Rick Braun - Yours Truly

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:24
Size: 95,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:30)  1. Shining Star
(4:41)  2. Holdin' Back The Years
(4:36)  3. Love's Theme
(4:59)  4. All Around The World
(4:05)  5. Walk On The Wild Side
(5:10)  6. Daughters
(4:37)  7. Groove Is In The Heart
(4:48)  8. Kiss Of Life
(4:53)  9. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

With Yours Truly Rick Braun broadens his audience appeal with smooth "jazzpects" of such pop and R&B covers as "Shining Star," "Holdin' Back the Years," "Love's Theme," "All Around the World," and "Daughters," among others. His muted trumpeting on Earth, Wind & Fire's mega-hit "Shining Star" opens the program and sets the cool, laid-back tone of the set. This cool, laid-back feeling has put Braun in the ring with the best of the world's greatest trumpeters. On "Holdin' Back the Years," his modern traditional approach gives listeners a sense of deep and undulating relaxation. His fluid-like state of inner joy surfaces in such appealing riffs that you simply forget you're listening to a CD. On "Love's Theme" the addition of Braun's trumpet voice to Craig Sharmat's skillful orchestral arrangement induces a state of complete harmony. "All Around the World" is an inspired odyssey. Rick Braun uses a melodic search for the woman in this man's warm stream of memories. Throughout the song, Braun gently pours a relaxed torrent of notes into a groove-infused synthesis of guitars, bass, and percussion offered by Ross Bolton, David Dyson, and Lenny Castro. "Daughters," which features Jeff Golub, is absolutely beautiful and renders a sensation of tranquility. "Groove Is in the Heart" offers an up-tempo, funky change of pace and creativity. Braun's playing is definitely sexy, supple, and energetic. He is especially romantic on this rendition of "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" David Benoit's beautiful piano and string arrangements tug at your heart and make this song the perfect mood-setter for falling in love and popping the magic question to someone special. Craig Sharmat's "heartbeat" effect really adds a subtle difference to this gorgeous ballad. Although this particular recording excludes original compositions by Braun and the ultra-fiery blowing heard on his Grammy-winning duet recording with Boney James titled Shake It Up, fear not. This is classic Rick Braun in a mellow, melodic mood, transporting listeners with the rich tones of his muted trumpet voice through the musical landscape of his life. Highly recommended. ~ Paula Edelstein https://www.allmusic.com/album/yours-truly-mw0000349616

Personnel:  Rick Braun - trumpet, flugelhorn;  David Benoit - piano;  Lenny Castro, Jeff Golub, Steve Kujala - flute;  Mitchel Forman - keyboards;  Bud Harner - percussion;  Stan Sargeant - bass

Yours Truly

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Camille Thurman - Origins

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:09
Size: 143,5 MB
Art: Front

(8:23)  1. Forward Motion
(3:40)  2. A Change of Mind
(5:56)  3. Indigo Moments
(6:06)  4. Origins
(4:46)  5. The Dreamweaverer
(1:30)  6. Anna's Joy
(4:01)  7. In Duetime
(5:46)  8. Kindred Minds
(1:10)  9. Felix's Groove
(5:54) 10. Jitterbug Waltz
(7:01) 11. Pursuit wth a Purpose
(4:58) 12. Please be Kind
(2:53) 13. Revisiting the Past

