Sade - The Magic Of Sade

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:44
Size: 179,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:48)  1. King Of Sorrow
(7:20)  2. No Ordinary Love
(4:55)  3. Smooth Operator
(6:00)  4. Hang On To Your Love
(4:17)  5. Love Is Stronger Than Pride
(4:02)  6. Paradise
(4:34)  7. By Your Side
(3:58)  8. Your Love Is King
(5:50)  9. Kiss Of Life
(5:32) 10. Cherish The Day
(3:53) 11. It's Only Love That Gets You Through
(5:08) 12. Feel No Pain
(4:37) 13. The Sweetest Taboo
(5:51) 14. Haunt Me
(4:34) 15. Pearls
(2:18) 16. The Sweetest Gift

When singer Sade and her band of the same name were establishing themselves, their record company, Epic, made a point of printing "Pronounced Shar-day" on the record labels of their releases. Soon enough, the music had no problem with the correct pronunciation. With the breakthrough Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten single "Smooth Operator" propelling the debut Sade album, Diamond Life, to the same spot on the Billboard 200 chart in 1985, the band fast came to epitomize soulful, adult-oriented, sophisti-pop. Though only five more studio albums would follow in the next 25 years, the band's following abated only slightly, and each release was treated like a long-awaited public return of a mysterious yet beloved diva. Born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria, about 50 miles from Lagos, Sade was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Adu grew up on the North End of London. Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Adu worked part-time jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday, and studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also doing some modeling on the side. Around 1980, she started singing harmony with a Latin funk group called Arriva. One of the more popular numbers that the group performed was an Adu original co-written with bandmember Ray St. John, "Smooth Operator." The following year, she joined the eight-piece funk band Pride as a background singer. Pride's opening acts often featured members of the band in different combinations. Pride and their off-shoots performed often around London and stirred up record company interest. Initially, the labels wanted to sign only Sade technically a trio featuring Adu, Stuart Matthewman, and Paul Denman while the whole of Pride wanted a deal. 

The members of Pride not involved in the Sade trio eventually told Adu, Matthewman, and Denman to go ahead and sign a deal. Adding keyboardist Andrew Hale, Sade signed to the U.K. division of Epic Records.  The band's debut album, Diamond Life (with overall production by Robin Millar), went Top Ten in the U.K. in late 1984. January 1985 saw the album released on CBS' Portrait label, and by spring, it had gone platinum on the strength of the Top Ten singles "Smooth Operator" and "Hang On to Your Love." The second album, Promise (1985), featured "Never as Good as the First Time" and "The Sweetest Taboo," the latter of which stayed on the U.S. Hot 100 for six months. Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the '70s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their playlists. In 1986, Sade won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Sade's third album was 1988's Stronger Than Pride, and featured their first number one single on the U.S. R&B chart, "Paradise," as well as "Nothing Can Come Between Us" and "Keep Looking." The fourth Sade album didn't appear for four years: 1992's Love Deluxe continued the unbroken streak of multi-platinum Sade albums, spinning off the hits "No Ordinary Love," "Feel No Pain," and "Pearls." Matthewman, Denman, and Hale went on to other projects, including the low-key Sweetback, which released a self-titled album in 1996. Matthewman also played a major role in the development of Maxwell's career, providing instrumentation and production work for the R&B singer's first two albums. Sade eventually reconvened to issue Lovers Rock in 2000. The lead single "By Your Side" was a moderate hit, peaking at number 18 on the adult contemporary chart; the following summer, Sade embarked on their first tour in more than a decade and sold out many dates across America. In early 2002, they celebrated the tour's success by releasing a live album and DVD, Lovers Live. They resurfaced in late 2009 with "Soldier of Love," the lead single for the album of the same title, released the following year. In the U.S., Soldier of Love debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 500,000 copies during its first week. Another live set, Bring Me Home, followed in 2012. ~ Ed Hogan https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sade-mn0000279337/biography

The Magic Of Sade

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Jim Snidero - Blue Afternoon

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:32
Size: 135,3 MB
Art: Front

(7:57)  1. Enforcement
(9:57)  2. Forethought
(8:49)  3. The Trifle
(7:40)  4. Soul Eyes
(8:07)  5. Blue Afternoon
(8:19)  6. Infant Eyes
(7:42)  7. Toro

