Scott Whitfield - New Jazz Standards (Volume 2)

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:15
Size: 173,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:07)  1. Prudence
(6:30)  2. More Wine
(5:46)  3. Big Darlin
(6:14)  4. Melodocity
(6:24)  5. I Remember Thad
(5:49)  6. B Squad Blues
(6:13)  7. Gamma Count
(6:21)  8. Lolly's Folly
(6:50)  9. Juarez
(6:07) 10. Another Tune for Bernie
(5:53) 11. Last Night's Samba
(6:54) 12. Symphonky Blues

On New Jazz Standards, Volume 2 (yes, the title may seem a tad optimistic at first glance; more about that later), trombonist Scott Whitfield leads a well-honed quartet playing the music of Carl Saunders. If the name Carl Saunders is new to you, he is quite simply one of the finest jazz trumpeters you've never heard and he may well be one of the best composers too. As for Whitfield, Saunders' personal choice to preside over this album, he is one of the Los Angeles area's foremost jazz trombonists, one who has led big bands on both coasts, played with a number of others, recorded ten albums as a leader and more than fifty as a sideman while "doubling" as a vocalist with wife Ginger Berglund and teaching at San Jose State University. If that sounds like a heavy schedule, it is and as you will hear, for good reason. When Saunders isn't playing trumpet in some group or other which, it must be said, isn't often and when he has free time during gigs, he writes. And writes prolifically. In fact, Saunders recently assembled more than three hundred of his compositions in book form and published it as New Jazz Standards, hence the name of this album, Volume 1 of which featured the late flutist Sam Most (Summit Records 630). 

Most was a master craftsman, as is Whitfield. Few contemporary trombonists can match Whitfield's clarity of tone or technical dexterity, traits that bring to mind such past masters as Carl Fontana, Urbie Green, Bill Harris and Jimmy Cleveland. And as for improvisation and flat-out swinging, he sets the bar high there as well. Saunders not only chose his helmsman well, he gave him a backup crew that is second to none, anchored by timekeeper par excellence Peter Erskine and featuring the always-resourceful pianist Christian Jacob and metronomic bassist Kevin Axt.  As to Saunders' themes, they are consistently bright and charming. While the presence of any new jazz standards is for listeners to determine, there's no doubt that Saunders has a keen ear for captivating melodies and the ability to arrange them in a tasteful and harmonious musical context. Most of them aren't based on popular standards, a staple of many jazz composers, but created out of whole cloth using only Saunders' fertile imagination as groundwork. The results are never less than admirable and often brilliant, ranging from ballads to blues, Latin to funk and straight-ahead swing. To add variety, Whitfield is overdubbed on four tracks to form a trombone choir. He and the quartet are superb, as are Saunders' prospective New Jazz Standards, which await only the auspicious verdict of an impartial jury. ~ Jack Bowers https://www.allaboutjazz.com/new-jazz-standards-volume-2-scott-whitfield-summit-records-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Scott Whitfield: trombone;  Christian Jacob: piano;  Kevin Axt: bass;  Peter Erskine: drums;  Carl Saunders: composer, arranger.

New Jazz Standards (Volume 2)

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Vonda Shepard - Heart and Soul

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:36
Size: 114,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:10)  1. Read Your Mind
(4:07)  2. 100 Tears Away
(3:28)  3. Someday We'll Be Together
(4:42)  4. To Sir, With Love (Duet with Al Green)
(3:13)  5. Sweet Inspiration
(3:31)  6. Crying
(2:36)  7. Vincent (Starry Starry Night)
(3:02)  8. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
(2:55)  9. World Without Love
(3:25) 10. Confetti
(4:41) 11. Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow (Duet with Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls)
(3:35) 12. This Is Crazy Now
(2:46) 13. This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)
(3:18) 14. I Know Him By Heart

Vonda Shepard's curious ascension into pop prominence on the heels of the Ally McBeal television series offers evidence that, if you just hang around Los Angeles long enough, you may finally get recognized. After years of laboring as a lower echelon L.A. rock singer/songwriter and backup singer (a second-rate Bonnie Raitt, one might say), Shepard hit paydirt of a sort playing a club singer on TV, and the quasi-soundtrack album Songs from Ally McBeal, which includes oldies covers from the '60s and '70s, was a million-selling Top Ten hit in 1998. The inevitable follow-up is more of the same, though this time around Shepard gets to pen five of the 14 tracks. Like its predecessor, however, Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal shows that what may work on TV (or in the movies or on-stage, for that matter) a singer-actress-whatever covering old, familiar songs within the context of a plot, doesn't necessarily translate to a recording that, by its nature, has to compete with the original recordings whose emotional resonance lent the show its gravity to begin with. Put simply, who needs to hear Vonda Shepard singing "Crying" when we still have Roy Orbison's version? Even more egregious, at the behest of the TV producer, lyrics to some songs have been changed or deleted now it's "To You, with Love" rather than "To Sir, with Love"! You can understand the songwriters and music publishers acquiescing to this (a payday is a payday), but it's even more reason to disdain these threadbare covers. The irony is that, on her own, Shepard is not untalented: "Read Your Mind," the lead-off track, is a tentative acceptance of love that might as easily be directed to Shepard's unexpected (and no doubt temporary) new audience as to a new boyfriend; "Confetti" is a '60s-style rocker that seems to be attacking the kind of kids who look to Ally McBeal for fashion and dating tips; and "Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow" is a good romantic ballad in the currently popular Diane Warren/adult contemporary style. Such material demonstrates that Shepard is worthy of a major-label release of her own songs, and it can only be hoped that she gets one, given that the disappointing early response to this collection suggests that the Ally McBeal connection has probably run its course. ~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/album/heart-and-soul-new-songs-from-ally-mcbeal-featuring-vonda-shepard-mw0000254099

