Sunday, October 14, 2018

Terence Blanchard & Donald Harrison - New York Second Line

Styles: Trumpet And Saxophone Jazz 
Year: 1985
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:39
Size: 79,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:22)  1. New York Second Line
(5:24)  2. Oliver's Twist
(3:28)  3. I Can't Get Started
(3:42)  4. Duck Steps
(6:05)  5. Doctor Drums
(3:46)  6. Isn't It So?
(7:50)  7. Subterfuge

Trumpeter Terence Blanchard and altoist Donald Harrison were both still members of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers when they co-led this colorful set; they would break away to form their own group in early 1986. "New York Second Line," which sounds like a crazy marching band and is an eccentric tribute to the co-leaders New Orleans heritage, is the most memorable selection but all of the group originals plus "I Can't Get Started" are given inventive treatment. With pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith, this was a particularly strong early effort by Blanchard and Harrison. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/new-york-second-line-mw0000187728

Personnel:  Terence Blanchard – Trumpet;  Donald Harrison -Alto Saxaphone;  Mulgrew Miller -Pianist;  Lonnie Plaxico – Bassist;  Marvin “Smitty”Smith – Drummer

New York Second Line

David S. Ware Quartet - Wisdom of Uncertainty

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:36
Size: 144,0 MB
Art: Front

(12:44)  1. Acclimation
( 7:46)  2. Antidromic
(15:33)  3. Utopic
( 7:16)  4. Alignment
( 7:41)  5. Sunbows Rainsets Blue
(11:33)  6. Continuum

The first recorded appearance of drummer Susie Ibarra with the David S. Ware Quartet is an auspicious one to be sure. Her contrasting style with former drummer Whit Dickey is one of both physicality and fluidity. Ibarra is a far more physical drummer than Dickey is, and is given to deep rhythmic grooves that produce dance-like flourishes in her accents and fills. How that affects the band is obvious from the opening bars of "Acclimation," where her snare and cymbal work set the pace for Ware, who enters singing. Shipp carries in a seriously blues-inflected chordal series of minor thirds and sixths, and Parker is happier than a clam, as his full physical manner of playing is given depth and breadth here. The band charges Ware's compositions (yes compositions), cornering the tiger in them, only to let it loose again in order to chase it down. There is a brightness and fullness in Ibarra's approach that offers Ware more room to fluctuate in his legato phrasing, turning it over and moving through a series of obligato and even ostinatos in his melodic workups and in his solos -- check the long breaks in "Utopic" and "Continuum." Likewise, Shipp is free to rumble around in the deep registers of the piano he so enjoys, as he does on the opener and "Antidromic." His blocky style is far more fluid on this recording, as it shifts its right hands maneuvers with Ibarra's angular accents and around the kit flails and rolls check her solo in "Utopic." This is a record that sings; its song is a wild and wooly one to be sure, but it is a giant leap compositionally for Ware, and for the ensemble with its new drummer. ~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/wisdom-of-uncertainty-mw0000031416

Personnel:  David S. Ware – tenor sax;  Matthew Shipp – piano;  William Parker – bass;  Susie Ibarra – drums

Wisdom of Uncertainty

Ronnie Laws - Brotherhood

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:29
Size: 125,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:54)  1. Still In The Band
(6:18)  2. See The Day
(4:02)  3. Handyman
(5:46)  4. Tidal Wave
(4:50)  5. My River
(5:12)  6. I Feel Fine
(6:10)  7. Night Thing
(6:20)  8. Brotherhood
(5:07)  9. Distant Lover
(5:46) 10. When I Fall In Love

Ronnie Laws is an award-winning tenor saxophonist and composer whose career has, since the early 1970s, straddled the worlds of jazz and R&B. Since 1975 he has placed seven albums in the Top 200 including his 1975 Blue Note debut Pressure Sensitive as well as tracks and albums in no less than six other categories. He has worked as an in-demand session man and live musician with a who's-who of jazz and R&B greats including Ramsey Lewis, Gregory Porter, B.B. King, George Duke, Quincy Jones, Stanley Jordan, and dozens more. Laws, the younger brother of flutist Hubert Laws, is the product of a musical family. Two of his sisters, Debra and Eloise, are also professional singers. Born in Houston, Texas, Laws began teaching himself to play the alto saxophone at the age of 11. While his first love was baseball, a serious eye injury ended those dreams early and he focused on music, which he studied in high school, at Stephen F. Austin State, and later at Texas Southern University, where he switched to tenor, earned a degree, and developed a progressive mastery and technique. In 1970 he moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a musical career. He woodshedded with the Jazz Crusaders (Hubert had played with them in the '50s) and especially Hugh Masakela. His early gigs in the city were with pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., Doug Carn, and on his brother's CTI recordings. In 1972, he joined Earth, Wind & Fire for 18 months and was, in effect, its first saxophonist, playing both tenor and soprano; he played on the album Last Days and Time. In Los Angeles, he made the acquaintance of Donald Byrd. 

