Boogaloo Joe Jones - Right On Brother

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 41:24

Size: 94.8 MB

Styles: Jazz/Funk/Soul

Year: 1970/2008

Art: Front

[5:39] 1. Right On

[7:04] 2. Things Ain't What They Used To Be

[6:05] 3. Poppin'

[6:45] 4. Someday We'll Be Together

[5:04] 5. Brown Bag

[5:23] 6. Let It Be Me

[3:00] 7. Right On

[2:20] 8. Someday We'll Be Together

Bass – Jimmy Lewis; Drums – Bernard Purdie; Guitar – Boogaloo Joe Jones; Organ – Charlie Earland; Saxophone – Rusty Bryant.

A fantastic album of funky jazz guitar – by one of the best players in the genre! This is Ivan's first truly sublime album – a set that showed the world that he was easily one of the greatest jazz guitarists of his generation – able to spin out single-note jams with a speed and dexterity that few others could match! The groove here is totally great and very righteous – heavy drums from Bernard Purdie, wailing organ from Charles Earland, and saxophone from Rusty Bryant – all cooking together in the best early 70s Prestige jazz funk mode! Titles include "Right On", "Brown Bag", "Things Ain't What They Used To Be", and "Poppin".

Right On Brother       

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Aaron Neville - New Orleans Soul

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:41
Size: 168.7 MB
Styles: Soul
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[3:15] 1. It's All Right
[3:53] 2. Congo Square
[2:57] 3. Tick Tock Tick
[3:11] 4. Baby What You Want Me To Do
[5:02] 5. Summertime
[2:33] 6. Everybody Plays The Fool
[4:51] 7. Feels Like Rain
[3:57] 8. What's Goin' On
[4:42] 9. Ain't No Sunshine
[8:02] 10. A Change Is Gonna Come
[1:31] 11. Three Little Birds
[2:18] 12. Stir It Up
[3:47] 13. Drift Away
[3:43] 14. Hercules
[3:50] 15. Sara Smile
[3:46] 16. Down By The River
[3:21] 17. Louisiana 9127
[3:58] 18. Tell It Like It Is
[2:06] 19. Amazing Grace
[2:48] 20. One World

Until now, it’s been easy to separate Aaron Neville’s career into two separate but equal strains: the funky stuff he’s favored when working with his esteemed band of brothers, and the angelic balladry you associate with him when he’s punching his own time card as a solo artist. Casual fans might admit they don’t know much — to borrow a phrase — about Neville’s musical center, but they’ve perceived a certain split in his career. An education is about to be provided that makes the case for Aaron Neville as the most holistic of soul men. Its hard R&B side matches anything the Neville Brothers ever recorded for true grit, while still allowing plenty of space for a singer who’s arguably the most distinctive vocal stylist on the planet to tell it like it is.

New Orleans Soul

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The Los Angeles Jazz Ensemble - Jazz Standards: 25 All Time Greats

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 68:55

Size: 157.8 MB

Styles: Smooth jazz

Year: 2015

Art: Front

[2:19] 1. Body And Soul

[4:00] 2. Stardust

[2:45] 3. Willow Weep For Me

[2:37] 4. What's New

[1:31] 5. Oh, Lady Be Good

[2:19] 6. On Green Dolphin Street

[2:48] 7. Tenderly

[2:41] 8. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)

[2:51] 9. I'll Remember April

[1:59] 10. Sophisticated Lady

[2:57] 11. After You've Gone

[2:14] 12. (Back Home Again In) Indiana

[2:39] 13. Misty

[3:54] 14. If I Had You

[2:07] 15. (I Don't Stand) A Ghost Of A Chance With You

[4:19] 16. More Than You Know

[3:44] 17. Memories Of You

[2:30] 18. They Can't Take That Away From Me

[2:00] 19. A Foggy Day

[2:23] 20. Just You, Just Me

[2:22] 21. This Can't Be Love

[3:33] 22. Moonglow

[2:35] 23. Lullaby Of Birdland

[3:13] 24. Poor Butterfly

[2:24] 25. Flying Home

Darek Oleszkiewicz (bass), Janis Siegel (vocals), Bob Sheppard (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), Larry Koonse (guitar), Alan Pasqua (organ), Peter Erskine (drums).

Jazz Standards 25 All Time Greats

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Barbara Mendes - So Many Stars

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 23:46
Size: 54.4 MB
Styles: Bossa Nova
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[3:32] 1. Alone Again
[4:27] 2. So Many Stars
[3:13] 3. Dancing In The Moonlight
[3:48] 4. The Gentle Rain
[3:17] 5. Mais Que Nada
[2:45] 6. O Barquinho
[2:40] 7. Pra Dizer Adeus

Barbara Mendes grew up in Rio de Janeiro, home of the Bossanova. On her first songs she accompanied her mother Marisa Rossi who was the winner of the musical "Big Chance" in the 60s. In 1996 Barbara Mendes moved to New York where he was educated at various singing schools and made forays into gospel music. She published two solo albums and has done multiple collaborations on soundtracks and with renowned DJ's.

So Many Stars

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Wild Bill Davison - With Strings: Sweet And Lovely

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:31
Size: 108.8 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[3:54] 1. Sugar
[3:10] 2. Sweet And Lovely
[3:49] 3. Serenade In Blue
[3:18] 4. A Ghost Of A Change
[3:23] 5. Our Love Is Here To Stay 2
[3:30] 6. Prelude To A Kiss
[3:02] 7. She's Funny That Way
[3:54] 8. Black Butterfly
[2:41] 9. If I Had You
[4:23] 10. Rockin' Chair
[3:36] 11. Mandy Make Up Your Mind
[3:40] 12. When Your Love Has Gone
[5:04] 13. Sentimental Journey

Will Bill Davison (cornet); Jorn "Jonne" Jensen (piano); Finn Ziegler, Ivan Leth (violin); Niels Erik Clausen (cello); Lars Blach, Torben Munk (guitar); Jens Solund (bass); Hans Nymand (drums). Recorded Rosenberg Soundtechnic, Copenhagen, Denmark in August 1976.

The arrangements for the 12-piece string section on this Storyville set may not be all that inspiring (functioning primarily as background music) but cornetist Wild Bill Davison's solos are thoughtful, very expressive and consistently inspired Sweet And Lovely buy CD music. Wild Bill performs a dozen of his favorite ballads and, although violinist Finn Ziegler has a few solos and there are guest spots for clarinetist Jesper Thilo and trombonist Ole "Fessor" Lindgreen, Davison is largely the entire show Sweet And Lovely songs. His warm playing on such numbers as "Sugar," "Serenade in Blue," "She's Funny That Way" and "If I Had You" is sometimes both haunting and memorable. ~ Scott Yanow

With Strings: Sweet And Lovely

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Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats

Styles: Vocal And Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:22
Size: 185,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:00)  1. Honeysuckle Rose
(4:43)  2. Blue turning grey over you
(4:29)  3. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby
(5:05)  4. Squeeze Me
(3:21)  5. Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now
(5:16)  6. All That Meat And No Potatoes
(3:13)  7. I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling
(4:39)  8. Black and Blue
(4:36)  9. Ain't Misbehavin
(4:53) 10. Black And Blue
(4:41) 11. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby (Edited Alternate Version)
(4:57) 12. Blue Turning Grey Over You (Edited Alternate Version)
(3:18) 13. I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling (Edited Alternate Version)
(3:20) 14. Squeeze Me (Bonus)
(3:03) 15. (What Did I Do To Be So) Black And Blue (Bonus)
(3:15) 16. Ain't Misbehavin' (Bonus)
(3:29) 17. Blue Turning Grey Over You (Bonus)
(3:31) 18. Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now (Bonus)
(3:14) 19. Sweet Savannah Sue (Bonus)
(3:08) 20. That Rythm Man (Bonus)

Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller only worked together twice, briefly in 1925 in Erskine Tate's band and four years later in the New York revue Connie's Hot Chocolates. But Waller made an indelible enough impression for Satchmo to record the tribute album Satch Plays Fats: The Music of Fats Waller in 1955, when such ideas were new. The nine tracks feature Armstrong ably supported by his All-Stars on such classics as "Honeysuckle Rose," "Squeeze Me," and "Ain't Misbehavin'." The mid-'50s was a fertile time for Armstrong, and this makes for a stellar package. ~ Cub Koda http://www.allmusic.com/album/satch-plays-fats-the-music-of-fats-waller-mw0000876950

