Hot Lips Page - The Best Of Hot Lips Page

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:43
Size: 102.4 MB
Styles: Trumpet jazz
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[6:02] 1. Honeysuckle Rose
[5:18] 2. Squeeze Me
[5:54] 3. Muskrat Ramble
[2:50] 4. Savannah
[9:57] 5. The Blues In B
[4:24] 6. Take Your Shoes Off, Baby
[1:58] 7. All Of Me
[5:09] 8. Get The Mop
[3:08] 9. Billie's Blues

Oran Thaddeus Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader born in Dallas, Texas, United States. He was better known as Hot Lips Page by the public, and Lips Page by his fellow musicians. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist.

Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Shaw's Orchestra and Count Basie's Orchestra, and he worked with Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ida Cox. He was one of the five musicians who opened Birdland with Charlie Parker in 1949.

The Best Of Hot Lips Page mc
The Best Of Hot Lips Page zippy

---

Greg Murphy - Blues For Miles

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:51
Size: 164.5 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[5:32] 1. My Shining Hour
[4:43] 2. Easy To Remember
[7:06] 3. Half-Fulton
[5:31] 4. Nancy's Fantasy
[5:20] 5. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime
[8:25] 6. Blues For Miles
[3:12] 7. Earthlings
[0:10] 8. Split Second
[6:50] 9. Hat Trick
[4:57] 10. For My Mom
[3:27] 11. Blues For Miles (Alternate Take)
[4:27] 12. Blue In Green
[4:14] 13. Free Han Solo
[7:50] 14. Free Ur Mind

Greg Murphy - piano, Raphael Cruz - percussion, Kush Abadey - drums, Josh Evans - trumpet, Eric Wheeler - bass, Tom DiCarlo - bass, Ben Solomon - tenor sax.

Chicago native Greg Murphy has been a major contributor to the New York City jazz scene since the 1980s and he’s probably best known for his twenty-two year association with John Coltrane’s multidirectional drummer, Rashied Ali. Greg began his musical adventures in 1971 when he joined the Ray-Fisk Grammar School Band in Chicago. His classical studies began later that year with Lucia Santini at Roosevelt University. Between 1980 and 1984, he played with the jazz/funk band Lightning Flash Thunder Roar, The University of Illinois at Chicago Big Band, The Northern Illinois University Big Band, and other local Chicago bands. A jazz study grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1984 gave Greg the opportunity to go to New Orleans and study with the eminent pianist and jazz educator, Ellis Marsalis. He remained there and began recording and performing with The New Orleans Jazz Couriers, Percussion Incorporated, and his own group, The Fusicians. The Percussion Incorporated album, Drum Talk, (Greg’s first recording) was recorded and released in 1987. While living in the crescent city, Greg performed with Donald Harrison, Wynton Marsalis, and countless other great musicians.

Greg moved to New York in 1987 and began what had become a long association with multi-directional drummer, Rashied Ali. Greg performed and recorded with Ali and his various groups throughout Europe, Canada, the United States and beyond, from 1987 until Rashied passed away in 2009. Throughout his career, Greg has performed in Japan, China and The Philippines with his own trio and other groups. He’s also worked in New York with Ornette Coleman and in France with Carlos Santana and Archie Shepp. In 2012, Greg recorded the theme song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” for the HBO documentary Redemption, which was produced and directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill. Redemption received a 2013 Academy Award nomination for best documentary short. Greg also performed with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Billy Hart, Arthur Taylor, Joe Lovano, Grachan Moncur, III, Christian McBride, Cindy Blackman, Flava Flav, Charles McPherson, Larry Ridley, William Parker and Charles Gayle, among many others.

Blues For Miles mc
Blues For Miles zippy

---

Camille Bertault - Pas De Geant

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:49
Size: 118.6 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[3:41] 1. Nouvelle York
[4:08] 2. Comment Te Dire Adieu
[4:04] 3. Arbre Ravéologique
[4:34] 4. Là Où Tu Vas
[3:30] 5. Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit
[3:14] 6. House Of Jade
[2:50] 7. Comptes De Fées
[1:09] 8. Goldberg
[2:10] 9. Very Early
[3:16] 10. La Femme Coupée En Morceaux
[2:36] 11. Winter In Aspremont
[4:16] 12. Entre Les Deux Immeubles
[3:12] 13. Certes
[2:37] 14. Tantôt
[3:12] 15. Suite, Au Prochain Numéro
[3:12] 16. Conne

