Wild Bill Davis - All Right, Ok, You Win

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:11
Size: 135.5 MB
Styles: B3 Organ Jazz-blues
Year: 1976/1998
Art: Front

[4:03] 1. On The Green Dolphin Street
[5:26] 2. When Your Lover Has Gone
[5:41] 3. Whispering
[4:17] 4. All Right, Ok, You Win
[7:15] 5. Exactly Like You
[6:54] 6. Pennies From Heaven
[5:58] 7. After You've Gone
[5:43] 8. Blues For Joe (Take 2)
[4:02] 9. Exactly Like You (Take 1)
[4:57] 10. All Right, Ok, You Win (Take 1)
[4:50] 11. When Your Lover Is Gone (Take 1)

Wild Bill Davis (hammond organ), Billy Butler (guitar), Oliver Jackson (drums), Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (tenor sax). Recorded in Paris, France, on January 21 & 22, 1976.

Before Jimmy Smith and the seemingly thousands of Hammond B-3 organ players who sprang up in his wake there was Wild Bill Davis, who gently grafted a little touch of blues to swing and gave credence to the idea of the organ trio. This session, recorded in Paris on January 21 and 22, 1976, features Davis with a souped-up ensemble of Billy Butler on guitar, Oliver Jackson on drums, and on four tracks, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on tenor sax. It's a pleasant, flowing set highlighted by the title tune, "All Right, OK, You Win," and a sturdy version of "Blues for Joe." ~Steve Leggett

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Nanette Natal - Stairway To The Stars

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:54
Size: 134.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[ 5:49] 1. Fascinating Rhythm
[ 8:32] 2. When Your Lover Has Gone
[ 5:29] 3. Nice Work If You Can Get It
[ 7:03] 4. Stairway To The Stars
[10:38] 5. I Won't Dance
[ 6:38] 6. Crazy He Calls Me
[14:43] 7. You Go To My Head

On her fourth album for Benyo Music, New Yorker Nanette Natal continues her vocal quest for a sophisticated & daring exploration of standard material. The album has just seven cuts, but there is just under a hour of music, which means that each tune receives extended attention from the group, giving them plenty of time to explore every nook & cranny, every twist & turn on the melody. Natal is one of the preeminent apostles of scatting & wordless vocalizing; in her improvisional approach & in her voice, she draws upon the likes of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Sheila Jordan & Jeanne Lee.

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George Robert, Phil Woods - Soul Eyes

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:44
Size: 155.1 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz, Bop, Swing
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[14:22] 1. Alone Together
[11:19] 2. Kin Tama
[14:32] 3. Blues For C.T
[10:07] 4. I'm Confessin'
[10:12] 5. Soul Eyes
[ 7:09] 6. Cannonization

Alto Saxophone – Phil Woods; Alto Saxophone – George Robert; Bass – Rufus Reid; Drums – Alvin Queen; Piano – Kenny Barron. Recorded on May 10, 2000 at the Chorus in Lausanne, Switzerland by the Radio Suisse Romande.

Small group meetings of two alto saxophonists are all too rare, though Phil Woods made a number of records with Gene Quill over the years. This concert, recorded in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2000, features George Robert as the leader who shares the spotlight with Woods, along with a superb rhythm section consisting of Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, and Alvin Queen. The two reed players complement one another beautifully, whether they exchange the lead or play terrific unison lines together.

An extended workout of a loping "Alone Together" is followed by Robert's roller coaster bopper "Kin Tama," which would have fit in perfectly during the heyday of 52nd Street during the bop era. "Blues For C.T.," another original, is dedicated to the great trumpeter Clark Terry. Though not by any means a conventional blues, Robert and Woods take turns dazzling the audience with superbly crafted solos. The two saxophonists sit out "I'm Confessin'," a feature for Kenny Barron. The pianist's strident, unaccompanied introduction has elements of both Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, with things settling down somewhat as Reid and Queen join him. Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes" has been a favorite of saxophonists for decades; this powerful version features the leader with the rhythm section. Woods returns to join Robert for the finale, an original called "Cannonization" (dedicated to alto sax great Cannonball Adderley); it is soulful hard bop at its best. Like their earlier meeting on The Summit, this live CD is warmly recommended to bop fans. ~Ken Dryden

Soul Eyes   

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Sam Yahel Trio - Truth And Beauty

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:10
Size: 137.7 MB
Styles: Bop, Straight ahead jazz
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[7:57] 1. Truth And Beauty
[7:24] 2. Man O' War
[5:00] 3. Check Up
[6:55] 4. Bend The Leaves
[7:52] 5. Saba
[4:46] 6. Night Game
[8:14] 7. Child Watching
[4:26] 8. A Paz
[7:31] 9. Festinhas

Drums – Brian Blade; Electric Organ [Hammond B3] – Sam Yahel; Tenor Saxophone – Joshua Redman.

