Dave Kikoski - Dave Kikoski

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1994
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:18
Size: 138,3 MB
Art: Front

( 5:14)  1. E
( 8:16)  2. B Flat Tune
( 8:10)  3. Giant Steps
(11:20)  4. Long Ago and Far Away
( 7:22)  5. Chant
( 6:25)  6. The Shadow
( 7:13)  7. 7/4 Ballad
( 6:15)  8. Spacing

This is Kikoski's only recording to date for a major record label. Not only is it his best by far, it is arguably one of the best piano trio albums of the 1990s. Joined by bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Al Foster, Kikoski scales the heights of jazz with soaring lyricism, harmonic ingenuity, and at times sheer fury. His version of John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" features a stride piano break as technically stunning as it is unexpected. His extended reading of Gershwin's "Long Ago and Far Away" is nothing short of poetic. And of the album's original pieces, "B Flat Tune" and "The Shadow," despite their enormous complexity, sing with an accessibility that marks the finest songwriting. Purists will insist that packaging is irrelevant to great jazz, but not in this instance. The highly evocative cover artwork, quirky typography, laconic liner notes, and aqua-tinted jewel case make the album even more unique, a near classic. ~ David R.Adler http://www.allmusic.com/album/dave-kikoski-mw0000119723

Personnel: Dave Kikoski (piano); Essiet Essiet (bass); Al Foster (drums).

Dave Kikoski

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Lena Horne - Lena Goes Latin & Sings Your Requests

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1964
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:08
Size: 119,9 MB
Art: Front

(1:54)  1. From This Moment On
(2:27)  2. Take Me
(2:44)  3. Night And Day
(2:43)  4. Old Devil Moon
(1:47)  5. More
(2:28)  6. My Blue Heaven
(3:37)  7. Cuckoo In The Clock
(2:23)  8. Meditation
(2:47)  9. By Myself
(2:24) 10. Island In The West Indies
(2:49) 11. Ours
(2:03) 12. Falling In Love With Love
(1:52) 13. He Loves Me
(2:44) 14. Every Little Bit Hurts
(3:22) 15. Stormy Weather
(2:25) 16. Poppa Don't Preach To Me
(2:58) 17. Honeysuckle Rose
(2:22) 18. The Lady Is A Tramp
(3:27) 19. Lover Man
(2:44) 20. Can't Help Lovin' That Man

In 1963, Lena Horne left a long association with RCA Victor Records and signed to the smaller Charter label, for which she recorded two albums, Goes Latin and Sings Your Requests. Those two albums are combined on this two-fer compilation. The first ten tracks, which comprised the original Goes Latin LP, were arranged by Shorty Rogers and conducted by Horne's husband, Lennie Hayton. In keeping with the title, the arrangements feature Latin percussion, with punchy big-band horn charts on top. Horne was no stranger to such material, at least in the diluted form heard here, having performed Latin-style arrangements in the movies and on Broadway, and in fact her lively, take-charge interpretations are well-suited to Rogers' arrangements, whether applied to a Cole Porter show tune or a more contemporary song such as the Mondo Cane movie theme "More" or Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Meditation." Sings Your Requests earned its title by featuring re-recordings of several songs long associated with Horne, including "Stormy Weather," "Honeysuckle Rose," "The Lady Is a Tramp," and "Can't Help Lovin' That Man." (All are songs she sang in the movies.) But the combination of the two albums onto one disc is justified by their similarity. The first four tracks of the second LP (tracks 11-14 here) are also Rogers arrangements conducted by Hayton, some of them with more Latin percussion, suggesting they came from the same sessions as those for the first LP. (The rest were arranged and conducted by Marty Paich.) Horne remains masterful on the familiar material, and she gives an excellent reading to the newly minted show tune "He Loves Me," a gender-switched version of the title song from the Broadway musical She Loves Me. Lena Horne may have fallen out of commercial favor on records by 1963, but these recordings demonstrate that she hadn't lost her appeal. ~ William Ruhlmann  http://www.allmusic.com/album/lena-goes-latin-sings-your-requests-mw0000649569

Personnel:  Lena Horne – vocals;  Lennie Hayton - arranger, conductor (#1-14);  Shorty Rogers - arranger (#1-14);  Marty Paich - arranger (#15-20)

Lena Goes Latin & Sings Your Requests

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Walter Lang - Eurasia

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:01
Size: 130,7 MB
Art: Front

