Roberta Gambarini - So In Love

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 68:20

Size: 156.4 MB

Styles: Jazz vocals

Year: 2009

Art: Front

[3:03] 1. So In Love

[2:48] 2. Day In Day Out

[5:05] 3. Get Out Of Town

[4:59] 4. Crazy

[3:27] 5. That Old Black Magic

[4:48] 6. Estate

[5:56] 7. Beatles Medley:Golden Slumbers/Here, There And Everywhere

[6:13] 8. I See Your Face Before Me

[4:52] 9. From This Moment On

[4:39] 10. This Is Always

[6:23] 11. You Must Believe In Spring

[5:31] 12. You Ain't Nothing But A J.A.M.F

[6:37] 13. Medley From Cinema Paradiso:Main Theme Song/For Elena

[3:53] 14. Over The Rainbow

Bass – Chuck Berghofer, George Mraz, Neil Swainson; Drums – Al Foster, Jake Hanna, Montez Coleman; Flugelhorn – Roy Hargrove; Piano – Eric Gunnison, Gerald Clayton, Tamir Hendelman; Tenor Saxophone – James Moody.

It seems incredible that Roberta Gambarini didn't win the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition but she was new to the U.S., having just arrived from her native Italy. But with each new release, she has demonstrated that she is easily the most accomplished vocalist of the competitors for the prize, while pianist Hank Jones, who knows a thing or two about great singers, refers to her as the "greatest vocalist to come along in the past 60 years." With a rhythm section rotating between three talented up-and-coming pianists Tamir Hendeman, Eric Gunnison, or Gerald Clayton) plus veteran bassists George Mraz, Neil Swainson, or Chuck Berghofer and seasoned drummers Jake Hanna, Al Foster, Jeff Hamilton, or Montez Coleman, Gambarini works her magic with familiar standards and a few unexpected choices. She has a love of Cole Porter's songs, opening with a touching, richly textured "So in Love," a virtual rhapsody in a duet with piano. She restores the oft-omitted verse to "Get Out of Town" then delivers a driving rendition that shows off her gift for interpreting a song that has likely been recorded by all vocal jazz greats who have preceded her, proving she belongs in their company; she is joined by the soft tenor sax of James Moody. Her rapid-fire scatting is a highlight of her brisk treatment of "From This Moment On." Gambarini is also very comfortable looking outside of jazz for material, adapting Willie Nelson's "Crazy" with a master's touch, with subtle trumpet added by Roy Hargrove, while she has equal success with a medley of Beatles songs, including a moving "Golden Slumbers" that segues into a breezy "Here, There and Everywhere." But Gambarini's hilarious lyrics for Johnny Griffin's blues "The JAMFs Are Coming" (retitled "You Ain't Nothin' But a J.A.M.F.") prove to be the big surprise, showing off her incredible scatting range and sense of humor, though like a true lady, she never specifies what Griffin meant by a JAMF (hint: an acronym starting with "Jive Ass"). Roberta Gambarini continues to shine brightly as one of top jazz vocalists of her generation with this outstanding release. ~Ken Dryden

So In Love 

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Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica Citta Di Verona - Restless Spirits

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:50
Size: 159.9 MB
Styles: Modern jazz, Big band
Year: 1989
Art: Front

[6:59] 1. African Mood
[6:49] 2. Blues For My Sleeping Baby
[6:59] 3. Peaceful Heart
[9:50] 4. Ambiguous
[7:46] 5. Restless Spirits
[6:37] 6. Short & Shorter
[8:38] 7. Standard Life
[6:38] 8. Maliblues
[9:33] 9. Ambiguous (Alternate Take)

