Sammy Rimington - Visits New Orleans

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:36
Size: 138.8 MB
Styles: Clarinet jazz
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[5:40] 1. Smile, Darn You, Smile
[4:41] 2. In The Upper Garden
[3:51] 3. You Always Hurt The One You Love
[5:55] 4. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It
[5:16] 5. Mazie
[4:13] 6. Burgundy Street Blues
[6:26] 7. Bugle Boy March
[4:29] 8. Far Away Blues
[4:30] 9. Red Wing
[4:28] 10. Over The Waves
[3:20] 11. Mobile Stomp
[7:43] 12. Sweet Georgia Brown

Title aside, British clarinetist Sammy Rimington has done much more than just visit New Orleans over the years: He has based his entire career on playing traditional New Orleans jazz, both with fellow Britons like Chris Barber and Ken Colyer, and with actual New Orleans musicians, including his major influences. The person who was visiting New Orleans in connection with this recording was Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz, who went there in April 2005 with filmmakers Maureen Gosling and Chris Simon for a documentary they were making about Arhoolie. Gosling and Simon wanted to see Strachwitz do what he had spent his career doing, recording his favorite musicians.

Movies can take a long time to edit and find distributors, however, and Strachwitz has opted not to wait for the eventual soundtrack album, instead releasing the results of his trip here and on A New Orleans Visit-Before Katrina. Rimington is heard in three contexts, with a group Strachwitz has dubbed his Hot Six at the Palm Court, a restaurant; with Michael and David Doucet, Lionel Batiste and Lars Edegran, in a private home; and with the Tremè Brass Band during a street parade. The sound has the quality of a field recording, but that only makes the performances more impressive. The Hot Six is especially lively on such selections as the opener, “Smile, Darn You, Smile,” but the Tremè Brass Band also devotes nearly eight raucous minutes to “Sweet Georgia Brown.” The album is a testament to the importance of New Orleans, before and after Katrina. ~William Ruhlmann

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Bob Reynolds - Guitar Band

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:56
Size: 162.4 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[ 6:39] 1. Unlucky
[10:24] 2. Blues For Charlie
[15:52] 3. Crush
[12:13] 4. Mulholland
[12:39] 5. Down South
[13:06] 6. Can't Wait For Perfect

Bob Reynolds — tenor saxophone; Nir Felder — electric guitar; Mark Lettieri — electric guitar; Kaveh Rastegar — electric bass guitar; Robert “Sput” Searight — drums. Recorded live at The Blue Whale, Los Angeles, CA, on January 21, 2016.

This record happened by accident.

I had a night booked at The Blue Whale—a killer jazz club in Los Angeles—but hadn’t yet selected a band. While touring with Snarky Puppy, I got talking with Mark and Sput about NAMM (a music convention held each January, south of Los Angeles). They were both going to be in town for it so I asked them to join me at the Whale. Then I asked Kaveh (bassist in Kneebody, among other bands). We'd performed together recently and I was looking for an excuse to play again. Then I found out Nir (who I'd been playing with for awhile) was going to be in town from New York. Perfect! This was my chance to experiment with a two-guitar band.

Ever since playing in John Mayer’s band, I’d wanted to lead a guitar-based group. John had three guitarists (including himself) in his touring band. This meant a lush cushion of guitar-y goodness enveloped every solo I played. Imagine the best mattress and pillow combination you’ve ever experienced. It feels like that. But of course, it’s not just the guitar. It’s the player.

Excited by the idea of this group, I decided to borrow a page from the Snarky Puppy playbook and film it. There was one catch: we had no time to rehearse, and barely a sound check. I’d played with each of these guys in different scenarios, but never as a unit. So we set up in a circle, surrounded by an audience and five cameras, and played these tunes together for the first time. No pressure! I thought we might get two or three good videos out of it. We got more. Alex Chaloff and his team captured not only gorgeous video but stunning audio. When I heard the result I realized this needed to be its own album. So here it is. Live. Raw. Filled with an energy that comes only from tight-rope walking in front of an audience. My younger self would hear only the “mistakes.” My current-age-self hears the magic. I hope you hear it, too. ~Bob Reynolds

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Justin Hayward - Classic Blue

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:29
Size: 131.6 MB
Styles: Vocal
Year: 1989
Art: Front

[3:18] 1. The Tracks Of My Tears
[7:11] 2. Macarthur Park
[2:26] 3. Blackbird
[4:48] 4. Vincent
[3:28] 5. God Only Knows
[3:49] 6. Bright Eyes
[4:23] 7. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
[4:14] 8. Scarborough Fair
[3:18] 9. Railway Hotel
[3:24] 10. Man Of The World
[5:10] 11. Forever Autumn
[4:16] 12. As Long As The Moon Can Shine
[7:39] 13. Stairway To Heaven

