Jimmy McGriff - Main Squeeze

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:56
Size: 89.1 MB
Styles: Soul-jazz
Year: 1974/2005
Art: Front

[4:21] 1. The Worm Turns
[3:09] 2. The Sermon
[5:06] 3. The Blues Train To Georgia
[7:39] 4. Misty
[3:47] 5. The Main Squeeze
[4:52] 6. GMI
[5:30] 7. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
[4:29] 8. Stella By Starlight

Drums – Eddie Gladden; Guitar – Jimmy Ponder; Organ, Keyboards – Jimmy McGriff; Saxophone [Alto] – Connie Lester.

Like so many Jimmy McGriff albums, Main Squeeze percolates but never quite boils over. It's a collection of short, sharp and oh-so-sincere funk workouts performed with both style and skill, the album simply plays its cards too close to the vest, controlling the groove but never giving in to it. Paired with guitarist Jimmy Ponder and altoist Connie Lester, McGriff moves effortlessly from originals ("The Worm Turns") to standards ("Stella by Starlight") to soul-jazz signifiers (Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon"), vamping and wailing but never letting go -- the tracks are more short stories than epic poems, tightly controlled and frustratingly limited in both style and scope. ~Jason Ankeny

Main Squeeze mc
Main Squeeze zippy

---

Dinah Washington - Dinah Washington's Finest Hour

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:12
Size: 147.0 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[ 2:51] 1. Evil Gal Blues
[ 3:22] 2. Blow Top Blues
[ 2:55] 3. West Side Baby
[ 3:10] 4. Long John Blues
[ 2:55] 5. Baby Get Lost
[ 2:51] 6. Trouble In Mind
[ 3:18] 7. Cold Cold Heart
[ 2:23] 8. T.V. Is The Thing This Year
[11:52] 9. I'll Remember April
[ 2:48] 10. Teach Me Tonight
[ 2:58] 11. I Just Couldn't Stand It No More
[ 4:24] 12. I Could Write A Book
[ 5:16] 13. Blue Gardenia
[ 2:26] 14. What A Diff'rence A Day Made
[ 2:41] 15. Unforgettable
[ 2:42] 16. Baby (You've Got What It Takes)
[ 2:25] 17. This Bitter Earth
[ 2:46] 18. Mad About The Boy

From the late 1940s until her death in 1963, Dinah Washington was a dominant presence among the women who sang R&B, with an unequalled emotional power and a voice that mingled highs and lows, rough and smooth, like raw silk. While she often sang R&B, though, her mastery of the idiom drew on her ability to sing all its constituent parts and musical relations--blues, jazz, and pop. This hourlong survey of her Mercury recordings covers all the bases that she touched in her career. Beginning with a 1947 session with backing from Lionel Hampton, Washington's Finest Hour extends to the pop sessions that brought her greater successes more than a decade later, both alone and with fellow singer Brook Benton. Washington the blues singer is equally effective on the bawdy "Long John Blues" and the traditional lament "Trouble in Mind," while her jazz-rooted mastery of standards is apparent on such songs as "I'll Remember April" and the profound "Blue Gardenia." She could even cover a country song like Hank Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart" or the light pop of "Teach Me Tonight" and make it convincingly her own, while her version of "Unforgettable" can stand comparison with Nat "King" Cole's. This is a terrific introduction to one of the essential singers, whatever genre claims her. ~Stuart Broomer

Dinah Washington's Finest Hour mc
Dinah Washington's Finest Hour zippy

---

Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine - Tasty Tunes

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:14
Size: 151.6 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[6:06] 1. You Don't Know What Love Is
[5:39] 2. Early Autumn
[3:28] 3. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
[8:19] 4. When The Lady Dances
[4:53] 5. Oleo
[6:31] 6. Nature Boy
[9:15] 7. Manhattan Burn
[2:57] 8. Over The Rainbow
[5:52] 9. Mountain Dance
[4:30] 10. Ya Turn Me On Baby
[8:41] 11. Recon

The Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine is a 39 year fixture in the Southern California jazz scene. Based in San Diego, the 18 piece big band, focuses on a creative repertoire of eclectic compositions by Bob Mintzer, Dean Brown, Mike Crotty, Tom Kubis, Daniel Freiberg, Carl Murr, Drew Zaremba, Alan Baylock and Mike Abene. The album features guest solo appearances by Yellowjackets Grammy winning saxophonist and composer Bob Mintzer on his previously unrecorded big band composition "When The Lady Dances"; Alto saxophonist, Eric Marienthal on a great arrangement by Tom Kubis of "Early Autumn"; The beautiful Alto flute of Holly Hofmann on a stirring ECM style rendition of "Nature Boy" and Dean Brown, former Brecker Brothers guitarist on his original composition entitled "Recon". The stratospheric Alan Baylock rendition of "Over The Rainbow" featuring Randy Aviles and Peter Green is most definitely worth a listen as well...Mountain Dance, the Dave Grusin hit of the 1990's arranged by the late Peter Herbolzheimer is the premier recording of it in the US. Tasty Tunes, which is the 5th release by the BBJM and certainly not the last....is indeed a musical treat!!

Tasty Tunes mc
Tasty Tunes zippy

---

Les Paul, Mary Ford - Bye Bye Blues!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 29:39
Size: 67.9 MB
Styles: Traditional pop, Jazz guitar
Year: 1952/1982
Art: Front

[3:05] 1. Wabash Blues
[2:03] 2. Bye Bye Blues
[2:14] 3. Blues Stay Away From Me
[2:31] 4. Deep In The Blues
[3:06] 5. It's A Lonesome Old Town
[2:43] 6. Walkin' And Whistlin' Blues
[2:36] 7. St. Louis Blues
[1:44] 8. Mammy's Boogie
[2:34] 9. Frankie And Johnny
[2:26] 10. Don't Cry Baby
[1:35] 11. Jazz Me Blues
[2:56] 12. Smoke Rings

By 1952, Les Paul was already thinking in terms of album concepts; hence this often-soulful collection of genuine blues, or songs with blues in their titles. As a result, the tempos are mostly relaxed, with Paul giving himself ample opportunity to bend notes to his heart's content and exercise his jazz instincts more than he usually does on his Capitol records. The exceptions to the down-and-out feeling are, ironically, the upbeat hit title track, which professes to blow the blues away, and the spectacular "Mammy's Boogie," a single-line boogie blues transformed by echo into an electronic shooting gallery. The 12-inch version added older tracks like "Jazz Me Blues" and "Walkin' and Whistlin' Blues," which fit the concept, and "It's a Lonesome Old Town" and "Smoke Rings," which are a stretch. ~Richard S. Ginnell

Bye Bye Blues! mc
Bye Bye Blues! zippy

---

Luigi Trussardi - Introspection

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:21
Size: 99.2 MB
Styles: Bop
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[4:15] 1. Introspection
[3:49] 2. Hallucinations
[5:38] 3. Opus The Funk
[2:32] 4. Crepuscule With Nelly
[3:25] 5. Wee See
[3:46] 6. Oblivion
[5:03] 7. Salute To The Band Box
[3:55] 8. So Sorry Please
[2:37] 9. Ruby My Dear
[5:06] 10. Shaw'nuff
[3:09] 11. My Ship

David Sauzay (ts), Gaël Horellou (as), Laurent Courthaliac (p), Luigi Trussardi (b, piccolo bass), François Ricard (d).

Bassist Luigi Trussardi is one of these bassists. Europeans who have accompanied a whole world, including the biggest, American or European, in the world of clubs, standards and swing that remains at the heart of jazz practice. It is this experience, covering a few decades, that he brings to this new CD, dedicated to the compositions of Monk, Bud Powell and other boppers. This is how it helps to convey the great tradition of bebop to its young partners and the public.

To the remark of François Lacharme in the booklet - "While everything, in music, seems today to take the place of event, it is necessary to venture the path of the bebop "- one could answer that it is nevertheless a way that many borrow, even nowadays. But precisely, it is not necessarily the audacity we seek - here we admire the authenticity of this bebop, starting with the repertoire, of irreproachable taste, and continuing with the sound of the rhythm section, very "vintage." A repertoire music, but that did not take a wrinkle.

