Sunday, April 8, 2018

Ethel Waters, Horace Silver Quintet - Break City

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:58
Size: 164.7 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[7:04] 1. Melancholy Mood
[3:02] 2. True Blue Lou
[2:41] 3. Do What You Did Last Night
[4:49] 4. The Baghdad Blues
[2:43] 5. Get Up Off Your Knees
[4:06] 6. The St. Vitus Dance
[3:00] 7. Travlin' All Alone
[3:23] 8. You Can't Stop Me From Lovin' You
[3:10] 9. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
[3:14] 10. Porgy
[3:24] 11. St. Louis Blues
[5:59] 12. Peace
[6:15] 13. Sister Sadie
[3:17] 14. Love Is The Thing
[3:12] 15. Don't Blame Me
[2:57] 16. Shadows On The Swanee
[4:40] 17. Blowin' The Blues Away
[4:53] 18. Break City

Ethel Waters was a blues and jazz singer and dramatic actress whose singing, based in the blues tradition, featured her full-bodied voice and slow vibrato.

"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." ~Chris Kelsey

Break City

Omar Sosa, NDR Big Band - Es:sensual

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:09
Size: 158.3 MB
Styles: Big band, Piano jazz
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[ 6:07] 1. Cha Cha Du Nord
[ 7:04] 2. Reposo
[ 7:47] 3. L3zero
[ 6:05] 4. My Three Notes
[ 9:34] 5. Glu-Glu
[10:32] 6. Iyade
[12:59] 7. Angustiado
[ 8:58] 8. Sad Meeting

This is the second album the Cuban pianist Omar Sosa has made with the Hamburg radio band – its predecessor was called Ceremony and came out in 2010 – and as before the arranger is the Brazilian Jacques Morelenbaum. I haven’t heard Ceremony but if it’s as good as es:sensual, I must seek it out immediately.



The NDR is a dream of a band for, it seems, any soloist or arranger. It not only brings impeccable musicianship to the studio, but also a sensitivity to a wide range of musical styles. Sosa has shown with his own releases a great versatility, incorporating American roots music on Across The Divide, flamenco flavours on Ilé, and a real Afro-Cuban collaboration with Transparent Water, his duo album with kora player Seckou Keita, so the NDR is a likely to have a ball here.



Sosa’s solos are as propulsive and melodic as one would expect, whether at the grand or going electric, but the real icing on the cake is Morelenbaum’s arrangements. The other bonus is that Sosa has brought with him his own drummer. Much as I’m sure the NDR’s kit man could have done a fine job, there’s nothing quite like the real thing, here in the form of fellow Cuban Ernesto Simpson. Add NDR’s Argentine super-percussionist Marcio Doctor and the music’s base becomes a seething sea of the unexpected over a bed of rhthmically rippling sand. ~Peter Bacon

Es:sensual mc
Es:sensual zippy

Jermaine Landsberger Trio, Bireli Lagrene - Gipsy Feeling

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:53
Size: 114.2 MB
Styles: Piano jazz, Gypsy jazz
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[3:47] 1. Cool Blue
[6:39] 2. Flair
[3:35] 3. Nuits De St. Germain
[5:39] 4. Gipsy Feeling
[4:59] 5. Michels Tune
[7:01] 6. Bossalero
[3:26] 7. Valse Manouche
[4:40] 8. Spontaneous Samba
[4:24] 9. Swing For Oskar
[5:37] 10. Good Morning

Jermaine Landsberger-piano; Bireli Lagrene-guitar; Eugen Apostolidis-bass; Matthias Gmelin-drums.

Jermaine Landsberger from Regensburg has been drawing increasing attention in Jazz circles. His performances with the Wedeli Köhler Ensemble, his first CD and above all his collaboration with Bireli Langrene have much advanced the career of the young Sinto. He was born in Lower Bavaria into a musical family. The father, himself a guitarist, established the contacts with musical relatives and friends, like the guitarist Costa Lukasz. Django Reinhardt's swing and Hungarian folklore were Jermaine's first influences. Later, he began listening to American musicians like Oscar Petersen and Bill Evans, and the French Michel Petrucciani. In recent years, Jermaine Landsberger has often been able to expand his piano trio with the guitarist Bireli Langrene. In December 1998 they recorded the CD "Gypsy Feeling".

