Sunday, October 23, 2016

André Previn - All Alone

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1967
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:55
Size: 81,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:08)  1. More Than You Know
(2:18)  2. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
(2:33)  3. Everything Happens To Me
(3:38)  4. You Are Too Beautiful
(3:12)  5. How Deep Is The Ocean
(2:56)  6. Angel Eyes
(2:40)  7. When Sunny Gets Blue
(2:31)  8. As Time Goes By
(3:34)  9. Remember Me
(3:30) 10. Yesterdays
(2:49) 11. Dancing On The Ceiling
(3:00) 12. Here's That Rainy Day

Successful as pianist, composer, and especially as conductor, André Previn has frequently bridged the gap between popular and so-called "serious" music, and in doing so broadened the horizons of both. His father was an accomplished pianist (though a lawyer by profession) and determined that his son would follow in his musical footsteps. The talented young André received instruction on the piano at the Berlin Hochschule, and also absorbed music in a less formal environment during the many private recitals given in the Previn home. In the mid-1930s the Jewish family fled to France where André continued as a scholarship student at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1939, the Previn family relocated to southern California. Life was difficult for the family (all their possessions had been left behind in Europe, and Previn's father was qualified only in German law), and though barely ten years old, André supplemented the family income by accompanying films at movie houses and playing in jazz clubs. At 14 he started working at MGM (Charles Previn, André's great uncle, was head of music at Universal Studios), orchestrating and arranging film music, and slowly saved enough money to study composition with Castelnuovo-Tedesco. At 18 André was asked to compose his own full-length film score (The Sun Comes Up, 1949), which resulted in his first experience on the podium in front of a real orchestra  Previn quickly realized that his future lay in conducting, though he understood the gulf between film music and serious conducting to be a wide one indeed.

Previn, who had taken U.S. citizenship in 1943, serving in San Francisco during the Korean War, where he had the opportunity to study conducting with Pierre Monteux. Following discharge from the army, Previn left MGM, but continued to compose, conduct, and arrange film music throughout the 1950s. He also recorded and released a series of best-selling jazz albums (something he would continue to do sporadically throughout the decades). In 1963, having won four Academy Awards in as many years, Previn found the courage to abandon Hollywood and pursue his dream of becoming a respected conductor. His professional debut occurred that same year with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and he spent the next several years traveling around the country conducting various little-known orchestras in an effort to gain exposure and develop his own skill on the podium. His first big break occurred in 1967 when he was asked to succeed Sir John Barbirolli as music director of the Houston Symphony. When offered the job of principal conductor for the London Symphony Orchestra in 1968, Previn left Houston. During his 11 years with the orchestra (1969-1979) a series of BBC television productions entitled André Previn's Music Hour made the LSO (and Previn) a household name around the world. Other conducting appointments have included the Pittsburgh Symphony, from 1977 to 1985; the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1985 and 1986 seasons; and, from 1987 on, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1993 he was named conductor laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and he continues to make frequent appearances around the globe as a guest conductor. Previn readily admits that he is not driven to compose, but only does so on occasion, and then only on specific request. Nevertheless he has composed a generous quantity of concert music, including a piano concerto for Vladimir Ashkenazy and cello sonata at the request of Yo-Yo Ma. His musical play, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, was produced in London in 1978. The year 1998 saw the release of his full-length opera, A Streetcar Named Desire at the San Francisco Opera. In 2009, Houston Grand Opera presented his Brief Encounter, based on the film of the same name and the Noël Coward play, Still Life. 
~ Blair Johnston http://www.allmusic.com/artist/andr%C3%A9-previn-mn0000030250/biography
 
Thank You Scoredaddy!!!!

All Alone

Ernestine Anderson - I Love Being Here With You Disc 1 And Disc 2

Album: I Love Being Here With You (Disc 1)

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 39:46
Size: 64,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:46)  1. I Love Being Here With You
(7:03)  2. All Blues
(5:30)  3. Down Home Blues
(4:26)  4. As long As I Live
(6:50)  5. Please Send Me Someone To Love
(3:30)  6. I Let A Song Go Out Of My My Heart
(4:00)  7. Spring is Here
(4:37)  8. Street Of Dreams


Album: I Love Being Here With You (Disk 2)

Time: 55:25
Size: 89,1 MB

( 7:32)  1. Blues In The Closet (instr)
( 4:42)  2. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
(10:21)  3. I Should Care
( 5:22)  4. There Is No Greater Love
( 7:14)  5. Skylark
( 4:57)  6. On My Own
(15:14)  7. Never Make Your Move Too Soon

