Lou Rawls - Portrait Of The Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 50:22

Size: 115.3 MB

Styles: R&B, Jazz-blues vocals

Year: 1993

Art: Front

[3:08] 1. I Just Want To Make Love To You (W. Junior Wells)

[3:04] 2. A Lover's Question (W. Phoebe Snow)

[2:41] 3. Person To Person

[2:42] 4. Since I Met You Baby

[4:29] 5. I'm Still In Love With You

[3:10] 6. Snap Your Fingers

[2:45] 7. Baby What You Want Me To Do

[3:14] 8. Suffering With The Blues

[2:56] 9. Hide Nor Hair

[4:22] 10. Chains Of Love

[3:16] 11. My Babe

[3:22] 12. I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues

[2:34] 13. Save Your Love For Me

[5:01] 14. Saturday Night Fish Fry (W. Joe Williams)

[3:32] 15. Sweet Slumber

Alto Saxophone – Hank Crawford; Drums – Chris Parker; Electric Bass – Tinker Barfield; Electric Piano – Richard Tee; Guitar – Steve Khan; Organ – Richard Tee; Piano – Richard Tee; Trombone – Hank Crawford. This album was recorded analog and mixed to digital. Recorded April - October 1992.

A wholesome blues effort by the native Chicagoan. Though these are bona fide blues numbers, Rawls confronts each song with an elegant touch. His delivery and articulation give the songs an uptown flair. Of the 15 numbers, only four ("Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Hide Nor Hair," "My Babe," and "Saturday Night Fish Fry") have that up-tempo, boogie-woogie fever. The latter, a classic Louis Jordan jump, is the most notable. It features Lionel Hampton on vibes and Rawls shares vocal duties with Joe Williams. The other selections have that cozy café ambience. Rawls also does a duet with Phoebe Snow on the calypso-seasoned "A Lover's Question." This is an all-star cast from the penmanship of greats like Duke Ellington, Ivory Joe Hunter, and others to the creative musicianship of Hank Crawford, Houston Person, Junior Wells, and company. ~Craig Lytle

Portrait Of The Blues               

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Fay Claassen - Red, Hot & Blue: The Music Of Cole Porter

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:03
Size: 148.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[7:12] 1. I Get A Kick Out Of You
[5:13] 2. Easy To Love
[6:14] 3. Love For Sale
[5:40] 4. Ridin' High
[6:23] 5. Dreamdancing
[4:44] 6. Anything Goes
[5:41] 7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[6:34] 8. I Concentrate On You
[6:12] 9. All Through The Night
[3:08] 10. Too Darn Hot
[7:57] 11. So In Love

Fay Claassen: vocals; Ingmar Heller: bass; Olaf Polziehn: piano; Hans Dekker: drums.

With a virtual flood of female jazz vocalists seemingly appearing every year, it is a challenge to separate the wheat from the chaff. But anyway you slice it, Fay Claassen, one of European jazz's top singers, makes the cut. Graduating from the Conservatory of The Hague in 1997, she had a host of great teachers, including renowned jazz vocalist Judy Niemack. The rich-voiced alto learned her lessons well, with clear articulation and terrific tone to complement her urbane, sophisticated approach to singing, with no trace of her native Dutch accent.

Claassen's fifth CD is her first to focus solely on the works of a single composer. The 11 Cole Porter songs that she chooses are among his most popular, so she faces a considerable challenge to find a fresh approach to each of them. Fortunately, with the superb charts by Michael Abene and a potent trio—pianist Olaf Polziehn, bassist Ingmar Heller and drummer Hans Dekker—she is able to make them her own.

