Sunday, April 15, 2018

Aldo Romano, Remi Vignolo, Baptiste Trotignon - Flower Power

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:04
Size: 128.4 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[4:06] 1. Love Me, Please Love Me
[4:28] 2. Say It Ain't So
[6:03] 3. Valse De Melody/Je T'aime Moi Non Plus
[6:55] 4. Sea Song/Crying Song
[3:57] 5. Black Dog
[3:39] 6. Don't Let Me Be Lonely
[4:44] 7. Mr Tambourine Man
[5:46] 8. Bridge Over Troubled Water
[4:15] 9. C'est Extra
[4:45] 10. Your Song
[7:20] 11. The End

Bass – Rémi Vignolo; Drums – Aldo Romano; Piano – Baptiste Trotignon. Recorded at Studio Meudon, France, April 26, 2006.

Although born in Italy, Aldo Romano moved to France with his family at a young age. He was already playing guitar and drums professionally in Paris in the '50s when he heard Donald Byrd's group with drummer Arthur Taylor. Since then, he has dedicated himself to the drums and contemporary jazz. In Paris jazz clubs like le Chat Qui Pêche and the Caméléon, Romano has accompanied visiting Americans like Jackie McLean, Bud Powell, Lucky Thompson, J.J. Johnson, and Woody Shaw while also exploring free music with Don Cherry and Gato Barbieri, Frank Wright and Bobby Few, Michel Portal, François Tusques, Jean-Louis Chautemps, and Steve Lacy.

Rémi Vignolo is he drummer, or bassist? Composer?! We did not know ... How could we have known elsewhere? Nougaro, Lagrene, Terrasson, Galliano, Romano, Werner, Bergonzi, Aznavour, Luke, Di Battista, Legrand, Trotignon, Grossman, El Malek, Pierranunzi, Z (Bojan's) ... It's as if the guy had melted into the landscape, as if he had taken advantage of the light of all these great "Names" to better hide his own. A more exhaustive list of his collaborations or the details of the eighty albums already recorded for others behind his double bass or his drums would not illuminate further the motivations, the choices, the doubts ... The course can be confusing, remains the certainty of being faced with an unusual personality, a rare bird on which decency and fashions have, obviously, little grip. (Translated from French.)

Baptiste Trotignon (born in 1974) began playing the piano at the age of six. He discovered and taught himself jazz and improvisation as a teenager. In 1994 he played both the piano and a role in Alain Corneau's film "Le Nouveau Monde", and one year later he decided to move to Paris. Over the years that followed he developed a number of eclectic encounters, while also continuing to play music that was resolutely open-minded and imaginative. This included performing alongside top-quality improvisers like Tom Harrell and Brad Mehldau and classical pianists such as Nicholas Angelich and Alexandre Tharaud, and he was also artistic director for tribute evenings to Edith Piaf and Claude Nougaro at Montreux, composed film music for Claude Goretta's "Sartre", and did some Hammond B3 organ tours with Stefano Di Battista's "Trouble Shootin'". Baptiste's first "American" album, "Share", was recorded in New York and came out in early 2009. He made it with Eric Harland and invited Tom Harrell (a living and inimitable jazz legend) and Mark Turner along. The album was a hit and was followed by a highly charged live album recorded in London ("Suite…" 2010). In the next few months he wrote a version featuring a string and wind orchestra that was performed for the first time at the Jazz in Marciac Festival.

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Flower Power zippy

Miwa Watanabe - Natural Voice (2 albums: I & II)

Miwa Watanabe is a vocalist, composer/arranger, and flute player from Japan. Miwa began formal voice training at the age of twelve, and performed her first act on musical theater when she was fourteen years old. She continued to act on musical theaters and worked as an actress in NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation), which is Japan’s national public broadcasting organization.

Since 2004, she studied music in the United States, Gramercy Park School of Music in New York City and Berklee College of Music in Boston. She performed a solo with St. John’s United Methodist Church’s Choir (New York), December in 2005. She studied under Joe Coleman(The Platters), Jayon Anthony, Beverly Crosby, Amina Claudine Myers, and Ella Garrett in New York, and Sharon Brown, Lisa Thorson, Mili Bermejo, Ernest Diaz, and Kris Adams at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Currently, She is studying with Tony Nominee, Vivian Reed. She graduated from Berklee College of Music and received her BM degree in Vocal Performance major. All year accomplishments earned her a place on Berklee’s Dean’s List. She sing at Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Asian Cafe in Boston, Blue Owl, Moco, Jules, Cleopatra's needle and many Jazz Clubs, bars and Restaurants in New York.