Camille Thurman may have started as a vocalist, but on her Hot Tone debut, Origins, the flexes her breath, blowing through every instrument that transmits wind. Thurman rides the wave created by bassist/vocalist Mimi Jones, creator of Hot Tone Records with the release of her Balance (2014). A third artist makes a trio in this flood of music in drummer/percussionist Shirazette Tinnin who released her recording Humility at the same time. These three women have much to do with one another and each other's recordings. For Thurman's part, both her vocals and flute and reeds playing become ubiquitous. But it is on her own Origins that Thurman spreads a wide smile, revealing a broad and deep stylistic palette that goes a long way in blurring those said stylistic lines. Thurman reveals herself gradually on Origins. First off is a spikey hard bop original, "Forward Motion" featuring her big tenor sound (tipping a hat to Dexter Gordon and Sonny Stitt). Performed in as a tenor trio, "Forward Motion" is a lengthy rumination of the place of each instrument in the trio, both temporally and stylistically. Half regimented, Half free jazz and half 21st century bop, the piece sets the tone of the recording. Thurman loosens the laces after this definitive statement, producing a more contemporary and homogenous sound that sets up a jazz suite of sorts that directly signals a new and more integrated sound, one shared with Thurman by Jones and her Balance. "A Change of Mind" is a vocal feature where Thurman displays her sturdy, soul-infused voice singing mock vocalese over her own composition. Her tenor saxophone is colored more by Ben Webster by way of Michael Brecker, with a vermouth trace of John Coltrane. Thurman is at once serious and playful, weaving well calculated scat among her lyrics. This title cut is a complex bit of sleight-of-hand directed by pianist Luis Perdomo to a double time 4/4 solo section that is as much trad mainstream as it is 21st Century. Thurman covers and arranges Fats Waller's "Jitterbug Waltz," making it an off time relative of Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas." Origins is finely produced and engineered to provides as shiny and sleek a sound as possible without sounding over-produced, a danger ubiquitous in modern recording. The presence of drummer Shirazette Tinnin adds a complicated organicness to the recording, one maintained and promoted by bassist Corcoran Holt and drummer Rudy Royston. This musical collaboration begins to redefine what "organicness" means in jazz, showing a drift or evolution toward the more refined and precise. This is jazz taking up where post-bop left off and heading in a melodic and probing direction. ~ C.Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/origins-camille-thurman-hot-tone-music-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Camille Thurman: saxophones, flutes, vocals; Enoch Smith, Jr.: piano; Luis Perdomo: piano, Corcoran Holt: bass; Rudy Royston: drums; Shirazette Tinnin: drums and cajon; Brandee Younger: harp.

Origins

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Chuchito Valdes, Jr. - Encantado

Styles: Latin Jazz, Afro Cuban Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:47
Size: 125,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:46)  1. Homenaje Bebo
(8:13)  2. Bolero en Chicago
(5:54)  3. Andariego
(5:40)  4. Son Cha Cha Cha
(9:20)  5. Guaguanco/Montuno
(3:13)  6. Impressions of 'Take the A Train'
(6:05)  7. Giant Steps
(2:33)  8. Danza de los Gigantes
(6:59)  9. Tres Lindas Cubanas

Cuba-born pianist/composer Jesus "Chuchito" Valdes Jr. signifies the third generation of family pianists (his grandfather is Bebo Valdes and his father is Chucho Valdes). With this solo effort, Chuchito's classical training shines forth in radiant fashion amid his Afro-Cuban influences and extensive jazz vernacular. This multi-faceted production features Australia-born saxophonist Laskar Reese among a strong supporting cast of Latin jazz veterans. Here, Valdes Jr. demonstrates his often awe-inspiring technical faculties, as the band pursues traditional, hybrid Afro-Cuban/jazz-based arrangements. Yet, the pianist tosses a bit of convention to the wayside, thanks to his keenly enacted improvisational spin on Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train," aptly titled "Impressions of 'Take the A Train.'" The band furthers this notion on John Coltrane's "Giant Steps," where tenor saxophonist Laskar Reese solos atop the rhythm section's upfront pulse and odd-metered backbeats. Moreover, Valdes Jr. is most effective at reworking melodies and themes into briskly swinging motifs, augmented by lightning-fast arpeggios and rhythmically inclined block chords. Recommended. ~ Glenn Astarita https://www.allmusic.com/album/encantado-mw0000220142

Encantado

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Geof Bradfield Quintet - Our Roots

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:17
Size: 140,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:40)  1. Adam in the Garden
(6:39)  2. Clinton Hill
(3:42)  3. Yellow Gal
(3:10)  4. Black Girl
(4:16)  5. Meshell
(6:27)  6. Before This Time Another Year
(0:18)  7. Lead Belly
(6:57)  8. Dick's Holler
(7:02)  9. Mbira Song
(4:35) 10. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
(7:09) 11. Motherless Children
(4:15) 12. Take This Hammer