This nicely packaged, but hard to follow (I'm still not completely sure who's playing what on which CD) two CD set compiles excerpts from four live performances by Ernestine Anderson, mostly as a guest. The album covers three live performances from 1987 and one from 1990, when the singer was doing some very good work. The CD 2 is a complete replication of the Live at the 1990 Jazz Festival album. Since as far as I know, this album is still available, why it is included here is a bit of a mystery to me. CD 1 is the far more engaging of the two. One of the compilations's highlights for me is Anderson's appearance with the Frank Capp/Nat Pierce Juggernaut Band from Live at the Alley Cat. This was the last of that high flying big band's albums due to the death of co-leader Nat Pierce. Anderson did four numbers on that album. The work on the "Street of Dreams" and "I Let a Song Go out of My Heart" is recommendation enough to run out and try and located that Frankie Capp/Nat Pierce CD. At one point during his career, pianist George Shearing seemed determined to record with just about every singer he could get his arms around. He cornered Anderson for two cuts on his 1987 release Dexterity. He and Shearing come together nicely on the cuts on which Anderson appears, "As Long As I Live" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love". The other album on this medley, again from 1987, and this time features the Concord All-Stars with such luminaries as Dave McKenna, Red Holloway and Dan Barrett occupying seats. There are three cuts from this album, with Anderson and McKenna working out on "I Love Being Here with You" the top item. This album will certainly appeal to Anderson's many fans as well as to those who just love a good singer behind a good band especially the Capp/Pierce outfit. ~ Dave Nathan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/i-love-being-here-with-you-ernestine-anderson-concord-music-group-review-by-dave-nathan.php

Personnel: Dan Barrett, Charlie Loper, Garnett Brown, Buster Cooper - Trombone;  Ed Bickert, Ken Pohlman - Guitar;  Scott Hamilton, Bob Cooper,  Frank Wess - Tenor Sax;  Red Holloway - Alto & Tenor Sax;  Dave McKenna, George Shearing, Gene Harris, Nat Pierce - Piano; Jimmie Smith, Frank Capp, Harold Jones - Drums; Warren Vache - Trumpet; Steve Wallace, Neil Swainson, Chuck Berghofer, Lynn Seaton - Bass; Snooky Young, Frank Szabo, Conte Candoli, Bill Berry; Dave Edwards, Joe Romano, Marshal Royal - Alto Sax; Bill Green - Baritone Sax

I Love Being Here With You (Disk 1) And (Disk 2)

Ethan Iverson & Lee Konitz - Costumes Are Mandatory

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:10
Size: 130,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:23)  1. Blueberry Ice Cream take 2
(7:03)  2. Try a Little Tenderness
(1:05)  3. It's You (Tempo Complex)
(4:54)  4. It's You
(5:33)  5. What's New
(4:47)  6. 317 East 32nd
(5:50)  7. Body and Soul
(4:42)  8. Blueberry Hill
(2:01)  9. A Distant Bell
(2:12) 10. Bats
(1:19) 11. Mr.Bumi
(2:36) 12. My New Lovers All Seem So Tame
(7:04) 13. My Old Flame
(3:34) 14. Blueberry Ice Cream take 1

Costumes Are Mandatory is very collegially advertised as a collaborative album featuring Ethan Iverson, Lee Konitz, Larry Grenadier, and Jorge Rossy. And while the music may indeed be collaborative, even multi-improvisational at times, it's Iverson's date and he's very clearly the leader. The record is envisioned as an homage to "a dialogue with," according to the liner notes the late blind pianist Lennie Tristano, who in addition to generally being credited as a founder of the 'cool school' (an oversimplification, to be sure), and an early avant-garde pioneer, was also a primary teacher and influence on Konitz (as well as tenorist Warne Marsh). Though he is often thought of as being a somewhat separate musical line from bebop, he was nonetheless a great admirer of Charlie Parker, playing on many of Bird's early recordings in the late 1940s, and later serving as a pallbearer in his funeral. Strangely, given its stated intent, there isn't a single composition credited to Tristano on the record. Iverson is well represented though, opening with his "Blueberry Ice Cream take 2" a relatively conventional blues with a quick walking bass line and catchy melody. The direct connection to Tristano is, of course, Konitz who's own playing in recent years has become freer, with very little melodic structure. Iverson lays out for Konitz' compact solo which has an airiness to it that floats above the straight-ahead structure of the tune. Iverson's piano work is, in places, more reminiscent of Thelonious Monk than Tristano.