Camille Bertault comes flying in like a breath of fresh air. She doesn’t seem to want to sound like any other artist and clearly has her own sound. Plus, she sings in French. And she has put words to John Coltrane‘s “Giant Steps” – almost three years ago she came up with a video on Youtube where she imitated Coltrane’s solo on the classic piece note for note with her voice. The new version now appears on her OKeh Records album “Pas De Géant”, French for “Giant Steps”. Also interesting to note: I think this particular track turns out to be the weakest on her album. You might want to describe it as a mélange of Jazz and Chanson. Her lyrics are witty,intelligent, crazy. She plays with her voice which makes you think you’re on a carousel, like on the George Brassens piece “Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit”.

The way she handles Wayne Shorter‘s “House Of Jade” is also pretty special: overdubbed vocals, lyrics in Portuguese (“Casa De Jade” – she is very popular in Brazil)) and percussion-only accompaniment from the album’s arranger, director, musician Michael Leonhart. Very cool piece this! She sounds like a female Bobby McFerrin on her “Goldberg” interlude – the tempo of her vocalese style is simply breathtaking, as is the piano accompaniment by Dan Tepfer. Change of tempo and style saves this album from becoming too monotonous. There is a sweet version of the Bill Evans anthem “Very Early”, also with new lyrics in French (“La mer brillait mais toi tu avais disparu, disparu trop tôt”).

And yes, you also get the obligatory accordion (Daniel Mille), but not in typical Chansonette fashion, but rather as an accent to the big band-flavored arrangement of Michel Legrand‘s “La Femme Coupée En Morceaux”. There is a lot to explore here, like the accented bass clarinet (Stéphane Guillaume) on the ethereal “Winter In Aspremont”, one of half a dozen original compositions. The album opens with one of those, a love paean to the city of New York, “Nouvelle York”, with bittersweet and lovely lyrics (“Tu te venges et tu m’offres un beau torticolis/Qui m’renvoie illico au statut de fourmi”). Or check out her own “Certes”, a wonderfully flowing piece aided and abetted elegantly by drummer Jeff Ballard. The French and the Jazz sound so natural on this one like it always had been the perfect combination. Bass is played by both Joe Sanders and Christophe “Disco” Minck on the album.

There is a nice Fusion sound, courtesy of Michael Leonhart’s electric keyboard, on “Suite, Au Prochain Numéro” which also reminds me of an intricate, but still highly enjoyable Gil Evans arrangement. She totally lets it loose in eccentric fashion on the album closer “Conne”. My favorite at the moment is an illuminatingly unique, fascinating, soulful take on Serge Gainsbourg‘s “Comment Te Dire Adieu”. ~Matthias Kirsch

Pas De Geant mc
Pas De Geant zippy

---

Tommy Flanagan - Lady Be Good... For Ella

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:05
Size: 139.8 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[4:48] 1. Oh, Lady, Be Good!, Pt. 1
[6:40] 2. Love You Madly
[6:00] 3. Isn't It A Pity
[5:36] 4. How High The Moon
[3:49] 5. Smooth Sailing
[7:41] 6. Alone Too Long
[5:33] 7. Angel Eyes
[6:37] 8. Cherokee
[4:54] 9. Rough Ridin'
[5:29] 10. Pete Kelly's Blues
[3:52] 11. Oh, Lady, Be Good!, Pt. 2

The exquisite musings of piano great Tommy Flanagan need no extraneous superlatives; they speak volumes on their own. Here though it's personal, as he pays tribute to First Lady of Jazz Song Ella Fitzgerald, whom he faithfully accompanied first in the summer of 1956, as well as 1962-64 and 1968-78. Of the eleven songs swung by Flanagan, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash, the majority come right out of Ella's fabled songbook, with a couple of zingers tossed in for kicks. By the way, Flanagan himself has never sounded better, illuminating these well-known melodies with some modifications of his own. This program starts and ends with the title cut, but the first time around it's a wistfully slow ballad packed with all the elegance and emotion Flanagan can muster. The finale has him knocking it out flat, rippling with extroversions and extrapolations quite reminiscent of Ella's vocal excursions. Everyone knows how untouchable the pianist is on ballads, shown by the lugubriously patient melody he builds on the absolutely pristine "Isn't It a Pity?," the spooky, foggy "Angel Eyes," or the soft bossa "Alone Too Long." At his excitable best, Flanagan bops away at the midtempo "How High the Moon," goes for it during "Cherokee," chases the Fitzgerald penned "Love You Madly"-type song "Rough Ridin'" full steam ahead, trading eights with the clever Nash. The pianist is at his best during the actual, easy-swinging "Love You Madly," digging into his chordal interpretations of the melody, almost overemphasizing and staggering the phrases into a totally submissive stranglehold. Although Flanagan has many high points in an exceptional career, this is certainly up there with the best, and a great set of Cliff Notes for doing the jazz piano trio right. Highly recommended. ~Michael G. Nastos

