Steve Hobbs - Spring Cycle

Styles: Vibraphone Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:43
Size: 146,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:27)  1. Blued Swings
(8:22)  2. Spring Cycle
(6:08)  3. Rough And Ready
(6:35)  4. Para Mis Padres
(5:41)  5. On The Street Where You Live
(5:34)  6. Jean
(5:01)  7. Mr. P.C.
(8:28)  8. Loon Lake
(5:52)  9. Crosswinds
(5:31) 10. Marionettes

Who says universities create an ivory tower mentality? Educator and vibes master Steve Hobbs has put out a delectably enjoyable CD of accessible, yet thought-provoking music. Employing a front line of Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn), Dave Valentin (flute), and Bob Malach (tenor), his lighter than air thematic statements serve as a perfect foil to the percussive underpinnings of Hobbs and pianist Bill O'Connell. All of Hobbs' compositions are catchy, memorable, and thoroughly enjoyable. The modal "Blued Swings," with its sophisticated interplay between Valentin and Harrell, is breezy. The lithe and lively melody line of "Spring Cycle" will stay in your mind long after the CD is over. Ditto for "Para Mis Padres," with its lovely and breathy flute melody. The originals by O'Connell are just as well crafted, coherently weaving in the solos as if they were part of the composition. The driving "Crosswinds," strutting "Marionettes," and rhythm-shifting "Loon Lake" all fit into the mainstream category, with excellently defined solos provided by Harrell and Malach. The only potential indulgence regarding this record relates to the listener, who may want to put it on over and over. ~ George Harris https://www.allaboutjazz.com/spring-cycle-steve-hobbs-random-chance-records-review-by-george-harris.php

Personnel: Steve Hobbs: vibraphone; Tom Harrell: trumpet, flugelhorn; Bob Malach: tenor saxophone; Dave Valentin: flute; Bill O'Connell: piano; Peter Washington: bass; John Riley: drums; Steve Berrios: percussion.

Spring Cycle

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Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake - The Newest Sound Around

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:50
Size: 121,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:08)  1. Laura
(4:44)  2. Blue Monk
(3:10)  3. Church on Russell Street
(4:14)  4. Where Flamingos Fly
(2:30)  5. Season in the Sun
(4:33)  6. Summertime
(5:09)  7. Lover Man
(3:04)  8. Evil Blues
(2:40)  9. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
(4:50) 10. When Sunny Gets Blue
(1:17) 11. Love Isn't Everything
(3:14) 12. Vanguard
(2:52) 13. Left Alone
(2:06) 14. He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
(3:11) 15. Straight Ahead

"Third stream" may have been the bandied term, but this unjustly ignored 1962 duet set, the debut for pianist Blake and singer Lee, who worked up their act while studying at Bard College, plays blissfully free of the lumbering lugubriousness and Big Mac-thick philosophizing that mar so much of that music. The eeriness, the mystery, and the sweetness lie always in the deceptive simplicity, never more so than on the opener, "Laura," sketched by Johnny Mercer as a hazy image of loveliness, always out of reach and perhaps not even real, and she flickers in and out of existence with the strike and fade of Blake's figures, the attack and decay of Lee's intonation, now husky, now fruity, but as exacting as Miles Davis' muted trumpet. "Church on Russell Street" is Blake's alone, a gospel show for solo piano late at night, or early in the morning, when everyone but the pianist and maybe the Lord has gone home. "Where Flamingos Fly," from which Van Morrison peeled a few leaves years later, finds Lee a mournful anti-siren, losing her lover and a few members of the animal kingdom to an island that may be Aruba, Iceland, or even Alcatraz; Blake tests single notes like water drops, rumbles chords for incoming tide, stabs boldly at the not quite in tune top octave on his keyboard. "Season in the Sun" (nowhere near Terry Jacks) injects levity with bassist George Duvivier sitting in (as he does on "Evil Blues," the second dash of comic relief) and Lee dryly, slyly insinuating the brevity of her bikini. "If there's going to be an enduring 'new wave' in jazz styling...this voice, this piano may well be the beginning," reads an uncredited blurb on the cover. The record started no revolution, probably because no other two performers had such chemistry or such a distinctive reaction. As jazz styling, though, it endures unsurprisingly. You hear the set in less than one hour (four CD-only bonus tracks included). You spend decades wandering inside the sound, as you might inside a sonic Stonehenge, savoring each new vantage point discovered, and the impossibility of discovering them all.~ Andrew Hamlin https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-newest-sound-around-mw0000529734
 

Personnel: Jeanne Lee: vocals; Ran Blake: piano

The Newest Sound Around

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Jack Jezzro - Brazilian Nights