Personnel:  Vocals – Louis Armstrong, Velma Middleton;  Clarinet – Barney Bigard;  Double Bass – Arvell Shaw;  Drums – Barrett Deems;  Piano – Billy Kyle;  Trombone – Trummy Young;  Trumpet – Louis Armstrong; 

Satch Plays Fats

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Dianne Reeves - The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:28
Size: 153,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:44)  1. Lullaby Of Birdland
(6:03)  2. Send In The Clowns
(6:26)  3. Speak Low
(7:37)  4. Obsession
(6:44)  5. If You Could See Me Now
(4:20)  6. I Remember Sarah
(4:11)  7. Key Largo
(5:41)  8. I Hadn't Anyone 'Til You
(5:24)  9. Fascinating Rhythm
(7:56) 10. Embraceable You
(6:17) 11. A Chamada (The Call)

The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan is Dianne Reeves’ grandest project yet. It also is one closest to heart as she pays tribute to one of her primary vocal influences. Having listened to Sarah Vaughan for most of her life, and having met Vaughan without recognizing her in 1975 during Cannonball Adderley’s memorial service, Reeves, after eleven albums, finally has the confidence to tackle some of Vaughan’s best-known tunes as she ignores the inevitable comparisons.  As demanded by the scale of the album, Reeves for the first time is backed by a studio orchestra. Not just any orchestra, though. But one consisting of 42 musicians led by Billy Childs and Patrick Gandy. Surrounded by said orchestra is Reeves’ rhythm section of Mulgrew Miller, Reginald Veal and Gregory Hutchinson.  Intending to cover the scope of Vaughan’s career, Reeves and orchestra include her famous “If You Could See Me Now” by Tadd Dameron and run through the decades to Dori Caymmi’s “Obsession” from 1987, one of Vaughan’s final recordings. Of course, the album includes Vaughan’s equally famous version of “Send In The Clowns,” which is especially appropriate for the orchestra’s lushness, dynamics and musical drama.

While it wasn’t obvious until it was pointed out by the theme of The Calling, Reeves’ range and colors do recall Vaughan’s, even as Reeves has developed a distinctive voice that’s instantly recognizable. On Reeves’ and Child’s tune honoring Vaughan’s influence upon a generation of singers, “I Remember Sarah,” Reeves adopts the Vaughan persona, combining Vaughan’s implicit wordless swing and her identifying intervals with Reeves’ favored approach of singing recollections. On the other hand, Reeves sounds like none other than Reeves on Childs’ arrangement of “Fascinating Rhythm,” her intro more like “Afro Blue’s” from her last album, In The Moment: Live In Concert, than Vaughan’s. The album’s producers went to great lengths to include Clark Terry’s, Reeves’ discoverer’s, responses to Reeves’ calls, not to mention his trumpet solo, on “I Hadn’t Anyone ‘Til You.” Reeves recorded the tune with the orchestra in Burbank and sent the tape to Terry in New York, where he recorded the balance of the tune. Reeves has grown, and actually blossomed, throughout her career to this point, where she, along with other outstanding singers of her generation, are continuing the tradition of jazz singing for the current generation. The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan symbolizes that passing of the torch. ~ AAJ Staff  https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-calling-celebrating-sarah-vaughan-dianne-reeves-blue-note-records-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Dianne Reeves, vocals; Billy Childs, Mulgrew Miller, piano; Reginald Veal, bass; Greg Hutchinson, drums; Clark Terry, trumpet; Steve Wilson, alto & soprano sax; Romero Lubambo, Russell Malone, guitar; Munyungo Jackson, percussion; orchestra conducted by Billy Childs and Patrick Gandy

The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan

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Tommy Flanagan & Kenny Barron - Together

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1978
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:41
Size: 90,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:34)  1. Dig
(8:05)  2. If I Should Lose You
(5:54)  3. Stella By Starlight
(6:21)  4. I Can't Get Started
(5:31)  5. Darn That Dream
(7:12)  6. The Way You Look Tonight

Originally released by Denon Japan and made available domestically by Jazz Heritage, this outing features piano duets by Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Barron. The two masterful pianists perform six vintage jazz standards (including "Dig," "Stella By Starlight" and "The Way You Look Tonight") with plenty of swing and spontaneous moments yet without making the ensembles too cluttered or crowded. In addition to their talents, both Flanagan and Barron prove to have very alert ears. Recommended. 

~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/together-mw0000191826

Personnel:  Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron – piano

Together 1978

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Jason Marsalis - Music In Motion

Styles: Jazz, Bop
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:00
Size: 244,2 MB
Art: Front

( 8:01)  1. There's a Thing Called Rhythm
( 7:26)  2. Marakatu de Modernizar
( 4:50)  3. The Sweeper
( 6:12)  4. On the First Occasion
( 7:59)  5. The Steepistician
( 5:40)  6. Discipline Strikes Again
( 4:48)  7. Treasure
(13:08)  8. It Came From the Planet of Nebtoon
( 3:33)  9. Short Story #1
( 7:40) 10. Seven-Ay Pocky Way
( 4:39) 11. [Untitled Hidden Track]

All aboard! All Aboard! The cover on Jason Marsalis' sophomore recording shows the young musician standing in the center of a train track in some unknown location. This would seem a little odd at first , but upon listening to the music, the idea behind the visual makes perfect sense. The musical trek will take the listener on a journey that will leave a memorable impression at the point of disembarkation. The name Marsalis is a common household word in today's current music environment. Ellis, Delfeayo, Branford, and the minister of jazz himself, Wynton; have carried forth the great tradition of jazz for the past few decades. But who is Jason Marsalis? The youngest among his famous sibling brothers, you may not have easily recognized that he is an utterly talented jazz drummer and percussionist. The 24 year old has the skill and musicianship of a veteran. His first recording, The Year of the Drummer, received critical acclaim. He has played and recorded with notables such as Marcus Roberts, Marcus Printup, and with his brothers, Branford, Wynton, and father Ellis. He is an equal contributor to the hot Afro-Cuban Jazz group Los Hombres Calientes, which stars trumpter Irwin Mayfield and long time percussionist Bill Summers. 

Encompassing rhythmic beats that directly affect the flow of music; jazz drummers make profound statements concerning timing and motion. Marsalis' latest recording displays his control of that art in a compelling way. Each selection will take the listener on a percussive excursion . On the first track, "There's a Thing Called Rhythm," the journey snakes from swing to blues, intricate time changes, and then to a unique drum solo by Marsalis. On the second piece, "Marakatu de Modernizer," the musical jaunt travels down the upbeat path like a Brazilian parade that swings. 

The musicians on this outing are all capable jazz attendants who exhibit consumate precision and talent on this entertaining journey. Tenor saxophonist John Ellis conveys a quiet skill and poise on the serene cut "On the First Occasion." Altoist Derek Douget, bassist Peter Harris and pianist Jonathan Lefcoski all display exquisite musicianship and creativity throughout the recording. This is all held together by the master rhythm Conductor; Jason Marsalis. Jason displays a kaleidoscope of skills on the drums. Every conceivable area of his drum kit is utilized adeptly. Each tune exhibits an expressive motion montage that carries the willing listener to a toe tapping destination. ~ Mark F.Turner https://www.allaboutjazz.com/music-in-motion-jason-marsalis-basin-street-records-review-by-mark-f-turner.php

Personnel: Jason Marsalis - Percussion, Drums, Producer Peter Harris - Bass Derek Douget - Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano) John Ellis - Sax (Tenor) Jeff Lefcoski - piano

Music In Motion

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George Garzone Quartet - Demetrio’s Dream

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 67:56
Size: 109,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:30)  1. Foggy Night
(6:03)  2. Funkey
(8:33)  3. Eleanor
(6:28)  4. Angela
(7:29)  5. Friends In Paris
(6:09)  6. Laputa
(5:59)  7. Danza di notte
(4:23)  8. Lovely
(7:17)  9. Another Kind Of Blues
(9:00) 10. Blues For Ted