Lady Be Good... For Ella mc
Lady Be Good... For Ella zippy

---

Russell Gunn - Ethnomusicology Vol 3

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:30
Size: 104,3 MB
Art: Front

(0:47)  1. Celebrity Room Intro
(4:12)  2. No Separation
(2:54)  3. The Critic's Song
(6:04)  4. Variations (on a conspiracy theory)
(5:45)  5. East St. Louis
(7:06)  6. John Wicks
(7:35)  7. Yesterdays
(4:03)  8. Strange Fruit
(7:00)  9. Stranger Fruit

Russell Gunn has a problem with critics but only the ones who don't like his music. The third track on this record makes this point more than abundantly clear. And it's pure hypocrisy. Regardless, I'm afraid I'll have to join this elite group. Gunn's last record (Vol. 2) was a brilliant blending of jazz with hip-hop, funk and other styles. Vol. 3 has crossed the line into pure indulgence and fallen off the edge. A few inspired combinations drown among a heap of tunes ripe with cliche. Suffice to say that the last record is the one to check out. Maybe it's time to quit the series? Give Gunn credit for holding true to his credo that "labels divide, separate." Indeed, his vision is founded on the idea that jazz as a pure entity is naked. When you put improvisation in the context of hip-hop, funk, rap, Latin, and other multifarious so-called "urban" styles, it develops an empowering energy. The point at which it acquires the greatest vigor is when it is tossed in the blender and scrambled. That idea works very well when the other items which go into the mix are clever, but it's critically dependent on the ingredients. One thing so-called "popular" culture celebrated here as a partner to improvisationhas unfortunately absorbed is the nagging influence of mass marketing and homogenization; Vol. 3 displays an unfortunate inability to discriminate product from culture, despite its heated and outspoken rhetoric to the contrary. "No Separation" (with the central message) builds instrumental improvisation (mostly vibes and trumpet) upon a rhythmic foundation that plods roughly through fuzzy hip-hop grooves. Scratches dot the landscape; there's a real drummer instead of a machine. But ironically the tune betrays its message. It sounds like we've heard it a hundred times before. Likewise with "The Critic's Song," which has an perky groove driven upward by keyboards voiced something like electric guitars. Kids rap brightly on, getting to the point that "real artists don't give a fuck about you"... you directed at unenthusiastic critics but also anyone, really. (What happens when you really liked the last album but hate the new one? Maybe that opinion doesn't matter if you're an artist. Hmmm.) Despite earlier errors in judgment, I won't return the favor. It's a good idea, kids and the rap and the groove, but it's just not executed right. The problem lies in the ingredients. They're cliche. At some point you realize that, other than the improvisation, the rest of the music hits you where you've been hit too many times already. Later points of departure include a slow-jam ballad with more vibes and horns; four-to-the-floor dance beats accompanied by chord changes and a big band orchestration; an interesting ambient drone-like eastern soul tune; and a painfully cheesy and outdated '70s synth ballad, complete with spare drums, bells, and floating keyboard textures. When Gunn steps to the fore as a player rather than a "composer," he shines. He has a remarkable ability to coax a wide range of emotions from the trumpet, including a spectrum of electronic effects. It's a shame this talent has gone to waste in an environment that suffocates its freshness. ~ AAJ Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ethnomusicology-vol-3-russell-gunn-justin-time-records-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Russell Gunn: Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Keyboards, Electric Trumpet. With Oliver Lake, Rocky Bryant, Marc Cary, Vincent Chancey, Gary Noble, Carl Burnett, Stefon Harris, James Hurt, Antoine Drye, Nick Rolfe, Duane Eubanks, Carlos Henderson, Dana Murray, Kahlil Kwame Bell, Kebbi Williams, DJ Neil Armstrong, Todd Britt, Kenny "Blue" Campbell, Montez Coleman.