Saxophonist Jim Snidero is an adroit jazz improviser, composer, and educator with a bent toward acoustic post-bop. An author of several books on jazz improvisation, Snidero is an in-demand clinician who has taught at the Jazz and Contemporary Music Program at the New School University, Indiana University, and Princeton. Born in Redwood City, California in 1958, Snidero actually grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland where he first began playing saxophone at age ten. However, it wasn't until junior high that he became interested in jazz. While playing in his school concert and jazz ensembles, Snidero also fell under the influence of hard bop saxophonist Phil Woods, with whom he was able to study. After high school, Snidero enrolled in the University of North Texas music program. During his summer vacations, Snidero spent time in New York studying with saxophonist David Liebman, and after graduating in 1981, he moved to the city. By 1982, he was touring the country with organist Jack McDuff, with whom he also recorded three albums. From there, he found work with such established outfits as the Mingus Big Band and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, of which he was a member from 1983 to 2003. Snidero has also performed with a bevy of names including David Murray, Frank Wess, Mel Lewis, Jim Rotondi, Maria Schneider, and many others.  As a solo artist, Snidero made his debut with On Time in 1984. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio, the album included fellow Akiyoshi bandmate and trumpeter Brian Lynch, pianist Kenny Kirkland, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Billy Hart. From there, he delivered several more albums for the Criss Cross and Red labels, including 1987's Mixed Bag and 1989's Time Out.  The '90s were also a fertile period for Snidero, who began branching out creatively, playing with legendary singer Frank Sinatra from 1990 to 1995, and authoring several jazz pedagogy books. During this period, he continued to release a steady stream of hard bop-influenced albums including 1990's Storm Rising, 1991's Urban Tales with trumpeter Tom Harrell, and 1997's Standards + Plus, his first largely standards-oriented recording. 

He rounded out the decade with a tribute to saxophonist Joe Henderson with 1999's The Music of Joe Henderson on the Double-Time label. At the turn of the millennium, Snidero began refocusing his work on his own original compositions with albums like 2002's orchestral Strings, featuring pianist Renee Rosnes, and 2004's Close Up, with saxophonist Eric Alexander. Beginning with 2007's Tippin', Snidero developed a fruitful relationship with Savant Records, returning with albums like 2009's Crossfire and 2011's Interface, both of which featured guitarist Paul Bollenback. Subsequent Savant albums, like 2013's Stream of Consciousness and 2015's Main Street, also found Snidero continuing to push himself creatively, collaborating on new material with bassist Linda Oh and drummer Rudy Royston. In 2016, Snidero released MD66, which found him drawing inspiration from Miles Davis' second great quintet of the '60s, backed by a stellar ensemble featuring Royston, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, pianist Andy Laverne, and bassist Ugonna Okegwo. ~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jim-snidero-mn0000349095/biography

Personnel: Jim Snidero (alto saxophone); Brian Lynch (trumpet); Mike LeDonne, Benny Green (piano); Kenny Washington, Marvin "Smitty" Smith (drums).

Blue Afternoon

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Chris Isaak - Speak Of The Devil

Styles: Vocal, Rock
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:56
Size: 103,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:34)  1. Please
(3:08)  2. Flying
(3:01)  3. Walk Slow
(3:45)  4. Breaking Apart
(3:12)  5. This Time
(3:30)  6. Speak Of The Devil
(2:49)  7. Like The Way She Moves
(2:42)  8. Wanderin'
(3:11)  9. Don't Get So Down On Yourself
(2:43) 10. Black Flowers
(2:36) 11. I'm Not Sleepy
(2:09) 12. 7 Lonely Nights
(4:44) 13. Talkin' 'bout A Home
(3:45) 14. Super Magic 2000

?Speak of the Devil explores the same moody terrain as Chris Isaak's previous records, though the songs are fleshed out with more contemporary touches. The leadoff track, "Please," is unusually hard-hitting, with its acoustic/electric/soft/crash structure, Mellotron, and soundbite lyrics. "I'm Not Sleepy" is a roots rock rave-up (wherein Isaak lyrically quotes Lennon's "Oh Yoko": "In the middle of the night I cry your name"); the title cut is an eerie celebration of love lost and found; "Talkin' 'Bout a Home" is the album's tour de force. Yet, some of the loungy vocal touches in "Flying" and the final instrumental track, "Super Magic 2000," would be right at home on an indie rock record. And of course there's plenty of that thing Isaak does best: quintessential love's-gone-wrong-'n'-let's-make-it-right songs, as on the loping, country-tinged "This Time" and the teary "Walk Slow."~ Denise Sullivan https://www.allmusic.com/album/speak-of-the-devil-mw0000597765 

Personnel: Vocals, Guitar – Chris Isaak

Speak Of The Devil

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Brad Mehldau - After Bach

Styles: Piano, Classical
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:22
Size: 164,1 MB
Art: Front