She released three CD albums which are called new acoustic project "Duo","DUOII" and "DUO III". 1st album from Japan “Natural Voice” was released in 2013. Also “Natural Voice II” (2014) got the best recording award from Stereo Disc Collection and Best Album Top 5 on music magazine”Stereo.” In 2014, As a lyricist, She prized Best Single Hit Award from Crown Records.

Album: Natural Voice
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:43
Size: 97.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:12] 1. The Girl From Ipanema
[3:54] 2. Outra Vez
[4:31] 3. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
[5:15] 4. Corcovado
[3:50] 5. Morning
[2:47] 6. Doralice
[4:40] 7. Speak Low
[4:41] 8. Dindi
[5:02] 9. Spring 2010
[4:47] 10. Saiko No Yakusoku

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Natural Voice zippy

Album: Natural Voice II
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:39
Size: 99.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[3:24] 1. It's All Right With Me
[3:27] 2. A Child Is Born
[3:22] 3. East Of The Sun
[4:55] 4. My One And Only Love
[4:32] 5. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
[4:28] 6. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
[5:18] 7. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
[3:56] 8. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
[4:56] 9. Stormy Weather
[5:16] 10. Embraceable You

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Natural Voice II zippy

Will Bernard 4-Tet - Medicine Hat

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:37
Size: 122.8 MB
Styles: Jazz/Funk
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[5:35] 1. Close Shave (Part 1)
[4:08] 2. Boomtown
[5:24] 3. Medicine Hat
[5:47] 4. Prankster
[4:49] 5. 3-Ply
[3:42] 6. Koko A Poko
[4:08] 7. Trap Door Spider
[4:13] 8. Nobody's Looking
[6:08] 9. Tank Top
[5:56] 10. Pollyanna
[3:42] 11. Do Not Bend

On Medicine Hat, their first release, the Will Bernard 4-tet came to groove. The disc kicks off with "Close Shave (Pt. 1)," a James Brown inspired romp that introduces these fine San Francisco-based players. Will Bernard is a hot guitarist who was heard with T. J. Kirk, which included the now well-known Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola, also heard here laying down his rock solid rhythms with typical finesse. The 4-tet is rounded out with newcomers Rob Burger on Hammond B-3 organ and John Shifflett on bass.

The second track, "Boomtown", sounds like a spicy recipe for chasing away the mid-winter blues. The guitar / organ-fueled jams are inspired and fun. But this isn’t just about partying. The compositions, all by Bernard, are interesting as well as danceable. The twisted tango groove of "Trap Door Spider" is enticing and the 4-tet ventures into Bill Frisell-ish territory on "Nobody’s Looking". Bernard and Burger switch to acoustic guitar and accordion for this beautifully moody track. "Tank Top" turns the tables again with a funky New Orleans groove, one of Scott Amendola’s specialties. Bernard lays down some smokin’ slide guitar on this cooker. "Pollyanna" features some wonderfully slippery guitar improvisations and they take us home with "Do Not Bend", a final funk excursion. Recommended to fans of guitar, organ, and fat, funky grooves. ~Rick Bruner

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Medicine Hat zippy

Gary Smith - Timeless

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:20
Size: 96.9 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[3:28] 1. Chinatown My Chinatown
[4:05] 2. Ain't She Sweet
[3:44] 3. Dahil Sa You
[3:39] 4. The Days Of Idyllwild
[4:24] 5. I Remember Bert
[3:23] 6. Frankie And Johnny
[3:19] 7. Melancholy Baby
[4:33] 8. Paul's Bossa
[4:39] 9. You Made Me Love You
[4:06] 10. Jazz Baby
[2:55] 11. Bossa De Wierdo

Gary Smith is an avant-garde guitarist, improviser and composer from the United Kingdom. He is known for developing dense extended techniques on electric guitar. Gary Smith has released close to twenty albums in solo, group and live settings with Shoji Hano, Rhys Chatham, John Stevens, Hugh Hopper, Masayoshi Urabe, Chie Mukai, Aufgehoben No Process, and Bill Fay.