Marco Pasetto: conductor, soprano saxophone (8); Patricia Ballardini: flute, Franco Lissandrini: flute; Beatrice Maistri: flute; Barbara Mazzon: flute; Guilia Realdini: flute; Elena Zavarise: flute; Giovanna Bissoli: soprano saxophone; Emanuele Ballini: alto saxophone; Paolo Girardi: alto saxophone; Paolo Pesenti: alto saxophone; Orazio Boscagin: tenor saxophone; Stephano Buttura: tenor saxophone; Sandro Avesani: baritone saxophone; Filippo Borgo: clarinet; Caterina Gatto: clarinet; Elisabetta Grego: clarinet; Alessandro Manfredi: clarinet; Nicola Zeggio: clarinet; Peolo Delaini: bass clarinet; Marco Finato: bass clarinet; Anna Vittoria Zanardi: bassoon; Matteo Costanzi: trumpet; Giorgio Fiorini: trumpet; Davide Gagliardo: trumpet; Sandro Gilioli: trumpet; Marco Sorio: trumpet; Saolo Agostini: trombone: Linda Anzolin: trombone; Gino Farenzena: trombone; Giorgio Morelato: trombone; Giordano Bruno Tededchi: trombone, solo (1); Ester Anzolin: cornet; Denis Cavallini: cornet; Graziana Marchioni: cornet; Marco Pallaver: cornet; Mario Cracco: tuba; Ivo Bonazzi: guitar solo (7); Giuseppe Gasparini: electric bass, intro (3), solo (7); Luca Zoccatelli: electric bass; Daniele Rotunno: keyboards intro (5); Giorgio Buttura: glockenspiel; Stefano Zuffellato: drums, solo (4); Stefano Sartori: percussion; Renzo Zambolin: transcriptions; Roberto Magris: acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes; Massimo Greco: trumpet, horn; Sbibu: percussion.

Even if pianist and composer Roberto Magris could have performed Restless Spirits with a small ensemble, he probably would not have done so. Here is the conundrum: might Magris have created this music in a large ensemble because he intended it to reflect a secret narrative that ponders the journey of the soul? The trick is to follow the sequence of the repertoire. This is a musical suite, which could very well have been cleverly developed to mirror that dramatic journey of the "restless spirits" moving with wafting, changing rhythms—body and soul—in search of inner peace. Magris might surely have taken a leaf from some epic Latin poetry.

Consider how this group of nine pieces is set in a carefully determined sequence; almost a mirror of the journey of the soul in Dante Aligheieri's classic 13th epic poem of eternal human exodus, The Divine Comedy. The journey takes souls and spirits through Purgatory and into Paradise. Therefore, the key is to succumb to the charms of the music and give in to its narrative. This is beautifully written and arranged, and constitutes a deeply profound meditative journey. Magris has cast the story in a modern context—or at least one where the idioms of jazz will allow some license. For instance, in the introduction, the music begins with a track called "African Moods." Here is a not-so-oblique reference to the cradle of civilization; the Great Rift Valley described by African historian Cheika Anta Diop. The music follows a babble-and-rumble opening, like Charles Mingus "Pithecanthropus Erectus," to a state of equanimity. The story unfolds with rambunctious percussion and ritualistic chants; then the movement gives over to the glorious bleating narrative of Giordano Bruno Tedeschi's trombone.

Magris leads the extraordinary 48-piece Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica Citta di Verona into the next, softer episodes in a masterful, modal command of the ebony and ivory keys. "Blues for My Sleeping Baby" and "Peaceful Heart" are pieces of a kind, which make brilliant use of the timbral values of brass, woodwinds and limited strings. The low end of the tonal spectrum defines the grave stakes, with a harmonic excursion from Giuseppe Gasparini's electric bass intro into "Peaceful Heart." Magris expresses human despair commandingly, with timeless pulse and amorphous tone in "Ambiguous" and "Restless Spirits." It appears a stroke of genius on the part of Magris in his use of the Fender Rhodes for the former track, as he manipulates pitch to suggest turmoil and create the attendant feelings of upheaval and fear. "Restless Spirits" begins atonally against the backdrop of a raging ensemble, and then settles somewhat after the piece reaches a tonal plateau. Moreover, there is complete resolution in the following parts of the suite—"Short and Shorter," perhaps a puckish comment on the relative insignificance of artistic endeavor, through "Standard Life" and a return to the mythical paradise in the African landscape with "Mali Blues." "Ambiguous," repeated with denser arrangements, fills in for a dramatic coda. This is an inspired work from a thoughtful musician. ~RAUL D'GAMA ROSE

