Joe Magnarelli - Why Not

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:12
Size: 148,3 MB
Art: Front

( 8:46)  1. Cup Bearers
(10:02)  2. How Deep is The Ocean
( 9:34)  3. Bella Carolina
( 6:41)  4. After You've Gone
( 8:32)  5. When Your Lover Has Gone
( 5:02)  6. Storyteller
( 6:26)  7. Y-Not
( 9:05)  8. Blues for B.G.

Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli's debut as a leader features the boppish trumpeter in a straight-ahead setting. His quintet, which is augmented by percussionist Daniel Sadownick on "Bella Carolina," also features spirited solos from tenor-saxophonist Eric Alexander and pianist Renee Rosnes. Every selections works well during the mixture of standards and originals. 

Among the more memorable performances are a revival of Tom McIntosh's "Cupbearers," an up-tempo "After You've Gone," Magnarelli's "Y-Not" (which is based on "The More I See You") and the trumpeter's sensitive ballad feature on a slow version of "When Your Lover Has Gone." Why Not is easily recommended to fans of straight-ahead jazz. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/why-not-mw0000236455

Personnel: Trumpet – Joe Magnarelli;   Bass – Peter Washington; Drums – Kenny Washington; Piano – Renee Rosnes; Tenor Saxophone – Eric Alexander

Why Not

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Dorothy Ashby - Dorothy's Harp

Styles: Harp Jazz
Year: 1969
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:03
Size: 81,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:30)  1. By The Time I Get To Phoenix
(3:36)  2. Canto De Ossanha
(2:52)  3. Love Is Blue
(3:00)  4. Reza
(2:49)  5. The Girl's In Love With You
(2:52)  6. Truth Spoken Here
(3:05)  7. Toronado
(3:22)  8. The Windmills Of Your Mind
(3:01)  9. Cause I Need It
(3:08) 10. Just Had To Tell Somebody
(3:41) 11. Fool On The Hill

There had been considerable questions about the harp’s place in jazz. After all, it’s a music form that was (and still is) dominated primarily by brass, woodwinds, and percussion. Dorothy Ashby sought to change that mindset. A master player by all accounts, she could work wonders with her fingers making the instrument sound less classical and more like a soothing, yet still elegant guitar. A few years after Dorothy’s Harp, she’d be working with Stevie Wonder. To further her sound, she had enlisted the help of Richard Evans the prior year after signing with Cadet. Together they forged ahead to construct a rich palette of sounds that surrounded you with the instrument instead of immersing you. On “The Windmills Of Your Mind,” Ashby’s harp introduces the tune before being taken away by a light, but funky bass. She then floats back into the mix creating a texture that’s not often heard with the harp taking the lead while a groovy bass line plods with a soul-funk feel. That said, though, it works astonishingly well. The tones she creates with her harp create a haunting, yet beautiful vibe. To further that emotion, Evans added in some fantastic strings. Brazilian touches abound as well. Ashby and friends dial up two standards in “Reza” and “Canto de Ossanha.” The former showcases Ashby creating space in the mix for her solos, which helps make the faster-than-usual pace of the song more palatable. In their reading, the song becomes more prone to hip shaking whereas a slower-paced version might lend to more hip swaying. Meanwhile, “Canto de Ossanha” follows much the same trend.

There is some great interplay between the flute where the two instruments sometimes play alongside one another note-for-note, while at other times the flute relegates to rhythm steadier with succinct pop-pops. Odell Brown then seals the deal with some exquisite solo work on Fender Rhodes. However, it would be an incomplete review without mentioning Ashby’s originals in “Cause I Need It” and “Just Had To Tell Somebody.” She again goes with Brazilian touches on “Cause I Need It” including some great bongo work. There is no doubt who is in command of this track even as other instruments, including the oboe take the lead. The harp’s main riff is succinct before straying into solo mode. “Just Had To Tell Somebody” is a happy affair that finds her exploring pop-soul nuances with an arrangement that once again never overbears. The melody emboldens its title as it seems to build with excitement. In the ’90s and ’00s, Ashby’s work started to be plucked for hip hop samples. Notably Pete Rock sampled two songs from the album  one for the shelved-and-finally-released INI album that included “Fakin Jax” (which sampled “Cause I Need It”) – and the other being his beat for Rahzel’s “All I Know” (using “The Windmills Of Your Mind,” which you can hear at the beginning of the Rahzel track). Ugly Duckling also sampled “Canto de Ossanha” for “Another Samba.”~ Eric Luecking http://www.revive-music.com/2011/01/04/dorothy-ashby-dorothys-harp/