Timeless

Cedar Walton, David Williams - Duo

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:30
Size: 177.4 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 1991/2010
Art: Front

[ 5:33] 1. I Mean You
[ 5:51] 2. Pannonica
[ 6:25] 3. Stablemates
[ 9:54] 4. Lament
[ 6:19] 5. N. P. S
[ 6:59] 6. My Old Flame
[ 5:47] 7. St. Thomas
[10:47] 8. Hagy
[ 6:43] 9. Blues For Alberto
[ 5:16] 10. I've Grown Accustumed To Your Face
[ 7:52] 11. Ruby My Dear

One of Cedar Walton's best recordings, this album pairs him with his long-time colleague, bassist David Williams. The communication between Walton and Williams is superb. "Pannonica" is a beautiful Thelonious Monk ballad, on which both players sound confident. Walton is a modest player, playing only what makes sense. On trombonist J. J. Johnson's "Lament," a lovely orchestral sweep on the piano is followed by some sumptuous chords leading into some upper-register tinkling, before a brilliantly quick run brings us back to lushly textured playing. David Williams' bass solo features spare use of vibrato, perfect intonation, and deep feeling. "Hagy" is an interesting, sad original with a deep rock groove. Walton's playing is modal and atmospheric over Williams's pedal points, and the pianist plays the strings inside the piano to excellent effect. Also unusual is Williams bass solo (which sounds like a bagpipe!), played over a ruminative pedaled piano passage.

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Jesper Thilo - Strike Ap The Band

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:22
Size: 152,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:13)  1. Spotlite
(6:16)  2. Old Folks
(8:13)  3. Oh, Lady Be Good
(7:20)  4. There's No You
(7:42)  5. Get Happy
(7:18)  6. Someday You'll Be Sorry
(5:06)  7. Willow Weep For Me
(4:45)  8. After You've Gone
(7:35)  9. Topsy
(6:49) 10. Strike Up The Band

The title of this album is a bit off the mark, implying that the session will be pretty much devoted to up-tempo traditional jazz. Not so. While there are barnburners, they are balanced with very good melodic ballad renderings. Even the up-tempo material has character and substance, not at all like the mindless blowing that one finds too often in CD bins these days. Jesper Thilo is Denmark's most famous sax man, and one of its most prominent jazz players irrespective of instrument. Living in Denmark, he's had the opportunity to perform with many top-flight jazz musicians. With its traditional support of jazz, that country has always been a favorite spot for top American musicians to visit and, for several, to settle in. Basically, Thilo is from the same Lester Young school for tenors as Brew Moore, who was a resident of Copenhagen during the last years of his life. But Thilo's playing also acknowledges the influences of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ben Webster, and Johnny Hodges. His Hodges-like rendition of "Old Folks" is one of Strike Up the Band's highlights. Thilo's work on this album is masterful and inventive throughout. His "Willow Weep for Me" is tender and expressive as he blows new life into Ann Ronell's classic.

Thilo is fortunate to have the services of equally outstanding and experienced players who possess more than their share of improvisational talent. The group has a lot of fun with the melody line of "Strike Up the Band." The blues tune "Topsy" is played at medium tempo, recalling the version by Ike Quebec's Swing Seven in 1945. Australian Bob Barnard shows that he is as skillful on cornet as on trumpet, as amply demonstrated on "After You've Gone" and "Someday You'll Be Sorry." The inestimable Swiss piano player Henri Chaix provides some special solo moments and also sets the pace for the ensemble.

His intro to "There's No You" shows how much can be said in a scant few bars. This session must have been one of Chaix' last prior to his death in 1999. The other two members of the rhythm section, Stephen Kurmann on bass and Romano Cavicchiolo on drums, perform their duties with distinction. Encouraged by an enthusiastic and delighted audience in Baden, Switzerland, the players extend themselves with a program of solid straight-ahead jazz done with feeling and humor. The tradition of those great tenor sax players who understood the importance of swing and melody is alive and well with Jesper Thilo. Recommended. ~ Dave Nathan https://www.allmusic.com/album/strike-up-the-band-mw0000065095               

Personnel: Jesper Thilo (tenor saxophone); Bob Barnard (cornet); Henri Chaix (piano); Stephan Kurmann (bass); Romano Cavicchiolo (drums).