( 5:25)  1. Before Bach Benediction
( 1:21)  2. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 848 Prelude No. 3 in C# Major
( 8:21)  3. After Bach Rondo
( 2:36)  4. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, BWV 870 Prelude No. 1 in C Major
( 3:46)  5. After Bach Pastorale
( 2:16)  6. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 855 Prelude No. 10 in E Minor
( 5:05)  7. After Bach Flux
( 6:10)  8. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 857 Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F Minor
( 7:49)  9. After Bach Dream
( 3:04) 10. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, BWV 885 Fugue No. 16 in G Minor
(12:19) 11. After Bach Ostinato
(11:06) 12. Prayer for Healing

It seems that classical composer J.S. Bach has provided a surge of inspiration for some recent releases by artists on the Nonesuch label, starting with the Bach Trios led by an unusual yet explosive combination of musicians such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and bassist Edgar Meyer. Now we have another Bach-inspired release, this one by the highly acclaimed pianist Brad Mehldau, with works consisting of selection of the composer's compositions, along with several originals inspired by Bach's music. Mehldau is one of the most distinctive and influential jazz pianists today. He is renowned for stretching the forms and boundaries of jazz music through his ambitious and exploratory projects and bands. Over the course of almost three decades, he has charted his own course through this challenging area of arts. One of the most recognizable features of Mehldau's oeuvre is the unusual sources of inspiration and interpretation combined with his compositional prowess. He is one of those vanguard musicians who freely use every source available, be it classic jazz, European classical music or indie and alternative rock as inspiration for his art. The dust of history often makes people forget that most of the greatest composers in classical music were also superb improvisers. These days when the aspect of improvisation is mentioned in relation to classical music it is easy to assume that a mistake has been made. Jazz or folk music are probably the first things that come to mind when people mention improvising. But great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, List or Bach were renowned for their improvisations skills that they displayed in performances of classical music in the pre 20th centuries. Composing "on the spot" was considered a standard in classical music that was highly entertaining and well-respected as a precious skill. Bach amazed audiences with his improvisational keyboard skills. Classical music and jazz have always had a long and interesting relationship, so it is no wonder why there are so many "jazzed up" versions of works by classical composers, Bach included.

But Mehldau's work After Bach is not a "jazzed-up" approach to Bach's music. It's a straightforward interpretation of a selection of his compositions and improvisations on aspects of his works. Co-commissioned in 2015 by Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and organizations in Canada, Switzerland, and Ireland, After Bach consists of performances of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an "After Bach" interpretation by Mehldau. By his own admission, during his formative years classical music ran parallel to jazz and pop music. Indeed, it is difficult to find any top level jazz musician today who hasn't been enchanted by Bach's oeuvre. Even though many jazz pianists can play classical music well, the real question has always been whether their performances can stand shoulder to shoulder with those of world-class classical pianists. In the case of these performances with Brad Mehldau, the answer is undoubtedly yes. Regardless whether it's jazz or classical or his own composition, it seems that Mehldau pursues a mission to explore the place where beauty and sorrow meet. He immerses himself deep into these works and yet manages to convey his incredible personal pianistic magnetism. On After Bach , the enormous breadth of Mehldau's talent stands revealed. His passagework has a distinct feeling, and as a result he gives the music an improvisatory atmosphere. Regarding the interpretation of Bach's compositions, Mehldau's perceptive keyboard workmanship attests to a natural affinity for this composer's idiom, as numerous details bear out. He is a sensitive performer with a profound sense for nuances and shading, but his virtuosity brings the music across with considerable inner excitement. The program opens with the prologue "Before Bach: Benediction." His touch is sublime throughout this work and he weights carefully every phrase which in turn imbues the music with various subtle details that aren't often heard at piano recitals.

The "After Bach" works are characterized by lyrical, expressive playing which takes Bach's ideas and leads them in entirely new directions. He seizes on an aspect of the original Bach compositions and then he builds something astonishing that quickly leaves Bach's approach behind. In the piece titled "Rondo," he takes the 6 note pattern of Bach's prelude and he infuses a totally different tone to it by removing one note. The set closes with the majestic and evocative "Prayer for Healing" which has a sense of a poetic design that oddly evokes Claude Debussy's impressionistic tones. Even though it stands out compared to what preceded it, the meditative character makes it a perfect ending. There are very informative liner notes by Timo Andres who provides a detailed analysis and background on Mehldau's playing and the chances he is taking, serving as an illumination of the overall complexity and brilliance of the whole endeavor. Brad Mehldau is a giant of contemporary jazz piano whose musical language has always been difficult to define due to his healthy lack of respect for musical boundaries. This music, which is well suited to his refined artistry, reveals another aspect to his sonic persona that hasn't surfaced fully until now. With it, Mehldau celebrates Bach on his own terms on this consistently intriguing album. ~ Nenad Georgievski https://www.allaboutjazz.com/after-bach-brad-mehldau-nonesuch-records-review-by-nenad-georgievski.php

Personnel: Brad Mehldau: piano.

After Bach

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