Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Horace Silver Quintet - Juicy Lucy

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:31
Size: 97.3 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[5:33] 1. Swingin' The Samba
[5:44] 2. Juicy Lucy
[4:50] 3. Come On Home
[5:29] 4. Cookin' At The Continental
[5:28] 5. You Happened My Way
[5:26] 6. Mellow D
[4:44] 7. Finger Poppin'
[5:15] 8. Sweet Stuff

From the perspective of the 21st century, it is clear that few jazz musicians had a greater impact on the contemporary mainstream than Horace Silver. The hard bop style that Silver pioneered in the '50s is now dominant, played not only by holdovers from an earlier generation, but also by fuzzy-cheeked musicians who had yet to be born when the music fell out of critical favor in the '60s and '70s.

Silver's earliest musical influence was the Cape Verdean folk music he heard from his Portuguese-born father. Later, after he had begun playing piano and saxophone as a high schooler, Silver came under the spell of blues singers and boogie-woogie pianists, as well as boppers like Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. In 1950, Stan Getz played a concert in Hartford, Connecticut, with a pickup rhythm section that included Silver, drummer Walter Bolden, and bassist Joe Calloway. So impressed was Getz, he hired the whole trio. Silver had been saving his money to move to New York anyway; his hiring by Getz sealed the deal.

Silver worked with Getz for a year, then began to freelance around the city with such big-time players as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Oscar Pettiford. In 1952, he recorded with Lou Donaldson for the Blue Note label; this date led him to his first recordings as a leader. In 1953, he joined forces with Art Blakey to form a cooperative under their joint leadership. The band's first album, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, was a milestone in the development of the genre that came to be known as hard bop. Many of the tunes penned by Silver for that record -- "The Preacher," "Doodlin'," "Room 608" -- became jazz classics. By 1956, Silver had left the Messengers to record on his own. The series of Blue Note albums that followed established him for all time as one of jazz's major composer/pianists. LPs like Blowin' the Blues Away and Song for My Father (both recorded by an ensemble that included Silver's longtime sidemen Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook) featured Silver's harmonically sophisticated and formally distinctive compositions for small jazz ensemble.

Silver's piano style -- terse, imaginative, and utterly funky -- became a model for subsequent mainstream pianists to emulate. Some of the most influential horn players of the '50s, '60s, and '70s first attained a measure of prominence with Silver -- musicians like Donald Byrd, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Benny Golson, and the Brecker Brothers all played in Silver's band at a point early in their careers. Silver has even affected members of the avant-garde; Cecil Taylor confesses a Silver influence, and trumpeter Dave Douglas played briefly in a Silver combo.

Silver recorded exclusively for Blue Note until that label's eclipse in the late '70s, whereupon he started his own label, Silveto. Silver's '80s work was poorly distributed. During that time he began writing lyrics to his compositions, and his work began to display a concern with music's metaphysical powers, as exemplified by album titles like Music to Ease Your Disease and Spiritualizing the Senses. In the '90s, Silver abandoned his label venture and began recording for Columbia. With his re-emergence on a major label, Silver once again received a measure of the attention his contributions deserve. Certainly, no one ever contributed a larger and more vital body of original compositions to the jazz canon. Silver died in New York on June 18, 2014 at the age of 85. ~bio by Chris Kelsey

Juicy Lucy mc
Juicy Lucy zippy

Etta Cameron - I Have A Dream

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:49
Size: 114.1 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[3:17] 1. Imagine
[3:06] 2. Everything Is Beautiful
[4:35] 3. Bridge Over Troubled Water
[3:21] 4. You Are So Beautiful
[5:11] 5. With A Little Help From My Friends
[5:02] 6. I Have A Dream
[3:49] 7. Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday
[3:20] 8. What A Wonderful World
[4:25] 9. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
[4:22] 10. Sailing
[4:26] 11. Tears In Heaven
[4:49] 12. Amazing Grace

Etta Cameron (b. Ettamae Louvita Coakley, November 21, 1939, Nassau, Bahamas – March 4, 2010, Aarhus, Denmark) was a Bahamian–Danish singer. She especially sang jazz and gospel, and left her mark in the Danish music culture through her entire career from her arrival in Denmark in the 1970s. She was made a Knight of Dannebrog in 1997. Etta Cameron was also well known as one of the judges in the first two seasons of Scenen er din, the Danish version of the American TV show Star Search.