Gipsy Feeling mc
Gipsy Feeling zippy

Otros Aires - Perfect Tango

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:33
Size: 74.5 MB
Styles: Pop, Tango
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[3:00] 1. Amor O Nada
[3:05] 2. Like A Tango
[3:10] 3. Bailando Sin Paraiso
[3:09] 4. Solo Esta Noche (Feat. Meghan Kabir)
[3:14] 5. The Perfect Tango
[3:34] 6. Todo Baila
[3:20] 7. Perro Viejo
[3:04] 8. Digital Ego
[3:47] 9. Un Matecito Y Un Beso
[3:07] 10. I´ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)

The new album by the Argentinian band Otros Aires is called “Perfect Tango“. Reading the title one might think, that they state to have found a way to write a perfect tango. But actually it is meant as a self-ironic and funny statement. The album can be characterized as the Otros Aires album with the strongest Pop influence, that the band has ever written. The idea and work on the album started when the band leader Miguel Di Genova was invited by the legendary producer Miles Copeland, who has produced stars such as The Police and Sting. It is due to Miguel Di Genova's openness, that “Perfect Tango“ incorporates very different musical styles to form excellent Electro Tango Pop music. The album stands out with catchy pop structures and singableness. It impresses with the creative combination of modern genre sounds, such as Hip Hop Leads or Electro samples with more traditional genres such as Blues or Tango. “Perfect Tango” is a sensational fresh and catchy Tango album, that invites you to flip, to put your hands up or simply to dance Tango!

Perfect Tango mc
Perfect Tango zippy

Johannes Wallman - Love Wins

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:15
Size: 135.6 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[5:26] 1. Equality!
[3:02] 2. Preamble
[7:46] 3. Love Wins
[6:30] 4. We (Reach For) Love
[8:52] 5. The Seventh Circuit
[7:07] 6. Can I Know (More Love)
[5:48] 7. Stonewall Was A Riot
[6:26] 8. Go On
[5:50] 9. We (Will) Love
[2:24] 10. Coda

Baritone Saxophone – Dayna Stephens; Bass – John Christensen (7); Drums – Devin Drobka; Guitar – Kenny Reichert; Piano – Johannes Wallmann; Tenor Saxophone – Dennis Mitcheltree; Trumpet – Russ Johnson; Voice – Rob DZ. Recorded at Audio for the Arts Madison, WI, August 18,19 & 20, 2015.

Born 1974 in Germany, Johannes Wallmann was raised on Canada's Vancouver Island. He studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston (B.Mus., 1995) and at New York University (M.A., 1997; Ph.D., 2010), while winning numerous national music competitions and scholarships, as well as two Canada Council artist grants. After moving to New York City in 1995, he quickly established himself as a versatile and in-demand sideman in a wide-range of musical styles.

Among the most experienced jazz educators of his generation, Wallmann taught at New York University (1996-2007) and the New School (2003-2007) before relocating to Oakland to lead the jazz studies program at California State University East Bay. In 2012, he moved to the University of Wisconsin to become Director of Jazz Studies and the inaugural holder of the John and Carolyn Peterson Chair in Jazz Studies at UW’s acclaimed Mead Witter School of Music.

Wallmann has recorded six critically acclaimed CDs as a leader: The Johannes Wallmann Quartet (1997), Alphabeticity (2003), Minor Prophets (2007), The Coasts (2010) and Always Something (2015). His 2015 quintet album, The Town Musicians (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT-469), was named an Editors’ Pick by DownBeat Magazine, which called it a “stunning collage of jazz styles and genres” and “a harmonious album from a lifetime of diverse sounds and experiences.” Midwest Record called The Town Musicians “a sizzling session of sitting down jazz” and “music that meets on the corner of complex and accessible,” and the UK’s Jazz Journal wrote, “If I were responsible for an album as good as this, I’d be shouting about it.”

Love Wins mc
Love Wins zippy

Hank Jones - Urbanity

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:44
Size: 118.5 MB
Styles: Bop, Piano jazz
Year: 1956/1997
Art: Front

[2:56] 1. Thad's Pad
[3:38] 2. Things Are So Pretty In The Spring
[2:45] 3. Little Girl Blue
[3:30] 4. Odd Number
[2:40] 5. Blues For Lady Day
[3:21] 6. The Night We Called It A Day
[3:04] 7. Yesterdays
[3:06] 8. You're Blase
[2:59] 9. Tea For Two
[2:43] 10. The Blue Room
[3:00] 11. Thad's Pad (Alternate Take No. 1)
[0:23] 12. Thad's Pad (Incomplete Take)
[2:58] 13. Thad's Pad (Alternate Take No. 2)
[3:58] 14. Things Are So Pretty In The Spring
[3:22] 15. Things Are So Pretty In The Spring (Breakdown)
[3:37] 16. Things Are So Pretty In The Spring (Alternative Take No.1)
[3:38] 17. Things Are So Pretty In The Spring (Alternative Take No.2)