Here is where Justin's vocal talents are on showcase. No strong guitar or exceptional tune crafting present. He nails Simon & Garfunkel, Beatles, and Led Zep tunes adroitly and with ease. These renditions with MacArthur Park and other lesser known tunes shine through the talent and ability Justin has. A great, great piece of work for anyone looking to see someone who easily stands toe-to-toe with Sinatra, Bennett and others! ~Bill Chaffin

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Cool Jazz Trio - Take 8

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:58
Size: 91.5 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[6:09] 1. Beautiful Love
[3:24] 2. Emily
[4:59] 3. I Should Care
[5:20] 4. For Heaven's Sake
[6:06] 5. I'm Old Fashioned
[3:14] 6. Here's That Rainy Day
[4:45] 7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[5:58] 8. Prelude To A Kiss

Claudio Chiara (sax alto); Moreno D'Onofrio (chitarra); Luciano Milanese (contrabbasso).

COOL JAZZ TRIO A band named after one the most important and fertile period of jazz, with an appropriate repertorie, marks a specific aesthetic direction. It means above all belief, since the beginning, in a world maybe forgotten but rich in truth and beauty, emotions and poetry. “Cool” here means intimate, fresh and colloquial, rather than an aseptic recall to typical atmospheres such as Lennie Tristano’s o Gil Evan’s and Miles Davis’ ones. Unfortunately, these are qualities musicians shows less and less, not only in Italy.

Well, these three musicians gcing each other their han turn all this features into their own artistic belief all along. certainly not for revival cultural acquiescence but to obey to an intrinsic philosophy, an urgency which can be expressed just this way.

Take 8 mc
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Bill Meyers - The Color Of Truth

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:32
Size: 94,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:10)  1. Style
(4:26)  2. Color of the Truth
(5:23)  3. I'm Still Standing
(2:33)  4. Sounds of Rhythm
(4:28)  5. Perfect Crime
(3:23)  6. Fanfare
(4:29)  7. Just Say the Word
(4:12)  8. Say What You Mean
(4:34)  9. Halfway There
(2:50) 10. From a Distance

For a label purporting to be a contemporary jazz outfit, it's curious that Agenda's first two releases were pop/vocal albums (the first was David Lasley's fine Soldiers on the Moon). Perhaps keyboardist/arranger Meyers, who can sing but not exceptionally well (à la David Foster), should've focused on instrumentals since the perky "Fanfare" and the pretty, new age closing piece "From a Distance" are the most likable tunes here. As a pop tunesmith, Meyers is on the average side, much more provocative lyrically than memorable musically, and his voice is no match for his keyboard expertise. Still, the album does have its moments. "Just Say the Word" is a potential soft rock hit and "The Sounds of Rhythm" shows some imagination. Meyers also has some good backing players on hand, most notably Brandon Fields, Mike Landau, Jeff Porcaro, Vinnie Colaiuta, and onetime Styx guitarist Glen Burtnik. Meyers, who has played with and arranged for Earth, Wind & Fire and Madonna, seems to fancy himself a pop artist, but this platter makes it clear that he should be satisfied being a great musician. ~ Jonatham Widran https://www.allmusic.com/album/color-of-the-truth-mw0000316081

Personnel: Bill Meyers (piano, keyboards, synthesizer).

The Color Of Truth

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Ben Wendel - What We Bring

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:29
Size: 120,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:08)  1. Amian
(4:31)  2. Fall
(5:17)  3. Spring
(4:55)  4. Doubt
(6:23)  5. Song Song
(6:43)  6. Soli
(5:50)  7. Austin
(6:39)  8. Solar

Ben Wendel can be considered the kind face of the Kneebody -band high-voltage adrenaline which is a founding member-feature that highlights mainly in his work as a leader. This is also the case of thisWhat We Bringalbum in which he makes use of the talent of Gerald Clayton , pianist who embodies the large group of musicians anchored to the straight ahead tradition and committed to refreshing it with the ferments of contemporaneity. What We Bring says Wendel in the cover notes is a work dedicated to teachers of the past and current musicians who have influenced not only musically. But we do not find in it any trace of nostalgia or commemorative rhetoric only a good dose of affection and a strong personality. As it happens in the initial "Amian." The references to the coltraniana "Naima" suggest nothing of the incipit, then the song stands out for other shores, on the wings of one of the leader full of pathos and essential, sweet without fuss, the original mood recreated to perfection but pulsating own life. And so, song after song, Wendel offers his personal perspective of jazz that has been and of jazz that will be, without clamor or revolutions, with the brilliance and good taste that distinguish it, as highlighted by the "Solar," perfect davisiana conclusion for a class album.~ Vicenzo Roggero https://www.allaboutjazz.com/what-we-bring-ben-wendel-motema-music-review-by-vincenzo-roggero.php

Personnel: Ben Wendel: sax (tenor), bassoon; Gerald Clayton: piano; Joe Sanders: double bass; Henry Cole: battery; Nate Wood: percussion.

