Barbara Hendricks, Magnus Lindgren Quartet - Barbara Sings The Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:44
Size: 127.6 MB
Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[5:23] 1. Lady Sings The Blues
[4:42] 2. Tell Me More And More (And Then Some)
[4:16] 3. Trouble In Mind
[4:16] 4. Don’t Explain
[4:01] 5. My Man
[3:26] 6. You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon
[5:48] 7. God Bless The Child
[4:29] 8. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
[4:48] 9. Billie's Blues-I Love My Man
[4:33] 10. Mood Indigo
[4:46] 11. Downhearted Blues
[2:44] 12. Allhelgonablues
[2:25] 13. Strange Fruit

African-American-Swedish soprano Barbara Hendricks formed her own label, Arte Verum, in the mid-2000s and has since been pursuing an impressive variety of adventurous projects. The spirit she has shown is exactly the ticket for classical music as it faces challenging times: the solution to its problems lies not in making the music more, or less, user-friendly, but in promoting musical enterprises that are personal, committed, and challenging to the artist involved in terms of pushing her or him into contact with new audiences. The last of these sounds like "crossover," but Hendricks insists that this is not a crossover release and has unkind things to say about the genre in the handsomely produced booklet (in English and French). It is instead, she says, a jazz release. That is somewhat contradicted elsewhere; although Hendricks' early training was in the African-American religious tradition, she sang little jazz during her early years and turned to it only in the 1990s. She says she approaches jazz as a "curious student...still learning so much." The bottom line is that this is a jazz album very much in the crossover vein attempted by other classical singers and it is an excellent example of the genre. The title Barbara Sings the Blues indicates not a special orientation toward blues material (indeed most of the pieces are not blues), but a program conceived as a tribute to Billie Holiday, from whose repertoire most of the music is taken. Hendricks is not Billie Holiday, but she does an extremely artful job of suggesting some of Holiday's vocal trademarks in a subtle way, and, as saxophonist Magnus Lindgren points out, she has a range greater than what most jazz vocalists can manage. The results range from intriguing to spectacular. Hendricks doesn't have the rhythmic control of a top-rank jazz singer, but her voice has entered a particularly rainbow-like phase in her middle age, and Lindgren's quartet adopts a particularly self-effacing stance in order to highlight it. And Hendricks adds something of her own to a few of the high points of Holiday's repertoire. The best comes last, and you could sample it or save it for hearing in its proper place: "Strange Fruit," with which Holiday ended her own shows, has a tragic operatic intensity here. It would be worth the purchase price even if nothing else on the album was, which is far from the case. ~James Manheim

Barbara Sings The Blues

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Ornette Coleman - The Best Of Ornette Coleman: The Blue Note Years

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:59
Size: 130.5 MB
Styles: Avant Garde jazz, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[ 8:40] 1. Broad Way Blues
[ 6:15] 2. Round Trip
[ 8:09] 3. Dawn
[10:25] 4. Dee Dee
[ 5:56] 5. Zig Zag
[ 6:50] 6. Good Old Days
[10:40] 7. Old Gospel

If there ever was an artist unsuited to a best-of compilation, it's Ornette Coleman. His music is about space and texture within a certain context, not only within the compositions themselves, but in how those songs relate to each other on a particular album or session. By selecting highlights from a series of albums, the songs themselves lose some of their power. That's the main problem with The Best of Ornette Coleman, an otherwise solid overview of his three years at Blue Note. Between 1965 and 1968, he recorded several terrific sessions for the label, and they're all worth hearing. Arguably, the seven songs here are among the best moments from those records, and they do give some sense of what his music is about, but neophytes would be better off with a full album, which will give a more accurate portrait of Coleman's music and its greatness. ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The Best Of Ornette Coleman: The Blue Note Years

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Yusef Lateef - Multi-Man (Discs 1 & 2)

