Luis Perdomo - The 'Infancia' Project

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:51
Size: 130.2 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[7:20] 1. The Other Left
[6:31] 2. Berimvela
[4:52] 3. Solar
[4:45] 4. Happy House
[7:14] 5. Comedia
[6:15] 6. Un Poco Loco
[7:03] 7. Meggido Girl
[5:51] 8. Mind And Time
[6:56] 9. Major General

Luis Perdomo: piano, Fender Rhodes; Mark Shim: tenor saxophone; Andy Gonzalez: bass; Ignacio Berroa: drums; Mauricio Herrera: percussion.

Pianist Luis Perdomo's presence is marked by attributes that include lyricism, depth and adaptability. The onetime member of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane's quartet has worked on many releases for artists like trombonist Steve Turre and saxophonist Miguel Zenon. His visibility is coming more into focus with The Infancia Project, which the New York-based pianist avoided making for many years over concerns of being typecast as "just another" Latin jazz musician. While the project's flavor is influenced by the rich ethnic sounds of Perdomo's upbringing in Caracus, Venezuela, it identifies both the pianist's past and present, one that is deep-rooted yet equally progressive, as witnessed on 2012's A Universal Mind, which featured drum great Jack DeJohnette, and 2006's dual-rhythm section Awareness, both on Coltrane's RKM label. The set benefits from both the pianist's fine playing and his carefully chosen session players, starting with the first bars of the"The Other Left," its complex clave rhythms provided by percussionist Mauricio Herrera and drummer Ignacio Berroa. Bassist Andy Gonzalez introduces saxophonist Ornette Coleman's "Happy House," here transformed into an alluring groove-dance, while edgy trade-offs between Perdomo and Mark Shim's exceptional deep toned saxophone on trumpeter Miles Davis' "Solar" demonstrate the fire and verve that elevates the entire set beyond any typecast recording.

Perdomo explores diverse moods and shapes, from the pulsating interpretation of pianist Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco" to the tranquil trio take of J.A. Espino's "Comedia." There are fireworks, yet also frosty grooves ("Berimvela," "Mind Time") that feature Perdomo on Fender Rhodes, his lithesome keying, Shim's throaty voicing, and the rhythm section's infectious grooves providing a low-temperature heat. DeJohnette's "closing Major General" demands an encore from this group. It's a breathtaking whirlwind, featuring a rousing drum solo from Berroa. The timing forThe Infancia Project is right, yet long overdue; here's hoping Perdomo records again with this excellent ensemble. ~Mark Turner

The 'Infancia' Project

---

Badfinger - Timeless... The Musical Legacy

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:20
Size: 135.8 MB
Styles: Album rock, AM Pop
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:11] 1. Day After Day
[4:43] 2. Without You
[3:16] 3. Rock Of All Ages
[2:38] 4. Dear Angie
[2:21] 5. Come And Get It
[2:50] 6. Maybe Tomorrow
[2:59] 7. No Matter What
[3:34] 8. Baby Blue
[2:59] 9. Believe Me
[5:20] 10. Name Of The Game
[2:52] 11. I'll Be The One
[3:05] 12. Apple Of My Eye
[2:55] 13. Suitcase
[7:40] 14. Timeless
[5:14] 15. Dennis
[3:36] 16. Love Is Gonna Come At Last

This 16-track Badfinger compilation is mostly concerned with the band's Apple years, although a couple of later period tracks are thrown in for good measure. All digitally remastered, classic singles like "Come and Get It," "No Matter What," and "Day After Day" are all here along with songs like the early single "Maybe Tomorrow," from the group's pre-Badfinger days as the Iveys, and the 1979 post-Pete Ham reunion track "Love Is Gonna Come at Last." Their 1974 Warner Bros. albums are all but ignored except for the Ham-penned track "Dennis" from their final opus Wish You Were Here. Other compilations go into greater depth, but in terms of a good-sounding highlight reel from the legendary British rockers, Timeless is a great place to start. ~Timothy Monger

Timeless... The Musical Legacy

---

June Christy - Ballads For Night People

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:35
Size: 115.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1959/2005
Art: Front

[4:56] 1. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
[3:22] 2. Night People
[4:09] 3. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
[3:51] 4. I Had A Little Sorrow
[2:46] 5. I'm In Love
[3:15] 6. Shadow Women
[2:43] 7. Kissing Bug
[4:01] 8. My Ship
[3:00] 9. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
[3:08] 10. Make Love To Me
[3:01] 11. I Know About Love
[2:38] 12. Cry Like The Wind
[3:38] 13. Make Someone Happy
[2:34] 14. Asking For You
[3:27] 15. All You Need Is A Quarter