Strike Ap The Band

Lori Carsillo - Cole Porter: Old Love, New Love, True Love

Styles: Vocal Jazz 
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:30
Size: 95,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:32)  1. I Love Paris
(4:02)  2. So in Love
(4:36)  3. I've Got You Under My Skin
(3:26)  4. You Do Something to Me
(4:04)  5. What Is This Thing Called Love
(3:25) 6. Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable to Lunch Today)
(5:43)  7. At Long Last Love
(5:09)  8. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
(3:37)  9. I Concentrate on You
(3:53) 10. Love for Sale

"Lori Carsillo…is in excellent form on Cole Porter…Old Love, New Love, True Love, singing ten Cole Porter songs with the backing of a pianoless trio."~ Scott Yanow, "The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide" https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/loricarsillo2

Cole Porter: Old Love, New Love, True Love

Otros Aires - Otros Aires

Styles: Tango
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:18
Size: 100,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:53)  1. Sin Rumbo
(5:00)  2. Percanta
(5:43)  3. La Pampa Seca
(4:41)  4. Barrio de Tango
(3:56)  5. Milonga Sentimental
(3:58)  6. Aquel Muchacho Bueno
(3:53)  7. Rotos en el Raval
(3:48)  8. De puro Curda
(4:10)  9. Amor que se Baila
(4:11) 10. En Dirección a mi Casa

Otros Aires is an Argentine XXI century Tango music project, founded in 2003 in Barcelona by Argentine musician/architect Miguel Di Genova.Otros Aires mixes the first tangos and milongas structures from the beginning of the last century (Gardel, Razzano, D'Arienzo, etc.) with electronic sequences, melodies and lyrics of the 21st century.This project counts with many collaborators like: Diego Ramos (Piano & arragements), Chloë Pfeiffer (Piano), Lalo zanelli (Piano), Martin Bruhn (Drums), Martin Paladino (Drums), Manu Mayol (Drums & production) Pablo Potenzoni (Drums), Javier Saume Mazzei (Drums), Christian Maturano (Drums), Carlos Ocorso (Percussion), Hugo Satorre (Bandoneon), Lisandre Donoso (bandoneon), Herve Esquis (bandoneon), Emmanuel Trifilio (bandoneon), Simone Van Der Veerden (bandoneon), Joe Power (Harmonica), Nick Wadlew (Cover Drawings), Pablo Meketa (Cover Drawings), Marcelo Sofia (Cover Arts), Charly Fiorentino (Cover Arts) Miru Trigo (Photography) and Santiago Saponi (Video Director) between others.

On December 11, 2004, known as "Tango day", Otros Aires presented its first CD at the Carlos Gardel's House Museum, commemorating the birthday of the singer.

With about 40 tours around, including more that 200 cities of Europe, North America and South America, Otros Aires was presented in some of the most important venues and world music festivals of the world like: Lincoln Center (NYC), Dublin National Concert Hall, Bardentreffen Festival (Nuremberg), Amsterdam Roots Festival, Greensound Festival (Bucharest), Pirineos Sur Festival (Spain), between others and also at the most relevant tango festivals of the planet including Buenos Aires Tango Festival several times. Otros Aires songs are featured in TV shows like ¨Dancing with the Starts¨ and ¨America´s got talent¨ in US and ¨Strictly Come Dancing¨ in UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otros_Aires

Otros Aires

European Jazz Trio - West Village

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:37
Size: 143,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:55)  1. When Autumn Comes
(4:09)  2. Blue In You
(6:15)  3. Sad Tune
(4:54)  4. 30 Something
(5:29)  5. The Korean
(6:09)  6. Gloomy Letter
(4:37)  7. Gwanghwamun Love Song
(4:13)  8. Regrets
(5:12)  9. When I Got You On My Mind
(4:16) 10. A Doll's Dream
(3:23) 11. As Everyone Does

The European Jazz Trio, comprising Marc van Roon on Piano, Frans van der Hoeven on bass and Roy Dackus on drums has been recording and performing since 1995, when it released a CD of Beatles' songs in fresh arrangements. On each album, the trio has taken songs in every style, shape and color, and has given them a jazz interpretation. For the trio 'Jazz' means to have the freedom to combine and mix styles, melodies, sounds and rhythms to create something fresh and surprising. Van Roon: "A Specialty of the trio is to try and find some unusual material unusual in a jazz setting and to arrange it for the trio. It works both ways: You can take the sound of a jazz trio and give it a fresh voice, a new approach; likewise, you can take the music that everybody knows pop tunes and classical tunes and give people a chance to hear them in a different way." The European Jazz Trio pushes the envelope of jazz music by adding to it its own sound and rhythm, a result of the music that has influenced the trio's members.  "We grew up in the seventies and eighties with pop, rock, classical, rap and lots of fusion music. It wasn't only jazz anymore. Being musicians, we try to absorb everything like a sponge and use it somehow. The classical music we perform we really admire, it's very close to us to our European side."