The two became friends and Byrd got Laws signed to Blue Note. His 1975 debut, Pressure Sensitive, got serious radio play despite landing at 73, and yielded the enduring jazz-funk classic "Always There." It has been covered and/or sampled by well over 100 artists. Laws was on his way. With his other '70s work 1976's Fever, Friends and Strangers, and Flame which boasted his first cross continental 12" hit "All for You," Laws established himself as a workhorse studio musician, playing on recordings by Ramsey Lewis, his sister Eloise, Arthur Adams, Gene McDaniels, and Wayne Henderson, to name a few. In the '80s, Laws was an international festival and club draw. Three singles from his first three albums all went gold, as did their respective long-players. Despite the fact that he is often characterized strictly as a "smooth jazz" artist, Laws might be the first instrumentalist to score hits in the emerging "quiet storm" subgenre of R&B. In the '80s, Laws started to showcase his voice along with his saxophone playing on tracks like the title cut to Every Generation (1980), "Stay Awake" (from 1981's Solid Ground), and "Mr. Nice Guy" (1982). "Stay Awake" spent 18 weeks on the R&B chart, and reached number 19. He jumped around from United Artists to Capitol to Columbia throughout the decade, issuing memorable albums such as 1983's Mr. Nice Guy and 1987's All Day Rhythm. His records began to chart on radio R&B lists regularly he placed ten tracks on Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs during the ten-year period. The '90s kicked off with Laws returning to his hard jazz-funk roots on True Spirit. The album didn't chart in the U.S., but did well in Europe and guaranteed him slots at major festivals and on Ronnie Scott's stage. In 1994, he issued Natural Laws for the Right Stuff label; it reached 34 on the jazz charts. In 1998, he returned to Blue Note for Portrait of the Isley Brothers: Harvest for the World, which reached 41. Two years later, he released Dream a Little, a vocal R&B album with jazz leanings. His two sisters and Porter appeared on the date. The track "Old Days/Old Ways" hit number 36 at Adult R&B. Signing to Eddie Holland's HDH label in 2004, he cut Everlasting, which hit number 39 on the jazz charts. Though Laws hasn't recorded an album since then, he continues to tour and do session work. In 2017, he dropped the R&B single "Settle Down" on the Bungalo/CIA label. 
~ Thom Jurek https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/brotherhood/id819307250
 
Personnel:  Hubert Laws - flute;  Ronnie Laws - saxophone;  Craig T. Cooper - guitar;  Eloise Laws - vocals;  Rob Mullins - piano, keyboards;  Larry Antonio - keyboards, acoustic bass, electric bass, drum programming;  Michael Lent - guitar, drum programming;  William "Bubba" Bryant - drums.

Brotherhood

Bjarne Nerem - More Than You Know

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:42
Size: 106,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:44)  1. When Your Lower Has Gone
(5:07)  2. Everything I Have Is Yours
(4:57)  3. Easy to Love
(6:23)  4. Autumn Nocturne
(4:03)  5. Miss Mopsy
(5:45)  6. More Than You Know
(5:57)  7. Gone with the Wind
(3:45)  8. Cabin in the Sky
(3:57)  9. Emaline

Bjarne Arnulf Nerem (31 July 1923 in Oslo, Norway – 1 April 1991 in Oslo), was a Norwegian jazz musician (tenor saxophone, alto saxophone and clarinet), known from several recordings, and was among the absolute foremost soloists in Norwegian jazz. He was a very talented musician in the tradition of Lester Young, Stan Getz and jazz in the 1950s. Nerem achieved international recognition for his performances. Nerem started his career playing clarinet during World War II, and participated on an album with «Syv Muntre» (1943) and participated, among others within Rowland Greenberg's ensembles. He eventually went over to the tenor and alto saxophone, and started in 1947 a more than 20 years career in Stockholm, Sweden, where he became one of the first bebop performers and quickly became one of Sweden's most renowned, first in the orchestras of Thore Jederby and Santa Skoog (1947–49).  After three years within Karl Westby's orchestra at Rainbow (Oslo), Nerem went into several Swedish bands including with Simon Brehm (1952 to 1954) and Harry Arnold's radio band (1956). In recent years he has also played within Carl-Henrik Norin's band (1968–71) and on releases by Ove Lind, Siljabloo Nilsson, Lasse Sjösten, Arne Domnérus, Monica Zetterlund, Thore Ehrling and Nils Lindberg. The period culminated with the album How long has this been goin 'on (1971).  Nerem returned to Norway in 1973 and led his own Bjarne Nerem Kvartett releasing the album Everything happens to me (1976), awarded Spellemannprisen 1976. They also released This is always (1984), and contributed in Nerem solo album More than you know (1987). Furthermore, figured Nerem on releases with Karin Krog (1974), «Sandvika Storband» (1980) and Kristian Bergheim (The rainbow sessions, 1990). Internationally, he collaborated with Kenny Davern and Flip Phillips (1987), Al Grey (Al meets Bjarne, 1988). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarne_Nerem

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone – Bjarne Nerem;  Bass – Kåre Garnes;  Drums – Spike Wells;  Piano – Lars Sjösten

More Than You Know