The music on this album features the popular singer June Christy in a ballad-oriented program. She is backed by trombonist Frank Rosolino, a French horn, a sax section, a rhythm section, and a harp, all arranged by her husband, tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper. One in a long string of Christy's Capitol recordings, this fine set (highlighted by "Bewitched," "Do Nothin' 'Till You Hear from Me," "Kissing Bug," and "My Ship") holds its own with the singer's best sets. ~Scott Yanow

Ballads For Night People

---

Art Fell, David Cross & Friends - Shake Your Blues Away

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:00
Size: 167.1 MB
Styles: New Orleans jazz, Ragtime
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[2:50] 1. Shaking The Blues Away
[2:38] 2. Baby Brown
[2:14] 3. How Come You Do Me Like You Do
[3:17] 4. Button Up Your Overcoat
[2:57] 5. Happy Days And Lonely Nights
[3:33] 6. Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't My Baby
[2:56] 7. 'deed I Do
[2:57] 8. Whose Honey Are You
[3:22] 9. Kiss Me Once And Then We'll Say Hello, Dear
[4:01] 10. Blue Turning Grey Over You
[2:46] 11. When You And I Were Young Maggie
[3:33] 12. Tishomingo Blues
[2:23] 13. Sunshine Of Love
[5:02] 14. Somebody Else Is Taking My Place
[3:19] 15. When I Take My Sugar To Tea
[2:12] 16. Sweet Emmalina
[2:24] 17. Is It True What They Say About Dixie
[2:02] 18. Little Rocke Getaway
[2:56] 19. I'll Always Be In Love With You
[3:46] 20. Margarita
[2:40] 21. I Found You Out When I Found You In Somebody Else's Arms
[3:09] 22. Singing The Blues
[2:59] 23. Mama's Gone Goodbye
[2:54] 24. Lou-Easy-Ania

Shake Your Blues Away with Jazz-- consists of twenty-four nostalgic classic "soft" jazz songs. The duo of Art Fell on piano and David Cross on horn (with others) results in smooth and soothing music. The result: sweet, cool jazz appropriate for sipping good wine before a log fire, or relaxing with when commuting to work. Close your eyes (not while driving, however) and enjoy. The musicians are not about dazzling listeners with their musical acumen, but about giving them sheer pleasure. ~Michael Swygert

Shake Your Blues Away

---

Kenny Wheeler & The Colours Jazz Orchestra - Nineteen Plus One

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:32
Size: 157,2 MB
Art: Front

( 2:35)  1. Only the Lonely
(11:37)  2. All or Nothing at All
(10:05)  3. How Deep Is the Ocean
( 4:25)  4. Stella by Starlight
( 9:01)  5. I Should Care
( 8:42)  6. When Your Lover Has Gone
(11:20)  7. The Man I Love
(10:43)  8. W.W.

Following Kenny Wheeler's career can be a knotty proposition. Born in Canada, the trumpeter/composer relocated to Britain in the 1950s, becoming an integral part of its jazz scene. He recorded for Germany's ECM Records for over two decades, including the classic Gnu High (1976) in addition to his Azimuth collaborations with pianist John Taylor and singer Norma Winstone. More recently shifting his affiliation to Italian labels including EGEA and CAM Jazz, he's focused largely on small groups, though he's made a handful of albums for larger ensembles, including Music for Large & Small Ensembles (ECM, 1990). Regardless of context, the emphasis has always been on his own inimitable writing, making Nineteen Plus One a distinct entry in his discography. Collaborating with Italy's brass-heavy Colours Orchestra, Wheeler brings his densely modernistic harmonic approach to rearrangements of seven standards. From the brief fanfare of "Only the Lonely" to the more expansive "All or Nothing at All," "How Deep is the Ocean" and "When Your Love Has Gone" all exceeding ten minutes, with plenty of solo space for the Orchestra as well as Wheeler it's no surprise that, despite an unfailing allegiance to the essence of these enduring songs, they sound as if Wheeler wrote them in the first place. 

As if to hammer that point home, the disc ends with Wheeler's sole original  "W.W.," from Wheeler's quintet date Double, Double You (ECM, 1984) and later reworked for larger ensembles including Finland's UMO Jazz Orchestra on One More Time (Challenge, 2000). Contrasting UMO's more left-of-center disposition, Colours is a warmer, more centrist affair, swinging amiably through this and all of Wheeler's charts, with singer Diana Torto capably handling Wheeler's melody lines, originally written for Winstone, with equal aplomb. Wheeler's writing possess a characteristic melancholy; joining this one original with his standards arrangements further clarifies the distinctive touch found in anything on which he lays his hands. Saying that Wheeler's playing remains strong for a man in his eighties would be unfair; surrounded by a group of fine players including conductor Massimo Morganti, who puts his baton aside for a concise, plangent trombone solo on "How Deep is the Ocean" Wheeler's ability to weave lyrical lines with brief intervallic leaps into the stratosphere remains a stylistic touchstone few players half his age can match. 