She came to Denmark from the DDR, but found herself unable to leave East Berlin for five years, after a performance commitment during which time she had lost her passport. Etta died on March 4, 2010 after a long illness. She had two children, Debbie and Steve. Debbie Cameron is following her mother's footsteps and is going for a singing career.

I Have A Dream mc
I Have A Dream zippy

Warren Vaché, The New York City All-Star Big Band - Swingtime!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:49
Size: 141.5 MB
Styles: Big band, Swing
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[3:01] 1. Swingtime!
[5:15] 2. From This Moment On
[3:56] 3. I've Got My Fingers Crossed
[4:00] 4. Mr. Bojangles
[4:36] 5. The Way You Look Tonight
[6:09] 6. Stompin' At The Savoy
[8:23] 7. B. D. Blues
[3:16] 8. Jumpin' At The Woodside
[4:35] 9. A Portrait Of Jenny
[3:52] 10. Ain't Misbehavin'
[6:27] 11. Saturday Night Fish Fry
[3:14] 12. When You're Smiling
[4:59] 13. Let The Good Times Roll

Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Chuck Wilson; Baritone Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Alan Barnes; Bass – Murray Wall; Drums – Jake Hanna; Piano – Steve Ash; Tenor Saxophone – Harry Allen, Rickey Woodard; Trombone – John Allred, Matt Bilyk; Trumpet – Randy Sandke; Trumpet, Vocals – Warren Vaché. Recorded on January 11 and 12, 2000.

Some album titles so accurately describe the contents that there's almost nothing meaningful that a poor review can say about it. Such is the case with Swingtime!, wherein what is advertised is precisely what one gets—a baker's dozen of inflexibly swinging sorties by trumpeter Warren Vaché and his New York City All—Star Big Band (underweight division). The band includes only two trumpets (Vaché and Randy Reinhart), two trombones, four saxophones and rhythm, but after listening for a few moments you won't care about that, as these gentlemen more than compensate for fewness of numbers by pouring their heart and soul into every note on the page. Mind you, this isn't "contemporary" Jazz—no one is trying to plant fresh seeds or set new standards—but sure as the sunrise, it does swing! A large measure of credit for that must go to the intrepid rhythm section, anchored by drummer Jake Hanna and crowned by Steve Ash's tasteful piano and Murray Wall's walking bass. But everyone has a hand in making this engine go, and the band's consistently sparkling section work is complemented by emphatic solos from Vaché, Ash, tenors Rickey Woodard and Harry Allen, trombonist John Allred and clarinetist / baritone Alan Barnes, each of whom has technique and resourcefulness to burn. Besides playing sublime trumpet, Vaché discloses solid albeit unpolished vocal talent on "I've Got My Fingers Crossed," "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "Let the Good Times Roll." Swingtime! reminds me of another superb Nagel—Heyer album released some five years ago, The Buck Clayton Swing Band Live from Greenwich Village, on which Vaché also played. Clayton's band was larger (16 members) but the payoff was about the same—pure, unvarnished swing from first note to last. If swing's your bag, open this one for a bushelful of pleasure. ~Jack Bowers

Swingtime! mc
Swingtime! zippy

Russell Gunn - Ethnomusicology Vol.4 - Live in Atlanta

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:42
Size: 128,3 MB
Art: Front

( 0:39)  1. Sam Yi (spoken intro)
( 6:32)  2. Blue In Green
(11:11)  3. More Sybil's Blues
(13:09)  4. Summertime
( 7:59)  5. Lyne's Joint
(16:10)  6. Shiva The Destroyer

As an alternative to Wynton Marsalis, who steadfastly hangs onto the singular American Jazz Tradition and, granted, eloquently and skillfully keeps it alive through his playing, educating and entrepreneuring, trumpeter Russell Gunn has shown an unerring desire over the course of the past ten years to merge styles into a personal language that asserts jazz as the melting pot it truly is. As much as Gunn has proven himself to be a capable hard and post bop player on early albums including Young Gunn and Gunn Fu, it has been with his not altogether consistent but always searching series of Ethnomusicology recordings where he has shown his true colours. Blending hip hop, soul, blues, traditional jazz forms, rock and more, Ethnomusicology Vol. 4: Live in Atlanta shows that diverse elements can blend into a cogent and cohesive whole that is truly greater than the sum of its disparate parts. Opening the set with a dramatic reading of the Bill Evans/Miles Davis classic "Blue in Green," Gunn segues from the rubato introduction of the theme into an up-tempo samba that would have fit well in the early, Latin-based Return to Forever. Rocky Bryant's energetic drum solo leads into a fitful electric trumpet excursion from Gunn that segues into "More Sybil's Blues," which starts as a rocking feature for guitarist Carl Burnett's Albert Collins-inflected lines before shifting into a soulful vamp that nods more than a little to Miles' '80s bands, before returning to another blues-drenched, Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque solo from Burnett.

