Eric Alexander - Summit Meeting

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:43
Size: 153,7 MB
Art: Front

(8:01)  1. Summit Meeting
(7:41)  2. The Sweetest Sounds
(8:48)  3. There But For The Grace Of...
(7:12)  4. I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do
(7:58)  5. A House Is Not A Home
(6:37)  6. This Girl's In Love With You
(5:29)  7. Something's Gotta Give
(7:09)  8. Andre's Turn
(7:45)  9. After The Rain

A direct descendent of competitive, no nonsense titans such as Sonny Stitt and George Coleman, Eric Alexander plays the horn with a decidedly assertive temperament, as if he always has something to prove. Summit Meeting, his fourth release for Milestone, is arguably the tenor saxophonist’s finest recording as a leader in a prolific, decade-long career. No longer a series of brilliantly executed segments, his solos flow logically from beginning to end, exhibiting calculation and a quickness of mind that match his fervor. For example, the seven choruses Alexander takes on the brisk title cut are rife with coherent, well-developed ideas, yet they retain the excitement of his earlier work. Other signs of Alexander’s continued development include curbing a tendency to race through improvisations on ballads, and occasionally displaying a willingness to take things a little easier. He plays the melody of “I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do” with reverence. During the solo that follows, several strings of sixteenth and thirty-second note runs are not overdone, thereby adding a playful dimension to the music’s reflective mood. Alexander evinces uncharacteristic restraint on an agreeably swinging treatment of Bacharach and David’s “This Girl’s In Love With You.” He teasingly gives off signs of erupting only to pull back, and even without the fireworks makes a compelling statement. All of this evidence of Alexander’s maturation takes place in the company of players who’ve been involved in various projects with him since the early 1990s: pianist Harold Mabern, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. (Trumpeter Nicholas Payton plays on four of the nine tracks.) The record is chock-full of “Mabern moments.” During a brief solo on an up-tempo “A House Is Not A Home” he gleefully marches with his left hand and dances with the right. His accompaniment on the same track is a majestic wall of sound that inspires some of the tenor saxophonist’s freest playing of the set. When Alexander moves so fast that he nearly loses control in the middle of a burning “Something’s Gotta Give,” Mabern keeps him rooted by banging out a sequence of jocose, riff-like chords. ~ David A.Orthmann https://www.allaboutjazz.com/summit-meeting-eric-alexander-fantasy-jazz-review-by-david-a-orthmann.php

Personnel: Eric Alexander--tenor saxophone; Nicholas Payton--trumpet and flugelhorn; Harold Mabern--piano; John Webber--bass; Joe Farnsworth--drums.

Summit Meeting

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Duchess - Duchess

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:27
Size: 112,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:19)  1. Love Being Here With You
(3:00)  2. There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears
(4:12)  3. Que Sera, Sera
(3:42)  4. My Brooklyn Love Song (Feat. Hilary Gardner)
(2:51)  5. A Doodlin' Song (Feat. Amy Cervini)
(3:47)  6. A Little Jive Is Good for You
(5:46)  7. P.S. I Love You
(3:09)  8. Hummin' To Myself (Feat. Melissa Stylianou)
(2:50)  9. It's a Man
(3:21) 10. I'll Be Seeing You
(3:11) 11. Lollipop
(4:51) 12. Blah, Blah, Blah
(3:22) 13. Heebie Jeebies

Sure-footed swing, sweet-toned harmony and ever insouciant charm are embodied in the new Jazz vocal trio Duchess, featuring notable New York singers Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou. The group's debut album - DUCHESS, channels the 1930's inspiration of the virtuosic Boswell Sisters into a wonderfully entertaining and contemporary package. Duchess pairs the vocal trio with an ace New York band: pianist Michael Cabe, bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Matt Wilson, plus saxophonist Jeff Lederer and guitarist Jessie Lewis. The songs of Duchess range from the Peggy Lee number "I Love Being Here with You" and Johnny Mercer's "P.S. I Love You" to new twists on "Que Sera, Sera" and the indelible standard "I'll Be Seeing You." There's a playful Gershwin rarity with "Blah, Blah, Blah" and a direct Boswell Sisters homage with their arrangement of "Heebie Jeebies." And there are solo spots for each of the Duchess ladies with "My Brooklyn Love Song" (Gardner), "A Doodlin' Song" (Cervini) and "Humming to Myself" (Stylianou). a blend of the vintage and the fresh, Duchess is a fizzing cocktail of an album. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Duchess-DUCHESS/dp/B00RXPTU7O

