Sarah Vaughan - Everything I Have Is Yours

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:01
Size: 80.2 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1994/2009
Art: Front

[3:14] 1. The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else
[2:58] 2. Love Me Or Leave Me
[2:58] 3. A Hundred Years From Today
[3:10] 4. Penthouse Serenade
[2:41] 5. Everything I Have Is Yours
[3:23] 6. Lover Man
[2:50] 7. I'm Through With Love
[2:54] 8. Don't Worry About Me
[3:01] 9. September Song
[2:34] 10. Gentlemen Friend
[2:39] 11. I Feel So Smoochie
[2:33] 12. Trouble Is A Man

Sarah Vaughan's recordings of the 1940s tend to be with big bands and string sections. Depending on your taste for the symphonic or operatic Vaughan, this collection of tunes done between 1945 and 1947, originally for the Musicraft label and initially reissued on CD by the Drive Archive label in 1997, emphasizes some of the orchestral arrangements Vaughan favored, but it is not one that concentrates on ballads. Most of the material is midtempo, the charts are generally not syrupy, and you get an occasional small group assisting the Divine One. Because of the narrow chronological focus, you hear Vaughan working on her craft, developing her vocal sound in different ways, and melting into the band's music like few other vocalists can. To varying degrees, optimal results occur, although on some tracks Vaughan's voice is submerged or under-produced. The musicianship is always solid, making for a pleasing listening experience, especially when you can identify the many fine musicians -- generally unattributed -- on this recording. The two-plus-two tracks that bookend this CD are the most sugary, with strings and thin voice reproduction, with backing from the Ted Dale Orchestra, though Al Gibson's clarinet shines through and "I Feel So Smoochy" is playful and not violin-dominant. Three tracks with the Teddy Wilson Orchestra are the best big-band cuts, as the song of getting along "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" and the beautifully evocative "September Song" show Vaughan at her best alongside Wilson's tinkling piano or the tenor sax of Charlie Ventura. Two selections with the George Treadwell band are outstanding, as you hear the signature tune of surrender "Everything I Have Is Yours" and the insular, pining "I'm Through with Love," definitive Vaughan without question. One selection apiece with the Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker group, the Georgie Auld Orchestra, and the Billy Taylor Trio plus guitarist Remo Palmier span 1945, 1946, and 1947, respectively, giving you a progression of the diverse sounds that Vaughan favored behind her. The Diz/Bird take of "Lover Man" is a classic beyond reproach, the Auld band for "A Hundred Years from Today" is locked in a better sound production with vibrato and the singer in a lower key, while the Taylor quartet with bassist Al McKibbon and drummer Kenny Clarke do "Gentleman Friend" right, as guitarist Palmier joins for a crisp, professional reading of this sly elegy of encroachment. While not definitive, this time-capsule collection of music should please anyone wanting a quick standard burst or a new taste of the most amazing vocalist in pop/jazz ever, early in her stellar career. ~Michael G. Nastos

Everything I Have Is Yours

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Richard Wyands Trio - Get Out Of Town

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:15
Size: 158.5 MB
Styles: Bop, Piano jazz
Year: 1997
Art: Front

[10:03] 1. Get Out Of Town
[ 6:34] 2. Love Dance
[ 6:28] 3. Yardbird Suite
[ 6:41] 4. Angelica
[ 7:42] 5. I Don't Want To Cry Anymore
[ 5:53] 6. Serenata
[ 4:30] 7. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
[ 6:40] 8. Mean What You Say
[ 8:01] 9. Why Did I Choose You
[ 6:38] 10. Jitterbug Waltz

Largely overlooked by the critics in the ’50s and ’60s, Richard Wyands also was overshadowed in the eyes of the public by such more widely exposed pianists as Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Tommy Flanagan, and Oscar Peterson. One might profitably compare his lot with that of Hank Jones, unquestionably a more well-known musician, but one who nevertheless also suffered the downside of consistency, dependability and flexibility. However, this 1996 trio date, the 68-year-old Wyands was joined by bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, should help to correct this injustice.