Yusef Lateef long had an inquisitive spirit and he was never just a bop or hard bop soloist. Lateef, who did not care much for the term "jazz," consistently created music that stretched (and even broke through) boundaries. A superior tenor saxophonist with a soulful sound and impressive technique, by the 1950s Lateef was one of the top flutists around. He also developed into the best jazz soloist to date on oboe, was an occasional bassoonist, and introduced such instruments as the argol (a double clarinet that resembles a bassoon), shanai (a type of oboe), and different types of flutes. Lateef played "world music" before it had a name and his output was much more creative than much of the pop and folk music that passed under that label in the '90s. Yusef Lateef grew up in Detroit and began on tenor when he was 17. He played with Lucky Millinder (1946), Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie's big band (1949-1950). He was a fixture on the Detroit jazz scene of the '50s where he studied flute at Wayne State University. Lateef began recording as a leader in 1955 for Savoy (and later Riverside and Prestige) although he did not move to New York until 1959. By then he already had a strong reputation for his versatility and for his willingness to utilize "miscellaneous instruments." Lateef played with Charles Mingus in 1960, gigged with Donald Byrd, and was well-featured with the Cannonball Adderley Sextet (1962-1964). As a leader, his string of Impulse! recordings (1963-1966) was among the finest of his career, although Lateef's varied Atlantic sessions (1967-1976) also had some strong moments. He spent some time in the '80s teaching in Nigeria. His Atlantic records of the late '80s were closer to mood music (or new age) than jazz, but in the '90s (for his own YAL label) Lateef recorded a wide variety of music (all originals) including some strong improvised music with the likes of Ricky Ford, Archie Shepp, and Von Freeman. Lateef remained active as a composer, improviser, and educator (teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst) into the 21st century, performing and recording as a leader and collaborator on such noteworthy recordings as Towards the Unknown with composer/percussionist Adam Rudolph (released in 2010, the same year Lateef was recognized as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts). Yusef Lateef died at his home in Shutesbury, Massachusetts in December 2013; he was 93 years old. ~ bio by Scott Yanow

Album: Multi-Man (Disc 1)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 63:50

Size: 146.1 MB

Styles: Post bop, World fusion

Year: 2016

Art: Front

[ 4:43] 1. Road Runner

[ 5:02] 2. Psychicemotus

[ 9:39] 3. Number 7

[ 3:25] 4. First Gymnopedie

[ 2:34] 5. One Little Indian

[10:10] 6. Delilah

[ 7:40] 7. Nu-Bouk

[ 5:17] 8. The Magnolia Triangle

[ 3:15] 9. The Greatest Story Ever Told

[ 3:03] 10. Soul Sister

[ 4:30] 11. P. Bouk

[ 4:26] 12. Semiocto

Multi-Man (Disc 1) 

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Album: Multi-Man (Disc 2)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 63:21

Size: 145.0 MB

Styles: Post bop, World fusion

Year: 2016

Art: Front

[4:44] 1. Listen To The Wind

[9:10] 2. Brother John

[5:26] 3. Sister Mamie

[3:26] 4. Slippin' And Slidin'

[4:28] 5. I Loved

[4:23] 6. Oasis

[2:11] 7. Try Love

[3:51] 8. Rosetta

[6:14] 9. Yusef's Mood

[6:31] 10. Medula Sonata

[8:13] 11. 1984

[4:38] 12. I'll Always Be In Love With You

Multi-Man (Disc 2) 

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Gal Costa - Gal Bossa Tropical

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:23
Size: 106.2 MB
Styles: Latin jazz, Brazilian rhythms
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[3:43] 1. Socorro
[4:07] 2. The Fool On The Hill
[3:46] 3. Onde Deus Possa Me Ouvir
[4:38] 4. Mulher (Sexo Frágil)
[3:58] 5. Quando Eu Fecho Os Olhos
[3:44] 6. Desde Que O Samba É Samba
[3:31] 7. Epitáfio
[3:58] 8. As Times Goes Be
[4:17] 9. Ovelha Negra
[3:08] 10. Marcianita
[4:24] 11. O Amor Em Paz
[3:03] 12. Cada Macaco No Seu Galho (Cho Chuá)

Gal bossa tropical is a music album that was nominated for Best MPB Album in the 2003 Latin Grammys.