She savors Abene's bluesy treatment of "Love For Sale," bringing out the sexy nature of its lyrics as she tackles it at an almost crawling tempo. She shows her romantic side in the lighter-hearted rendition of "Dream Dancing," lagging just a bit behind the beat. The quirky staccato introduction to "Anything Goes" is a refreshing modern touch, though it quickly gives way to a swinging post-bop setting. While Claassen is also an accomplished scat singer, she doesn't overdo it, unlike her previous Two Portraits of Chet Baker (Jazz 'N Pulz, 2006). ~Ken Dryden

Red, Hot & Blue: The Music Of Cole Porter

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Paul Tillotson - Tequila Time!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:17
Size: 135.7 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[0:13] 1. Intro Gene Harris
[2:59] 2. Tequila Time
[6:58] 3. Do Nothing 'til You Hear From Me
[6:21] 4. Morpheus
[4:22] 5. Gena's Song
[6:15] 6. The Beautiful Ones
[4:14] 7. Apple Blossom
[6:12] 8. 4 PM
[4:06] 9. Big Yellow Taxi
[4:55] 10. Dot.Dot.Dot
[7:35] 11. Blackbird
[4:56] 12. The Tickler
[0:04] 13. Whoooeee!

TEQUILA TIME! is the ninth studio recording of pianist Paul Tillotson, and his second with The Love Trio. This collection of jazz originals and covers features the standout track "Blackbird," Tillotson's dynamic yet introspective re-interpretation of the Lennon/McCartney classic.

TEQUILA TIME! is a nod to the late Gene Harris, Tillotson's friend and mentor. Upon Harris' death, in the third year of the Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Boise, Idaho, Tillotson was honored to be chosen to take Harris\' place at the piano. Rounding out the bill on TEQUILA TIME! are jazz veterans, and familiar faces from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, bassist Mike Merritt and drummer James Wormworth.

Tequila Time!

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WDR Big Band - Celebrating Billie Holiday

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:58
Size: 176.2 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[4:39] 1. Fine and Mellow
[7:07] 2. Detour Ahead
[6:15] 3. Lover Man
[6:11] 4. You've Changed
[5:11] 5. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
[5:16] 6. My Man
[3:36] 7. Left Alone
[6:13] 8. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
[6:32] 9. For All We Know
[5:22] 10. I Cover the Waterfront
[8:13] 11. You Don't Know What Love Is
[5:55] 12. In My Solitude
[6:23] 13. I Cried for You

Billie Holiday was the Lady of Jazz, her singing and her expressive power for all subsequent Jazzvokalisten. The WDR Big Band Cologne and the singer Cécile Verny have recorded an impressive tribute to the icon of jazz with newly conceived arrangements by Michael Abene on this CD. It contains well-known songs from the repertoire Billie Holidays, including the popular title "Lover Man" as well as the song rarity "Left Alone". (Translated from German.)

Celebrating Billie Holiday

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Min Rager - First Steps

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:03
Size: 139.8 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[8:09] 1. Nothing To Gain, Nothing To Lose
[6:59] 2. First Steps
[6:02] 3. Bella
[1:58] 4. Persistence Of Memory
[4:26] 5. Passing
[6:24] 6. Song Of Love
[6:34] 7. Portrait Of Miles
[7:32] 8. Embrace
[5:42] 9. Goodbye, Manhattan
[7:11] 10. Always Near To You

Min Rager: piano; Kevin Dean: trumpet; Donny Kennedy: alto saxophone; Fraser Hollins: bass (2, 5-7); Alec Walkington: bass (1, 8, 9); Andre White: drums; Walt Weiskopf: tenor saxophone (4); Josh Rager (10).

It is not often that a woman is given much elbowroom in contemporary music, no matter how good she may be. However, when she is as good as Min Rager on First Steps, more than elbowroom had better be made for her and her piano. True, Rager has been preceded by a celestial pantheon of female pianists, including towering personalities Mary Lou Williams and Marian McPartland, the elusive Jane Getz and Geri Allen. To stake her claim and strut her stuff in a gallery with vaunted company requires a singular brilliance; Rager has this in abundance.

Min Rager is an unbridled piano virtuoso with a large heart, creative spirit and wonderful, sinewy style. Rager also has a flair for the dramatic and for making the keys tell stories which captivate and bring rapture to the attentive ear. She has a bright, skipping manner and often lets her right hand ascend scales with alacrity, as if she were leaping through a bowling green. Her left hand strikes chords and notes with erudite tone and color. She will sometimes repeat a note twice, extracting a completely different meaning from its abundant timbral overtones. There are no half measures in her playing, and there is great elasticity in her solos; always a solid beginning, a tantalizing stretch down the middle and a resolute end.