"Summertime" starts at a surprising clip, the band vamping for nearly three minutes before Gunn's wah-wah trumpet pulls the theme out of its up-tempo funkiness and draws it down into a moving solo piano segment by Nick Rolfe which demonstrates that, as stylistically broad as the group can be, the essence of the jazz tradition is never too far away. But it doesn't last long before the rhythm section is back and turntablist D.J. Neil Armstrong is bringing a hip hop element into the mix. "Lynne's Joint" is a schizophrenic tune that blends a soulful theme with a rhythm section that combines spacious simplicity with a busier urban edge. Gunn has come under no uncertain degree of heat for his unapologetically cosmopolitan approach. Purists are quick to dismiss it as something other than jazz, while supporters see it as a logical progression, a natural evolution. Whether or not one subscribes to Gunn's concept, there is no doubt that he is an extremely talented player with a specific vision that has been consistently developing over the course of the last decade. And he surrounds himself with capable players who clearly understand the history and the future of jazz. Pariah or visionary, Gunn deserves respect for finding his direction and following it with determination, passion and zeal. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ethnomusicology-vol-4-live-in-atlanta-russell-gunn-justin-time-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Russell Gunn (electric trumpet, flugelhorn), Nick Rolfe (piano, fender rhodes, keyboards), Carlos Henderson (electric bass), Carl Burnett (electric guitar), Kahlil Kwame Bell (percussion), Rocky Bryant (drums), D.J. Neil Armstrong (turntables)

Ethnomusicology Vol.4 - Live in Atlanta

Cleo Laine & John Williams - Best Friends

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:52
Size: 98,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:08)  1. Feelings
(2:44)  2. Time Does Fly
(4:39)  3. Killing Me Softly With His Song
(2:21)  4. Before Love Went Out Of Style
(4:11)  5. My Day Has Started With You
(3:18)  6. Wave
(3:34)  7. Eleanor Rigby
(3:09)  8. Awake My Love
(3:42)  9. If
(3:34) 10. Charms
(3:06) 11. Sleep Now
(4:19) 12. He Was Beautiful

With a multi-octave voice similar to Betty Carter's, incredible scatting ability, and ease of transition from a throaty whisper to high-pitched trills, Cleo Laine was born in 1927 in the Southall section of London, the daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother. Her parents sent her to vocal and dance lessons as a teenager, but she was 25 when she first sang professionally, after a successful audition with the big band led by Johnny Dankworth. Both Laine and the band recorded for Esquire, MGM and Pye during the late '50s, and by 1958, she was married to Dankworth. With Dankworth by her side, Laine began her solo career in earnest with a 1964 album of Shakespeare lyrics set to Dankworth's arrangements, Shakespeare: And All That Jazz. Laine also gained renown for the first of three concert albums recorded at New York's Carnegie Hall, 1973's Cleo Laine Live! At Carnegie Hall. She also recorded two follow-ups (Return to Carnegie and The 10th Anniversary Concert) the latter of which in 1983 won her the first Grammy award by a Briton. She has proved a rugged stage actress as well, winning a Theater World award for her role in the Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, (in addition to Tony and Drama Desk nominations as well). In 1976 she recorded a jazz version of Porgy and Bess with Ray Charles, and also recorded duets with James Galway and guitarist John Williams. Laine and Dankworth continued to tour into the 1990s, and she received perhaps her greatest honor when she became the first jazz artist to receive the highest title available in the performing arts: Dame Commander. ~ John Bush https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cleo-laine-mn0000120273/biography

Personnel:  Vocals – Cleo Laine;  Arranged By [Guitar & Rhythm] – John Dankworth;  Arranged By [String] – Paul Hart ;  Bass – Dave Markee, Pete Morgan;  Cello – Kathy Giles;  Drums – Kenny Clare, Tony Kinsey;  Guitar – John Williams ;  Producer, Electric Piano, Violin – Paul Hart ;  Producer, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet – John Dankworth;  Viola – Chris Hartley ;  Violin – Celia Mitchell, Gerry Richards, Lorrie Lewis