Gal Costa is an awarded singer with an extensive solo discography and international experience. A fundamental presence in the Tropicalia movement, she has been in Brazil's leading team of singers for decades. Since very young, she has been involved with music as a singer and violão player; when her mother's business broke she became a record shop attendant, where she spent long hours listening to music, especially João Gilberto. She became acquainted with Caetano Veloso in 1963, and friendly disputed him as boyfriend with her girlfriend Dedé, who would later be Caetano's wife. In 1964, Caetano was invited to organize a Brazilian popular music show at the opening of Salvador's Teatro Vila Velha. The show, called Nós, por Exemplo, brought Caetano, his sister Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil, and Costa (still under her name Maria da Graça). The show was a success and was re-enacted two weeks later, with the addition of Tom Zé (still presented as Antônio José). The success was even bigger, and the group (without Tom) soon presented another show, Nova Bossa Velha, Velha Bossa Nova.

Costa continued to be a viable and active artist in the 21st century, issuing new recorded material even as repackaging of her previous work hit the market. Gal Boss Tropical was released in 2002 by Abril, followed by Hoje: 2005 from Trama Records three years later. 2006 saw the appearance of Gal Costa Live at the Blue Note from DRG.

Gal Bossa Tropical

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Lee Konitz, Red Mitchell - I Concentrate On You

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:27
Size: 129.2 MB
Styles: Post bop, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1987
Art: Front

[5:09] 1. Just One Of Those Things
[3:02] 2. Just One Of Those Things, Take 7
[3:15] 3. Easy To Love
[2:57] 4. It's Allright With Me
[2:46] 5. Everytime We Say Goodbye, Take 1
[2:48] 6. Everytime We Say Goodbye
[3:46] 7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[5:17] 8. Love For Sale
[2:08] 9. In The Still Of The Night
[5:11] 10. Night And Day, Take 1
[3:56] 11. Night And Day
[3:34] 12. I Love You
[3:20] 13. I Love Paris
[9:12] 14. I Concentrate On You

Lee Konitz has been a constant explorer throughout most of his career, never satisfied with a standard approach or falling into a rut with a particular instrumentation. This 1974 duo session with bassist Red Mitchell, which focuses exclusively on the works of Cole Porter, is one great example. With an inventive accompanist like Mitchell spurring him on, the alto saxophonist is able to work magical variations of the familiar Porter works, while Konitz retains his remarkable dry signature tone. "Easy to Love" has a bit of a bittersweet air in his hands, as does the more deliberate "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye." Mitchell is a bit more subdued in the hip treatment of "'You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," as Konitz's intricate improvisation works its magic. The usually over the top "Love for Sale" features an understated arrangement here. Mitchell switches to piano for "Night and Day," playing a soft bop line behind the leader. ~Ken Dryden

I Concentrate On You

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Miki Howard - Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:37
Size: 86,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:53)  1. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
(4:03)  2. I'm A Fool To Want You
(3:07)  3. My Man
(4:41)  4. Solitude
(2:55)  5. 'T'aint Nobody's Business If I Do
(2:14)  6. Yesterdays
(3:46)  7. Now Or Never
(5:24)  8. Don't Explain
(4:07)  9. Strange Fruit
(3:23) 10. I Want To Be Your Mother's Son-In-Law

Miki Howard tries her hand at jazz repertory with this Billie Holiday tribute album. Howard was smart enough to sing the songs in her own style rather than try to emulate Holiday. Howard mostly scores on this disc, turning in fine, sometimes triumphant performances on "Solitude," "My Man" and "Don't Explain." Only on "Strange Fruit" does she miss the boat; she's too mannered and pristine on a brutally painful number. In addition, the label made this the ninth, rather than last, track on the disc. The bemused, ironic qualities of "I Want To Be Your Mother's Son-In-Law" seem out-of-place following a tune about vicious inhumanity. But those two decisions aside, Miki Howard has given Billie Holiday a solid tribute and ably displayed her own skills in the process. ~ Ron Wynn http://www.allmusic.com/album/miki-sings-billie-a-tribute-to-billie-holiday-mw0000105824

Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute to Billie Holiday

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Chris Byars - Bop-ography

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 62:07
Size: 115,1 MB
Art: Front

( 5:19)  1. Festival
( 5:59)  2. Straight Ahead
( 6:20)  3. Lost Love
( 4:29)  4. Himalayan Sunrise
( 6:07)  5. Nature Boy
( 6:39)  6. Minority
( 6:33)  7. Indra
(20:38)  8. Bop-Ography