A powerful tenor saxophonist whose adventurous flights with his longtime band the Fringe have made him a legend in the Boston area, George Garzone has spent most of his life as a jazz educator. He began on the tenor when he was six, played in a family band, and attended music school in Boston. Garzone first formed his trio the Fringe (a group that in the mid-'90s also included founding member Bob Gullotti on drums and bassist John Lockwood) back in 1972. In addition, Garzone has guested in many situations, touring Europe with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and gigging with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette, Rachel Z, and John Patitucci, among others. In 1995, he recorded a fine tribute to Stan Getz on NYC called Alone; Four's and Two's followed a year later and in 1999, Garzone returned with Moodiology. Fringe in New York was released in summer 2000. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/artist/george-garzone-mn0000647361/biography

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone – George Garzone;  Contrabass – John Lockwood;  Drums – Bob Gullotti;  Guitar – Rick Peckham

Demetrio’s Dream

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Kenny Drew - Nature Beauty

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:08
Size: 124,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:19)  1. Dear Old Stockholm
(3:24)  2. Nature Beauty
(6:47)  3. Django
(3:43)  4. Autumn Leaves
(7:25)  5. Water Stream
(4:12)  6. Dream
(4:55)  7. When You Wish Upon a Star
(3:35)  8. Dream Land
(4:43)  9. Willow Weep for Me
(3:55) 10. Hash-A-Bye
(6:05) 11. Finale

To commemmorate the 20th anniversary of Drew's passing, a very special series was launched in Japan in 2013, with a release of previously unpublished materials recorded for the two labels between 1972 and 1992. Most of them are alternate takes and takes that did not make onto the original albums released in this period. Danish super-bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen held the bass chair throughout, and the drummer is either Ed Thigpen, a fellow American expat who had settled in Copenhagen, or Alvin Queen.

Personnel:  Kenny Drew – piano;  Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen – bass;  Ed Thigpen - drums

Nature Beauty

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Alexis Cole - Very Early

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:46
Size: 106,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:01)  1. Gentle Rain
(3:44)  2. Very Early
(3:40)  3. Joy Spring
(4:43)  4. Angel Eyes
(6:33)  5. Blackberry Winter
(5:29)  6. The Thrill Is Gone
(4:36)  7. Alice In Wonderland
(4:30)  8. Easy Living
(7:26)  9. Nature Boy

Cole was born in Queens, New York. Her father and grandmother were both jazz singers and pianists. Her family moved to Florida, where she became a member of an award-winning high school choir. In 1994, she graduated from the New World School of the Arts in Miami. While in her teens, she began her professional career performing at a hotel in South Beach. In 1996, she graduated from William Paterson University.  Her debut album, Very Early (1999), was recorded with Harry Pickens and independently released, and her second album, Nearer the Sun (2005) was recorded with Ben Stivers. In 2006, she received a graduate degree from Queens College. She taught at several schools: University of San Francisco, University of North Carolina, Queens College, and at a program in Quito, Ecuador, run by the Berklee College of Music. In 2016, she released a tribute to Paul Simon entitled Dazzling Blue, which debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard jazz chart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Cole

Very Early

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Wes Montgomery - Full House

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1962
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:50
Size: 184,0 MB
Art: Front

(9:16)  1. Full House
(3:29)  2. I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
(9:38)  3. Blue 'N' Boogie
(9:41)  4. Cariba (take2)
(6:57)  5. Come Rain Or Come Shine (take 2)
(5:04)  6. S.O.S. (take 3)
(8:28)  7. Cariba (take 1) (bonus track)
(7:22)  8. Come Rain Or Come Shine (take 1) (bonus track)
(4:49)  9. S.O.S. (take 2) (bonus track)
(7:27) 10. Born To Be Blue (take 1) (bonus track)
(7:35) 11. Born To Be Blue (take 2) (bonus track)

This live set is notable for teaming guitarist Wes Montgomery and the Wynton Kelly Trio (comprised of pianist Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb) with the fiery tenor of Johnny Griffin. 

As with the OJC release, six selections (highlighted by "Blue 'n' Boogie" and Montgomery's "S.O.S.") are augmented by "Born to Be Blue" and a pair of alternate takes. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/full-house-mw0000056997

Personnel:  Guitar – Wes Montgomery;  Bass – Paul Chambers;  Drums – Jimmy Cobb;  Piano – Wynton Kelly;  Tenor Saxophone – Johnny Griffin

Full House

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McCoy Tyner Trio - Infinity

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 72:15
Size: 133,0 MB
Art: Front

(10:15)  1. Flying High
( 7:19)  2. I Mean You
( 5:32)  3. Where Is Love
( 9:46)  4. Changes
( 3:38)  5. Blues Stride
( 9:43)  6. Happy Days
(11:14)  7. Impressions
( 9:21)  8. Mellow Minor
( 5:26)  9. Good Morning, Heartache

It seems only fitting that the initial new release on the latest revival of the Impulse label features McCoy Tyner and Michael Brecker. When Impulse started out in 1960, John Coltrane and Tyner were the first artists to be signed, and when Impulse was briefly brought back by MCA in the 1980s, two of its most important albums were recordings by Brecker. There are not a lot of surprises on this quartet matchup (with bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott) except perhaps for how well Tyner and Brecker mesh together. The music is somewhat similar to a set by the pianist's regular trio with a solo piece ("Blues Stride"), a generous amount of Tyner originals and colorful versions of Thelonious Monk's "I Mean You" and "Good Morning Heartache," but Brecker's presence and consistently powerful playing does inspire Tyner and his sidemen. For a strong example as to why today's saxophonists have such a high opinion of Michael Brecker, his roaring statement on the extended "Impressions" will suffice. Highly recommended. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/infinity-mw0000175675

Personnel: McCoy Tyner (piano); Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); Avery Sharpe (bass); Aaron Scott (drums); Valtinho Anastacio (congas, percussion).

Infinity

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Dexter Gordon - Both Sides of Midnight

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1967
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:22
Size: 101,6 MB
Art: Front

(12:44)  1. Devilette
( 8:42)  2. For All We Know
( 7:13)  3. Doxy
(15:42)  4. Sonnymoon for Two

Dexter Gordon's Both Sides of Midnight was recorded in the summer of 1967, but released in 1988, with the title taking branding advantage of Gordon's role in the full-length feature film 'Round Midnight. A group of American expatriates teamed with 21-year-old bass prodigy Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen yields almost an hour of excellent music from a club date at the venerable Montmartre Jazzhuis in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sowing the seeds of the sound of Sonny Rollins and using part of Newk's repertoire, Gordon makes these musical statements all his own with a personalized voice free of imitation, but full of melodic hooks and ladders reaching skyward in distinguished, ad hoc fashion. Pianist Kenny Drew and drummer Al Heath stay very close to Gordon's muse during this short stack of standards, stretching the harmonic parameters of these well-known tunes in a delightful program of professionally rendered modern mainstream jazz. A twelve-and-a-half minute calypso-tinged version of Ben Tucker's "Devilette" proves the band warms up very quickly, as Heath's bouncy rhythm excites Gordon's vocal-like, linear lines with slight swinging inserts. The most amazing track is the near-16-minute, fast romp 12-bar blues take of "Sonnymoon for Two," as an inexhaustible Gordon plays what was then called a whopping "three foot long," 28 chorus solo without quoting a single standard, going on and on in Zen fashion before Drew hits up 20 choruses of his own. The Rollins signature tune "Doxy" is played flawlessly with nary a single cliché, as Gordon negotiates the tricky melody with his legendary cool ease and near nonchalance. Drew and Gordon together are best when wearing their hearts on their sleeves during the quiet tunes "For All We Know" and "Misty," using emotional constraint and control with throaty, pillow talk tones. A well-recorded live date, one of many Gordon did at the Montmartre, this easily ranks as one of Gordon's best, just shy of his magnum opus Homecoming. ~ Michael G.Nastos http://www.allmusic.com/album/both-sides-of-midnight-mw0000203869

Personnel:  Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone;  Kenny Drew – piano;  Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen – bass;  Albert Heath – drums

Both Sides of Midnight

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Jeni Fleming - We'll Be Together Again

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:46
Size: 144,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:35)  1. I Concentrate On You
(3:07)  2. If Ever I Would Leave You
(5:27)  3. Quiet Now
(4:50)  4. Once Around The Sun
(3:34)  5. Day Dream
(3:33)  6. Cucurrucucu, Paloma
(5:36)  7. Alfie
(3:44)  8. Malecon
(4:19)  9. We Both Believed This Was A Solo
(4:05) 10. Come Fly With Me
(2:20) 11. If I Loved You
(6:44) 12. We'll Be Together Again
(4:42) 13. Dindi
(6:03) 14. Is This Goodbye To Love?