Restless Spirits

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Ingram Washington - Sings To The Max

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:59
Size: 119.0 MB
Styles: Easy Listening, Vocal
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[4:04] 1. Oh! Lady Be Good
[4:34] 2. Witchcraft
[4:32] 3. Crazy
[3:23] 4. I've Got The World On A String
[2:51] 5. Secret Love
[3:50] 6. Make Up Your Mind
[4:06] 7. Gee Baby ( Ain't I Good To You )
[3:25] 8. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down
[4:36] 9. The Sentimental Touch
[4:52] 10. Since I Fell For You
[4:21] 11. But Beautiful
[3:42] 12. Mean To Me
[3:38] 13. It's Allright With Me

Ingram Washington (USA) grew up in a musical family. At an early age he was taken to concerts such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Billy Eckstine where his interest in jazz music and singing began. Ingram is an popular international artist because of his easy-listening style of singing and warm voice. This album called "Sings To The Max" is a delight to listen to. Recommended!

Sings To The Max

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Ada Montellanico & Enrico Pieranunzi - Danza Di Una Ninfa

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:41
Size: 130,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:23)  1. Mi sono innamorato di te
(5:29)  2. Da quando
(6:13)  3. Mia cara amica
(4:51)  4. Quasi sera
(6:24)  5. Danza di una ninfa sotto la luna
(4:12)  6. Che cos'è
(5:39)  7. Ho capito che ti amo
(5:39)  8. Il tempo passò
(5:49)  9. In qualche parte del mondo
(4:59) 10. O me

E ra night of a cold winter, that of 27 January 1967 . A gunshot breaks the silence and the room 219 of the annex Savoy is filled with death: Luigi Tenco , misunderstood genius, commits suicide. Truncate his brief but intense life, not before he left a message of protest: " I love him very much to the Italian public - wrote the son of a farmer - and I have dedicated, unnecessarily, five years of my life. I do this , not because he was tired of life (anything), but as an act of protest against an audience that sends 'Me you and roses' in the final and a committee that selects 'the' revolution. I hope it will help clarify things to someone. Hello. Louis . " That his gesture has clarified the ideas to those who are in the "control room" at the Sanremo Festival, it is not established. But one thing is certain, and Dance of a nymph or confirms, Luigi Tenco he left a message of strong self. Indelible!

L 'album, which also play Paul McCandless (sax, oboe, horn, clarinet and flute), Bebo Ferra (guitar), Luca Bulgarelli (double bass), Michael Anger (drums), Piero Salvatori (cello) and " Arke String Quartet ", opens with" I love you "on introduction of soprano sax dense lyrical and instrumental significance. A mixture, successful, contemporary and harmonies - never banal sounds - that support the voice of Ada Montellanico . Voice and piano, as in the best traditions of jazz, with some assistance from the soprano McCandless . The arrangement is refined, without stylistic exaggerations. Even just Pieranunzi is "leaning" elegantly on harmonic solutions that support the phrasing of sax that follows. Ever since , it becomes bolder from a musical standpoint. But it's "philological" very consistent with the work of Tenco. It 'the first of the four tracks, never engraved by the great songwriter and to whose "musicazione" helped Ada Montellanico . The others are: Dance of a nymph under the moon , O Me and My dear friend . And this is the third track on the album, which lends itself very well to a very jazzy arrangement and if we want, even a little 'unconventional, but only in that regains a more traditional visibility and maybe even more tonal. Improvisations, including that of Enrico Pieranunzi , are particularly rhythmic. Nearly evening respects the "melancholy" of Luigi Tenco, respects their musical poetry and arrangements are subject to the imperative, supreme, to draw in the imagination of the listener shadows and uncertain shapes, flowing before his eyes at nightfall, on a beach, along the sea. The piano is chained to the voice of Montellanico : holding hands, Ada and Henry! Dance of a nymph under the moon is really ethereal! A composition that lies on the equally lyrical Tenco ethereal to get a fine result, cultured. The oboe gives the song a rarefied atmosphere, almost impalpable, on which shows a little 'guitar, returning to the track in soft Mediterranean sounds. 