An equally skilled player on both alto and tenor saxes, Chris Byars leads a tantalizing pianoless quartet, using regular collaborators John Mosca on trombone, bassist Ari Roland, and drummer Stefan Schatz. After an earlier tribute to composer Gigi Gryce, Byars continues with three more of his songs, adding octogenarian vibraphonist Teddy Charles for the enticing slow blues "Straight Ahead" (with its meandering theme, it is anything but), while the leader's father is added on English horn in the ensembles for the breezy take of Gryce's well-known bop vehicle "Minority." Byars' exotic "Indra" features Schatz on kanjira (an Indian tambourine-like instrument, but without the metal rim) is full of twists and turns in its infectious theme, and his majestic "Himalayan Sunrise" has a Far Eastern air (with the backgrounds provided by both Mosca and Byars, Sr. on English horn) and rich harmonies often found in '50s jazz. This is yet another fine date by Chris Byars. ~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/bop-ography-mw0001983527

Personnel: Chris Byars (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); John Mosca (trombone); Stefan Schatz (drums); James Byars (oboe);  Teddy Charles (vibes);  Ari Roland (bass).

Bop-ography

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Russell Gunn - Plays Miles

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 52:06
Size: 85,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:20)  1. Tutu
(9:48)  2. Bitches Brew
(6:38)  3. Blue In Green
(7:24)  4. Footprints
(5:58)  5. Nardis
(5:45)  6. All Blues
(5:54)  7. Eighty One
(4:17)  8. New New Blues

Since introducing his hip hop/funk/fusion-centric Ethnomusicology series in 1999 culminating in Ethnomusicology Vol. 4: Live in Atlanta (Justin-Time, 2004)  forward-looking trumpeter Russell Gunn has alternated straight-ahead fare for HighNote like 2002's Blue on the D.L., with Ethnomusicology releases for a variety of labels. With Plays Miles, however, he finds clear common ground. Given his steadfast avoidance of labeling it's no surprise that Gunn is gradually moving towards a unified approach that brings together all of his diverse musical interests. There's no direct hip hop reference to be found here, but Gunn's tribute to musical paradigm shifter Miles Davis brings together post bop and fusion/funk in a remarkably integrated fashion. Most Miles tributes focus on one of the late trumpeter's many periods, but Gunn places material as old as the modal "All Blues and pensive "Blue in Green, from Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959), beside later material including the title tracks from Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969) and Tutu (Warner Bros., 1986). Gunn encyclopedically finds the common thread running through the icon's four decade-plus career. 

Gunn's economical penchant for melodic development has everything to do with Miles. His thick tone, however, and a harmonic approach more evolved from the styles of Booker Little and Lee Morgan, bears little reference to the trumpet icon, making this a tribute that truly speaks with its own voice. "Tutu is as inevitably funky as the original, but more open-ended and less sonically dated, with keyboardist Orrin Evans alternating between acoustic piano, Rhodes and synthesizer. Gunn's Elektrik Butterfly Band is a small affair, also featuring bassist Mark Kelley, drummer Montez Coleman and percussionist Kahlil Kwame Bell, resulting in a more spacious sound that contrasts with the greater density that Miles began with Bitches Brew and continued, with rare exception, to the end of his life. It also allows for greater interaction and clearer delineation. There are plenty of surprises. Ron Carter's "Eighty One, from E.S.P. (Columbia, 1965), is given a brisk Latin reworking, with Kelley and Coleman almost relentlessly propulsive. Evans' intro to "Blue in Green suggests a mainstream approach until the rhythm section enters and it morphs into a soulful take that would have been completely in context with Miles' '80s work if it weren't for Evans' remaining on acoustic piano throughout. Afro-beat meets go-go on the group's version of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints, from Miles Smiles (Columbia, 1966), while "Nardis revolves around Kelley's loosely repetitive bass line and features Evans at his show-stopping best. Gunn has always been a bit like actor/director Woody Allen: there's no middle ground, you either love him or hate him. With Plays Miles he's finally created a record that's funky, energetic and contemporary enough to appeal to Ethnomusicology fans while not neglecting the mainstream tradition that admirers of his HighNote discs are looking for. Rather than being a compromise it's the most stylistically assimilated record of his career, and may well convert some of his naysayers into new devotees. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/plays-miles-russell-gunn-highnote-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Russell Gunn: trumpet, effects. The Elektrik Butterfly Band: Orrin Evans: keyboards; Mark Kelley: bass; Montez Coleman: drums; Kahlil Kwame Bell: percussion.