The instrumentation varies throughout the CD. Tenor David Sauzay is honored on four compositions, joined by the hot Gaël Horellou alto sax for two tracks, including a furious "Shawnuff". The trio Courthaliac / Trussardi / Ricard stands out on "Wee See" by Monk, "Hallucinations" by Bud Powell (who will be recognized as the "Budo" of the famous "Birth of the Cool" sessions by Miles Davis), and " Salute to the Band Box "by Gigi Gryce. Finally Trussardi, following the example of Ron Carter, plays the bow a bass piccolo, somewhere between the cello and the bass, on "Crepuscule With Nellie" and the superb "My Ship" by Kurt Weill, that we do not hear often enough Despite the solid work of the group on the other pieces, it's these two, where the themes are played simply, without solo, that I prefer. (Translated from French.)

Introspection mc
Introspection zippy

---

Herb Geller - Herb Geller Plays

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:45
Size: 102.4 MB
Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1955/1997
Art: Front

[2:58] 1. Love Is Like A Turtle
[5:47] 2. Sweet Vinegar
[2:55] 3. Sleigh Ride
[2:52] 4. Silver Rain
[6:51] 5. Alone Together
[2:53] 6. Happy Go Lucky
[3:22] 7. Days I Never Knew
[3:29] 8. Domestic Harmony
[3:22] 9. Breaking Through The Sound Barrier
[2:44] 10. Kahagon
[3:21] 11. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
[4:05] 12. A Room With A View

Other than four titles from a year before, this LP contains altoist Herb Geller's first recordings as a leader. Cut during a period when Herb was based in Los Angeles and regularly working with his wife, the talented but short-lived pianist Lorraine Geller, the music also has either Curtis Counce or Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Lawrence Marable or Eldridge Freeman on drums. Herb Geller was already in his early prime and contributed six originals. The band also performs one of Lorraine's tunes, plus five standards, all in swinging and boppish style. This LP (which has not been reissued lately) is well worth searching for. ~Scott Yanow

Herb Geller Plays mc
Herb Geller Plays zippy

---

Gary Peacock Trio - Now This

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:54
Size: 133,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:41)  1. Gaia
(5:02)  2. Shadows
(5:44)  3. This
(4:34)  4. And Now
(6:16)  5. Esprit de Muse
(5:17)  6. Moor
(5:48)  7. Noh Blues
(4:44)  8. Christa
(4:56)  9. Vignette
(3:59) 10. Gloria's Step
(4:47) 11. Requiem

Some of bassist Gary Peacock's earliest musical associations speak to a career that has been nurtured by unusually well-rounded experiences. Subbing for Ron Carter in gigs with Miles Davis, playing with the Bill Evans Trio and pianist Paul Bley and a stay with saxophonist Albert Ayler provided Peacock with foundations that ran the gamut from main-stream balladry, to conceptually modern jazz to the most unrestricted free jazz. All of which led up to the three-decades long relationship with Keith Jarrett and drummer Jack DeJohnette for which he is best known and where his finely developed skills lend themselves to that highly innovative group. With a very different trio, Now This is often darkly lyrical with a quiet dignity. Drummer Joey Baron who often draws comparisons to Paul Motian has never sounded more like the late drummer with a masterfully subtle touch. Pianist Marc Copland has worked with Peacock in various settings for three decades and is a master of harmonics. His work with guitarist John Abercrombie, saxophonist Greg Osby and bassist Drew Gress have earned high praise while Copland has remained puzzlingly under-recognized as one of the finest pianists and composers on the scene.

"Gaia" and "Shadows" the first to pieces on Now This are brooding and unhurried but are followed by "This" where a bit more dissonance is propelled by Baron's refined but forceful playing. Copland pushes that avant-garde essence as he guides the trio through "And Now," "Esprit de muse" and "Moor" the latter two being faster-paced and more complex numbers. Copland's fascinating composition, "Noh Blues," only hints at blues while providing a perfect backdrop for solos and interesting group interchanges. Throughout the pieces Peacock explores the full range of the bass pushing and pulling the music with him through unexpected turns. There is not a wasted note to be found on Now This where the compositions some re-worked, others, new strongly suggest a portentous air. Peacock, Copland and Baron expertly develop the pieces in that light so that, despite the overriding thoughtfulness, it is never certain in which direction the journey is moving. Now This is an thought-provoking collection rendered by brilliant performers.