Besides showcasing organist Sam Yahel's talents as a composer, "Truth And Beauty" highlights the easy rapport Sam, saxophonist Joshua Redman and drummer Brian Blade have developed over the last six years. Compositions by Paul Simon, Ornette Coleman and Gilberto Gil round out the project beautifully, helping to expand the frontiers of the classic organ trio. Yahel has played and/or recorded with Benny Golson, Maceo Parker, Lou Donaldson, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, Joe Lovano and many others. He performed and was a producer on Joshua Redman's Grammy nominated recording "Momentum." He has three recordings out as a leader and recently won Downbeat's poll of "Rising Star" on the organ for the third straight year.

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Yusef Lateef - The Sounds Of Lateef (Remastered)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:21
Size: 71.8 MB
Styles: Fusion
Year: 1957/1996
Art: Front

[11:10] 1. Take The A Train
[ 4:14] 2. Playful Flute
[ 6:09] 3. Love And Humor
[ 5:06] 4. Buckingham
[ 4:40] 5. Meditation

Out of print in the U.S.! Highly creative and forward-looking 1957 album that has Lateef performing on tenor sax, flute and argol (a double clarinet that resembles a bassoon). He is supported by the talented playing of Wilbur Harden, Hugh Lawson, Ernie Farrow and Oliver Jackson.

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Jamie Shew - Eyes Wide Open

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:11
Size: 137.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[4:05] 1. Easy To Love
[4:29] 2. The Flat Foot Floogie
[6:15] 3. The Answers Are You (Question And Answer)
[6:09] 4. Detour Ahead
[4:29] 5. Thou Swell
[4:00] 6. Mountain Greenery
[5:47] 7. Easy Living
[5:10] 8. You Don't Know What Love Is
[5:59] 9. First Song (For Ruth)
[4:24] 10. O Cantador
[5:12] 11. Reflections
[4:08] 12. Eyes Wide Open

Jamie Shew, Vocals; Larry Koonse, Guitar; Joe Bagg, Piano and Hammond B3 Organ; Darek Oles, Bass; Jason Harnell, Drums.

In her newest CD project, Eyes Wide Open, released May 2018, Jamie uses song to tell the story of her 20-year relationship with her husband, bass player Roger Shew, and the loss she experienced when he succumbed to cancer. The music follows the arc of her life from the early days of their relationship through Roger's illness and beyond. Jamie's extensive musical training informs her singing. Her timbre is warm and inviting, while her timing, phrasing, and ability to interact so well with the band reflects her years of study. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she's playing with some of the finest musicians in Southern California including guitarist Larry Koonse, pianist and Hammond B3 player Joe Bagg, bass player Darek Oles, and drummer Jason Harnell, who are all leaders in their own right. Jamie chose songs she had considered recording in the past, but now they took on new meanings for her. She wrote two original compositions and selected and arranged the rest with a lot of deliberation. Each song became a metaphor for her journey. Eyes Wide Open is a project imbued with love and loss but eschews mere sentimentality. Jamie doesn't just perform moving interpretations of these songs, she opens her heart and exposes the genuine, raw feelings that have propelled her to make this CD. Her innate musicality is showcased in her phrasing and tone, but it's how she reveals the depth of the human condition that sets this project apart.

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Ben Webster - Gentle Ben

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:49
Size: 127.8 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 1972/2013
Art: Front

[9:01] 1. Ben's Blues
[5:35] 2. Strike Up The Band The Man I Love
[5:23] 3. My Nephew Bent
[8:03] 4. Rosalie How Long Has This Been Going On
[6:28] 5. Sweet Georgia Brown
[8:00] 6. Don't Blame Me
[8:38] 7. Did You Call
[4:37] 8. Barcelona Shout

Bass – Eric Peter; Drums – Peer Wyboris; Piano – Tete Montoliu; Saxophone [Tenor] – Ben Webster.

This recording was made 10 months before Ben Webster's death in 1972. Webster, who had left the United States in 1965 to settle in Europe - first in Copenhagen and then in Amsterdam - was visiting fellow musician and friend Tete Montoliu in Barcelona. Webster and pianist Montoliu went back a ways, having played together regularly in Webster's Copenhagen days. In fact, Montoliu cited Webster and Don Byas as his two chief musical influences. Webster and Montoliu understood each other deeply, and their comfort with one another is palpable in this recording. Their accompaniment of one another is seamless. On board with these two is Montoliu's regular working trio-mates, Eric Peter on bass and Peer Wyboris on drums.

