Zoot Sims, Bucky Pizzarelli - Nirvana

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1974
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:20
Size: 96,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:16)  1. Summerset
(4:00)  2. Honeysuckle Rose
(3:20)  3. A Summer Thing
(3:38)  4. Somebody Loves Me
(2:54)  5. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
(4:19)  6. Nirvana
(4:05)  7. Indiana
(4:08)  8. Memories Of You
(4:39)  9. Come Rain Or Come Shine
(3:25) 10. Up A Lazy River
(2:30) 11. Send In The Clowns

Nirvana is an album by American jazz saxophonist Zoot Sims and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli with special guest Buddy Rich recorded in 1974 and released on the Groove Merchant label. https://en.wikipedia.or /wiki/Nirvana_(Zoot_Sims_and_Bucky_Pizzarelli_album)

Personnel:  Zoot Sims – tenor saxophone, vocals on track 5;  Bucky Pizzarelli – guitar;  Milt Hinton – bass;  Buddy Rich – drums (tracks 1–4 & 6–11), vocals on track 5;  Stan Kay – drums (track 5)

Nirvana

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Dick Hyman - Plays Variations On Richard Rogers

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:55
Size: 170,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:56)  1. Some Enchanted Evening
(2:35)  2. Bali Ha'i
(4:44)  3. This Nearly Was Mine
(3:41)  4. Happy Talk
(4:28)  5. Dites-Mo
(3:55)  6. A Wonderful Guy
(5:27)  7. Getting To Know You
(4:48)  8. March Of The Siamese Children
(4:24)  9. Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
(2:57) 10. Many A New Day
(4:40) 11. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
(2:23) 12. People Will Say We're In Love
(5:31) 13. It Might As Well Be Spring
(2:53) 14. My Favorite Things
(4:45) 15. The Gentleman Is A Dope
(4:41) 16. If I Loved You
(8:59) 17. Soliloquy

There are two CDs of solo-piano interpretations here; one devoted to songs by Rodgers and Hart, one to songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Jazz listeners born after World War II will know these pieces from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s only in their modern versions: Miles Davis’ or Chet Baker’s “My Funny Valentine,” Bill Evans’ “Spring Is Here,” John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things.” These “variations” by Dick Hyman (who turned 80 in March), which occur in a style contemporaneous with the dates when these songs were composed, will sound quaint to modern ears. The challenge is to not be thrown off-stride by the distancing conventions and elaborate formalities of Hyman’s approach. It contains so many stylistic elements (Harlem stride, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, even ragtime) from a world now out of reach. Hyman is an encyclopedic virtuoso of jazz-piano history. Many of these 35 pieces have been in his repertoire for 60 years, and he has not stopped thinking about them. You can spend hours in this set and keep finding further details: the quote from “Giant Steps” in “Have You Met Miss Jones”; the variety of modulations and counter-lines and accompaniments through which he filters “My Funny Valentine” for over seven minutes; the fresh harmonic context and interpretive embellishments for “If I Loved You,” which give it a bright new energy and yet retain what Hyman correctly calls its “gravity.” Given the source material, the odds are good that you will find your favorite song here, addressed with vast pianistic comprehensiveness and erudite “variation” and unimpeachable patrician taste and a dignity now forgotten. These are presumably new recordings (no dates are given). While the music is timeless, unfortunately the pallid, airless sound is dated. ~ Thomas Conrad https://jazztimes.com/reviews/eighty-eights/dick-hyman-plays-variations-on-richard-rodgers/

Plays Variations On Richard Rogers

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Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison - Our Year

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:32
Size: 73,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:36)  1. Departing Louisiana
(2:50)  2. Motor City Man
(3:22)  3. Carousel
(2:56)  4. Lonely for You
(2:51)  5. A Hangin On
(3:33)  6. Shake Yourself Loose
(3:45)  7. Harper Valley PTA
(3:10)  8. Anywhere But Here
(3:03)  9. I'll Go To My Grave Loving You
(2:22) 10. This Will Be Our Year