With every song the trio records the main focus is on the essence and the inner beauty of the composition. "You cannot approach each song in the same way. And it doesn't have so much to do with what we as a trio want to do. It's contained within the song, it's already there. So it's more about what we can leave out, what we don't have to play. This makes each performance unique and special." https://www.last.fm/music/European+Jazz+Trio/+wiki

The European Jazz Trio has recorded with featured artists Art Farmer (1), (2), Charlie Mariano (1), Jesse van Ruller (1), and the Metropole string chamber orchestra (1). Swing Journal awarded many album with their Gold Disc Award.

West Village

Peter Erskine & The Dr. Um Band - On Call

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:04
Size: 181,8 MB
Art: Front

( 4:52)  1. For The Time Being
( 5:25)  2. Might As Well Be
( 6:09)  3. If So Then
( 6:26)  4. Uncle Don
( 6:59)  5. Silver Linings
( 4:26)  6. Two Paths
( 7:03)  7. Hipnotherapy 
( 6:58)  8. Hawaii Bathing Suit
( 9:18)  9. Dreamsville
(11:12) 10. Eleven Eleven
(10:12) 11. Northern Cross

Consummate drummer Peter Erskine, a former Weather Report member, has always shown an inclination for electric jazz fusion. Commanding The Dr. Um Band with metrical depth and angular vision, he releases On Call, a new double album on his own music label, Fuzzy Music.The disc one includes brand new material recorded in the studio whereas disc two encapsulates previously recorded tunes performed live in Occhiobello, Italy. All the members of the quartet - saxophonist Bob Sheppard, keyboardist John Beasley, and electric bassist Benjamin Shepherd penned compositions for the studio session, which opens with Erskine’s “For The Time Being”. Initially enigmatic, the piece veers to a daring, dark-toned jazz funk, with the band keeping the groovy pose on Sheppard’s “Might As Well Be”, a crossover fantasy that salutes saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. The versatility of Beasley is perceptible through attractive attacks and strange sounds. The keyboardist contributes to the song lineup with a pair of compositions - “If So Then”, inspired by the Miles Davis Quintet, is boosted by an adventurous piano solo and exceptional collective interplay; “Silver Linings” is a respectful homage to Horace Silver whose borrowed moods adapt to the band’s style.

Penned by the bandleader, “Uncle Don” displays a ceremonious organ as the introduction and a scratching backbeat in an early stage. Afterward, the band places cool harmonic progressions on top of rock-steeped rhythms, having funky bass lines running along.The live session, filled with enthusiasm and excitement, opens with a couple of tunes by Erskine: the cerebral, blues-based “Hipnotherapy” and the funk-inflected “Hawaii Bathing Suit”. The former thrives with woody bass grooves decorated with wha-wha effects and concordant drumming, while the latter is a playful avant fusion that captivates through gorgeous unisons, apt improvisations, and an effusive drumming with strong Latin accents. After the soaringly atmospheric first section, Henry Mancini’s “Dreamville” combines bossa nova rhythms with balladic tones, whose silky textures result from mixing light funk, smooth jazz, and malleable R&B elements. The tune was retrieved from the album Second Opinion (Fuzzy Music, 2016), just like “Eleven Eleven”, a frenetic steeplechase with rock-solid rhythmic passages and powerful wha-wha bass lines. Although not too temperamental, the soloists opt for dazzling, straightforward approaches to express their lines of thought. Erskine’s mutable “Northern Cross” is not a softer either, displaying influences of American music while bridging the worlds of funk, jazz, and rock. This could be a possible outcome of having Joshua Redman playing with Return To Forever. With the live recording surpassing the studio session, On Call sparks with tremendous rhythmic engagement as it shows Erskine’s productive modus operandi.

Personnel:  Peter Erskine: drums; Bob Sheppard: saxophone; John Beasley: keyboards; Benjamin Shepherd: electric bass;

On Call