Two legendary Montana performing groups come together to create an unforgettable album of symphonic jazz, "We'll Be Together Again." Fast becoming one of the new west's most revered ensembles, the Jeni Fleming Trio brings a breathtaking originality to some of the best music of the American songbook. With a powerful blend of voice, guitar, and double bass, they create an enchanting mix of classical, jazz, and pop tradition. Since 1985, the String Orchestra of the Rockies has offered a subscription concert series to its audiences in Missoula, and prides itself on being the only ensemble of its kind in Montana. The orchestra has, since its inception, performed without a conductor, relying instead on inner cohesion and the musical sensitivity of its members. With arrangements by Trio members Jake Fleming and Chad Langford, plus veteran composers Eric Funk and Glen Johnston, "We'll Be Together Again" is an eclectic, lyrical reading of 14 jazz standards. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jenifleming5

We'll Be Together Again

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Kenny Barron - Canta Brasil

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:19
Size: 134,0 MB
Art: Front

( 9:15)  1. Zumbi
(10:09)  2. Clouds
( 7:27)  3. Paraty
( 7:11)  4. Until Then
( 7:31)  5. Bachiao
( 4:26)  6. Thoughts and Dreams
( 6:20)  7. Dona Maria
( 5:56)  8. This One

This release combines the elegant swing of nine-time Grammy-winner Kenny Barron with the first-call Brazilian rhythm section of Trio da Paz, an inspired cross fertilization that enhances both jazz and tropical elements. From the opening "Zumbi," which rolls in like a Carnaval parade, to the infectious closer, "This One," the CD is full of light. Other superb Barron compositions include the languorous "Cloud" and the danceable "Thoughts and Dreams," where his gentle piano solo flows into a lilting bossa. The remaining three tunes are familiar to fans of Trio da Paz from their previous albums. Here, the addition of Barron's thoughtful commentary and the lush, cooling flute of Anne Drummond gives them new dimension. Bassist Nilson Matta's "Paraty," named after an old Brazilian town, becomes a "party" with Barron's wonderful comping and fine solos all around; guitarist Romero Lubambo contributes his rousing, Bach-inspired baiao, "Bachiao," and drummer Duduka da Fonseca's "Dona Maria," with its intriguing syncopation, provides the scaffolding for some stellar bop choruses by Barron. The percussion by Valtinho is consistently atmospheric and tasteful. This is an exceptionally well-paced, melodic, spirit-lifting CD. Recommended. ~ Judith Schlesinger http://www.allmusic.com/album/canta-brazil-mw0000227901

Personnel: Kenny Barron (piano); Maucha Adnet (vocals); Anne Drummond (flute); Romero Lubambo (acoustic guitar); Nilson Matta (bass); Duduka Da Fonseca (drums); Valtinho (percussion).

Canta Brasil

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Wingfield, Reuter, Stavi, Sirkis - The Stone House

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:54
Size: 137,9 MB
Art: Front

(12:15)  1. Rush
( 5:12)  2. Four Moons
( 8:33)  3. Silver
( 9:45)  4. Fjords de Catalunya
(10:09)  5. Tarasque
(13:56)  6. Bona Nit Señor Rovira

At a 2009 ECM @ 40 celebration in Mannheim, Germany that was part of the ongoing Enjoy Jazz Festival, Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava spoke, in a public interview, about how free jazz, back in the day, wasn't really free. There were rules: no time and/or no changes, for example; with memorable melodies not impossible, but not encouraged. Rava continued on to enthuse that now, in the 21st Century, free jazz really is free: if you want to play time, you can play time; if you want to play no changes, you can play no changes; if you want to play a beautiful melody, you can play a beautiful melody. Anything is allowed; nothing is forbidden. Wise words, indeed, but in the new millennium, technology and greater explorations into extended instrumental techniques and newly created instruments has made it possible to add another set of variables into the list of the allowable: color, texture, atmosphere...soundscape. These more modern improvisational facilities can, of course, vary as widely as the vast array of sound processing that has evolved over the past decades, with artists exploring the broadest regions of sound including Norwegian live sampler Jan Bang and producer/remixer/electronic soundscapist Erik Honore, along with the rest of their Punkt Festival cohorts including guitarists Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus and trumpeters Nils Petter Molvaer and Arve Henriksen; while acoustic explorers including Henriksen and Molvær, fellow trumpeter Eivind Lønning and saxophonist Espen Reinertsen have probed the furthest reaches of their instruments, through embouchure and other means of creating hitherto unheard timbres and textures. But that Norwegian axis of musicians represents but a small portion of the artists out there today, exploring the possibilities of marrying instrumental expansion with, for some, the expansive, cinematic potential of applying technology...not as an add-on but as an extension of their chosen instrument(s). Artists like guitarist Robert Fripp and his current eight-piece incarnation of King Crimson: make new music out of old, in part, through the application of technology  one of the group's founding premises, in fact creating a truly seamless integration of instrumental mastery and technological innovation.

Guitarist Mark Wingfield, Touch Guitarist Markus Reuter, bassist Yaron Stavi and drummer Asaf Sirkis' debut as a group, The Stone House, is another example of blending clear virtuosity with a collective imagination that allows for the expansion of the music through textural, rather than just harmonic, melodic or rhythmic means. That's not to say The Stone House's six all-improvised, non-overdubbed, "live in the studio" tracks seven, if you're talking about the downloadable version of the album, which adds the five-minute bonus track, "Nepheline," whose trance-inducing atmospherics gradually pick up steam when Sirkis enters, turning the piece into a dense, near-chaotic closer not for the faint-of-heart are unapproachable. Not unlike Rava's statement about the state of free music today, The Stone House may have its moments of anarchy, but it also has its periods of calming tranquility. Reuter's Touch Guitar a two-handed tapped instrument similar, in concept, to the Chapman Stick played by King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, a partner with Reuter in another improv-heavy progressive group, Stick Men introduces the album-opening "Rush" with volume pedal-swelling, delay-driven notes and chords that interweave and overlay into a sonic cloud, creating a context for Sirkis and Stavi to enter and begin driving the piece with a muscular, unrelenting pulse. Both Israeli expats that have, for roughly the past two decades, lived in London where, in addition to leading active solo careers, they've played with top-drawer artists including jazz-related artists like fellow Israeli emigrant Gilad Atzmon, Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock, as well as more progressive-leaning musicians such as Robert Wyatt and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, The Stone House is not music that swings in a conventionally "jazz" way, but it does have moments where it clearly swings, nevertheless...just in its own fashion.

That the collective resume of this group of rising star musicians includes everything from more clearly definable jazz to something that can only be described as progressive music, even if it doesn't possess the signatures that most associate with the genre (though some string samples at the end of "Fjords de Catalyuna" provide a textural link), means that The Stone House is a truly unique record in its undercurrents from a multiplicity of musical perspectives, even if the overall vibe leans towards the similar but different kind of progressive improvisational music that Reuter makes in Stick Men. Stavi may play electric fretless on this session, but he's equally impressive on double bass and the fretted electric variety. Sirkis' kit is often a mad scientist's hybrid that includes, along with conventional kit components, anything from gourds to the hang made famous by Portico Quartet, whether he's in a more introspective trio with pianist Glauco Venier, the linguistically inimitable Lighthouse Trio with Garland and Simcock, or the more kickass fusion set, along with Stavi, on Mark Wingfield's superb but somewhat overlooked Proof of Light (MoonJune, 2015). But here, he seems largely focused on a conventional drum set. As for Wingfield, while it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the guitarist and Reuter, there's little doubt that the mind-bending, psychedelia-driven wah-laden, heavily overdriven and feedback- infused solo in the middle of the groove-heavy "Silver" contains some of the guitarist's finest moments of the set, while the solo that follows bolstered, as it is, by Wingfield's grabbed-from-the-ether pattern, Stavi's pedal tone and Sirkis' increasingly muscular playing is pure Reuter, as he creates infinitely sustaining lines and outrageous leaps into the stratosphere.