Pianist Hank Jones' first LP consists of six piano solos from 1947 and four trio numbers (with guitarist Johnny Smith and bassist Ray Brown) from 1953. Particularly on the unaccompanied solos, Jones shows off the influence of Art Tatum, while the trio cuts are more boppish and sometimes recall the King Cole Trio. Excellent music. ~Scott Yanow

Urbanity mc
Urbanity zippy

Dusko Goykovich - Good Old Days

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:34
Size: 150,1 MB
Art: Front

(8:41)  1. Good Old Days
(6:00)  2. Little Teo
(4:43)  3. In The Sign of Libra
(6:40)  4. Someday My Prince Will Come
(6:48)  5. How Insensitive
(5:42)  6. No Love Without Tears
(7:11)  7. Tokyo Shuffle Blues
(8:00)  8. Ballad for Belgrade
(6:45)  9. Old Fisherman's Daughter

During his career Dusko Gojkovic built his own style recognizable for the preciseness, brilliance of his technique and warm sound in playing as well as melodic tunes in composing. His colourful life is like a mirror of a half a century of jazz history. He caused stylistic developments. Gojkovic set technical standards, played with all the greats of the genre and finally became one of them. Since 1955 he has been a formative influence not only on the German jazz scene, performing and recording with such as Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Woody Herman, Johnny Griffin, Mal Waldron, Phil Woods, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Clarke or Kenny Barron and many more and is highly admired in the USA and Japan. He is best known for his unmistakably melodic phrasing and his high-class ballad renditions on the trumpet, muted trumpet, and flugelhorn.

Gojkovic was born in Jajce, former Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina. He studied at the  Belgrade Music Academy from 1948 to 1953. He played trumpet in a number of jazz Dixieland bands and, though only 18 years of age, joined Big Band of Radio Belgrade. After five years spent there he grew into a seasoned musician and decided to continue his career in West Germany. In 1956 he recorded his first LP as a member of Frankfurt All Stars band. Next four years he spent as a member of Kurt Edelhagen’s orchestra as a first trumpet. In these years he played with notable jazzmen such as Chet Baker, Stan Getz and Oscar Pettiford. In 1958 he performed at Newport Jazz Festival and drew much attention on both sides of the Ocean. In 1961 he was offered a scholarship for the studies of composing and arranging in Berklee. He took the offer and finished the studies.After the studies he was invited by Canadian band leader Maynard Ferguson to join his band. 

Gojkovic performed as a second trumpet until the break of the band in 1964. His work with Ferguson boosted his reputation as an excellent big band musician and an outstanding soloist. Next he returned to Europe, formed his sextet and in 1966 recorded his first album Swinging Macedonia, produced by Eckart Rahn, with music he originally composed inspired by the music of Balkans. The album is generally considered to be the cornerstone of Balkan Jazz. In the years to follow he played with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, Duke Jordan, Slide Hampton etc. In 1966 he continued his career in The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band. In 1968 he settled in Munich and formed his own big band with artists such as Rolf Ericsson that lasted until 1976.

In 1986 he managed to form another orchestra with which he performs to this day. His much awaited comeback came with the 1994 Soul Connection album that won him a broad acclaim. This was followed with album Bebop City. In 1996 he recorded the Soul Collection album again but this time with his own big band. Another great album came in 1997 Balkan Blue, a double CD: first one a quintet with Italian sax player Gianni Basso while the second one features orchestra of the North German Radio (NDR) accompanied by the jazz rhythm section and Gojkovic as a soloist. His next album was In My Dreams (2001) recorded with his quartet.

In 2003 Gojkovic opened a new chapter in his career with his album Samba do Mar, in which he composes for the first time inspired by Brazilian music. In 2004 he performed on the 200th anniversary of modern Serbian statehood, the opportunity he used to gather in Belgrade international All Star Big Bend with whom he recorded A Handful of Soul CD. His last album Samba Tzigane came out in 2006. Gojkovic celebrated his 75th birthday with a grand concert in Belgrade. http://www.duskogojkovic.com/biography/

Personnel:  Dusko Goykovich (Trumpet, Flugelhorn);  Yutaka Shiina (Piano);  Shin Kamimura (Bass);  Masahiko Osaka (Drums).

