worked the soul jazz groove typical of the B3 organ genre, featuring a breezy dynamic with superb displays of technique all around, and lots of room for the guitarist's inspired guitar ruminations to ride the waves of the tight rhythms. Christensen's follow-up to his organ jazz CDs took another path. Lone Prairie (Origin Records, 2013), proved perhaps an unexpected turn (for those getting interested in his organ jazz foray) into the traditional music of the American West, with a postmodern bent. He dives deeper with Factory Girl. It's sort of "Americana," in the Bill Frisell mode; but like Frisell, Christiansen has a personal vision with a fine focus, and an eye tuned straight into the 'now." Even the familiar "Shenandoah" shines with a new millennium shimmer. 

Zach Lapidus, reprising his keyboard roll from Lone Prairie, is instrumental in buffering, subtly, the muted neon glow of the disc's sound. The set features, along with the traditional, three tunes from Christiansen's pen that fit the mold. The opener, "She's Gone," is instantly engaging, a robust and patiently laid out melody weaving in and out of an intricate rhythm. "One's Promise," is as gentle as a lullaby, pastoral and pretty and soothing. The overall "sound" of this album can't be overlooked. Bassist Jeremy Allen and drummer Matt Jorgensen, along with keyboardist/SuperCollider-weilder Zach Lapidus, and, occasionally, percolating percussionist Michael Spiro, lay the foundation rock solid but still intricate and virtuosic beyond the precursor music that Factory Girl brings to mind: the reverberant twang of Duane Eddy, the echoing atmosphere of The Ventures' 1960 hit, "Walk Don't Run," the coolness of Dick Dale and the Deltones' "Miserloo" (1963)," the fluid group dynamic of Merle Haggard's late career band, The Chantay's epic "Pipeline" from 1963, any number of good time cowboy bands all of it dialed up, somewhat avant-style, into a new century. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/factory-girl-corey-christiansen-origin-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php
 

Personnel:  Corey Christiansen: guitars;  Zach Lapidus: keyboards, SuperCollider;  Jeremy Allen: acoustic and electric bass;  Matt Jorgensen: drums;  Michael Spiro: percussion.

Factory Girl

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