Ethnomusicology Vol 3

---

Clementine - Long Courrier

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:18
Size: 124,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:40)  1. My cherie amour
(4:56)  2. Le beau Felix
(4:05)  3. Cinema muet
(4:30)  4. Chega de samba
(5:11)  5. Indecision
(7:08)  6. Fille de la mer
(5:00)  7. Happy Hour 6 to 8 PM
(4:47)  8. Glamour Girl
(3:46)  9. It's a Shame
(5:44) 10. Jeremie
(4:26) 11. Evasion

Clémentine is a French singer and songwriter based in Japan. She debuted in France in 1988 with the single, "Absolument Jazz". In addition to many releases as a singer, she has appeared regularly on the entertainment segment for NHK Educational TV "French TV". Collaborates frequently with other artists, mostly in Japan. Recently she has often collaborated with her daughter, Solita, who is also a singer.  Born in Paris but traveled widely as a child. With her father transferring first to Mexico and later around the world, she grew in touch with Bossa Nova and other local flavors of music. Returned to France and started Piano lessons at age 10 and Jazz school at age 12. Started her professional career in 1987 by sending a demo tape to Jazz greats Johnny Griffin and Ben Sidran, and was subsequently given an opportunity to record several songs with them. In 1988 released her first single, "Absolument Jazz" with CBS France. Signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment Japan in 1990, and released many singles and albums. From 2003 to 2005 switched to the Epic Records Japan label, and from 2005 to 2008 to Toshiba EMI. Returned to Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cl%C3%A9mentine_(musician)

Long Courrier

---

Eric Kloss - About Time

Styles: Saxophone Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:05
Size: 172,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:53)  1. Close Your Eyes
(5:49)  2. Old Folks
(8:12)  3. 'S 'Bout Time
(5:32)  4. That's The Way It Is
(5:44)  5. All Blues
(4:33)  6. Embraceable You
(4:58)  7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(5:56)  8. Just For Fun-K
(5:20)  9. No Blues
(7:41) 10. Love For Sale
(5:09) 11. I'm Glad There Is You
(3:05) 12. The Shadow Of Your Smile
(6:07) 13. Gemini

Eric Kloss was 16 and 17 when he recorded his first two albums, which are reissued in full on this single CD. A brilliant altoist and tenor saxophonist with a sound and a post-bop style of his own, Kloss shows a great deal of potential during these performances, which were originally released as Introducing Eric Kloss and Love and All That Jazz. He is joined by trios that feature either Don Patterson or Richard "Groove" Holmes on organ; Pat Martino, Vinnie Corrao, or Gene Edwards on guitar; and Billy James or Grady Tate on drums. Two Kloss originals and one by Patterson join ten jazz standards, including "Close Your Eyes," "All Blues," a cooking version of "Embraceable You," and Miles Davis' "No Blues." The fire, intensity, and creativity of Eric Kloss' playing makes one regret that he did not have a much longer career. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/about-time-eric-kloss-the-rhythm-section-love-and-all-that-jazz-mw0000221813

About Time

---

Bob Florence - State of the Art (Limited Edition)

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:38
Size: 128,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:22)  1. Just Friends
(5:13)  2. Moonlight Serenade
(6:55)  3. Silky
(7:05)  4. The Crunch
(4:05)  5. Stella by Starlight
(8:46)  6. All the Things You Are
(6:04)  7. Mr. Paddington
(5:42)  8. BBC
(5:23)  9. Auld Lang Syne

The first of two sets by Bob Florence's Limited Edition Orchestra for the USA label breaks from his tradition in that only four of the nine selections are Florence originals. The arranger completely reworks such familiar tunes as "Just Friends," "Moonlight Serenade," "All the Things You Are" and even "Auld Lang Syne." Among the key players are altoist Lanny Morgan, trumpeter Steve Huffsteter, Bob Cooper on tenor, and Kim Richmond on alto and soprano. Modern, swinging and unpredictable music. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/state-of-the-art-mw0000198731    

Personnel: Bob Florence (piano, electric piano, synthesizer); Lanny Morgan (flute, piccolo, clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Kim Richmond (flute, clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Dick Mitchell, Bob Cooper (flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone); Bob Efford (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone); John Lowe (e flat clarinet, baritone saxophone); George Graham, Larry Ford, Steve Huffsteter , Warren Luening (trumpet, flugelhorn); Rick Culper, Herbie Harper, Rick Culver, Charles Loper, Chauncey Welsch (trombone); Donald Waldrop (bass trombone); Tom Warrington (acoustic bass, electric bass); Peter Donald (drums); Alex Acuña (percussion).

State of the Art (Limited Edition)

---