Vocalists Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou

Duchess

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Peter Skellern - Astaire

Styles: Vocal And Keyboards Jazz 
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:20
Size: 81,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:11)  1. Isn't It A Lovely Day
(3:39)  2. Cheek To Cheek
(4:29)  3. They Can't Take That Away From Me
(3:58)  4. The Way You Look Tonight
(4:34)  5. The Continental
(2:43)  6. Putting On The Ritz
(2:46)  7. No Strings
(3:32)  8. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
(2:59)  9. Night And Day
(2:25) 10. Top Hat, White Tie And Tails

A composer, singer, and musician, Peter Skellern played trombone in a school band and served as organist and choirmaster in a local church before attending the Guildhall School of Music, from which he graduated with honors in 1968. Because "I didn’t want to spend the next 50 years playing Chopin," he joined the vocal harmony band March Hare which, after changing their name to Harlan County, recorded a country-pop album before disbanding in 1971. Married with two children, Skellern worked as a hotel porter in Shaftesbury, Dorset, before striking lucky at the end of 1972 with a self-composed U.K. number three hit, "You're a Lady." The album Not Without a Friend consisted entirely of original material (aside from a rendition of Hoagy Carmichael's "Rockin' Chair"), and another U.K. hit single with the title track to 1975's Hold on to Love established Skellern as a purveyor of wittily observed if homely love songs of similar stamp to Gilbert O'Sullivan. He earned the respect of Beatles fans (already manifested following Derek Taylor's production of Not Without a Friend) when George Harrison assisted on Hard Times and the title number was later recorded by Ringo Starr. A minor hit in 1978, "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" (featuring Grimethorpe Colliery Band) was part of a tribute to Fred Astaire that won a Music Trades Association Award for Best MOR Album of 1979. Skellern subsequently wrote and performed six autobiographical programs for BBC television, followed by a series of musical plays (Happy Endings), and also hosted the chat show Private Lives in 1983. 

A year later he formed Oasis with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin, and guitarist Billy Lovelady in an attempt to fuse mutual classical and pop interests, but the band's recordings failed to make a major impact. In 1985, Skellern joined Richard Stilgoe for Stilgoe and Skellern Stompin' at the Savoy, a show in aid of the Lords Taverners charity organization. This led to the two entertainers working together on several successful tours and in their two-man revue, Who Plays Wins, which was presented in London's West End and New York City. After becoming disenchanted with the record business for a time, in 1995 Skellern issued his first album in nearly eight years. Originally conceived as a tribute to the Ink Spots, it eventually consisted of a number of songs associated with that legendary group, and a few Hoagy Carmichael compositions "just to break it up." He later wrote sacred choral music and was ordained as a deacon and priest in the Church of England. After developing an inoperable brain tumor, he died in February 2017 at 69 years of age. ~ Rovi Staff https://www.allmusic.com/artist/peter-skellern-mn0000687269/biography

Astaire

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Gary Smulyan - The Real Deal

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:41
Size: 156,1 MB
Art: Front

(8:36)  1. Cindy's Tune
(7:46)  2. Evol Deklaw Ni
(5:36)  3. Satan
(8:25)  4. Palomino Pal
(6:25)  5. Young Afro Brown
(8:36)  6. All My Life
(5:45)  7. Our Love is Here to Stay
(7:46)  8. Follow Me
(8:43)  9. Sassy Missy

Gary Smulyan, a passionate baritone saxophonist whose main inspiration is Pepper Adams, sounds at his best on this quintet set with trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist Dennis Irwin, and drummer Kenny Washington. 

The music includes some hard-swinging straight-ahead romps and warm ballads. Among the highlights are Pepper Adams' "Cindy's Tune" (a tricky line written over the chord changes of "Honeysuckle Rose"), the obscure "Satan (Wears a Satin Gown)," "Young Afro Brown" (based on "Sweet Georgia Brown"), "All My Life," and the slow blues "Sassy Missy." This superior hard bop set serves as a perfect introduction to the playing of Gary Smulyan. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-real-deal-mw0000026776

Personnel:   Gary Smulyan - baritone saxophone; Joe Magnarelli - trumpet, flugelhorn;  Mike LeDonne - piano; Dennis Irwin - bass; Kenny Washington - drums

The Real Deal

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