Certainly the most beautiful song of the album. What is it? has a decidedly jazz dimension, it is a medium where the rhythm section, at least as long as you support the voice, is "two", then running at a "four", only for the Pieranunzi and McCandless . The work produced for the label Egea is a real journey into the poetic and musical world of Luigi Tenco. Also I realized that I love you is not so different. Very "open" as a rhythmic dimension  as if to comply with a stylistic exercise where the singer was a master: take up the guitar and "tell" his poem with the rhythmic freedom of movement is argued on a very studied and refined harmonic frame. The time passed has a nonsochè of classical, is a song timeless, timing. Tenco wrote it with Reverberi telling of a life that seems to have its greatest musical expression in the deep just Pieranunzi . Somewhere in the world just the style signature brings the sixties and only slightly different - even in the harmonic structure developed by Pieranunzi expressive model of Luigi Tenco. 

O continually the scaffolding of ' Arke String Quartet in Somewhere in the world , which goes to support the song, of course, more elaborate and ambitious cd. Or I did swing expressions in the rhythm section that incardinano in the plan, sometimes a bit 'Latin, of Enrico Pieranunzi . The song is an elegant succession of poetry and music: excellent phrases in unison. Translate by google http://www.jazzitalia.net/recensioni/danzadiunaninfa.asp#.WJI801MrKUl

Personnel:  Voice – Ada Montellanico;  Cello – Piero Salvatori;  Double Bass – Luca Bulgarelli;  Drums, Percussion – Michele Rabbia;  Guitar – Bebo Ferra;  Piano, Arranged By – Enrico Pieranunzi;  Soprano Saxophone, Oboe, English Horn, Bass Clarinet, Flute – Paul McCandless

Danza di una ninfa

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Dusko Goykovich - Muenich Serenade

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:39
Size: 148,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:32)  1. Doboy
(6:52)  2. Muenich Serenade
(6:02)  3. Balkan Reflections
(7:14)  4. In My Dreams
(5:13)  5. Bembasha
(9:25)  6. My SHip
(5:41)  7. Downtown Talk
(4:29)  8. Pete's Bits
(5:05)  9. Domicile Blues
(8:01) 10. Summertime

An excellent bop-based soloist who has recorded rewarding sets for Enja, Dusko Goykovich played in Yugoslavia and Germany before visiting the U.S. for the first time with Marshall Brown's International Youth Band (playing at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival). Goykovich attended Berklee (1961-1963) and played with the orchestras of Maynard Ferguson (1963-1964) and Woody Herman (1964-1966) before deciding to return to Germany, leading a group with Sal Nistico (1966). He was with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band (1968-73) and had a 12-piece band with Slide Hampton (1974-1975). Miles Davis is his main influence, but Dusko Goykovich (who has been quite active during the '80s and '90s in Europe) has his own extroverted style. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/artist/du%C5%A1ko-gojkovi-mn0000129309/biography

Personnel:  Trumpet – Dusko Goykovich;  Bass – Yasuhiko Sato;  Drums – Kruno Levacich;  Piano – Peter Mihelich

Muenich Serenade

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Harold Danko - New Autumn

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 66:03
Size: 121,2 MB
Art: Front

( 7:38)  1. Notzenytz
( 5:28)  2. Fresh Space
( 6:26)  3. Ticket To Obscurity
( 8:47)  4. New Autumn
( 6:20)  5. Hamsters
(10:01)  6. Omniperception
( 5:56)  7. Hopelessness Regained
( 6:58)  8. Other Things In The Space
( 8:25)  9. Sizzle