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Ted Curson - The New Thing & The Blue Thing

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:27
Size: 81,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:34)  1. Straight Ice
(5:37)  2. Star Eyes
(5:16)  3. Ted's Tempo
(9:10)  4. Nublu
(4:16)  5. Reava's Waltz
(5:31)  6. Elephant Walk

Few musicians have gotten as much continued recognition from one sideman appearance as Curson has from his participation on the stupendous Mingus Presents Mingus record. Even as the weak link in that superhuman quartet, he played some great jazz. His post-Mingus career was on a more mortal level, but the recordings he made in groups featuring tenorman Bill Barron are well worth checking out. The New Thing and the Blue Thing is the best-known of these. Curson’s soaring lines and brilliant trumpet sound are well-matched by Barron, who was at the top of his form on this date. Neither was really an avantgardist by 1965 standards, but both were interesting modern voices whose best work came when they were pushing the limits. The sidemen don’t stand out particularly, but there is some good writing, like the slightly Ornettish “Reava’s Waltz” or the interesting “Nublu,” and the principal soloists are consistently engaging throughout. ~ Duck Baker https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/ted-curson-the-new-thing-and-the-blue-thing/

Personnel:  Ted Curson - trumpet;  Bill Barron - tenor saxophone;  Georges Arvanitas - piano;  Herb Bushler - bass;  Dick Berk - drums

The New Thing & The Blue Thing

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Rolf Kuhn - Solarius

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 1964
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:10
Size: 92,1 MB
Art: Front

(7:55)  1. Minor Impressions
(6:16)  2. Solarius
(6:24)  3. Sie gleicht wohl einem Rosenstock
(6:33)  4. Mountain Jump
(6:21)  5. Lady Orsina
(6:39)  6. Soldat Tadeusz

Rolf Kuhn's style has evolved through the years. The clarinetist started out playing in German dance bands in the late '40s. He worked with radio orchestras starting in 1952 and moved to the U.S. in 1956. Kuhn subbed for Benny Goodman on a few occasions during 1957-1958, played in the Tommy Dorsey ghost band (1958), and worked in a big band led by Urbie Green (1958-1960). 

In 1962, Kuhn returned to Germany, where he has explored more adventurous styles of jazz (including dates with his younger brother, keyboardist Joachim Kuhn) but still occasionally shows off his ties to swing. Kuhn recorded with an all-star group called Winner's Circle (1957), Toshiko Akiyoshi (1958), and as a leader starting in 1953, including a 1956 New York quartet date for Vanguard. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rolf-k%C3%BChn-mn0000312444/biography               

Personnel:  Rolf Kühn - clarinet;  Michael Urbaniak - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone;  Joachim Kühn - piano;   Klaus Koch - bass;  Czeslaw Bartkowski - drums

Solarius

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Elvin Jones - Dear John C.

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:38
Size: 99,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:56)  1. Dear John C.
(5:22)  2. Ballade
(3:49)  3. Love Bird
(5:54)  4. Everything Happens To Me
(3:41)  5. Smoke Rings
(4:24)  6. This Love Of Mine
(4:11)  7. Anthropology
(4:09)  8. Feeling Good
(3:59)  9. Fantazm
(3:08) 10. That Five-Four Bag

The second album by Elvin Jones as sole title rights leader (excluding the co-op ensemble that recorded the stunning and essential progressive jazz icon Illumination!) has the drummer sounding more like a backup musician, as he claims no compositional duties or noticeable solo space. In fact, this is one of the very best albums in the career of alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, who occupies the bulk of lead lines and improvising responsibilities. He's so up-front, and on an instrument that is not John Coltrane's main instrument the tenor sax that the title is also a bit of a misnomer. The value of Jones as a bandleader lies in his concept of using fellow Detroiter Sir Roland Hanna or brother Hank Jones on selected tracks, or in the case of three tracks, no pianist. Bassist Richard Davis rounds out this truly brilliant ensemble of burgeoning mid-'60s jazz stars, who play an enticing collection of standards, bop, compositions of Bob Hammer, and originals from several modern sources. A stone cold bebopper and Charlie Parker devotee at the time of this recording. Mariano is the standout performer. He swings easily but mightily on the title track paralleling Coltrane's "Milestones," stretches the Charles Mingus evergreen "Reincarnation of a Lovebird" (titled here as "Love Bird"), and pulls out all the stops with Hank Jones during an only slightly flawed (they miss two notes) version of the tricky "Anthropology." 