The intro to "Try A Little Tenderness" is very reminiscent of Tristano's melancholy "Requiem" featuring broad, well- sustained chords before Konitz and the rhythm section rejoin with the melody. Konitz' straight ahead statement of the tune is uncharacteristic of much of his recent playing, and he barely deviates at all leaving the improvisation to Iverson. "It's You (Tempo Complex)" pulls a Tristano trick right out of the hat by overdubbing two pianos to psychedelic, effect. At only one minute long it's enough to convey the effect without overpowering the surrounding tracks. The following straight acoustic version of the song delivers some of Konitz' best most Konitz-like improvisations: loose and searching, endlessly inventive, but still melodic and delightful. According to the liner notes Konitz declined to play on "Blueberry Hill" stating "Sounds like something The Bad Plus should play instead." Costumes Are Mandatory might work best because the music and the musicians have either approached Tristano with completely different competing musical influences, or in the case of Konitz, having completely absorbed then transcended his former mentor. They're not trying to imitate Tristano, but they forge just enough of a connection to make a truly interesting record that's worth seeking out. ~ Greg Simmons https://www.allaboutjazz.com/costumes-are-mandatory-larry-grenadier-highnote-records-review-by-greg-simmons.php
 
Personnel: Ethan Iverson: piano; Lee Konitz: alto saxophone, vocals (track 13); Larry Grenadier; Jorge Rossy.

Costumes Are Mandatory

Joel Harrison - Urban Myths

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:38
Size: 128,9 MB
Art: Front

( 6:35)  1. You Must Go Through a Winter
( 6:06)  2. 125 and Lenox
(11:18)  3. Mood Rodeo
( 7:58)  4. Last Waltz for Queva
( 6:19)  5. Straight No Chaser Variatioons
( 8:44)  6. Between the Traveler and the Setting Sun
( 5:00)  7. Urban Myths
( 3:35)  8. High Expectation Low Return


With a string of outstanding records that began with his personal look at the music of George Harrison on Harrison on Harrison (HighNote, 2005), continued with an all-original pairing with guitarist Nguyen Le on Harbor (HighNote, 2007) and culminated with the ambitious The Wheel (Innova, 2008), guitarist Joel Harrison has, over the last few years, been setting an increasingly high bar both compositionally and as a player.Most remarkable is that he's managed, each time, to reach that bar and, in many cases, surpass it. Urban Myths may be an homage of sorts, but it still possesses his personal imprint, avoiding the retro feel of so many others of its kind. Instead, this largely original tribute to electric music of the mid-to-late '70s from legends including Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and John McLaughlin is as modern as they come, while still unmistakably referencing the music that Harrison grew up with back in the day.

Urban Myths has grooves aplenty, but they're couched in the kind of episodic writing that's been an increasing Harrison trademark, turning what is largely an impressive blowing session for friends including altoist David Binney and über-violinist Christian Howes into a series of intriguing compositions that transcend mere heads or vamp-based jams. What traces of Harrison's influences exist are so subsumed in his expansive approach to writing that they're more elemental than direct. Not unlike Binney, Harrison finds new ways to couch his roots in complex structures, as on the fiery "You Must Go Through a Winter," where Howes' fervent solo is supported by the relentless energy of bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Jordan Person. The groove gets darker and greasier on "125 and Lenox," with a staggered melody that concurrently references Shorter and, during Daniel Kelly's Rhodes solo, Headhunters-era Hancock though the rhythm section's open-ended approach is like nothing either artist did in the day. "Mood Rodeo" finds an odd nexus between mid-'70s Miles Davis and Jean-Luc Ponty's irregular metered fusion again, despite sounding like neither of these players, with writing of far greater compositional weight. "Last Waltz for Queva" may be a countrified ballad, but its innate lyricism goes beyond western roots with a melody that's sophisticated yet simple; a tad oblique, but equally memorable and singing.

Harrison delivers some of his best solos to date. His blues-drenched Telecaster on "Last Waltz" navigates its gospel-inflections with deep feeling, while his massively overdriven solo on "125 and Lenox" is the definition of reckless abandon; a visceral foil for solos throughout from Binney and Howes that match Harrison's unbridled passion and clear invention. Urban Myths may appear, on the surface, less challenging than Harbor or The Wheel, but Harrison nevertheless manages to create a more contemporary tribute to decade-old music more often aimed at lengthy soloing. Skewed as only Harrison can, Urban Myths is an homage with a difference, and continues to assert his growing reputation as a writer and performer of great significance. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/urban-myths-joel-harrison-highnote-records-review-by-john-kelman.php
 
Personnel: Joel Harrison: guitar; David Binney: alto saxophone; Christian Howes: violin; Daniel Kelly: keyboards; Stephan Crump: acoustic bass; Jordan Person: drums; Fima Ephron: electric bass (2, 8); Ambrose Akinmusire: trumpet (4, 5, 7); Corey King: trombone (4, 5, 7); Jerome Sabbag: tenor saxophone (4, 5).

Urban Myths