Good Old Days

Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:12
Size: 77,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:22)  1. Worrisome Heart
(2:37)  2. All That I Need Is Love
(2:52)  3. Gone
(3:22)  4. Sweet Memory
(5:24)  5. Some Lessons
(4:14)  6. Quiet Fire
(2:03)  7. One Day
(4:06)  8. Love Me Like a River Does
(3:05)  9. Goodnite
(1:01) 10. Twilight

Melody Gardot's debut recording, released in 2006, came two years after she suffered a near fatal automobile accident, the differently able Gardot triumphing in accomplishing what many others, including her, could only dream of. This project has her singing and playing guitar and a little piano, but more so presenting this project of all original material. Gardot has an interesting personal story, but even more intriguing music that straddles the line between lounge jazz, folk, and cowgirl songs. She's part sophisticated chanteuse, college sophomore, and down-home girl next door. Her innocence, sweetness, and light are very alluring, much like the persona of tragic songbirds Eva Cassidy and Nancy LaMott. Feel empathy for Gardot, but don't patronize her she's the real deal much more that many of her over-hyped peers. "Quiet Fire" is definitely her signature tune, as it speaks volumes of where her soul is at, in a jazz/blues mode, yearning for true love. The title track follows a similar tack, a slow, sweet, sentimental slinky blues that will melt your heart. A finger-snapping "Goodnite" leaves you wanting that night to continue, but also exudes a hope that permeates the entire recording. She might be a bit down on men during the nonplussed "All That I Need Is Love," but her subdued optimism glows cool. "Sweet Memory" might possibly parallel Feist or perhaps KT Tunstall in a rural country mode, while "Gone" is clearly folkish, and the slow "Some Lessons" expresses a contemporary Nashville precept. The laid-back music behind Gardot is basically acoustic, incorporating hip jazz instrumentation, especially the trumpet of Patrick Hughes and occasional organ, Wurlitzer, or Fender Rhodes from Joel Bryant, but with twists including violin, lap steel, and Dobro. The concise nature of this recording and these tunes perfectly reflects the realization that life is precious, every moment counts, and satisfaction is fleeting. Likely to be placed in the Norah Jones/Nellie McKay/Madeleine Peyroux pseudo jazz/pop sweepstakes, Gardot offers something decidedly more authentic and genuine. She's one-upped them all out of the gate. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/worrisome-heart-mw0000580130

Personnel: Melody Gardot (vocals, guitar); Jef Lee Johnson (guitar); Mike Brenner (lap steel guitar); David Mowry, Kurt Johnston (dobro); Diane Monroe (violin); Krista Nielsen (cello); Ron Kerber (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Stan Slotter, Patrick Hughes , Matt Cappy (trumpet); Dave Posmontier (piano); Joel Bryant (Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond b-3 organ, Wurlitzer organ); Ken Pendergast, Paul Klinefelter (bass guitar); Charlie Patierno (drums).

Worrisome Heart

Bobby Previte - Rhapsody

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop 
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:18
Size: 148,0 MB
Art: Front

( 6:59)  1. Casting Off
(10:58)  2. All The World
( 9:15)  3. The Lost
( 3:29)  4. When I Land
( 5:28)  5. The Timekeeper
( 1:43)  6. Coming About
( 9:22)  7. All Hands
( 8:39)  8. Last Stand / Final Approach
( 8:21)  9. I Arrive

Bobby Previte writes, conducts and arranges all of the music on this album, along with playing drums, percussion, guitar, harmonica and auto harp with an intuitive team of John Medeski/p, Zeena Parkns/harp, Fabian Rucker/as, Jen Shyu/voc-erhu-p and Nels Cline. The music is the second part of a Terminals Trilogy, which is an acoustic song cycle with the topic being transit and migration. There are few hints on this album of the subject matter, as Shyu’s voice is not used often, and is usually wordless. Having said that, her vocals are dark and agonizing with harp on “Casting Off” and is tranquil on “When I Land” before the piece leads to a dramatic conclusion. Rucker’s alto sax gets plenty of solo space on the fierce and angry “All the World” also careening on “Last Stand/Final Approach.” The music catches breath with prancing piano and harp on “Coming About” and Nels Cline’s folksy ruminations on “All Hands.” The mix of swirling strings and volcanic rhythms make for a white knuckler of a ride. http://www.jazzweekly.com/2018/04/bobby-previte-rhapsody/

Personnel:  Bobby Previte: batería, percusión, autoarpa, guitarra, armónica;  Nels Cline: guitarra acústica, slide guitar, guitarra de doce cuerdas;  John Medeski: piano;  Zeena Parkins: arpa;  Jen Shyu: voz, er’hu, piano;  Fabian Rucker: saxo alto

Rhapsody