Discussing "roots" in the context of jazz, a good starting point is the Mississippi delta, down in New Orleans, where the music of trumpeters King Oliver and Louis Armstrong grew strong. And then there's the rich earth of the delta in north western Mississippi, up near Clarksdale, where the blues grew and blossomed. The roots from both these areas were, of course, transplanted from Africa. Chicago-based saxophonist Geof Bradfield follows up his marvelous Melba! (Origin Records, 2013) with Our Roots, drawing his inspiration from saxophonist Clifford Jordan's These Are My Roots: the Music of Lead Belly (Atlantic Records, 1965), a celebration of the music of blues man Huddie Ledbetter, taking the raw folk and blues stylings and turning it into a very legitimate and inspiring jazz outing. It was Geof Bradfield's self-imposed job, with his Our Roots, to bring a new perspective to an album he had long loved. 

On Melba!, an examination of the sounds from trombonist arranger Melba Liston, pianist Randy Weston's arranger of choice for a good chunk of his career, Bradfield used a three horn front line with two chording instruments, piano and guitar, to explore the African-tinted textures of Liston's artistry. With Our Roots, he leaves the chords out, going with the three horns, bass and drums, a line-up that loosens things up and offers a purity and simplicity that fits Lead Belly's music well.  This isn't a note for note or song for song copy of Jordan's album. That 1965 outing was all Lead Belly. For Our Roots the saxophonist includes four of the Lead Belly tunes from the Clifford Jordan disc, throws in three of his originals in the spirit of Ledbetter's folk/blues, adds a couple of Texas blues man Willie Dixon's songs, and just for the hell of it (and they fit so well), a couple of Georgia Sea Island ring shouts. This is music that says America. Spirited horn work, a killer bass drum team. There are times this sounds like a Randy Weston set, pared down to its essentials. Some of Melba Liston may have soaked into Bradfield's DNA. And the sax man at times has the fierce rawness of Dewey Redman or Pharoah Sanders, two of the tenorists who contributed so brilliantly to Weston's Melba Liston-arranged masterpiece, Spirits of Our Ancestors (Antilles Records, 1992). These are proud sounds, sometimes raucous and rubbery, spiritual, occasionally brash, and consistently brimming with joy.~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/our-roots-geof-bradfield-origin-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Geof Bradfield: tenor saxophone; Marquis Hill: trumpet; Joel Adams: trombone; Clark Sommers: bass; Dana Hall: drums.

Our Roots

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Swing Out Sister - Almost Persuaded

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:44
Size: 117,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:05)  1. Don't Give the Game Away
(4:21)  2. Happier Than Sunshine
(3:48)  3. Almost Persuaded
(3:43)  4. Which Wrong Is Right?
(3:08)  5. All In A Heartbeat (late night version)
(4:38)  6. Until Tomorrow Forgets
(3:48)  7. I Wish I Knew
(3:40)  8. Everybody's Here
(4:41)  9. All In A Heartbeat
(3:37) 10. Something Deep In Your Heart
(2:25) 11. Be My Valentine
(3:43) 12. Something Deep (reprise)
(4:06) 13. Never Let Me Go
(0:54) 14. Never Let Me Go (Lullaby)

Swing Out Sister is back with a self-assured swagger to their signature cinematic jazz sound. Dipping in and out of their influences from hip hop and neo soul to Blue Note and Motown with underlying scores that touch on blaxploitation and half remembered French films, Corinne Drewery and Andrew Connell show how their songwriting versatility has developed over the three decades since they hit the charts with Breakout. 

Their 10th studio album has been three years in the making, and arrives ten years since their last studio album was released. Corinne and Andy describe the making of Almost Persuaded, for the first time written and recorded in public, as they shared every step of the writing process with their online Pledge Music followers with regular films and updates. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Almost-Persuaded-Swing-Out-Sister/dp/B07BFBT3G9

Almost Persuaded

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