The little-remembered “Angelica,” a calypso-based number that Ellington wrote for his 1962 quartet date with Coltrane, is a surprise entry among more familiar fare and should alert others to seek within the crevices for previously untapped sources of material. Other tunes on this ten-track program include “Yardbird Suite,” “Jitterbug Waltz,” “Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You?,” “Serenata,” Thad Jones’ “Mean What You Say,” and the charming Ivan Lins ballad, “Love Dance.” Unfairly neglected during his prime, Richard Wyands is a remarkably fine musician who still deserves all the attention he can get. Jack Sohmer

Get Out Of Town  

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Shannon Butcher - Little Hearts

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:43
Size: 102.4 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:17] 1. Joy In My Heart
[4:22] 2. Walk On By
[3:00] 3. The Last Word (Feat. Michael Kaeshammer)
[4:39] 4. Hush
[3:36] 5. Run To You
[5:42] 6. (I Ain't In The Mood For) No Dj
[4:28] 7. Simple Love
[3:57] 8. What'll I Do
[3:41] 9. Smile
[4:36] 10. Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)
[3:20] 11. Better Kisser

Jazz singer Shannon Butcher has come out with another great album and its main strength is in the material she’s chosen to cover. She’s done what I think all modern jazz singers should be doing, i.e. quit covering the done-to-death standards and look to a more modern songbook for fodder. Sure there’s a place for the Gershwin and Porter rehashings now and then - especially in live performance - but when greats like Ella and Sarah have recorded them before, a singer had better be bringing something pretty interesting to the party, or why should we buy it? So when I see 70s and 80s tunes on a CD cover, as is the case with “Little Hearts,” it’s a sign that an artist is thinking outside the box, and that’s what jazz is all about. The Bacharach-David beauty Walk on By gets a moody, heartfelt treatment that reflects the sentiment of the lyrics better than the peppy Warwick original (sorry Dionne!) and Bryan Adams’ Run to You goes Latin American with Daniel Stone on cajon and Rob Piltch doing his usual tasteful nylon string guitar work.

Butcher has also done some very fine songwriting on this album. Joy in My Heart kicks off the disc with a soulful ode to staying positive and the duet with the enormously talented Michael Kaeshammer - The Last Word - is a cute nod to 60s romantic comedies. The one older standard covered here - Irving Berlin’s What’ll I Do - has been given an inventive alt-country facelift courtesy of Piltch’s twangy, plaintive guitar work. ~Cathy Riches

Little Hearts

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Pete York & Young Friends - Basiecally Speaking

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:29
Size: 120.2 MB
Styles: Swing, Contemporary jazz
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:33] 1. Groovin' For Basie
[3:25] 2. Tickle Toe
[5:00] 3. Splanky
[4:09] 4. Jumpin At The Woodside
[4:29] 5. Moten Swing
[3:33] 6. Flip Flop And Fly
[5:28] 7. Lil' Darling
[5:39] 8. Shiney Stockings
[4:00] 9. Cute
[3:19] 10. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
[3:47] 11. Lester Leaps In
[3:50] 12. Broadway
[2:12] 13. Roll 'em Pete

Drums, Vocals – Pete York; Guitar, Vocals – Torsten Goods; Organ [Hammond] – Andi Kissenbeck; Tenor Saxophone – Gabor Bolla; Bass – Wolfgang Schmid.

It all goes back to year 1965. Spencer Davis Group was recording a single for the label Phillips Germany after having released its number one hit “Keep on Running”. Alongside the guitarist and a former German teacher Spencer Davis, Steve Winwood and his older brother Muff also the upcoming drummer Pete York was a member of the band. The producer of the session was Siggi Loch. “We’ve been friends ever since,” Pete York, who turned 70 in August, reminisces. “Maybe it is Siggi’s birthday present that I got the chance to release this album on ACT.”

The present is called „Basiecally Speaking“. As you might guess due to the title, the album is all about Count Basie. York explains: “Basie was almost my first connection with jazz after Louis Armstrong. When I was 15, my mother took me to see his concert. It was unforgettable, particularly due to his energetic drummer Sonny Payne. His big band had such power and dynamics. Basie used the whole language of music and was famous for his musical humour as well as for his economic way of playing the piano. Every note mattered and was swinging. I have tried to include all these things in my music. Most of all, I learnt from Basie what not to play.”

Basiecally Speaking

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Mark Murphy - My Favorite Things

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:48
Size: 86.6 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[2:28] 1. Twisted
[5:02] 2. Li'l Darlin'
[3:30] 3. Doodlin'
[2:17] 4. My Favorite Things
[2:30] 5. Milestones
[4:50] 6. Out Of This World
[3:11] 7. No Tears For Me
[3:49] 8. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
[3:10] 9. Stoppin' The Clock
[3:44] 10. On Green Dolphin Street
[3:13] 11. Angel Eyes

Mark Murphy often seemed to be the only true jazz singer of his generation. A young, hip post-bop vocalist, Murphy spent most of his career sticking to the standards -- and often presented radically reworked versions of those standards while many submitted to the lure of the lounge singer -- during the artistically fallow period of the 1970s and '80s. Marketed as a teen idol by Capitol during the mid-'50s, Murphy deserted the stolid world of commercial pop for a series of exciting dates on independent labels that featured the singer investigating his wide interests: Jack Kerouac, Brazilian music, songbook recordings, vocalese, and hard bop, among others.