Rager's compositions are mature and have a great feeling for the blues. Paying tribute to human triumph in the tradition of an African-American idiom is no easy task. However, the heartfelt inner sensitivity and the depth of soul enables Rager to sing with the sensibility of musician who has paid her dues too, albeit at a young age. Although this should need no explanation, it does bear mention because the blues is the mother of jazz and not every musician today is steeped in it. To Min Rager it appears to be second nature and this not only a rare gift, but also a credential that speaks volumes for her beckoning genius. The stamp of Rager's creativity is all over First Steps.

Rager's music is anchored in inventive bebop sensibility. "Nothing to Gain, Nothing to Lose" burns rapidly, as the rumor of a raid. "First Steps" is a refreshingly clever nod toward modal music and John Coltrane "Giant Steps." "Bella," "Persistence of Memory," "Song of Love" and "Portrait of Miles" are gorgeous ballads in the grand, Billy Strayhorn manner. Bassist, Fraser Hollins plays an unforgettably lush melodic solo on "Song of Love" and trumpeter Kevin Dean displays fine chops on "Song of Love" and "Miles." "Embrace" could have been entitled "Abraço," in that warm Brazilian embrace of the tradition of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. "Always Near to You," a duet shared with husband/pianist, Josh Rager, is completely captivating in the grand manner of Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. On the evidence of this record, Min Rager has not simply arrived; it is already time to pay her homage. ~Raul D'Gama Rose

First Steps

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Various - Atlantic Jazz: Best Of The '50s

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:19
Size: 156.4 MB
Styles: Bop, Soul-jazz, R&B, Vocal jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[ 4:36] 1. The Modern Jazz Quartet - Django
[ 2:48] 2. Chris Connor - All About Ronnie
[ 7:56] 3. Shorty Rogers - Martians Go Home
[ 6:45] 4. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Evidence
[ 4:41] 5. Lavern Baker - Back Water Blues
[ 5:46] 6. John Coltrane - Cousin Mary
[ 3:32] 7. Jimmy Giuffre - The Train And The River
[ 7:16] 8. Big Joe Turner - Wee Baby Blues
[10:33] 9. Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
[ 5:21] 10. David Newman - Fathead
[ 5:21] 11. Lennie Tristano - You Go To My Head
[ 3:39] 12. Ray Charles - Come Rain Or Come Shine

Although there were plenty of early-'50s examples of Atlantic's commitment to jazz, the Ertegun brothers allegedly didn't get serious about establishing a full jazz line until 1955 when the twelve-inch LP was starting to take hold. Hence the half-decade span of this Rhino sampler that helped launch its repackaging of the Atlantic jazz caatalogue in 1993. In the space of one disc, Rhino touches upon most of the leading Atlantic jazz folk of the time, beginning with Shorty Rogers' inimitable "Martians Go Home" and running through to Chris Connor's live "All About Ronnie." Along the way, we hear samples of the MJQ (though there is no solo Milt Jackson), Art Blakey, LaVern Baker, John Coltrane ("Cousin Mary"), Jimmy Giuffre, Joe Turner, Charles Mingus, David "Fathead" Newman, Lennie Tristano, and some string-laden Ray Charles ("Come Rain Or Come Shine"). If quibble we must, there is nothing of the Dixieland resurgence that Atlantic was cultivating then, and most glaring of all, there is no Ornette Coleman, whose first two groundbreaking Atlantic albums were made in 1959. Otherwise casual jazz shoppers will find much to stimulate their appetites in this collection, better described as "best of the late-'50s." ~Richard S. Ginnell

Atlantic Jazz: Best Of The '50s

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Andy LaVerne & John Abercrombie - Live From New York

Styles: Piano And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 66:20
Size: 123,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:56)  1. How Deep Is The Ocean
(6:33)  2. Impromptwo
(5:37)  3. Al The Cat
(6:05)  4. Portrait In Jazz
(6:22)  5. Bw
(6:57)  6. Something You Said
(6:05)  7. Short Stuff
(6:18)  8. Undercurrent
(8:14)  9. Witchcraft
(8:09) 10. I Hear A Rhapsody