Personnel: Marc Copland: piano; Gary Peacock: double bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Now This

---

Nina Hagen - Like An Angel

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:14
Size: 179,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:37)  1. Die Rattenkonigin
(4:32)  2. Love Will Survive (Die Liebe Siegt Immer)
(3:18)  3. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room

(2:32)  4. Love Is All
(3:15)  5. Romeo & Juliaaah
(4:45)  6. Immer Lauter
(3:49)  7. Gimmi Your Love
(5:21)  8. Der Traum Ist Aus
(4:46)  9. Manner
(4:05) 10. You Get What You Deserve
(1:48) 11. Sally's Lied
(2:42) 12. Die Ballade Von Der Sexuellen Horigkeit
(3:35) 13. Alabama Song
(3:33) 14. Ich Hasse Santa Claus
(4:23) 15. La Veuve Moir
(3:33) 16. Schon Ist Die Welt
(3:50) 17. Kriminaltango
(3:57) 18. Kinky Melody
(4:42) 19. Seemann
(5:02) 20. The Aria

Born in East Germany, Nina Hagen had already gained a reputation as a flamboyant rock singer by the time she emigrated to the West in 1976, where she formed a band, signed to CBS Germany, and released the debut album Nina Hagen Band in 1978. It was followed in 1980 by Unbehagen. Hagen's first U.S. release, Nina Hagen Band EP (1980), was a four-song EP consisting of songs drawn from her two German releases. She moved to New York and made her first English-language LP, Nunsexmonkrock, in 1982. That and its follow-up, the Giorgio Moroder-produced Fearless (1983), charted briefly, and "New York New York" was a Top Ten dance club hit. But Hagen left CBS after Nina Hagen in Ekstacy (1985). In 1988, she celebrated her marriage with the EP Punk Wedding, released in Canada, and in 1989 she returned to the German market with Nina Hagen. In 2010, Hagen released Personal Jesus, which featured 13 faith-based tracks that dutifully blend rock, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound that’s distinctly hers. ~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nina-hagen-mn0000414016/biography

Like An Angel

---

Greg Osby - St. Louis Shoes

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:25
Size: 120,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:59)  1. East St. Louis Toodle-oo
(6:00)  2. Shaw Nuff
(6:50)  3. Light Blue
(5:33)  4. Whirlwind Soldier
(5:03)  5. Summertime
(5:55)  6. Milton on Ebony
(6:37)  7. The Single Petal of a Rose
(2:29)  8. Bernie's Tune
(7:56)  9. St. Louis Blues

It takes time to assess St. Louis Shoes. In fact, to wax intellectual about the process, it requires the exegetical approach usually reserved for vast, inter-textual novels like Dr. Faustus or Gravity's Rainbow. Each encounter reveals ever new intrigues, insights, and moments of grace. And just like with Faust, you?d better go back to the source material.
Each of the nine tracks on St. Louis Shoes is based on another composer's work. Through these, Greg Osby gifts the listener with a treatise on sax styles, displaying a range of tone moving from Hawkins to Young, Parker to Hodges, and finally, to his own unmistakable diamond-hard, angular voice. However, Osby has not produced a tribute album. Everything resonates with his own style, and nothing can be set aside as simply another take. This is jazz inter-textuality and it sounds great. St. Louis Shoes opens with a direct reference to Osby?s birthplace, St. Louis Toodle-oo. This bold reconfiguration of Ellington's seminal work begins slowly, the opening retaining much of the original material. However, it quickly builds on the latent threat implicit in Ellington's rhythms, thickening to enhance the sinister quality, so that in the end it feels as if you have traveled into the depths of St. Louis, and into a musical vision completely Osby's own.