He grew up near Syracuse, New York, born into an intensely musical family (both parents sang). Mark began playing piano as a child, and studied both voice and theater while at college. He toured through Canada with a jazz trio for a time and spent a while back home before he moved to New York in early 1954. A few television appearances gained him a contract with Decca Records, and he debuted with 1956's Meet Mark Murphy. He released one more LP for Decca before signing to Capitol in 1959. Though label executives often forced material (and an excessively clean-cut image) on the young singer, he managed to distinguish himself with good sets of standards, musical accompaniment furnished by West Coast jazz regulars, and a distinctive vocal style that often twisted lines and indulged in brief scatting to display his jazz credentials. John Bush

My Favorite Things

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Ted Heath & His Orchestra - Ted Heath Plays Tadd Dameron

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 14:50
Size: 34.0 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[0:27] 1. Theme In
[2:43] 2. Ladybyrd
[2:52] 3. Lyonia
[2:58] 4. The Nearness Of You
[2:48] 5. Euphoria
[2:42] 6. So Easy
[0:16] 7. Theme Out

The U.S. had Glenn Miller and Stan Kenton. The U.K. had Ted Heath. Born in 1902, the trombonist played in jazz bands from the 1920s through the mid-1940s, when he formed his own big band on D-Day. Inspired by Miller's Army Air Force Band, with its precision and dramatic moodiness, Heath grew in popularity after the war, performing every Sunday at London's Palladium. Then came Heath's 1956 tour of the U.S. that kicked his reputation up several notches. Negotiating a groundbreaking deal with the American Federation of Musicians, Heath was able to perform with Nat King Cole, June Christy and the Four Freshman—playing 43 concerts in 30 cities in 31 days. Though Heath never became a household name in the U.S., he recorded ferociously in London up until his death at age 67 in 1969.

For much of 1948—when bebop's popularity was reachng its zenith—American musicians were prohibited by their union from recording. That year, Heath commissioned Tadd Dameron to write arrangements for his proficient and brassy band. Dameron scored a batch for Heath—including his own Ladybird, Per Husby's Lyonia, Hoagy Carmichael's The Nearness of You, Roy Krall's Euphoria and his own So Easy. These five arrangements wound up on an album recorded in London in 1949 and released there on an early British 10-inch LP. To create a concert atmosphere, Heath's theme—Listen to My Music—opened and closed the album. [Pictured above: Tadd Dameron] The arrangements here are noble and cleverly comfortable in the bop vernacular. They also are fairly difficult, with sections constantly moving in and out and intersecting every now and then with the song's melody. Interestingly, So Easy is virtually the same arrangement that Dameron wrote for Artie Shaw's 1949 band—but taken at a faster and more engaging clip.

This album shows off the Heath orchestra's crisp style and its ability to play big-band bop. Britain was devistated economically after World War II and it would take unitl the 1960s before U.K. hounseholds began to recover financially. Throughout the '50s, Heath kept the the British in good spirits, proving that the country's answer to the Miller and Kenton bands could keep up. ~Mark Myers

Ted Heath Plays Tadd Dameron

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Andy LaVerne with John Abercrombie - Natural Living

Styles: Piano And Guitar Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:58
Size: 162,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:01)  1. Sweet and Lovely
(6:03)  2. Actual Sighs
(4:49)  3. John's Waltz
(5:19)  4. All the Things You Are
(5:25)  5. Among Tall Trees
(8:21)  6. Natural Living
(4:14)  7. Archetypal Schemata
(4:04)  8. Magnetic Flux
(5:20)  9. Labour Day
(7:33) 10. When you wish upon a star
(7:13) 11. Stella by Starlight
(7:31) 12. Suzy's World

This duo date marks the first occasion during which Andy LaVerne and John Abercrombie played together, so with the impressive results it isn't surprising to learn that they would get together again in the studio. The give and take between the pianist and guitarist is at the high level of the Bill Evans-Jim Hall sessions. An inventive interpretation of "Sweet and Lovely" starts things off at a high level. They skim the surface of "All the Things You Are" by adding some interesting re-harmonization, while "When You Wish Upon a Star" has a rhapsodic introduction by LaVerne and wonderful comping by each player for his partner's solo. The influence of Bill Evans upon LaVerne's playing during "Stella by Starlight." Both men also contributed original tunes to the date. LaVerne's "Natural Living" is a hard to predict bossa nova with Abercrombie on acoustic guitar, while the pianist's "Archetypal Schemata" and Abercrombie's "John's Waltz" are post-bop masterpieces. Their one collaboration seems to be a joint improvisation, with Abercrombie on guitar synthesizer. This is an excellent all around release. ~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/natural-living-mw0000190635