What We Bring

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Dion - Kickin Child: The Lost Album 1965

Styles: Vocal, R&B

Year: 2017

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 44:00

Size: 103,0 MB

Art: Front

(3:02)  1. Kickin' Child

(2:42)  2. Now

(2:10)  3. My Love

(2:54)  4. I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

(3:15)  5. Wake Up Baby

(2:46)  6. Time in My Heart for You

(2:48)  7. Tomorrow Won't Bring the Rain

(2:40)  8. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You

(2:54)  9. Two Ton Feather

(2:57) 10. Knowing I Won't Go Back There

(3:29) 11. Farewell

(3:33) 12. All I Want to Do Is Live Life

(2:25) 13. You Move Me Babe

(3:34) 14. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

(2:43) 15. So Much Younger

As much of a pleasure it is to hear Dion DiMucci's voice throughout Kickin' Child and it is a great pleasure indeed even if you never traversed the path from "Runaround Sue" to "Abraham Martin & John" there's no denying the all too obvious sources of the music. Even the cover photo hearkens to Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' (Columbia, 1963) career phase, wherein he first experimented with the accompaniment of an electric band. And the transparently imitative nature of the recordings should hardly come as a surprise, since this record, subtitled The Lost Album 1965 , is part of a continuum including previous archive releases Bronx in Blue (SPV, 2006) and Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings 1962-1965 (Legacy, 1991). The overseer of all but three cuts here, Tom Wilson is the same producer who, without the knowledge of the artist, overdubbed electric guitars and a rhythm section on the otherwise acoustic arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence," thus turning it into a hit comparable to other folk-rock pinnacles of the times, including The Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man," followups to which "Now" resembles more than a little too readily. There are even more obvious precedents outside DiMucci's early oeuvre. For instance, his self-conscious vocal phrasing on "Kickin' Child," is an overt emulation of Bob Dylan in his transition from the socially-conscious folk troubadour to the freewheeling visionary that wrote "Mr Tambourine Man." "My Love" sounds like DiMucci was trying a re-write of "Love Minus Zero No Limit" and if he wasn't trying to telegraph his sources on the final track, "So Much Younger," he wouldn't have preceded that tune with Dylan's own "It's All Over Now Baby Blue," and thus drawn so direct a line to the latter's "My Back Pages." Dion cannot conjure the same gleeful abandon as the author on "Baby I'm In the Mood For You" and he strains for the off-kilter, humorous of "Subterranean Homesick Blues:" with "Two Ton Feather:" abstraction is not DiMucci's strong point. Nor is he inspiring the musicians accompanying him here. This ever-so-careful reading of Tom Paxton's "I Can't Help but Wonder Where I'm Bound" suits the by-the-numbers compositional style: it's played in as rote a fashion as it's written. Meanwhile, the DiMucci original "Knowing I Won't Go Back There" is somewhat spirited in the accompaniment from the Wanderers-guitarist Johnny Fabio, bassist Pete Fasciglia and drummer Carlo Mastrangelo-but studio savant Al Kooper appears with this complement of players to further replicate the sound of The Byrds of the time with "Now" (and the absence of twelve-string guitar doesn't camouflage the intent or the end result).

It should be noted too that Wilson is the man who shepherded Bob Dylan through many of his studio sessions during this era, so it should come as even less surprise-Dion reportedly having been introduced to the blues by The Bard's other mentor, Columbia Records' John Hammond-that so much of the work here is purely derivative of Dylan, even apart from the direct covers of "Farewell," among others. The imitative transparency that permeates Kickin' Child is that of a musician, usually a fledgling artist in the process of cutting his/her teeth on roots as a means to discover a distinctive personal voice. Dion DiMucci's had already established such a singular voice by this time, based on his tremendous commercial success in the late fifties and early Sixties and it is to his credit that, apparently introduced to the blues by Columbia Records executive John Hammond, he was earnestly moved to pursue a different artistic direction. In his thorough liner notes Scott Kempner suggests, perhaps unintentionally, that the intent of this collaboration wasn't purely artistic, but an equally mercenary means to revive a career. And yet, apart from those cuts, if it were not for preconceptions based on DiMucci's previously established image, this work might well have been better received at the time, even if it sounds ever so calculated now: therein, no doubt, lies the reason that it was never released under the Columbia Records aegis and now comes out on the niche/specialty label Norton. All that said, any musiclover who dotes on this particular style from the mid-Sixties is bound to relish Kickin' Child -The Lost Album 1965 , simultaneously savoring Dion's fulsome, effortless singing as a major component of that pleasurable sensation. ~ Doug Collette https://www.allaboutjazz.com/kickin-child-the-lost-album-1965-dion-dimucci-norton-records-review-by-doug-collette.php