That this album was recorded in but a single day during a planned six-day/three-album series of recording sessions at La Case Murada in Catalunya, Spain with this quartet not even part of those plans  makes the intrinsic chemistry on The Stone House all the more remarkable, even though there are preexisting musical connections in Stavi's work with Sirkis extended even further in their collaboration on Wingfield's Proof of Light. Even better news? From those six days of back-to-back sessions there will be a new album of Wingfield-composed music from the same trio on Proof of Light; the originally planned trio album from Wingfield, Reuter and Sirkis, recorded before Stavi arriving the day prior to Wingfield's two-day session that followed and originally planning just to hang asked if he could join in, resulting in The Stone House; a duo album from Wingfield and Reuter; and a fourth album by Sirkis, joined by label mates Dusan Jevtovic and Vasil Hadžimanov. The Stone House session speaks to the remarkable ears possessed by everyone in this group. Clearly this is a group that listens as much as it plays, with the interaction between Wingfield and Reuter's similarly delay-driven, volume pedal-swelled lines on the rubato, evocative and imagination-inducing "Fjords de Catalunya" but one example of how these musicians effortlessly anticipate, respond to and use opportunity as a starting point for further collective exploration. This may be freely improvised music but is more akin to the philosophy of spontaneous composition; how, even though nobody in the group knows where the music is going to go when they pick up their instruments, there is still an overriding sense of purpose here, with countless points where one, two, three or all four of the players coalesce into something that suggests predetermination where there truly is none.

Referring, again, back to Rava, The Stone House evokes a broad range of emotions through melodic, harmonic, rhythmic...and textural...means. Anything is allowed, and while individual predilections certainly color the result Reuter, for example, being a soundscapist of the highest order the end result is a set of seven compositions created in-the-moment, with everything from ethereal atmospherics and jagged landscapes to angular lines and singable melodies; hard-driving grooves and no- time crescendoes to flowing rubato streams; brief but telling glimpses of overt virtuosity in an "egos checked at the door" approach to music-making; and hints of influences ranging from interlocking guitar parts and irregular meters à la King Crimson, and Brian Eno-inspired ambient audioscapes, to the freer side of the late jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and trace elements of David Torn's dense musical continuum. The CD version sounds terrific, but the CD quality download offers that added bonus track as an incentive, as does the high res download at 24-bit/88.2KHz, which sounds even better: a broader soundstage, greater detail and lots more oomph. It's an album that breaks many rules, but could only be made by four musicians who not only learned them first, but continue to apply them even as they find ways to push past them into new terrain. Completely unclassifiable, The Stone House is a record that will challenge many preconceptions while still being rooted in enough of the approachable to render its appeal to fans of progressive music, free improvisation with a purpose, and use of technology to create new sonic combinations that, when brought together with everyone's innate ability to find form in the most abstract empyrean reaches, has resulted in a career-defining record for everyone involved. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/wingfield-reuter-stavi-sirkis-the-stone-house-by-john-kelman.php
 

Personnel: Mark Wingfield: guitar; Markus Reuter: Touch Guitars® AU8; Yaron Stavi: fretless bass; Asaf Sirkis: drums.

The Stone House

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Starr Padden - Swingin' With A Starr

Size: 116,9 MB
Time: 50:13
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. People Will Say We're In Love (2:42)
02. The Man I Love (3:55)
03. Undone (5:18)
04. Out Of This World (5:23)
05. You Must Believe In Spring (3:55)
06. Skylark (3:23)
07. What A Difference A Day Makes (4:38)
08. I'll Never Stop Loving You (5:00)
09. Close Your Eyes (2:56)
10. Come Sunday (4:48)
11. My One And Only Love (4:47)
12. When I Grow To Old To Dream (3:23)

Starr Padden has been close to jazz for most of her life, and after years compiling fans for her vocal prowess she has finally put her voice to disc. Where years ago one had to go to Los Angeles to make a record - likely under contract to a label - now you can virtually go across the street.

Jazz came early, but it was Dixieland at first. "I grew up with Dixieland and standards. My father's family was in vaudeville early and music just seemed to be around us all the time. My sisters and I learned those standards young and I played piano. It was by ear at first, but I had six or seven lessons. I can remember hearing " Bumble Boogie" and listening to my teacher Ida Powell. I still hear better than I read!"

Her father's vaudeville career had him playing spoons and doing blackface as Snookums Padden. "He took up trumpet and began playing Dixieland, and that's the direction he went." He had his own bands in the twenties and thirties.

Starr moved on though and realizing she was drawn to rhythm and melody began listening to singers like Ella Fitzgerald. " I really liked Ella for her sense of rhythm and her scat vocals. I listened to a variety of vocalists, from Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington to Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden - a whole range of styles, including Sarah Vaughn and Rosemary Clooney and I also listened to R&B in the 50's. I discovered singers like Ann Richards, Lee Wiley, early Conee Boswell and Alberta Hunter."

"Nancy King is a jazz singer," Starr says. "She's wonderful. She knows how to scat, and puts her stamp on whatever she sings. I don't scat. I love lyrics and I don't do novelty stuff. I like bop but I don't sing it. Give me Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren, Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers. That's where I come from."

If piano came early in life, so did singing. "I actually started singing as a kid," she says , "and later was in choirs, doing weddings and funerals. By my late 20's I was singing in clubs. I can remember sitting in at Tuck Lung's down in Chinatown. Pat George played there and he liked what I did. Then I found pianist Eddie Wied and began going to jam sessions which seemed to be going on all the time. The Jazz Quarry: I used to love to sit in there. I miss that club."

About this time Starr met Portland (by way of L.A.) trumpeter Basil Clark, who met a tragic end several years later." You know Basil was such a talented guy and his musical knowledge from playing with all the L.A. jazz greats was a great gift. He introduced me to the music of all the horn players he loved, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard. He was the catalyst in my musical life that gave me confidence that I had something to contribute. He told me to find my own voice , to have something to say . We were together four years - until he died in 1985." After that she continued working with the musicians they had performed with, Chris Conrad, Ben Wolfe, Eddie Wied and Dick Blake. She also became friends with several L.A. musicians and sat in when she was visiting in California with Jack Sheldon, Ross Tompkins, Marty Harris , Monty Budwig and Leroy Vinnegar.

I do go out and support live music around town as much as possible. I get a lot of ideas listening to the players around town; and believe me, there are a lot of great jazz players in this area. I wish more singers would go out to listen and support it" She does casuals still and will be performing in 2003 with the Border Patrol big band once again.

Starr has assembled some of the area's best for this recording. Included are pianist Eddie Wied, Lee Wuthenow on tenor, Paul Mazzio on flugelhorn, Tim Jensen on flute, Skip Parente on violin, bassist Frank de la Rosa and on drums Mel Brown. Pianist Tony Pacini wrote all the horn charts.

Swingin' With A Starr

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Art Sherrod Jr - Back 2 Business

Size: 99,9 MB
Time: 43:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz, Smooth Jazz
Art: Front

01. Tighten Up (4:25)
02. Top Down (4:06)
03. Jesus Is Love (4:29)
04. This Place Hotel (4:15)
05. Side Step (3:59)
06. So In Love (3:58)
07. Change The Key (4:53)
08. I Like It (4:31)
09. Wishing On A Star (4:34)
10. Love's Atmosphere (3:45)

Saxophonist Art Sherrod Jr. is influenced by David Sanborn, Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright, Kim Waters and other professional sax men of the smooth jazz genre. This includes admiration for their virtuosic art and their spiritual behavior.

His debut project All 4 Love was released in 2005. After signing to Pacific Coast Jazz followed his second project Seasons in 2009. With Intervention (2016) he released after two smooth jazz albums his first Gospel project. Back 2 Business (2017) is his fourth release and a return to the smooth jazz genre.

Art is joined by a crew of top professional musicians such as Chris "Big Dog" Davis (keyboards, programming), Rohn Lawrence, Robert "WaWa" LeGrand (guitars), Asa Livingston and Corey Baker (bass), Salena Dunbar Gibbs, Anthony Buffy Burnett, Dawn Tallman, Lamone Andrews, Tiffany Tzelle (background vocals).

With a producer like Chris "Big Dog" Davis, one of the busiest in smooth jazz, one plays it safe in that way. Art keeps it all from going up in smoke with Tighten Up. Top Down loves it smooth with the soprano sax as chosen lead instrument.