Best Friends

Houston Person - To Etta with Love

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:29
Size: 124,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:18)  1. It's Magic
(6:20)  2. Love Walked In
(4:43)  3. Don't Misunderstand
(4:55)  4. I Should Care
(5:22)  5. Don't Go To Strangers
(6:00)  6. For All We Know
(6:31)  7. Since I Fell For You
(4:31)  8. Ain't Misbehavin'
(7:11)  9. What A Wonderful World
(3:33) 10. Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You

One of the longest-lasting and critically lauded partnerships in jazz, the duo of vocalist Etta Jones and tenor saxophonist Houston Person ran from a concert in 1968 to Jones' death in 2001 on the same day their last album together, Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, was released. In tribute to Jones, To Etta With Love finds Person digging into various standards that Jones loved throughout her career. There is a melancholy, heartbreaking quality to these tracks. The fact that liner notes are included on an album without a vocalist only serves to further underline how much Jones' personality and style inform every note Person plays. The journeyman's warm, burnished tenor sound veritably weeps and more often soars through such classics as "Don't Go to Strangers," "For All We Know," and "Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You." Backing Person here are the always sensitive talents of pianist Stan Hope, guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Per-Ola Gadd, and drummer Chip White. Much like the singer Person knew, To Etta With Love is an understated, moving, and swinging elegy. ~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/album/to-etta-with-love-mw0000397922    

Personnel: Houston Person (tenor saxophone); Per-Ola Gadd (bass instrument); Paul Bollenback (guitar); Stan Hope (piano); Chip White (drums).

To Etta with Love

Eric Kloss - Sky Shadows In The Land Of The Giants

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:40
Size: 174,3 MB
Art: Front

( 6:25)  1. In A Country Soul Garden
(13:15)  2. Sky Shadows
( 6:45)  3. The Girl With The Fall In Her Hair
( 6:43)  4. I'll Give You Everything
( 7:11)  5. January's Child
( 7:32)  6. Summertime
(11:02)  7. So What
( 5:19)  8. Sock It To Me Socrates
( 5:36)  9. When Two Lovers Touch
( 5:48) 10. Things Ain't What They Used To Be

Although he’s apparently maintaining a low profile these days, saxophonist Eric Kloss recorded quite a few albums for Prestige records by the time he reached the tender ago of 19. Here, Prestige has reissued Kloss’ Sky Shadows and In The Land Of The Giants on 1 Compact Disc. From the liners....” This Music, from 1968 and ’69, finds the emerging Kloss in full flight, whether the setting is post-bop or modal, standard or balladic”. At this juncture, Kloss shows maturity, outstanding technical chops and depth while the now famous supporting cast were obviously motivated and geared up for these sessions.  Tracks 1-5 were originally released as Sky Shadows and feature: Kloss; Alto & Tenor Saxophones; Pat Martino; Guitar: Jaki Byard; Piano: Bob Cranshaw; Bass and Jack DeJohnette; Drums. Here, Kloss’ “In a Country Soul Garden” is soulful, bouncy and blends R&B and Jazz motifs featuring a vibrant tempo and memorable hook as “Sky Shadows” also serves as a fitting vehicle for Kloss’ often linear phraseology. On “Sky Shadows”, Kloss’ straight-up yet fluent approach along with near flawless intonation, counterbalances the narrative style and clear toned phrasing by the great guitarist, Pat Martino. Here, the late pianist Jaki Byard, performs as if he were truly inspired or motivated for both of these sessions. Byard’s impossibly fast lead soloing and rippling chord clusters are awe-inspiring! 

Sadly, Jaki Byard is no longer with us yet his numerous contributions to jazz and jazz education are meritorious and will stand for many years to come. Tracks 6-11 were originally released on In the Land Of The Giants as the personnel here consists of Kloss; Alto Sax, Booker Ervin; Tenor Sax; Jaki Byard; Piano; Alan Dawson; Drums and Richard Davis; Bass. Highlights are, an absolutely stunning, up-tempo version of Miles Davis’ “So What” featuring the towering and vigorous tenor saxophone work of the late Booker Ervin. Here, Kloss and Ervin take turns reaching for the stars via soaring and electrifying lead soloing!........Not a cutting contest yet these esteemed gentlemen perform with conviction as if they were possessed by spirits... Kloss’ sweet alto sax tone and sumptuous phrasing is evident on “When Two Lovers Touch”. On the Ellington classic, “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” Kloss’ expressionism and emotive lyricism displays mature sensibilities and expertise for such a young lad. Prestige has performed a dutiful service for jazz enthusiasts by releasing these gems from a man who seems to have toggled his career between fame and relative obscurity. Recommended.. ~ Glenn Astarita https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sky-shadows-in-the-land-of-the-giants-eric-kloss-prestige-records-review-by-glenn-astarita.php