Personnel: Dion DiMucci: guitar, vocals; Johnny Falbo: guitar; Pete Fasciglia: bass; Al Kooper: keyboards; Carlo Mastrangelo: drums.

Kickin Child: Lost Columbia Album 1965

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The Nashville All-Stars - After The Riot At Newport

Styles:Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1960
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:35
Size: 99,7 MB
Art: Front

(11:10)  1. Relaxin'
( 3:18)  2. Nashville To Newport
( 6:14)  3. Opus De Funk
( 4:36)  4. 's Wonderful
( 4:39)  5. 'round Midnight
( 3:37)  6. Frankie And Johnny
( 8:57)  7. Riot-Chorus

The Nashville All-Stars is a group of Nashville sessionmen, including pianist Floyd Cramer, saxophonist Boots Randolph, Gary Burton, Hank Garland, and Chet Atkins. Their debut, After the Riot in Newport, is a surprisingly jazzy effort, highllighted by some excellent leads by Atkins, yet it is a bit too down-home for jazzbos, and a bit too polished for country fans. Nevertheless, fans of pure musicianship will find plenty to treasure on the album. ~ Thom Owens https://www.allmusic.com/album/after-the-riot-at-newport-mw0000654918

Personnel: Chet Atkins, Hank Garland (guitar); Brenton Banks (violin, piano); Boots Randolph (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Floyd Cramer (piano); Gary Burton (vibraphone); Buddy Harman (drums).

After The Riot At Newport

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Laila Biali - Laila Biali

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:08
Size: 129,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:14)  1. Got to Love
(5:17)  2. We Go
(5:06)  3. Satellite
(4:42)  4. Yellow
(5:25)  5. Refugee
(4:35)  6. Dolores Angel
(4:54)  7. Queen of Hearts
(4:22)  8. Serenbe
(4:45)  9. Code Breaking
(3:37) 10. I Think It's Going to Rain Today
(5:21) 11. Wind
(4:45) 12. Let's Dance

The raven-haired musician has won awards (SOCAN Composer of the Year and Keyboardist of the Year at Canada’s National Jazz Awards) and played the world’s most prestigious venues (North Sea Jazz Festival, Tokyo’s Cotton Club, Carnegie Hall). She’s toured with GRAMMY award winners (Chris Botti, Paula Cole, Suzanne Vega) and recorded with an international icon (Sting). In short: She’s established herself as one of Canadian jazz’s brightest young stars. And now, almost two decades into a successful career, she’s ready for a change. “It’s been a long time coming,” Laila says of her upcoming self-titled album. “I’ve been playing music professionally for years but this album feels, in a way, like a new beginning.” Led by the funky single, “Got to Love,” LAILA BIALI is the culmination of everything the acclaimed singer-songwriter has achieved thus far. “Writing this album, I felt like a kid in a candy store, wanting to try everything,” Laila explains. “It took some time for me to find my voice as a songwriter, and I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself into any one particular genre.”

The end result is an eclectic-but-focused album that Laila describes as “fully representative.” “There are elements of improvisation, so the jazz is there,” she says. “There’s also an edgier songwriting persona that I think has always been there but took some time to hone in on.” Catchy, sophisticated, and unlike anything currently on the radio, it’s pop music, but not the kind that can be neatly tagged by an algorithm. Melodies take thrilling left turns and pre-choruses give way to instrumental interludes. One minute Biali is soaring over a bluesy storm of handclaps and hard-charging keyboard riffs (“Got to Love”), the next she is pouring out her soul on an impassioned, slow-burning plea for empathy (“Refugee.”) It’s pop music, but the experimental, distinctly human variety popularized by Regina Spektor, Rachael Yamagata, and Sara Bareilles. Balancing the competing impulses was a challenge, but the final outcome was worth it. “I’m more excited about this record than any other project of mine to date,” Laila declares. Fans should be too. http://lailabiali.com/bio/

Laila Biali

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