They tack a calypso beat onto Duke Ellington's "Fantazm" in a playful, modern dress, and stroll on the quirky Hammer composition "That Five-Four Bag" as an offshoot retort to Dave Brubeck's "Take Five." The three tracks sans piano include a walking version of "Everything Happens to Me"; the ballad "Smoke Rings," where the band excepting Mariano is relaxed; and Frank Sinatra's "This Love of Mine," where the emotive saxophonist dips into humor, even a bit ribald. The variety from cut to cut is engaging, and there's nothing over the top, even the drumming of Elvin Jones. With the musicality at a high level, Dear John C. needs revisiting by drumming students and jazz fans to note how teamwork, shared values, and held-in-check dynamics benefit the overall quality of music. It seems this recording is underrated when over time it should never be. Dear John C. is deserving of an excellent rating. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/dear-john-c-mw0000096993  

Personnel: Elvin Jones (drums); Charlie Mariano (alto saxophone); Roland Hanna, Hank Jones (piano); Richard Davis (acoustic bass).

Dear John C.

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Kelly Willis - Back Being Blue

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:33
Size: 74,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:48)  1. Back Being Blue
(2:38)  2. Only You
(3:19)  3. Fool's Paradise
(2:27)  4. Modern World
(2:41)  5. Freewheeling
(3:17)  6. Afternoon's Gone Blind
(2:42)  7. What the Heart Doesn't Know
(3:03)  8. I'm a Lover (not a Fighter)
(3:12)  9. We'll Do It for Love Next Time
(4:22) 10. Don't Step Away

Kelly Willis is Back Being Blue, to take a color-coded cue from the title of her seventh album. It’s a shade she wears well, though long-patient fans might just say: You had us at back. They’ll take a new Willis record in whatever hue it comes, now that it’s been 11 years since her last solo release, 2007’s Translated from Love. The Austin-based singer/songwriter has hardly been MIA in the intervening years, having recorded and toured as part of a duo with Bruce Robison. But she’s setting the duet Mm.Oo. aside for do it-alone mode, at least as far as the spotlight is concerned.  (Robison hovers just outside it this time, as producer.). Hers is a solo voice again, but it’s not necessarily sotto voce: This is an album of songs about lonesomeness that also happens to be a cracklingly good time. Willis wrote six of the 10 tracks on Back Being Blue by herself, the first time she’s penned that big a portion of one of her albums without outside assists. That doesn’t mean she’s gone into deeply confessional territory for her “Blue” period. Lyrically, “it’s not an extremely personal record,” she says, downright cheerfully. There may be profundity within, but what Willis was really after was a sense of playfulness. “I wanted to make a fun, interesting record that leans on the influences that first inspired me to make music,” she says. “I don’t think of it as even being so much about my vocals as an album about vibe.” Explaining, “The important thing to me was to take these songs and to get them just right musically. And in my mind, I was thinking of where maybe Skeeter Davis meets Rockpile, or Marshall Crenshaw meets the Louvin Brothers.”Who wouldn’t want to hang out at either of those intersections? Not ignoring the fact that in Willis’ world, as the album title might augur, high times and heartache are inextricably tied, “I guess the songs I write can be more sad than I think they are,” she admits with a laugh. “The lyrics are always sad in country music. I mean, we sometimes wonder why people hire us to do weddings. We’re like, ‘Really? You wanted this? Well, okay!’ But the music, more than ever, I think, is very fun.”

The title song, which brings a slight R&B vibe to her trademark country, was key in setting the tone. “When I wrote ‘Back Being Blue,’ I felt like I made a discovery,” she says. “Up until writing that song, my songs were all feeling a little bit wordy and complicated and personal, and they just weren’t clicking. Then I wrote that one, I just felt like, oh!­ what I need to do is try to simplify, and write these stories in a way that feels like you’re not quite sure what era they were written in.” She makes it sound like a fresh epiphany, but some might say that sending the hands of the clock spinning –in a word: timelessness has always been a hallmark of her career. As the New York Times wrote, “Kelly Willis looks back to country music before Nashville embraced power ballads and cute happily-ever-after songs. She has an old-fashioned country voice with a twang, a breathy quaver, a break or a throaty sob whenever she needs one… Whether she was wishing for comfort, admitting to a bruised heart, yielding to illicit romance or trying to say goodbye, her voice was modest and true, illuminating the delicate tension and pain in every line.” No Depression noted that her music transcends throwback appeal: 