Personnel: Eric Kloss (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Pat Martino (guitar); Booker Ervin (tenor saxophone); Jaki Byard (piano); Jack DeJohnette, Alan Dawson (drums).

Sky Shadows / In The Land Of The Giants

Ulf Wakenius - Notes From The Heart

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:53
Size: 127,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:38)  1. Memories Of Tomorrow
(4:56)  2. Dancing
(4:36)  3. Innocence
(4:21)  4. The Windup
(4:17)  5. My Song
(3:47)  6. Mon Coer Est Rouge
(4:59)  7. Everything That Lives Laments
(5:04)  8. The Cure
(7:45)  9. So Tender
(5:19) 10. U-Dance
(4:06) 11. Prayer

One of the most significant artists of the past forty years, pianist Keith Jarrett continues to base his ever-evolving style on a remarkable stream of consciousness approach to improvisation. But with Jarrett focusing his energy almost exclusively on his longstanding Standards Trio and improvised solo piano performances for the past two decades, it's easy to forget that he's also written a wealth of memorable compositions. Still, Jarrett asserts that improvisation is nothing less than composition in real time, and he's absolutely right. But Jarrett's influence reaches beyond pianists. His ability to combine an almost fragile lyricism with richer complexities and imbue the jazz language with an appealing folksiness has influenced more than one generation of players on other instruments, including the equally influential guitarist Pat Metheny. Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius' style has clearly been filtered through Jarrett and Metheny, but that's not to imply he lacks his own voice. On Forever You (Stunt, 2004) he demonstrated their same deep respect for melody and the essence of song, but with an economical approach that belied his considerable virtuosity. 

On Notes from the Heart the first album ever to feature a single artist paying tribute to Jarrett the composer and the performer Wakenius turns his attention to interpreting his music. By approaching not only some of Jarrett's more well known songs, but also material from his solo piano improvisations, Wakenius proves Jarrett's statement that the real time compositional nature of improvisation is more than self-justification for abandoning conventional writing. Restricting himself to classical guitar, Wakenius mines a cross-section of material from many stages of Jarrett's career, from the delicately melancholic and Latin-informed "Everything That Lives Laments, from The Mourning of a Star (Atlantic, 1971) to the more ostinato-based, groove-centric title track from The Cure (ECM, 1991). Jarrett's European Quartet is represented by the gently balladic "Innocence from Nude Ants (ECM, 1980), the vulnerable beauty of the title track to My Song (ECM, 1977), and the more up-tempo folksy complexity of "The Windup, from Belonging (ECM, 1974). The American Quartet is represented here, as is the Standards Trio. Throughout, Wakenius often layering his linear lines over an overdubbed rhythm guitar track is sensitively accompanied by two long-time associates: bassist Lars Danielsson, who also adds occasional piano and cello, and drummer Morten Lund. But the most compelling pieces and the best evidence of Jarrett's compositional sensibility in any context are those fashioned from his solo piano works. "Memories of Tomorrow, better known as "Köln II C from The Köln Concert (ECM, 1975), is an elegant bossa, while "Mon Couer Est Rouge, from Concerts (ECM, 1981) is a profoundly touching duet with Danielsson on piano. Throughout, Wakenius' evocative playing at times exploring the meaning of a single note, elsewhere more elaborately fashioned phrases digs deep into Jarrett's material, dispensing with all artifice and getting right to the core. Notes from the Heart is aptly titled. Wakenius pays reverent homage to Jarrett in the best way possible by demonstrating Jarrett's unequivocal influence and fully subsuming it in his own pure and unaffected musical approach. Simply beautiful. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/notes-from-the-heart-ulf-wakenius-act-music-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Ulf Wakenius: acoustic guitars; Lars Danielsson: double-bass, cello, piano; Morten Lund: drums.

Notes From The Heart