Initially, Osby's performance of the next track, Shaw Nuff, sounds like what Parker might have laid down had contemporary recording quality been what it is today, and the LP already in existence. However, this is not straight emulation or resurrection. With Payton as antagonist, Osby bends and twists the original, extending it into a six minute wild ride. Conversely, Light Blue comes in at just about half the size of Monk's original. As always, Monk?s idiosyncratic yet sophisticated structure provides fertile territory for improvisers willing to delve into the material. Osby next turns to Whirlwind Soldier, written by contemporary vocalist, composer, and former co-member of Osby's M-Base project, Cassandra Wilson. By including a contemporary piece, Osby indicates that this project is not about reclaiming the past through homage. It's about improvisation and innovation, something that can be accomplished when working off of the latest as well as the oldest material. Osby ends his album by returning to one of jazz's oldest works, St. Louis Blues. Originally written by W.C. Handy and first recorded in 1920, St. Louis Blues was popularized by Louis Armstrong in 1930. Osby's takes this wealth of history into account, proceeding at a slow tempo to accentuate the piece?s blues mood. Referenced are Armstrong's succinct note placements, Gillespie?s faster, more dynamic lines, as well as the Latin-influenced rhythmic deviations of Gillespie's big band arrangement. Green keeps the piece moving with a frenetic but soft rhythm, while O'Neal's piano work stands out here as particularly adept.  It takes time to assess Osby's St. Louis Shoes. Time to listen, to think, to sift through old albums and memories, then to listen all over again. There is a wealth of material here. Listen and see what emerges for you. ~ Franz A. Matzner https://www.allaboutjazz.com/st-louis-shoes-greg-osby-blue-note-records-review-by-franz-a-matzner.php width=1536
 

Personnel: Greg Osby - alto saxophone; Nicholas Payton - trumpet, fluglehorn

St. Louis Shoes

---

Hank Marvin - Without a Word

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:27
Size: 114,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
(3:44)  2. Michelle
(2:42)  3. Alfie
(3:33)  4. Theme From 'Poirot'
(3:19)  5. Are You Lonesome Tonight
(3:09)  6. Russian Doll
(4:04)  7. Peter Gunn/Baby Elephant Walk
(3:00)  8. Moon River
(2:52)  9. Doctor Who Theme
(2:56) 10. What A Wonderful World
(3:36) 11. Cry Me A River
(3:44) 12. The Fool On The Hill
(3:52) 13. America
(5:07) 14. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

The master of the twanging electric guitar returns. We were all set to meet the man and talk guitars, this record and everything else, but his trip over from Australia for promo was cancelled, as we understand it for family reasons. No matter, we can bide our time for a meet and in the meantime listen to this fresh album, produced by Hank and with some input from his son Ben. Recording was undertaken at Nivram Studios in Perth. The titles confirm no real theme or overall mood to the record as they are frankly and almost bizarrely all over the place hence it is best to assume that this is a collection of numbers that Hank felt like recording. After all and all this time Marvin has nothing to prove. His fans will always be eager to hear his skills put yet again to good use. We know of his penchant for gypsy jazz but on this current set it’s exploring the melodies that seems to prevail…. Don’t Get Around Much Any More is of course the Ellington standard, a tune favoured by many including Paul McCartney. Cool piano and brush drumming staggers start the tune and that liquid single-note guitar starts to chime, the tiniest hint of delay. Makes me think for some reason of Sunday lunchtimes and Two-Way Family Favourites on the radio. A very slight fuzztone can be heard. The piano solo has a George Shearing shine to it, unhurried. Beautiful stuff…

A corny accordion brings in Michelle, a straightforward reading of the Lennon & McCartney standard from Rubber Soul. The guitar tone is vintage Shadows to these ears. The delicacy of the melody is kept intact and a cute acoustic interlude works well. The Bacharach composition Alfie was brilliantly sung by the late Cilla Black of course and it is hard to hear the tune without thinking of the great Michael Caine deadpanning his way through the original film. The strings here are very close to the original Abbey Road arrangement. A genius composer whose intriguing chordal runs stay fresh and touching. Theme From Poirot benefits from a guitar treatment, it’s lot less Charlie Chaplin and this fairly lively approach gets the composition moving along with deft fingerwork and excellent drumming Ben Vanderval. Plus ominous but uncluttered descending bass runs by Roy Martinez. Things get jazzy @ 2:13 as Hank goes into blues mode, vamping Hammond et al. A winner, this one and fades away too early for me! Are You Lonesome Tonight has rolling acoustic guitar and Marvin twanging softy away on the Elvis favourite. Shame he didn’t do Let’s Play House.