“There’s no point in being nostalgic for the generic delineations of the past. We are in the present. That’s where Kelly Willis lives. And it’s there that she sings, as keenly and movingly as any singer in the country or pop or rock present.” Rolling Stone zeroed in on the eternality of her tone: “Willis’ Okie soprano still crackles like no other, and her control and phrasing make it more devastating than ever.”The native Okie-ness Rolling Stone noticed in her honeyed voice is tempered by a whole lot of Texas. Romance and music brought her to Austin while she was in her late teens, fronting a celebrated but short-lived rockabilly band, Radio Ranch. Famed singer/songwriter Nancy Griffith took a shine to her voice and recommended Willis to producer Tony Brown, one of the titans of Nashville country, who signed her to a deal with MCA. Her three major -label albums yielded plenty of critical acclaim, with enough media attention that she even found herself representing for Texas on People magazine’s annual “50 most beautiful people” list. But, not for the first or last time, mainstream radio didn’t quite know what to make of a youthful neo-traditionalist who appeared to have been transported from a less trendy era. More...https://www.kellywillis.com/bio/

Back Being Blue

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Enrico Pieranunzi - Monsieur Claude A Travel with Claude Debussy

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:15
Size: 141,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:32)  1. Bluemantique
(4:52)  2. Passepied nouveau
(5:38)  3. L'autre ballade
(5:04)  4. Romance
(7:47)  5. Rêverie
(5:13)  6. Cheveux
(4:30)  7. Blues for Claude
(8:13)  8. Nuit d'étoiles
(5:37)  9. Mr. Golliwogg
(2:06) 10. My Travel with Claude
(6:38) 11. L'adieu

An acclaimed Italian jazz pianist, composer, and educator, Enrico Pieranunzi is known for his virtuosic, classical-influenced technique, nuanced sense of harmony, and elegantly restrained approach to modern post-bop jazz. Influenced heavily by Bill Evans, Pieranunzi emerged in the 1970s leading his own trio, and quickly established himself internationally as an in-demand sideman for such jazz giants as Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, and others. Along with performing, he is a dedicated teacher, having worked for many years as a full professor at the Conservatorio di Musica in Frosinone. Recognized as one of the foremost Italian jazz artists, he has garnered a handful of awards, including taking home the 1997 Django d'Or as Best European Jazz Musician and winning the 2014 German Echo Jazz Award as Best International Keyboard Artist. Born in Rome in 1949, Pieranunzi was introduced to classical music and jazz by his father, guitarist Alvaro Pieranunzi. (In addition, his brother is noted classical violinist Gabriele Pieranunzi.) Encouraged to study piano from a young age, he eventually graduated university with a music degree in 1973, and began working as a teacher. However, in 1975 he left his teaching position to focus on leading his jazz trio. He debuted that same year with the album Jazz a Confronto, and followed up with a handful of well-regarded efforts including 1976's New & Old Jazz Sounds with his father, 1976's The Day After the Silence, and 1978's A Long Way. By the '80s, Pieranunzi had gained the attention of many touring American artists, including saxophonists Phil Woods and Lee Konitz, flügelhorn player Art Farmer, and bassist Charlie Haden. 

He also developed a close working relationship with trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker, a partnership that resulted in several superb albums, including 1980's Soft Journey and 1987's Silence, which also showcased Haden. The pianist also released more of his own albums, including pairing with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron for several efforts such as 1984's New Lands. He went solo on 1985's What's What, and joined saxophonist Konitz on 1988's Solitudes. Pieranunzi capped the decade by appearing on Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to the acclaimed 1989 film Cinema Paradiso. More work followed in the '90s, including dates with Baker, Haden, and Woods, as well as adventurous sessions with trumpeters Enrico Rava and Eric Vloeimans. As a leader, he recorded regularly for Enja, Timeless, and Soul Note, issuing such albums as 1995's Flux & Change, 1997's Seaward, and 1998's Ma l'Amore No. He also gained increasing praise for his work, including taking home the prestigious Django d'Or as the Best European Jazz Musician in 1997. Two years later, he paired with trumpeter Bert Joris for the quintet date Don't Forget the Poet. A duo session with pianist Bert van den Brink followed in 2000. He furthered his own work over the next decade, releasing albums like 2001's Improvised Forms of Trio, 2002's Play Morricone, and 2003's Fellini Jazz. He also paired with acclaimed drummer Paul Motian for a handful of albums, including 2004's Doorways with saxophonist Chris Potter and 2005's Special Encounter with Haden. Pieranunzi also continued his ongoing association with bassist Johnson and drummer Baron, releasing a steady flow of studio and live sessions, including 2008's Yellow & Blue Suites and 2009's Dream Dance. There were also similar efforts with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez, such as 2013's Permutations and 2014's Stories. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monsieur-claude-a-travel-with-claude-debussy/1348298958

Monsieur Claude A Travel with Claude Debussy

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