Personnel: Vonda Shepard (vocals, guitar, piano); Al Green, Emily Saliers (vocals); Val McCallum (acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); Bruce Watson, Michael Landau (guitar); Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar); Charles Bisharat (violin); Matthew Funes (viola); Suzie Katayama, Martin Tillman (cello); Mitchell Froom (accordion, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B-3 organ, harmonium, Chamberlain, Claviola, celeste, electric harpsichord, bells); Jeff Young (piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond B-3 organ, background vocals); Davey Faragher, Jimmy Haslip, Jim Hanson, Leland Sklar (bass); Pete Thomas, Andy Kamman (drums, percussion); Lynn Davis (background vocals).

Heart and Soul

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Mongo Santamaria - Hey! Let's Party

Styles: Latin Jazz
Year: 1966
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:11
Size: 75,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:01)  1. Walk On By
(2:52)  2. I Got You (I Feel Good)
(3:27)  3. In the Mood
(4:02)  4. Baila Dance
(2:19)  5. Louie, Louie
(3:47)  6. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
(2:53)  7. Hey!
(2:48)  8. Call Me
(2:32)  9. El Bikini
(3:26) 10. Shotgun

Hey! Let's Party represents one of percussionist Mongo Santamaria's first and most engaging plunges into the world of contemporary pop, galvanizing well-known chart smashes with the energy and abandon of Latin soul. It's a simple formula that proved remarkably successful and flexible across a series of likeminded LPs Santamaria approaches texts like "Walk on By" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" with deep respect and understanding, creating soulful, righteous rhythms that snake in and out of the original melodies with brilliant precision. Even battered warhorses like Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" breathe new life, proving Santamaria's uncanny capacity for making the familiar funky. ~ Jason Ankeny https://www.allmusic.com/album/hey!-lets-party-mw0000866762

Personnel:  Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Bobby Capers;  Bass – Victor Venegas;  Drums – Mongo Santamaria;  Piano – Rodger Grant;  Saxophone – Hubert Laws;  Timbales, Drums – Carmello Garcia;  Trumpet – Marty Sheller

Hey! Let's Party

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Monty Alexander - Jamboree Ivory & Steel

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:09
Size: 118,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:57)  1. Sly Mongoose
(6:35)  2. Think Twice
(3:56)  3. No Woman No Cry
(5:07)  4. Look Up
(5:00)  5. Accompong
(5:21)  6. You Can See
(4:24)  7. Big Yellow Taxi
(4:07)  8. Reggae-Later
(6:15)  9. Criying
(4:23) 10. Linstead Market

Pianist Monty Alexander's "Ivory And Steel" group combines together bop-based jazz with Jamaican calypsoes and West Indian rhythms. On this quite enjoyable set, Alexander utilizes both Othello and Len "Boogsie" Sharpe on steel drums, either Marshall Wood or Bernard Montgomery on bass, drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith and the hand drums of Robert Thomas Jr. Alexander contributed four of the rhythmic originals which are joined by some Jamaican folk songs (including "Sly Mangoose"), Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and a couple of obscurities. The accessible results are often memorable. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/jamboree-monty-alexanders-ivory-and-steel-mw0000197745

Personnel:  Monty Alexander (piano); Bernard Montgomery (electric bass); Marshall Wood (bass); Marvin "Smitty" Smith (drums); Othello Molineaux, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe (steel drums).

Jamboree Ivory & Steel

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Joe Henderson - An Evening with Joe Henderson

Styles: Saxophone Jazz

Year: 1987

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 47:18

Size: 108,9 MB

Art: Front

(14:25)  1. Ask Me Now

( 8:47)  2. Serenity

(10:46)  3. Beatrice

(13:20)  4. Invitation

Although Joe Henderson's pianoless trio recordings for Blue Note in 1985 received a fair amount of publicity, this similar date for the Italian Red label has been almost completely overlooked. Joined by bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Al Foster, Henderson is in excellent form, giving "Beatrice," "Invitation," Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now" and his own "Serenity" lengthy and rewarding explorations. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/evening-with-joe-henderson-mw0000195895

Personnel:  Joe Henderson – tenor saxophone;  Charlie Haden – bass;  Al Foster – drums

An Evening with Joe Henderson

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