(7:23)  1. Last Train Home
(3:57)  2. Ack Vaermaland (Dear Old Stockholm)
(5:45)  3. Nights of Skopje
(6:05)  4. Ringo Oiwake
(4:01)  5. Que Reste T'il De Nos Amours? (I Wish You Love)
(4:31)  6. Estate
(7:02)  7. Madrid After Dark
(7:08)  8. Belalim
(5:27)  9. Omorfi Poli
(5:37) 10. Traveling Far

German pianist Walter Lang is big in Japan, with Eurasia being the sixth CD released there on the M&I Records label. A listen to any of these discs reveals something for the discerning taste of the Japanese jazz fan. Lang records mostly in the trio format piano, bass and drums and his approach in this setting can be said to fall in the interactive Bill Evans Trio mode, with a graceful lyricism, a supple use of touch, and an exquisite feel for engaging melodies, on both the tunes he chooses to cover and on his own original compositions. The set of music on Eurasia embraces the theme of a road trip across the great expanse of the Eurasian continent and begins for no other reason than to open with a beautiful melody in America, with Pat Metheny's nostalgic "Last Train Home." Spare single notes by Lang paint a poignant picture, expanding, as the trio-mates enter the tune, into a passing landscape of ephemeral beauty. A jump across the Atlantic lands in the familiar "Ack Vaermaland" (Dear Old Stockholm). 

A visit to Yugoslavia features Dusko Goykovich's rhythmically insistent "Nights of Skopje," while "Ringo Owake" represents Japan. The set also travels to France with "Que Reste T'il De Nos Amours" (I Wish You Love), Italy (Bruno Martino's "Estate"), Spain with the Lang original "Madrid After Dark," Turkey (Belalim), and Greece (Omorfi Poli). In a group of tunes originating in diverse cultures, the universal language of melody is the thread that ties the set together. Lang has a fine ear (and two magical hands) for an engaging melody, and his trio he works with at least three, including the modernized drum 'n' bass dance groove group, Trio Elf is as simpatico and interactive as any that can be heard in the piano trio format. Eurasia is a beautiful, first rate piano trio set one of the best of the year, and with its release Lang has risen to the top level of jazz piano artistry. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/eurasia-walter-lang-m-and-i-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Walter Lang: piano; Thomas Markusson: bass; Sebastian Merk: drums.

Eurasia

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Michael Rodriguez - Reverence

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:12
Size: 140,5 MB
Art: Front

(8:33)  1. Small Feats
(9:18)  2. Enchantment
(9:42)  3. Reverence
(7:29)  4. Wishful Thinking
(9:09)  5. Like Joe
(9:15)  6. Portrait Of Jennie
(7:43)  7. You Did

For his Criss Cross debut, 33-year-old trumpet virtuoso Michael Rodriguez assembles a world-class New York quintet of generational peers (pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Rodney Green) and mid-career masters (tenor saxophonist Chris Cheek and bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa) to perform six kinetic originals and a single standard, Portrait Of Jennie. Known for his creative melodic approach and pellucid tone via consequential engagements over the last decade with, among others, Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Bobby Watson, and Eddie Palmieri, Rodriguez blends youthful fire with a veteran's focus and mature intention, setting the tone for an immensely satisfying session. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Reverence-Michael-Rodriguez/dp/B00AP0K8RU

Personnel: Michael Rodriguez (Trumpet), Chris Cheek (Saxophone), Gerald Clayton (Piano), Kiyoshi Kitagawa (Bass) Rodney Green (Drums)

Reverence

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Ronnie Cuber - N. Y. C.ats

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:44
Size: 127,4 MB
Art: Front

(10:36)  1. Mirage
( 5:38)  2. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
( 7:19)  3. Mimosa
( 7:01)  4. Humacao
( 8:52)  5. I've Got You Under My Skin
( 7:56)  6. Ponta Grossa
( 7:18)  7. Better Git It In Your Soul

Baritonist Ronnie Cuber is in typically swinging and hyper form throughout this fine hard bop quintet date. Trumpeter Ryan Kisor gets in his licks and the rhythm section (pianist Michael Weiss, bassist Andy McKee, and drummer Tony Reedus) is also excellent. The quintet stretches out on three intriguing if not overly memorable Cuber originals (including a ten-and-a-half-minute version of "Mirage"), George Benson's "Mimosa," and three standards, including a very spirited rendition of Charles Mingus' "Better Git in Your Soul." Virtually every Ronnie Cuber recording is worth acquiring by fans of the baritone sax. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/nycats-mw0000049604

N. Y. C.ats

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