Torto's lyric interpretations reference Winstone's less-is-more approach, though she demonstrates greater extremes in the thrilling duet with drummer Massimo Manzi that closes "W.W." Guitarist Luca Pecchia receives a moment in the spotlight during the intro to "I Should Care," solely supporting Torto before the ensemble enters to paint a broader palette, which in turn bolsters the guitarist's lithe solo and a particularly fluid feature from Wheeler. The material may be familiar, but the interpretations are completely fresh. Winstone's assertion that Wheeler is "the Duke Ellington of our times" is borne out by Nineteen Plus One. Few musicians alive can be recognized for their charts after just a few notes, or are as capable of making material recorded thousands of times their own within the space of a few short bars. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/nineteen-plus-one-kenny-wheeler-astarte-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Kenny Wheeler: trumpet, flugelhorn; Diana Torto: voice; Massimo Morganti: conductor, trombone solo (3); Simone La Maida: alto and soprano saxophones; Maurizio Moscatelli: alto saxophone; Filippo Sebastianelli: tenor saxophone; Enrico Benvenuti: tenor saxophone; Marco Postacchini: baritone saxophone; Giorgio Caselli: trumpet and flugelhorn; Luigi Faggi Grigioni: trumpet and flugelhorn; Giacomo Uncini: trumpet and flugelhorn; Samuele Garofole: trumpet and flugelhorn; Mauro Ottolini: trombone; Tony Cattano: trombone; Luca Pernici: trombone; Pierluigi Bastioli: bass trombone; Luca Pecchia: guitar; Emilio Marinelli: piano; Gabriele Pesaresi: bass; Massimo Manzi: drums.

Nineteen Plus One

---

Tina May - Tina May Sings Piaf

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:50
Size: 123,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:01)  1. J'Attendrai / Au Revoir
(3:59)  2. Sous le ciel de Pris
(4:21)  3. Les feuilles mortes
(2:59)  4. Mon manège à moi
(4:23)  5. Si tu partais - If you go
(4:30)  6. l'Accordéoniste
(4:50)  7. l'Hymne à l'amour - If you love me
(2:46)  8. C'est à Hambourg
(2:35)  9. La goualante du pauvre Jean
(4:23) 10. La vie en rose
(3:16) 11. Milord
(3:54) 12. Lovers for a day
(5:28) 13. Mon homme
(3:20) 14. Non, je ne regrette rien

Considered as one of the finest jazz vocalists the U.K. has ever produced, Tina May has been recognized for her vocal art on more than one occasion. She was selected Number One Vocalist and the Critic's Choice at the 1998 BT Jazz Awards and was voted Critic's Number One choice for the 1995 British Jazz Vocalist Award. She also was the recipient of London's Outstanding Young Musician Award in 1993. Given that Britain harbors many fine jazz vocalists, being recognized as one of the best is no small achievement. Influenced at an early age by her collection of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller records, she has emerged as a singer who is at ease with both the traditional pop and standards from the Great American Songbook, as represented by these two geniuses, as well as with songs produced by contemporary composers. During the early '80s, May headed her own Back Door Theatre Company, producing such shows as Lady Chatterley's Lover. In the late '80s, she moved on to establish herself in Paris, performing as a chanteuse at various clubs in the City of Light. It was then that she pretty much concentrated on a jazz career, forming her first quartet in 1989. May has a very abundant recording career, releasing seven albums under the U.K. record label 33Jazz. She has been featured soloist at important jazz events and venues including the Duke Ellington Mass, at the venerable London jazz club, Ronnie Scott's, and at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris. 

Among the jazz notables she has shared the stage and/or recorded with are Nikki Iles, David Newton, Stan Tracey, Marian McPartland, Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, and Clarke Tracey, whom she married in 1989. May has appeared frequently on BBC radio and TV either as guest performer or as a leader of her own group. As a classically trained pianist, May has formed and leads a number of small groups over the year, including a trio and her Paris Quintet. An accomplished lyricist adding words to bop standards such as Cannonball Adderley's "Havin' Fun," she also produces original jazz material. Having a dusky soprano with a three-octave range which she employs with flexibility and imagination to interpret both traditional standards and newer material, Tina May continues to occupy a strong position as a premiere jazz vocalist. ~ Dave Nathan https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/tina-may/id152602515#fullText

Tina May sings Piaf

---

Sunna Gunnlaugs - Long Pair Bond

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:29
Size: 114,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:32)  1. Long Pair Bond
(6:00)  2. Thema
(4:25)  3. Autumnalia
(5:21)  4. Elsabella
(5:35)  5. Crab Canon
(5:31)  6. Fyrir Brynhildi
(5:02)  7. Safe from the World
(4:20)  8. Diamonds on the Inside
(5:03)  9. Not What But How
(4:35) 10. Vicious World