Russian Doll is a father & son original taken at a brisk pace and somehow evoking Donovan in its changes. Would make a good film theme, opening credits for a thriller maybe. A nod to Henry Mancini now and the spiky Peter Gunn/Baby Elephant Walk, rocking away quite rhythmically, the electric guitar taking the sleazy lead lines and handling the stops with a funk swagger but suddenly we are into a legato guitar take on Baby, stepping back to Peter Gunn. It’s clever, but I would never have paired these two tunes. BTW do check out Gary Hoey’s version of Peter Gunn! Moon River is also Mancini but plus Johnny Mercer and here Marvin uses his lagoonside crooning style over gentle acoustic guitar backing. I had to play this once at a wedding and used a Schaller volume pedal and a slide… The Doctor Who Theme cruises in on oscillating synths before the drums punch the backbone in and the guitar wobbles on its way. To be honest it sounds a bit odd and a wilder approach would have added a lot. This was once a spooky and exciting tv series and not the overcomplicated pc garbage successive naff producers have dragged it to. What A Wonderful World along with We Have All The Time In The World have truly timeless melodies and would have made a fine medley. Here Marvin takes the former for a walk with some subtle vibrato bar work here and there. The backing is almost reggae.  Cry Me A River is the song you associate with Julie London as opposed to Mr Timberlake. As a composition it aches with menace and the electric piano is terrific. The tune sounds surprising on guitar, a wah pedal would have made it even better. The lighter bridge is well played then returns to the darker mood. Definitely my choice of number on this set. It’s close to Larry Carlton after a couple of minutes.

The Fool On The Hill is another haunting song. The tempo is quite jaunty, here. Resulting in a pretty and uplifting take on the number which is a highlight on this album, for sure. If only he would try my favourite Beatles composition, Rai ! America is the Bernstein torcher, sounding mellow at the start of this effort. Then things get much better and that early Shadows touch jumps out at you. Will You Love Me Tomorrow is a song I had to work out not long ago to back a female vocalist. The chords are lovely and the cadence quite warming. Goffin and King wrote few clinkers. This version has a brisk backing letting the single-note melody float along. The instruments used by Marvin on these cuts include Hank’s Signature Fender Stratocaster, a Dan Electro Baritone and a Hahl Gypsy acoustic six-string. Hank can make them all talk..and they do. Take My Word.~ Pete Sargeant http://justlistentothis.co.uk/reviews/hank-marvin-without-word/

Personnel: Hank Marvin (acoustic guitar); Kevin Reeves (guitar); Roy Martinez (bass guitar); Ben Vanderwal (drums, percussion); Paul Rossiter (programming).

Without a Word

---

Marilyn Crispell - Santuerio

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:49
Size: 161,9 MB
Art: Front

( 6:10)  1. Entrances of Light
(10:32)  2. Air - Fire
( 2:57)  3. Water
( 5:01)  4. Burning Air - Wood
(13:24)  5. Santuerio
( 9:32)  6. Repercussions of Light
(13:44)  7. Red Shift
( 7:25)  8. Repercussions of Air I & II

For this recording, pianist Marilyn Crispell both debuted a new quartet and embarked on a somewhat different path from her previous outings and, certainly, from her long tenure with Anthony Braxton. Pulling in violinist Mark Feldman and cellist Hank Roberts (along with longtime compadre Gerry Hemingway), her music, here essentially an eight-part suite, took on a more elegiac, overtly spiritual tone. The pieces are draped around the loosest of thematic materials, the musicians instead using the wisps of ideas to gently launch into introspective investigations, occasionally coalescing into brief, more frenzied bouts, but generally remaining in a pensive state. The title track begins with a long, intricate percussion solo from Hemingway before falling into a choppy, awkward series of overlapping written lines where Crispell's angular attack (by this point far beyond the early Cecil Taylor comparisons) is set against Feldman's pining cries. Little by little, the piece works up quite a head of steam, the disjunctive rhythms beginning to mesh quite intriguingly toward the end. "Repercussions of Light," a duo between a superbly romantic Feldman and Hemingway's soft backing, is arguably the highlight of the disc, a fine composition that straddles the boundary between the ethereal and the earthy. Crispell takes off on the next track, "Red Shift," leading the quartet through the disc's most intense playing, creating a swirling cauldron of activity. Santuerio closes in the same ghostly manner as it had begun, with quivering violin over hushed, delicate piano. Overall, it's an impressive achievement, showing a new side of this fascinating musician. ~ Brian Olewnick https://www.allmusic.com/album/santuerio-mw0000066453 

Personnel:  Piano, Producer, Composed By – Marilyn Crispel;  Cello – Hank Roberts;  Drums – Gerry Hemingwayl;  Violin – Mark Feldman

Santuerio

---