Sunday, May 28, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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