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:33
Size: 119,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:58)  1. Brazilian Nights
(2:55)  2. Fiesta Español
(4:12)  3. Señor Samba
(4:30)  4. Leblon
(5:43)  5. Paquetá, Isle of Love
(4:25)  6. Café Calypso
(4:07)  7. Latin Storm
(5:01)  8. Miranda
(3:50)  9. The Road to Ponta Porã
(3:59) 10. Ladrón de Corazon
(5:00) 11. The Beach at Ipanema
(3:48) 12. Midnight in Rio

With a title that espouses truth in advertising, guitarist Jack Jezzro has put together a concept album of suave Brazilian music for small ensemble. With his acoustic nylon string model capturing the essence, Jezzro’s program sways with the tropical breeze and basks in the serene Latin moonlight. With complementary interludes from piano, flute and flugelhorn, the guitarist surrounds his features with lively rhythm accompaniment. Citing Earl Klugh, Pat Metheny and Lee Ritenour as three of his more prominent influences, the guitarist provides clear fingerstyle articulation that forms lovely melodies. A native of West Virginia and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Jezzro has settled in Nashville, Tennessee to take on the challenge of exploring good music through a variety of styles. On Brazilian Nights Jezzro moves comfortably through his compositions with a genuine feel for the scene and a thorough grasp of the whole package. ~ Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/brazilian-nights-jack-jezzro-green-hill-review-by-jim-santella.php

Personnel: Jack Jezzro- guitar; Pat Coil- piano, keyboards; Craig Nelson- acoustic and electric bass; Eric Darken, Glen Caruba- percussion; George Tidwell- flugelhorn on "Paquet

Brazilian Nights

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Hubert Laws - Romeo & Juliet

Styles: Flute Jazz
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:50
Size: 87,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:12)  1. Undecided
(8:19)  2. Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again
(4:13)  3. Forlane
(7:43)  4. Romeo & Juliet
(5:36)  5. What Are We Gonna Do?
(5:45)  6. Guatemala Connection

Forget the Shakespearean reference in the title which might make you think the whole album's got a Renaissance bent because the album's a nice bit of funky flute jazz from Hubert Laws, done with the same groovy vibe as some of his earlier albums for the CTI label! The set was produced by Bob James, and has lots of strong James touches from the sweet work on Fender Rhodes and clavinet that works nicely with the flute on most tracks, to the full group rhythms that make the best tracks into nice smooth groovers! A few tunes get more introspective, in Hubert's Afro-Classic mode and titles include "Guatemala Connection", "What Are We Gonna Do", "Undecided", "Forlane", and "Tryin To Get The Feelin Again". 
© 1996-2019, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/856880/Hubert-Laws:Romeo-Juliet

Personnel:  Hubert Laws - Flute; Bob James - Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, Keyboards; Eric Gale, Richie Resnicoff, Barry Finnerty, Steve Khan - Guitar; Gary King - Bass; Andy Newmark, Steve Gadd - Drums; Ralph MacDonald - Percussion; Mark Gray - Clavinet, Keyboards; Alan Rubin, Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Marvin Stamm, Bernie Glow - Trumpet, Flugelhorn; Allen Ralph, David Taylor, Wayne Andre - Trombone; George Marge, David Sanborn, Howard Johnson, Phil Bodner, Jerry Dodgion, Harvey Estrin - Woodwinds; David Nadien - Concertmaster; Alan Schulman, Alfred Brown, Barry Sinclair, Charles McCracken, Emanuel Green, Emanuel Vardi, Guy Lumia, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Matthew Raimondi, Max Ellen, Max Pollikoff, Paul Gershman, Seymour Barab - Strings; Denise Wigfall, Kenneth Coles, Robin Wilson, Shirley Thompson, Stanley Stroman - Vocals

Romeo & Juliet

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Blue Mitchell - Down With It

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:36
Size: 95,8 MB
Art: Front

(8:23)  1. Hi-Heel Sneakers
(5:41)  2. Perception
(7:45)  3. Alone, Alone And Alone
(6:16)  4. March On Selma
(7:30)  5. One Shirt
(5:59)  6. Samba De Stacy

Down With It is a fairly standard bop and soul-jazz session from Blue Mitchell. Leading a quintet that features a young Chick Corea on piano, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Al Foster, Mitchell creates a laid-back atmosphere which makes R&B covers like "Hi-Heel Sneakers" or the lite bossa nova of "Samba De Stacy" roll along nicely. Just as often, the record is so relaxed that it fails to generate much spark, but each the soloists have fine moments that makes the session worthwhile for jazz purists. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine https://www.allmusic.com/album/down-with-it%21-mw0000091737

Personnel:  Blue Mitchell – trumpet; Junior Cook – tenor saxophone; Chick Corea – piano; Gene Taylor – bass; Al Foster – drums

Down With It

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