Dorothy's Harp

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Kit McClure - Some Like It Hot

Styles: Clarinet, Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:12
Size: 143,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:06)  1. April In Paris
(4:48)  2. Sing Sing Sing
(5:08)  3. I Can't Get Started
(5:18)  4. Take The A Train
(4:00)  5. In The Mood
(6:35)  6. In A Mellow Tone
(5:06)  7. It Don't Mean a Thing (If Ain't Got that Swing)
(4:53)  8. Harlem Nocturne
(3:37)  9. All Of Me
(2:51) 10. Opus One
(8:12) 11. Stompin' At The Savoy
(5:34) 12. Every Night

The Kit McClure Band has been in existence since 1982, providing great music for audiences and performance opportunities for hundreds of women over the years. After the band's 1982 debut at the Ritz, the band quickly became a popular fixture in the New York nightclub scene, and also had the privilege of touring with the great Cab Calloway. Soon the band was noticed by the recording industry and was put on the payroll of Island Records to prepare a repertoire with rock star Robert Palmer. This show toured two years later, playing soldout houses at Radio City Music Hall, Garden State Arts Center and similar venues across the Northeast. Eight tours of Japan quickly ensued, with time out to produce the CD "Some Like It Hot" on Redhot Records. The band's second CD release, "Burning", also on Redhot Records, was produced a few years later by jazz legend Teo Macero. The band has toured Europe and the USA numerous times in support of these recordings. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/kitmcclure

Personnel:  Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Kit McClure; Alto Saxophone, Vocals – Paula Atherton;  Baritone Saxophone – Claire Daly; Drums – Bernice Brooks; Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Joyce Toth; Trumpet – Lauren Draper, Laurie Frink, Rebecca Coupe Franks

Some Like It Hot

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Tim Tamashiro - The Best So Far

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:29
Size: 84,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:39)  1. You Make Me Feel So Young
(2:35)  2. Lady Is A Tramp
(2:31)  3. Drive In
(2:50)  4. Alright, Okay, You Win
(3:21)  5. Theme From Bonanza
(2:55)  6. Nice N' Easy
(2:19)  7. Theme From Spiderman
(4:29)  8. I've Got You Under My Skin
(3:49)  9. How Sweet It Is
(4:03) 10. Sweet L.A.
(2:29) 11. Under The Berry Moon
(2:24) 12. Spidey Karaoke

Tim Tamashiro grew up in tiny community called Blackfalds, Alberta. At that time it was a very small village of a thousand citizens. Being a "different" kid in a small town presented both challenges and opportunities. Tim was “a different” by circumstance. He and his brother were the only Japanese kids. So he figured he might as well take full advantage of it. He took up trapeze, unicycle and the role of class clown. He was a little weird. He also took up piano. At home his family had a small brown parlour piano. Tim would plunk away at the piano figuring out songs of the day like “We’ve Only Just Begun” and the theme song to ”M A S H”. His mom put Tim into piano lessons. After six months of lessons mom and his piano teacher made the most important decision of Tim’s life. Tim stopped taking piano lessons. He played piano by ear and he loved it. So by NOT push theory and heavy practice down his throat Tim’s love of music roamed free. It wasn’t until after high school that Tim chose music as one of his life's missions. The decision came to him like a bolt of lightning. His choice popped into his head the second he woke up. He sat up straight in his narrow single bed and thought to himself, “I’m going to music school”. Within a few days he had arranged for an audition for Red Deer College. His audition was fun and musical… there was only one problem. Tim knew nothing about music. Over the summer he learned basic music theory and got accepted into Red Deer College in 1986. After two rewarding years at RDC, Tim had co-founded a local rock band called “The Mile High Club”. He also started to work in music retail at HMV.