With Long Pair Bond, Sunna Gunnlaugs returns to the piano trio format last heard on Far Far Away. Since that 1997 self-titled debut the only album to use her tongue-twisting full name, Gunnlaugsdóttir the Icelandic pianist has, in addition to contracting her name to the eminently more memorable Gunnlaugs, recorded almost exclusively with quartets, largely populated with American (or, at least, American-resident) musicians met after moving to the United States in 1993 to study at William Paterson College. Long Pair Bond's return to trio format is, however, just one of a number of significant changes afoot since Gunnlaugs released The Dream (Self Produced) in 2010. Returning to Iceland, Gunnlaugs still collaborates with husband/drummer Scott McLemore the only constant across all seven of her recordings including 2003's fiery Live in Europe (Sunny Sky) but shifts to local talent for the bass chair. Þorgrímur "Toggi" Jónsson may be a lesser-known entity when compared to past bassists including Drew Gress and Eivind Opsvik, but based on his performance here he's clearly someone to watch, with his flexible blend of firm-planted anchor and inventive melodic foil. On his sole compositional contribution, the folkloric "Fyrir Brynhildi" which introduces a hint of optimism at the end of each pass with a brief major chord, before returning to its melancholic, minor tonal center his warm-toned pizzicato drives both the melody and a solo that matches Gunnlaugs' own lyrical bent, though he proves equally capable of more angular playing on the pianist's harmonically oblique "Thema."

Long Pair Bond also signals a shift away from more complex compositional constructs, though Gunnlaugs still favors mixing up the meters, twisting her own "Autumnal," ever-so-slightly through occasional dropped beats. McLemore's three contributions lean more to the straightforward, with both "Elsabella" and the more up-tempo "Not What But How" in waltz-time, but even when he resorts to irregular time signatures, as he does on "Safe From the World," it never distracts from the song's gentle, easy-on-the-ears nature. Gunnluags' touchstones are unmistakable, with hints of Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, but filtered through her unmistakable allegiance to Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson's classically informed and harmonically skewed melodism. But the barely forty-something pianist also looks beyond these touchstones for inspiration, delivering a relatively straightforward version of alt-rock singer/songwriter Ben Harper's "Diamonds on the Inside" and a less faithful look at Rufus Wainwright's "Vicious World," which may challenge even the biggest meter-o-phile to "find the one," but remains paradoxically delicate and singable. Throughout, McLemore's touch is light not unlike Norwegian drummer Jarle Vespestad's work with pianist Tord Gustavsen, employing a variety of sticks for textural effect while Gunnlaug's is firm yet pliant, moving from fragile vulnerability to robust power on her opening title track. Gunnlaugs has always been about musical depth that doesn't sacrifice inherent accessibility, but by trimming back to a trio, she's delivered one of her most approachable albums yet, where there's no shortage of challenge but that's largely left to the players. For everyone else, Long Pair Bond's 50 minutes pass by with ease, but not without leaving a lasting impression. 

~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/long-pair-bond-sunna-gunnlaugs-sunny-sky-review-by-john-kelman.php
 

Personnel: Sunna Gunnlaugs: piano; Þorgrímur Jónsson: bass; Scott McLemore: drums.

Long Pair Bond

---

Brian Culbertson - Funk!

Styles: Trombone Jazz, Jazz Funk
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:35
Size: 121,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:28)  1. Get Ready
(4:08)  2. The Call
(4:39)  3. Been Around the World
(4:14)  4. Take It Up
(3:45)  5. Let's Take a Ride
(4:02)  6. We Got What You Want
(1:08)  7. Sunshine
(4:36)  8. Hey Girl
(1:04)  9. Damn, I'm Hungry
(4:53) 10. Got to Give It Up
(3:43) 11. Mile Sauce
(4:24) 12. Play That Funky Music
(5:20) 13. Spend a Little Time
(1:05) 14. To Be Continued...

Brian Culbertson is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer who crosses genres between contemporary jazz, R&B, and funk and heralds from the musically rich city of Chicago. Starting at the early age of 8 on piano, he quickly picked up several other instruments by age 12 including drums, trombone, bass, & euphonium. Inspired by the great R&B/Jazz/Pop artists of the 70’s like EWF, Tower of Power, Chicago, David Sanborn, and others, Brian Culbertson started composing original music for his 7th grade piano recital and hasn’t stopped having self-produced 16 solo albums, most of which have topped the Billboard charts. Brian is always striving to push the boundaries of the contemporary jazz scene which is evident by his latest album, Funk! This new set is a throwback to the stanky P-Funk records from back in the day combining the throbbing bass lines, greasy horn lines, sing-a-long choruses and landing hard on the ‘One.’http://www.brianculbertson.com/about/

Funk!

---