By 1995, pianist Harold Danko had led the same quartet for several years and his musicians had really mastered and grown into Danko's complex originals. Danko and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry (both of whom had developed fairly original voices) often sound as if they are thinking alike during this CD and their mutual intuitiveness is a vital element in interpreting the tricky and constantly surprising music; bassist Scott Colley and drummerer Jeff Hirshfield are quite alert in support. The dividing line between composition and improvisation on some of the less conventional songs is sometimes difficult to find and there are many occasions where the lead voices (and sometimes all four musicians) are soloing together or at least freely commenting on each other's flights. Some performances swing while others float. New Autumn is a subtle yet explorative recording that will grow on most listeners over time. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/new-autumn-mw0000436058

Personnel:  Harold Danko(Piano), Jeff Hirshfield(Drums),  Rich Perry(Saxophone),  Scott Colley(Bass)

New Autumn

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Wolfgang Haffner - Acoustic Shapes

Styles: Jazz, Straight-ahead/Mainstream 
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:10
Size: 136,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:32)  1. Silent Way
(7:46)  2. Shapes
(6:28)  3. Faithless
(6:27)  4. Star
(2:47)  5. Crusin
(4:29)  6. Some Other Time
(5:42)  7. New Life
(9:56)  8. 24 Hours

There are those who view the blending of electronica textures and rhythms with jazz is akin to the coming of the Antichrist but, like it or not, it's an increasingly pervasive component of modern jazz. In North America, artists including Wallace Roney, Dave Douglas and Mike Mainieri have been incorporating sampling, turntables and real-time sonic processing with great success. Even more popular in Europe, with artists including Nils Petter Molvaer, Eivind Aarset and Bugge Wesseltoft regularly pushing the envelope, jazz is moving toward exciting new places, and attracting a much-needed younger demographic without sacrificing anything in the way of substance.  Wolfgang Haffner has been stylistically cross-pollinating for two decades, but it was with Shapes (ACT, 2006) that the German drummer threw his hat more decidedly into the electronica ring. An in-demand player with significant international exposure through his work with Klaus Doldinger's Passport, the transatlantic collective Metro, and trombonist Nils Landgren's Funk Unit, it was a planned 2007 Funk Unit tour, when original opening act Ida Sand backed out and Landgren asked the drummer to put together an opening act, that Haffner recognized the potential for reworking the music of Shapes for an entirely different setting. Recruiting pianist Hubert Nuss and bassist Lars Danielson, Haffner rearranged seven of Shapes' twelve originals, and added the high velocity swinger, "Star," to round out the fifty-minute program.

Danielsson was, perhaps, the only choice for the bass chair. His discography ranges from the ambitious NuJazz-meets-orchestra of Mélange Bleu (ACT, 2006) to a more intimate acoustic duo with keyboardist Leszek Mozdzer, Pasodoble (ACT, 2007). For his role as featured soloist in the Wagner Reloaded Project performance at Norway's Punktfest 06, Danielsson a multi-instrumentalist who also plays piano and cello—has evolved a personal approach to bass that rivals Germany's Eberhard Weber in its unmistakable sound. An unshakable rhythmic anchor throughout, he's an equally impressive pizzicato lead voice on the dramatically impressionistic "Crusin," segueing into the melancholy "Some Other Time," where a lush arco delivers its singable theme before being joined by Nuss. The single biggest impression, when listening to this live recording, is how easily material originally conceived for a far broader soundscape can be reimagined for an acoustic trio, a testament to the concept that good music is where you find it. 

As a drummer, Haffner is equally comfortable driving the fiery pulse of "24 Hours," first with brushes during Nuss' dexterous and ideationally brim-filled solo, then switching to sticks for Landgren's sole guest appearance, ratcheting up the heat as it morphs into an energetic piece of funk. Haffner solos rarely, but when he does it can be with unrelenting energy at the end of "24 Hours" or focused construction during the considerably more complex "Shapes." A broad-scoped drummer with rare multidisciplinary compositional skills, Haffner's name has largely been made by the company he's kept. Now, however, with Shapes and Acoustic Shapes, he's proving himself deserving of attention as a leader, a singular talent well worth watching. 

~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/acoustic-shapes-wolfgang-haffner-act-nu-jazz-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Wolfgang Haffner: drums; Hubert Nuss: piano; Lars Danielsson: bass; Nils Landgren: trombone (8).

Acoustic Shapes

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