Jesus is Love is a song by Lionel Richie (Commodores) from the album Heroes (1980). Art emphasizes the Gospel character of the song with organ and a wonderful choir. This Place Hotel (aka Heartbreak Hotel) by Michael Jackson was in 1980 a huge hit of the Jackson 5. Art gives the composition new life in an innovative powerful transformation.

Side Step integrates melody and atmosphere with a hip hop beat pushing the sound into new territory. So in Love is a song by American R&B/soul singer Jill Scott, taken from her fourth studio album The Light of the Sun (2011). The song features Anthony Hamilton in a fascinating duet. On his rendition Art finds the intense lyrical sweet spot and creates the corresponding harmonic presentation.

Change the Key has that certain something, that makes this composition so radio-like. Chris "Big Dog" Davis creates a wavy keyboard rhythm with a rich finesse building the hypnotic frame for Art's melodic exploration. I Like It, a 1982 Motown song by American family band DeBarge has the necessary patina to be selected by Art as next cover. A piece that you hear with your hips and feel with your feet.

The song Wishing on a Star was written by Billie Rae Calvin and was first released by Rose Royce in 1977. The potential of the song is so immense, that stars like Beyonce, Jay Z or Randy Crawford have created their own visions. Art is welcoming everyone along for his personal journey. The final Love’s Atmosphere follows the mellifluous intention shining through the title.

Back 2 Business is Art Sherrod's creative apex of his stellar career with a well-balanced mixture of old and new combined with an eclectic variation in presentation, leaving you fully satisfied.

Back 2 Business

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Lina Nyberg - Aerials

Size: 103,0+107,5 MB
Time: 44:17+46:10
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Modern Jazz
Art: Front

CD 1:
01. Fly Me To The Moon (4:45)
02. Tico Tico No Fuba (5:13)
03. Where Flamingos Fly (5:38)
04. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square (7:20)
05. Bye Bye Blackbird (5:50)
06. Skylark (3:56)
07. Migration (6:51)
08. Nightbird (4:41)

CD 2:
01. The Benu Bird (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (3:43)
02. Everyone Sang (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (4:29)
03. Chayka (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (5:07)
04. The Phoenix (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (4:11)
05. The Kite (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (4:16)
06. Like A Sick Eagle (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (4:24)
07. The Electra (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (5:51)
08. Murmuration (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (9:29)
09. Motacilla Alba (Feat. Vindla String Quartet) (4:36)

There are very few musicians who dare to expand their artistic vision with every new project as Swedish vocalist-songwriter-composer Lina Nyberg. Aerials, is the her second installment in a trilogy of albums that offers her unique perspective about the world, the elements and the music itself. Nyberg began the trilogy with the double album The Sirenades (Hoob, 2014), that featured her songs composed for her quintet and the Norrbotten Big Band, sketching poetic images of cyber-seas, monsters and waves. On Aerials Nyberg sings of avians—real and mythological birds—and raising her glance a bit higher and adding images of pilots, winds and astronauts. The aerial perspective gives Nyberg a musical look on our daily dilemmas, lives, relationships and our fragile planet from a distance. A highly personal perspective that may be more objective but also filled with solicitude.

Aerials is again a double album. Its first part, Space, was recorded live with Nyberg band—pianist Cecilia Persson, guitarist David Stackenäs, bassist Josef Kallerdahl and drummer Peter Danemo, at Kapellet (The Chapel) in Stockholm. This album feature looser, highly personal adaptations of jazz standards that relate to birds and images of aviation as "Fly Me to the Moon," "Where Flamingos Fly" and "Bye Bye Blackbird." Nyberg delivers these timeless standards with amused-playful elegance, commanding ideas of a clever storyteller but also a reserved sentimentality, leaving a lot of room for improvisations by her quintet musicians. Nyberg ongoing collaboration for the last decade with Stackenäs, known mostly for his free-improvised meetings with such innovativors as saxophonists Mats Gustafsson and Martin Küchen, or pianist Sten Sandell, cements the open approach to these songs. This approach is best demonstrated on their moving duo on "Skylark" or the the quintet searching, free arrangement of "Migration," with lyrics partly inspired by a poem "Motacilla Alba" by Joan Walsh Anglund, somehow summarizing Nyberg aesthetics: "I don't sing because i have an answer, I sing because i have a song."

The second part, titled as the album, fulfills a lifelong, ambitious dream of Nyberg to compose music for a string quartet. She wrote few segments for a string quartet featured on one of So Many Stars (Prophone, 1996) but on that album the string quartet played side by side with jazz musicians. Now, when asked to prepare a commissioned work by the Swedish National Radio music channel (P2) Nyberg wrote music and lyrics for her as a vocalist and the versatile Malmö-based, all-female Vindla String Quartet. The nine, highly-notated original compositions, only five with lyrics, blend beautifully Nyberg vision of contemporary music with a touch of rhythmic, jazz songs.

Nyberg arrangement of Siegfried Sassoon poem "Everyone Sang" is simply compelling—full of inventive ideas, delivering its profound, suggestive poetic images with irresistible commanding elegance. Her tribute to Soviet pioneer cosmonaut Valentina "Chayka" Tereshkova if filled with touching images of innocence and wonder of one who observed Earth from space. Her arrangement of Charles Ives "Like a Sick Eagle" (with lines taken from John Keats' sonnet "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles") is faithful for its fragile, compassionate of spirit, and her homage to pilot Amelia Earhart, "The Electra," after Earhart plane name, "sings away" any fear of flying. The concluding reprisal of the poem ""Motacilla Alba," with the Cappella Catharinae Choir charges the poems lines: "I fly and I cry for the brothers / At flight from war and terror" with an urgent, action-calling theme.

Masterful, imaginative and inspiring. ~Eyal Hareuveni

Personnel: Lina Nyberg vocals; Cecilia Persson: piano (CD 1); David Stackenäs: guitar (CD 1); Josef Kallerdahl: double bass, electric bass (CD 1); Peter Danemo: drums, percussion, live electronics (CD 1); Vindla String Quartet (Caroline Karpinska: violin; Maria Bergström: violin; Elina Nygren: viola; Gerda Holmquist cello) (CD 1: 1, 7, CD 2); Cappella Catharinae Choir (CD 1:7, CD 2: 9).

Aerial CD 1
Aerial CD 2

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Steve Davis - Think Ahead

Size: 175,4 MB
Time: 75:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Warrior (4:47)
02. Abena's Gaze (6:15)
03. A Little Understanding (8:30)
04. Atmosphere (6:30)
05. Mountaintop (5:32)
06. Polka Dots And Moonbeams (9:04)
07. Love Walked In (7:00)
08. Think Ahead (5:10)
09. Little B's Poem (6:21)
10. Evening Shades Of Blue (7:26)
11. Farewell, Brother (8:43)

In life as in jazz, you never know what’s coming around the next corner – so it’s always best to think ahead. Trombonist/composer Steve Davis not only offers those two words as a sound piece of advice on his new album, Think Ahead, but exemplifies the art of putting it into action. Think Ahead offers a master class in reacting to the unpredictable from an elite group of jazz all-stars whose ability to create spontaneously borders on the clairvoyant.

In part, that’s simply due to the fact that Davis has assembled a stellar group of masters: the trombonist is joined by saxophonists Steve Wilson and Jimmy Greene, pianist Larry Willis, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash, each deserving the title of “jazz giant” in their own right. But add the fact that the bandleader shares with every member of the ensemble a long and deep history, and you have the makings of a truly profound, flawlessly swinging, flat-out burning set of music.

“I’ve been deeply involved with everyone in this band on not only a professional level but as friends for decades,” Davis says. “So it was more than an honor to have this group together.”