Andy LaVerne and John Abercrombie have worked together a number of times over two-plus decades when they're not leading their own respective bands. They have recorded together both as a duo and in a quartet and developed a musical ESP, as this concert recorded at Baruch College in the spring of 2010 demonstrates. A prolific composer, LaVerne contributed several originals, highlighted by the intricate "Impromptwo," the magical ballad "Portrait in Jazz," and the phenomenal "Undercurrent" (the latter two quickly revealing Bill Evans' influence, while the song titles just happen to be two of Evans' early landmark albums). It is easy to imagine Bill Evans and Jim Hall together when hearing Abercrombie and LaVerne playing the guitarist's lively jazz waltz "BW" and his equally enjoyable "Short Stuff." Toss in a trio of familiar standards and it is clear that Andy LaVerne and John Abercrombie can hold their own when compared to any jazz piano/guitar duo. ~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-from-new-york-mw0002079691

Personnel: John Abercrombie (guitar); Andy LaVerne (piano).

Live From New York

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Ahmad Jamal Trio - Count 'Em 88

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:07
Size: 80,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:54)  1. Volga Boatman
(3:21)  2. Green Dolphin Street
(5:30)  3. How About You
(2:05)  4. I Just Can't See for Lookin'
(2:38)  5. Spring Will Be a Little Late T
(5:28)  6. Beat Out One
(3:40)  7. Maryam
(5:41)  8. Easy to Remember
(2:49)  9. Jim Love Sue

This LP (not yet reissued on CD) was pianist Ahmad Jamal's first with his new group, a trio also including bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Walter Perkins. Although he was reasonably popular around the Chicago area at the time, Jamal's major breakthrough would be the following album, But Not for Me, recorded more than a year later. 

The "Jamal sound," with its expert use of dynamics, close interplay, space and subtle surprises was very much in place, and this out-of-print set is on the same level as his better-known hits to come. Highlights include "Green Dolphin Street," "How About You" and "Easy To Remember." Well worth searching for. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/count-em-88-mw0000929365

Personnel:  Ahmad Jamal – piano;  Israel Crosby – bass;  Walter Perkins – drums

Count 'Em 88

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Joe Henderson - Black Narcissus

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1974
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:12
Size: 92,3 MB
Art: Front

( 5:09)  1. Black Narcissus
( 2:41)  2. Hindsight And Forethought
(12:25)  3. Power To The People
( 5:39)  4. Amoeba
( 6:57)  5. Good Morning Heartache
( 7:18)  6. Other Side Of Right

A later album from Joe Henderson's ultra-hip 70s period for Milestone a sweetly electric session with the mighty Patrick Gleeson on keyboards! Gleeson is as strong of a force here as he is on other essential albums from the time  including some of Herbie Hancock's work and the keyboardist handles E Mu Polyphonic synth, which really fits the flowing style of the music! Henderson's great, as always, on tenor blowing the instrument with a searching quality that's a fair bit different than some of his contemporaries, a unique space that further pushed the instrument in the years after the passing of John Coltrane. The rhythm section holds its end up nicely too bringing in some key modal moments with players who include Joachim Kuhn on piano, JF Jenny-Clark on bass, and Bill Summers on drums. Tracks are a bit more open than some of Joe's early 70s work but still done with a hip Bay Area groove and titles include "Black Narcissus", "Hindsight & Forethought", "Amoeba", and a studio version of "Power to the People", which Henderson had done earlier on a live set. (Cover has a cut corner & light wear.)  © 1996-2017, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/25548

Personnel: Joe Henderson - tenor sax; Joachim Kühn - piano (1-3, 5-6); Patrick Gleeson - synthesizer (1-3, 5); David Friesen (5), Jean-François Jenny-Clark (1-3, 6) – bass; Daniel Humair (1-3, 6), Jack DeJohnette (4-5) – drums; Bill Summers - congas, percussion

Black Narcissus

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