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

Natural Living

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Jenny Evans, Dusko Goykovich - Shiny Stockings

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:01
Size: 136,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:41)  1. Shiny Stockings
(3:22)  2. Good Old Days
(4:30)  3. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
(3:53)  4. That's What Zoot Said
(5:21)  5. You Go To My Head
(4:43)  6. In A Mellow Tone
(5:07)  7. Caravan
(4:15)  8. Willow Weep For Me
(5:14)  9. Alright, OK, You Win
(4:38) 10. Honeysuckle Rose
(4:15) 11. The Song Of Autumn
(4:18) 12. April In Paris
(3:37) 13. All Of Me

Jazz vocalist Jenny Evans, born and raised in Britain, has been a resident of Munich for many years. Sometimes when she scats, one can almost detect a hint of a German accent. But although her career has been based wholly in Europe, Evans’s passion is the Great American Songbook. Delving into material such as "Willow Weep for Me," "In a Mellow Tone," and "Honeysuckle Rose," she displays a voice that is deep and golden-toned. Her intonation is perfect maybe even too perfect. A little more rough-edged spontaneity might have made the session less ordinary, especially on such often-played standards as "Caravan" and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise." "April In Paris" is lackluster, not to mention a tad too fast the beautiful bridge rushes right by.

That said, Evans really knows how to get around these songs, and so does her band. Trumpeter Dusko Goykovich and tenor saxophonist Gianni Basso often team up to play inspired shout choruses; when Evans joins them as a third "horn," it sounds like a mini big band. Basso’s solo style is delightfully old-school. All three collaborated on the lively "That’s What Zoot Said," dedicated to the late Zoot Sims; Goykovich and Evans co-wrote the other two originals of the session, "Good Old Days" and "The Song of Autumn," both minor-key ballads. Solid playing is also the norn for pianist David Gazarov, bassist Branko Pejakovic, and drummer/producer Rudi Martini. ~ David Adler https://www.allaboutjazz.com/shiny-stockings-jenny-evans-enja-records-review-by-david-adler.php

Personnel: Jenny Evans (vocals); Gianni Basso (soprano & tenor saxophone); Dusko Goykovich (trumpet, flugelhorn); David Gazarov (piano); Branko Pejakovic (bass); Rudi Martini (drums).

Shiny Stockings

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Kevin Hays - Crossroad

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 68:30
Size: 109,8 MB
Art: Front

( 6:27)  1. P.S. The Blues
( 8:54)  2. Gaslight
( 7:37)  3. Garden View
( 8:38)  4. Woody's Call
( 9:06)  5. Quartet
( 8:46)  6. Cross Road
( 8:35)  7. Nature Boy
(10:24)  8. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise

A talented pianist, Kevin Hays grew up in Connecticut and started lessons when he was seven. He made his recording debut with Nick Brignola; toured with the Harper Brothers (1989-1990); and worked with Joshua Redman, Benny Golson, Donald Harrison, Roy Haynes, and Joe Henderson, among others. Kevin Hays recorded three albums with Bob Belden, and in 1994 cut his first record as a leader, Seventh Sense (Blue Note). ~ Scott Yanow https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/kevin-hays/id17271591#fullText

Scott Wendholt (trumpet, flugelhorn) Kevin Hays (piano) Freddie Bryant (guitar) Dwayne Burno (bass) Carl Allen (drums)

Crossroad

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Benny Golson - The Modern Touch

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1957
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:11
Size: 92,3 MB
Art: Front

( 6:28)  1. Out of the Past
( 7:20)  2. Reunion
( 5:41)  3. Venetian Breeze
( 4:14)  4. Hymn to the Orient
( 4:48)  5. Namely You
(11:37)  6. Blues on Down

Benny Golson's second album as a leader (reissued on CD in the OJC series) is a solid hard bop date featuring the tenorman in a quintet with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Max Roach. The all-star group performs three Golson originals (none of which really caught on), a pair of Gigi Gryce tunes (best known is "Hymn to the Orient") and the standard "Namely You." Excellent playing on an above-average set that defines the modern mainstream of 1957 jazz. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-modern-touch-mw0000099791

Personnel:  Benny Golson (tenor saxophone);  Kenny Dorham (trumpet);  J.J. Johnson (trombone);  Wynton Kelly (piano);  Paul Chambers (bass);  Max Roach (drums).

The Modern Touch

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