Davis is also well known as an important composer and the program on Think Ahead features seven of his originals including six striking debuts. The balance includes two beloved standards, Polka Dots and Moonbeams and Love Walked In, as well as two jazz classics by departed giants Tony Williams and Bobby Hutcherson. Williams’ “Warrior” and Hutcherson’s “Little B’s Poem”

Think Ahead

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Ray Charles - Four Classic Albums (The Genius Hits The Road + The Genius Sings The Blues + The Genius After Hours + Genius+Soul=Jazz) (Remastered)

Size: 158,0+176,9 MB
Time: 67:08+75:51
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Soul, Jazz, Blues, R&B
Art: Front

CD 1:
01. Alabamy Bound (Remastered) (1:51)
02. Georgia On My Mind (Remastered) (3:33)
03. Basin Street Blues (Remastered) (2:42)
04. Mississippi Mud (Remastered) (3:21)
05. Moonlight In Vermont (Remastered) (2:59)
06. New York's My Home (Remastered) (3:01)
07. California, Here I Come (Remastered) (2:09)
08. Moon Over Miami (Remastered) (3:17)
09. Deep In The Heart Of Texas (Remastered) (2:24)
10. Carry Me Back To Old Virginny (Remastered) (1:58)
11. Blue Hawaii (Remastered) (2:54)
12. Chattanooga Choo Choo (Remastered) (3:01)
13. Early In The Morning (Remastered) (2:45)
14. Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) (Remastered) (2:52)
15. The Midnight Hour (Remastered) (2:58)
16. (Night Time Is) The Right Time (Remastered) (3:21)
17. Feelin' Sad (Remastered) (2:47)
18. Ray's Blues (Remastered) (2:52)
19. I'm Movin' On (Remastered) (2:10)
20. I Believe To My Soul (Remastered) (2:58)
21. Nobody Cares (Remastered) (2:37)
22. I Got A Break Baby (Remastered) (2:45)
23. Worried Life Blues (Remastered) (2:57)
24. I Wonder Who (Remastered) (2:47)

CD 2:
01. The Genius After Hours (Remastered) (5:26)
02. Ain't Misbehavin' (Remastered) (5:38)
03. Dawn Ray (Remastered) (5:05)
04. Joy Ride (Remastered) (4:41)
05. Hornful Soul (Remastered) (5:27)
06. The Man I Love (Remastered) (4:28)
07. Charlesville (Remastered) (4:55)
08. Music, Music, Music (Remastered) (2:53)
09. From The Heart (Remastered) (3:38)
10. I've Got News For You (Remastered) (4:31)
11. Moanin' (Remastered) (3:20)
12. Let's Go (Remastered) (2:42)
13. One Mint Julep (Remastered) (3:06)
14. I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town (Remastered) (3:43)
15. Stompin' Room Only (Remastered) (3:46)
16. Mister C (Remastered) (4:34)
17. Strike Up The Band (Remastered) (2:36)
18. Birth Of The Blues (Remastered) (5:13)

Influenced by Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Louis Armstrong and others, Ray Charles (1930-2004) was well set to establish his music-mix of jazz, blues, rhythm & blues and country which sent him to the top of the tree as a living legend. In turn, Ray always encouraged promising up-and-coming talent to reach their goals. Avid’s second two-disc set contains four Charles albums and the overworked word “genius” is well deserved in this case for there’s no doubting it applies to both the man, his career and these albums.

THE GENIUS HITS THE ROAD (1960) is indeed a song trip through the highways and byways of Americana and which other country can claim such cross-over romantic connotations as GEORGIA ON MY MIND, MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT, MOON OVER MIAMI and references to New York, California and Texas? Charles is both vocalist and pianist with Ralph Burns as arranger/conductor of a full-blown orchestra. THE GENIUS SINGS THE BLUES (1961) tells it all with Charles not only providing vocal/piano and organ but composer of half a dozen songs like RAY’S BLUES, FEELIN’ SAD and NOBODY CARES added to known blues numbers such as EARLY IN THE MORNING and I’M MOVIN’ ON.

Moving on to Charles in fully-fledged jazz-oriented pianist mode within an instrumental setting, THE GENIUS AFTER HOURS (1961) adds five of his own compositions (including DAWN RAY, CHARLESVILLE and album’s title number) to the familiar MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC, AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ and THE MAN I LOVE and he jams with fellow musicians Oscar Pettiford on bass, David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and Joseph Bridgewater on alto and trumpeter Joseph Bridgewater with septet arranged by Quincy Jones. Finally, RAY CHARLES - GENIUS + SOUL - JAZZ (1961) is focused as a mainly instrumental album although Charles, on organ, does provide a couple of vocal moments (I’M GONNA MOVE TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN and I’VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU) and with the swinging Count Basie Orchestra in tow ONE MINT JULIP, MOANIN’ and STRIKE UP THE BAND are among choices that really swing the shared Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns big band arrangements to the fore.

Excellent remastered sound. ~A Pollock

Four Classic Albums CD 1
Four Classic Albums CD 2

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Pieces Of A Dream - Just Funkin' Around

Size: 110,1 MB
Time: 47:26
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Funk, Smooth Jazz
Art: Front

01. Right Back Atcha (4:49)
02. Just Funkin' Around (4:07)
03. Shaken, Not Stirred (5:29)
04. Sensuosity (4:22)
05. Fast Lane (4:22)
06. A New Day (4:32)
07. On The Move (5:03)
08. No Doubt (5:11)
09. Let's Do This (5:16)
10. Manhattan (4:10)

Just Funkin' Around, as the title suggests, is a funky, joyful musical celebration, filled with melodic grooves that have made Pieces of a Dream fan favorites. The 10 brilliant originals that run the gamut from 'in the pocket' R&B to sensuous smooth jazz jams are proof that Pieces of a Dream are at the top of their game!

Just Funkin' Around

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Juliane Heinemann & Marco Mezquida - Sing, My Heart

Size: 100,6 MB
Time: 35:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Detour Ahead (3:55)
02. My Ship (3:05)
03. While The Drum Keeps Waltzing (2:28)
04. Once Upon A Summertime (3:29)
05. Sea Song (5:07)
06. Polka Dots And Moonbeams (4:10)
07. Beautiful She (2:34)
08. Amateur (2:34)
09. The River Is Blue (3:28)
10. Azure (4:36)

Juliane Heinemann was born in the socialist East Berlin of the 80s and grew up during the ‘after-wall’ years of constant changes. As a child she showed great interest in all types of performing arts, and started to play the clasical guitar at young age. She also enjoyed a generous education of dancing and acting at the famous Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin and was part of German director Tom Tykwer’s early movie ‘Deadly Maria’ in the role of Maria as a child. As a teenager she slowly drifted away from the clasical guitar, although it would always be her main influence, and used it mainly to write her own songs. Later she decided for the voice to be her first instrument and successfully auditioned for the studies of ‘Jazz-Singing’ at the Jazz Institute Berlin (JIB). Intense years of superior musical studies followed and trained her ears and tecnical skills of jazz-singing, piano, harmony and composition. Looking for a personal and musical change she moved to Barcelona in 2006, after having fallen for the mediterranean city during an Erasmus year earlier. In Barcelona she soon got involved in various projects and recordings, first mainly in the jazz scene, but steadily drifting more towards Rock/Pop/Folk styles. Her 2009 published first Solo-Album ‘Aren’t you glad to be here’ introduces quiet and intimate original songs. Lovemonk Records publishes her song ‘Do you see me?’ in a beautiful vinyl edition.
While working on her second album ‘True Gods’ during 2010-2012 she joins the popular national band ‘Delafé y Las Flores Azules’ on vocals/guitar/keys during their two-year-tour through Spain. Her new album ‘True Gods’, produced by Jordi Matas, is released in September 2012. This year, 2017, she has published two new albums with two active proyects: Luka ‘Slowdancer’ (synth-pop) published in may/june by Discos Flotantes. And ‘Juliane Heinemann&Marco Mezquida’: Sing, my Heart (jazz). As a singing teacher she is working at the Conservatorio Liceu in Barcelona.