As the adage goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Husband-and-wife team Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis follow up 2013's successful duet album Cheater's Game with Our Year. Once more enlisting Brad Jones as producer, this collection of originals and covers goes right to the heart of what made Cheater's Game special: the pairing of these voices in a decidedly Texas take on traditional country music. Their approach is as timeless as the pairing of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Robison's and Willis' songs stack up with the legendary tunes they've cut here. On Walter Hyatt's rambling four/four country rocker "Motor City Man," Willis' lead vocal digs deep into the swinging groove with Robison picking up the slack in harmony as Robison's bluesy harmonica fills the tags. The deep roots reading of Tom T. Hall's "Harper Valley P.T.A." made a honky tonk classic by Jeannie C. Riley finds Willis' lead vocal earthier, less sassy, and more authoritative, underscored by Robison's more plaintive support. Additionally, Willis is backed by acoustic instrumentation mandolins, dobro, acoustic guitars, and upright bass. The duet approach on Don Reid's "I'll Go to My Grave Loving You" builds to a skittering strut on the verse led by Robison as Willis digs in for more dimension underneath: fiddle, pedal steel, brushed drums, and acoustic guitars frame the pair. Robyn Ludwick, Robison's younger sister and a hell of a songwriter, penned set-opener "Departing Louisiana." Robison's lead vocal captures the sense of desperation and long-suffering in the lyric as Willis highlights the longing in her harmony, accompanied by dobro, mandolin, and a harmonium. Willis' and Paul Kennerley's "Lonely for You" is bursting with barroom swagger and country blues. Robison's and Darden Smith's "Carousel," and "Anywhere But Here" with Monte Warden, are ballads in the lineage traditions of Lefty Frizzell and Robert Earle Keen, respectively. The closer "This Will Be Our Year," by Chris White, highlights everything that makes these two voices resonate: both are understated; able to make emotional depth come forth without acrobatics or added drama. Their individual and shared timbres highlight the subtle graces and truths in the best country songs. And while both are strong singers individually, as a duet, they are a powerhouse. Get this one. ~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/our-year-mw0002656629

Our Year

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Jay McShann - Airmail Special

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:31
Size: 125,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:48)  1. Airmail Special
(6:46)  2. Drop Me Off In Harlem
(3:37)  3. Blue And Sentimental
(4:39)  4. Swingin' The Blues
(7:05)  5. Rose Room
(6:01)  6. The Lucky Old Sun
(4:44)  7. Blue Lou
(4:33)  8. Tenderly
(7:28)  9. Jumpin' The Blues
(4:46) 10. Rockin' In Rhythm

Pianist Jay McShann, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Terry Clarke swing up a storm throughout this joyful set. They interpret eight standards, mostly from the 1930s, including "Airmail Special," "Drop Me Off In Harlem," "Blue Lou" and McShann's famous "Jumpin' the Blues." Although few real surprises occur, these renditions are enthusiastic and swinging, and thus very enjoyable. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/airmail-special-mw0000653408

Personnel:  Jay McShann - piano;  Neil Swainson - bass;  Terry Clarke - drums.

Airmail Special

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Barney Kessel - Just Friends

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1973
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:13
Size: 86,5 MB
Art: Front

(7:48)  1. Just Friends
(3:42)  2. Bewitched
(5:38)  3. Going Thru Some Changes
(5:37)  4. Old Devil Moon
(6:09)  5. Days Of Wine & Roses
(3:30)  6. "Samba" From Black Orpheus
(4:47)  7. True Blues

This Sonet recording features guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Sture Nordin and drummer Pelle Hulten at a live club date in Stockholm. The music is essentially bebop plus a few bossas. Fortunately, Kessel (the main voice throughout) varies the moods and the tempos, so the set (which includes "Just Friends," ahis original "Going Thru Some Changes" and "Days of Wine & Roses," among others) holds on to one's interest. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/just-friends-mw0000901123  

Personnel:  Barney Kessel - Guitar; Sturen Nordin - Bass; Pelle Hulten - Drums.

Just Friends

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