Soon Tim landed a job in Edmonton as a representative for MCA Records. It was the coolest job ever. He sold millions of dollars of music, got to hang out with rock stars and went to record stores every day. It was a dream job. On top of that Tim was singing jazz standards with The Jump Orchestra. It was heaven. He thought he had found his calling in the music business. But he fell in love, quit his job and moved to Calgary. In Calgary Tim pursued his passion of playing music full time. He joined a local jazz group called The Swinging Bovines. Each weekend he would croon with the Bovines. In 1995 Tim branched out on his own to record his debut album called “Wiseass Crooner”. Soon Tim was touring throughout Canada promoting the album. His next albums came in 1999. He recorded a special holiday album called “Love at Christmas” for La Senza Lingerie. The album sold at their stores across Canada. That sales and marketing job at MCA had paid off. Calgary has always been a place where jazz is welcome at special events. Tim began to specialize as an entertainer at events for business and world leaders. He’s sung for prime ministers and royalty. He ever got to perform for Queen Elizabeth. Jazz turned out to be a pretty good business. 

So Tim concentrated on singing and MC’ing events for the next 20 years. Then CBC came calling. CBC was looking for a new host for the launch of the “new” CBC Radio 2. They were looking for a new host for an yet unnamed jazz show that would be on six nights a week. They had heard about Tim’s delivery style and believed that he could host a show with jazz music for all Canadians. Tim jumped aboard for a four month trial period for the weekend edition of the new show Tonic. After 10 years with CBC Tim departed from CBC to explore more. He sings and tells stories. He hosts a regular talk show called Handshake on Facebook Live and Youtube. Tim lives in Calgary with his wife and two children. He supports The Calgary Food bank, Cancer charities and daily acts of kindness. http://www.timtamashiro.com/tim-bio/

The Best So Far

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Lisa Ekdahl - More of the Good

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:16
Size: 92,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:26)  1. Let's Go to Sleep
(3:51)  2. Playful Heart of Mine
(3:43)  3. I Know You Love Me
(4:52)  4. More of the Good
(4:43)  5. Thorn in My Heart
(3:57)  6. Like Mermaids
(4:04)  7. Sweet Feeling of Freedom
(3:34)  8. The Moon Can Not Be Stolen
(3:06)  9. In Dreams
(3:54) 10. Crown of Love

Best known in Scandinavia for her 1994 hit "Vem Vet, " Lisa Ekdahl became one of the top Swedish pop singers of the 1990s but also records and performs straightahead jazz. Ekdahl's pop albums have been in Swedish, while her acoustic jazz albums have favored English-language standards. The thin-voiced singer was born and raised in Stockholm, where in 1990, she started singing jazz with the trio of pianist Peter Nordahl. In 1994, her self-titled debut album came out in Sweden, and it was that year that her single "Vem Vet" (which is Swedish for "Who Knows") made her a superstar in Scandinavia at the age of 23. Ekdahl's subsequent pop albums in Sweden included Med Kroppen Mot Jorden in 1996 and Bortom Det Bla in 1997. The singer's first English-language effort, When Did You Leave Heaven, was also her first jazz album and the first Ekdahl album to come out in the U.S. When Did You Leave Heaven was a big seller in Sweden, but the album (which came out on RCA Victor in the U.S.) received its share of negative reviews from American jazz critics, who felt that Ekdahl's thin, very girlish voice was wrong for standards and straightahead jazz and argued that she should stick to pop. Her next jazz recording, Back to Earth, came out in 1999. ~ Alex Henderson https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lisa-ekdahl-mn0000297886/biography

More of the Good

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