Sing, My Heart

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Kenny Barron - Sambao

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:56
Size: 137,8 MB
Art: Front

( 6:21)  1. Sambao
( 5:50)  2. Yalele
( 6:37)  3. Bacchanal
( 5:43)  4. Belem
(10:51)  5. Encounter
( 6:08)  6. Ritual
(10:12)  7. Gardenia
( 8:11)  8. On the Other Side

Sambao is Kenny Barron's tribute to Brazilian music done his way. These original compositions by the peerless pianist combine jazz and samba in a modernistic way, with no copying of tunes from the master Antonio Carlos Jobim, and no hint of the populist Stan Getz approach due to the lack of a lead instrument, save Barron's attractive and inventive piano. He's accompanied by heavyweights of the Rio-cum-New York City scene, including guitarist Toninho Horta, bassist Nico Assumpção, and French-born percussionist Mino Cinelu. Barron's (and most people's) favorite jazz drummer Victor Lewis is included, reinforcing the rhythms expertly as usual. Though not a working or touring group on any level, the ensemble sounds extremely tight and exactly in tune with what Barron's wants to portray. The tune "Bacchanal" is one Barron's fans might remember in his early days when recording for the Muse label, also included on the Sonny Fortune LP Serengeti Minstrel, and it is happily revised in full, bright regalia. Cinelu's composition "Yalele" is also joyous, as shouted vocals and a group chorus of the title soar over a deeper piano sound from Barron. The lengthy "Encounter" and "Gardenia" stretch out, allowing all the players to fully interact and especially improvise, the former in a mysterious mood mixing up meters but settling in 4/4, the latter nicely sweet, patient, and more collaborative as Barron's genius musings turn into occasional flourishes à la Oscar Peterson. Modal jazz meets the rain forest during "On the Other Side" as a pure singsong melody is adopted, quite similar to the Barry Harris tribute "Nascimento." "Ritual" is a fast, faded-in-samba jam that might have been an accidental afterthought turned into a welcome inclusion, while the most airy and breezy tune is "Belem," in the straightest Brazilian style. Horta is always excellent, but is more restrained save "Gardenia," and Lewis keeps thing rolling along without allowing them to burst out. Anyone who has appreciated the genius of Kenny Barron over the many fruitful years of his career can easily enjoy this sidebar project, with the hope that someday, he'll do it again. ~ Michael G.Nastos http://www.allmusic.com/album/sambao-mw0000094902

Personnel: Kenny Barron (piano); Toninho Horta (guitar); Nico Assumcao (bass); Victor Lewis (drums); Mino Cinelu (percussion).

Sambao

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Karen Gallinger - My Foolish Heart

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:15
Size: 118,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:03)  1. Gentle Rain
(4:13)  2. Isn't It Romantic
(4:15)  3. My Foolish Heart
(4:05)  4. Someone To Light Up My Life
(3:51)  5. Lowdown Dirty Doggin' Days
(5:04)  6. Emily
(2:49)  7. Just Friends
(5:16)  8. Bridges (Travessia)
(4:44)  9. A Night in Tunisia
(3:53) 10. The Way You Look Tonight
(4:26) 11. Remember Who You Are
(4:31) 12. Someone Like You

With a voice and a style reminiscent of Dionne Warwick, if Warwick had become a jazz singer instead of going down the pop and rock road. The similarity to Warwick's vocal qualities comes through on "Isn't It Romantic," "Gentle Rain" and "Someone to Light up My Life." This similarity notwithstanding, Gallinger's second album showcases all of her jazz singing skills and she brings a full payload of these skills to this session. On "Emily" she swoops (a la Sarah Vaughan), using a medium vibrato and moving between octaves with ease. "Emily" is followed by a light, scatting rendition of "Just Friends" with Jeff Jorgenson's providing the main instrumental support.. "The Way You Look Tonight" shows off Gallinger's poignant side as she moves through the Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields classic with only Tom Zink's piano accompaniment. Contemporary pop is represented with "Remember Who You Are" and "Someone Like You" with the requisite rock beat from Zink's programmed synthesizers. On "Lowdown Dirty Doggin' Blues," Gallinger shows she is not only a talented composer, but a more than adequate blues singer as well. Only one complaint, and that's the use of the synthesizer, which is little more than a computer, to create strings, an organ and other instruments giving an artificial feel to some of the cuts. Computer generated music notwithstanding, Karen Gallinger is a performer who possesses ample poise, confidence and maturity. No amateur night stuff here. ~ Dave Nathan http://www.allmusic.com/album/my-foolish-heart-mw0000245981

Personnel: Karen Gallinger (vocals); Jeff Jorgenson, Gary Gould (saxophone); Tom Zink (keyboards, programming); Herb Jimmerson (synthesizers, programming); Gannin Arnold, Bob Moore (guitar); Anders Swanson (bass); Dave Derge (drums); Chris Wabich, Angel Rodriguez (percussion); Denise, The Waters (background vocals).

My Foolish Heart

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Clarence Penn - Penn's Landing

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 60:59
Size: 112,5 MB
Art: Front

( 6:57)  1. C.P. Time
(10:36)  2. Re: Evaluation
( 7:02)  3. April's Fool
(11:46)  4. Penn's Landing
( 9:24)  5. One For Tony
( 6:38)  6. Quick Fix
( 8:33)  7. Barbara Anastasia

On drummer Clarence Penn's debut as a leader, he has gathered the talents of bassist Rodney Whitaker, tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, and trumpeter John Swana to perform seven post-bop originals three by Penn, two by Blake, and one each by Swana and Whitaker with satisfying results. The underrated Swana and Blake play with passion and great skill as always but, due to the absence of piano, Penn's muscular drumming and Whitaker's huge-toned bass consistently stand out throughout this recording. Favorites include the up-tempo burners "C.P. Time" and "Quick Fix"; "One for Tony," Whitaker's dedication to the late drummer Tony Williams; and the medium-tempo title track, Penn's homage to John Coltrane and Elvin Jones, which captures the spirit of these great musicians without resorting to imitation. All in all, this is a fine debut that makes one eager for Penn's next one. ~ Greg Turner http://www.allmusic.com/album/penns-landing-mw0000033565

Personnel: Clarence Penn (drums); Ron Blake (tenor saxophone); John Swana (trumpet, flugel horn); Rodney Whitaker (bass).

Penn's Landing

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Hampton Hawes - Hamp's Piano

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:39
Size: 98,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:44)  1. Villingen Blues
(2:25)  2. Rhyhm
(4:22)  3. Black Forest Blues
(9:07)  4. Autumn Leaves
(5:17)  5. What Is This Thing Called Love
(5:05)  6. Sonora
(5:14)  7. I'm All Smiles
(5:24)  8. My Foolish Heart

Hampton Hawes was one of the finest jazz pianists of the 1950s, a fixture on the Los Angeles scene who brought his own interpretations to the dominant Bud Powell style. In the mid- to late '40s, he played with Sonny Criss, Dexter Gordon, and Wardell Gray, among others on Central Avenue. He was with Howard McGhee's band (1950-1951), played with Shorty Rogers and the Lighthouse All-Stars, served in the Army (1952-1954), and then led trios in the L.A. area, recording many albums for Contemporary. Arrested for heroin possession in 1958, Hawes spent five years in prison until he was pardoned by President Kennedy. He led trios for the remainder of his life, using electric piano (which disturbed his longtime fans) for a period in the early to mid-'70s, but returned to acoustic piano before dying from a stroke in 1977. Hampton Hawes' memoirs, Raise Up Off Me (1974), are both frank and memorable, and most of his records (for Xanadu, Prestige, Savoy, Contemporary, Black Lion, and Freedom) are currently available. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hampton-hawes-mn0000558596/biography

Personnel:  Piano – Hampton Hawes;  Bass – Eberhard Weber;  Drums – Claus Weiss

Hamp's Piano

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Dexter Gordon - Go!

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1962
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:47
Size: 86,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:33)  1. Cheese Cake
(5:23)  2. I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry
(7:05)  3. Second Balcony Jump
(7:40)  4. Love for Sale
(5:21)  5. Where Are You
(5:42)  6. Three O'Clock in the Morning

From the first moments when Dexter Gordon sails into the opening song full of brightness and confidence, it is obvious that Go is going to be one of those albums where everything just seems to come together magically. A stellar quartet including the stylish pianist Sonny Clark, the agile drummer Billy Higgins, and the solid yet flexible bassist Butch Warren are absolutely crucial in making this album work, but it is still Gordon who shines. Whether he is dropping quotes into "Three O'Clock in the Morning" or running around with spritely bop phrases in "Cheese Cake," the album pops and crackles with energy and exuberance. Beautiful ballads like "I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" metamorphosize that energy into emotion and passion, but you can still see it there nonetheless. Gordon had many high points in his five decade-long career, but this is certainly the peak of it all. ~ Stacia Proefrock http://www.allmusic.com/album/go%21-mw0000245374

Personnel: Dexter Gordon (tenor saxophone); Sonny Clark (piano); Butch Warren (bass); Billy Higgins (drums).

Go!

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