Plays Miles

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Joachim Schoenecker Trio & Minguet String Quartet - Nocturnes

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:13
Size: 115,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:21)  1. City Lights
(5:51)  2. Visiting Darkness
(0:20)  3. Interlude
(6:56)  4. Eclectic Dance Scene
(7:32)  5. Sledding With Professor Ambrosius
(5:03)  6. While She Sleeps
(6:17)  7. Stella By Starlight
(6:43)  8. Turn Out the Stars
(5:08)  9. And So It Goes

Joachim Schoenecker: A master guitar-player of the modern age of classical jazz! With a style that is sure and expressive, technically brilliant and acoustically multicoloured, Joachim Schoenecker celebrates his musical visions with a smooth unobtrusiveness that is always on the same wavelength as his high-calibre band members. In the USA, the spiritual home of jazz, Schoenecker’s energy-charged music with its emotional, melodic ballads and virtuoso, sometimes breathtakingly fast-paced, tunes has long been considered the insider’s favourite on what is a very tough and demanding jazz scene. That Joachim Schoenecker is a first-rate guitarist is clearly evident on his latest album, Nocturnes: sensitive and technically perfect, this collection of tunes simply shines with the brilliance of his playing. However, his guitar by no means dominates the limelight, he also allows his equally talented colleagues Chander Sardjoe on drums and Dietmar Fuhr on bass the freedom and space to bloom in their own right. One particularly innovative feature of Nocturnes is, however, the dreamlike combination of this highly talented jazz trio with a classical string quartet (here: the Minguet Quartet). Rarely have jazz and classical instruments united so harmoniously to form one complete acoustic image. The very first piece “City Lights” creates a highly atmospheric closeness that is then characteristic of the entire album. The overall result is a musical delicacy, which impresses mainly through its astounding effortlessness and the dreamlike interaction between the different musicians.

Airy acoustic moments, intimate and gentle dialogues, dynamism and a wealth of variety characterise Schoenecker’s music. Attentive and introspective in the ballads, energy-packed and hands-on in the faster numbers Nocturnes will most certainly cause a stir in the jazz world and beyond, and not only in the States. With the 10 songs on Nocturnes, Schoenecker pays tribute to the “power of the night”, to the beauty and mystery of the “dark hours”. This wonderful atmosphere is impressively enhanced by the enormously intricate string arrangements of Florian Ross, which together with the dextrous skill of the trio make Nocturnes so unique. The listener can almost taste the electric atmosphere of the recording studio not least because of the high-quality recording and mastering technology that makes this hybrid Sacd into the most extraordinary sound experience around.

Born in 1966 and living in Cologne, Joachim Schoenecker is already according to music magazine Jazz Podium one of only a handful of people who have succeeded, with his début Cd, in “rising, in just one step, to the level of master guitarist of the modern age of classical jazz”. Since the release of his second CD, “In the Moment”, with an all-star American line-up comprising Chris Potter, Adam Nussbaum and John Goldsby, he has been fêted by the specialist press as one of the most outstanding European jazz guitarists on the scene. Schoenecker’s own compositions have all the makings of classics. And as evidenced by Nocturnes even pieces from the pens of luminaries such as Bill Evans or even Billy Joel become one with the musical vision of this recording artist and his companions. Numerous appearances in German and European jazz clubs and festivals, as well as a raft of guest appearances in various line-ups with internationally renowned musicians are further proof of Joachim Schoenecker’s high-quality talent. Since 1999, he has also been teaching jazz guitar and ensemble playing at the University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig. With outstanding ease and clarity, Joachim Schoenecker masters even the most difficult passages and fast-paced runs. But his virtuosity, though much lauded by the specialist press, is only one element of his playing. Schoenecker’s remarkable feel for melodic development, harmony and dramaturgical form, his amazingly original instrumental voice and the clear, sometimes melancholy, structures of his compositions will most certainly win over even those listeners who are not aficionados of jazz. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shoeneckerj1

Nocturnes

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