Ari Hoenig - Inversations

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:56
Size: 133,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:07)  1. Anthropology
(5:15)  2. Dark News
(7:51)  3. Rapscallion Cattle
(5:59)  4. WB Blues
(8:18)  5. Farewell
(7:42)  6. Falling in Love With Love
(7:58)  7. Without Within
(5:55)  8. Newfound Innocence
(2:47)  9. This Little Light of Mine

Drummer Ari Hoenig has always created emotionally satisfying and challenging jazz, and his streak continues with Inversations. The bebop classic "Anthropology begins with an interplay between Hoenig on drums and pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, with bassist Johannes Weidenmueller on pizzicato. The trio executes this classic jazz groove to perfection, playing with the tempo and displaying the tune's plasticity. "Dark News, an impressionistic yet sly piece written by Hoenig, complete with haunting piano and moody arco, begins as though it will be a free piece but Hoenig throws the listener a head fake by having it become something more conventional.  Will Vinson's full-bodied alto sax gives "Rapscallion Cattle an extra kick. The varied rhythms of the tune fit the title, with Hoenig laying down the law on the drums like Elvin Jones and Vinson's urgent, rock-solid playing the highlight. "WB Blues opens with a plodding, melancholy walk by Weidenmueller, with handmade drum highlights by Hoenig that sound like a talking drum instead of a drum kit. Pilc adds a piano full of Scotch and cigarette smoke. "Farewell is in the best ECM tradition, particularly in the interplay between piano and bass. The trio's interpretation of "Falling In Love With Love is almost muted until the song brightens up into mid-tempo. "Without Within features Jacques Schwarz-Bart on tenor saxophone on a nice mid-tempo turn; and "New Found Innocence is an off-center, driving and riveting waltz with more great, solid play all around. Hoenig returns to his 'talking drum' technique on "This Little Light of Mine, on which he also sings. That he sings off-mic indicates that the song isn't about his vocal but about the music itself. ~ Terrel Kent Holmes https://www.allaboutjazz.com/inversations-ari-hoenig-dreyfus-records-review-by-terrell-kent-holmes.php

Personnel: Ari Hoenig: drums, vocals; Jean-Michel Pilc: piano; Johannes Weidenmueller: bass; Will Vinson: alto sax (3); Jacques Schwarz-Bart: tenor sax (7).

Inversations

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Astrud Gilberto - Windy

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1968
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 27:46
Size: 65,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:02)  1. Dreamy
(2:05)  2. Chup Chup I Got Away
(2:50)  3. Never My Love
(3:23)  4. Lonely Afternoon
(2:41)  5. On My Mind
(2:34)  6. The Bare Necessities
(2:48)  7. Windy
(2:09)  8. Sing Me A Rainbow
(2:26)  9. In My Life
(1:33) 10. Crickets Sing For Anamaria (Os Grillos)
(3:12) 11. Where Are They Now?

While assembled from seemingly disparate sessions arranged by Eumir Deodato, Don Sebesky, and Pat Williams, Windy nevertheless proves one of Astrud Gilberto's most consistent and sublime efforts, artfully straddling the division between Brazilian bossa nova and American sunshine pop. Credit the aforementioned arrangers for much of the LP's appeal from a percolating rendition of the Association's title cut to a neo classical reinvention of the Beatles' "In My Life," the songs possess a lithe, shimmering beauty that perfectly complements Gilberto's feathery vocals. Still, she can't quite skirt the cloying sweetness that undermines so many of her mid-period Verve LPs son Marcelo, who first joined his mother on the previous Beach Samba for an excruciating duet version of the Lovin Spoonful's "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," resurfaces here for a reading of The Jungle Book's "The Bare Necessities," proving yet again that children should be seen and not heard. ~ Jason Ankeny https://www.allmusic.com/album/windy-mw0000384258

Personnel: Astrud Gilberto - vocals; Marcelo Gilberto - vocals on "The Bare Necessities"; Patrick Williams - arranger, conductor (on track 4); Eumir Deodato - arranger, conductor (on tracks 1, 2, 5 and 7); Don Sebesky - arranger, conductor (on tracks 3, 6, 8, 9 and 11)

Windy

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Benny Goodman - The Harry James Years Vol. 1

Styles: Clarinet Jazz, Swing, Big Band 

Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:19
Size: 156,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:38)  1. I Want To Be Happy (From "No, No, Nanette")
(3:12)  2. Chloe (Song of the Swamp)
(2:40)  3. Rosetta
(3:29)  4. Peckin' (From "New Faces of 1937")
(3:01)  5. Can't We Be Friends? (From "The Little Show") - Take 2
(4:05)  6. Sing, Sing, Sing (Introducing "Christopher Columbus")
(4:38)  7. Sing, Sing, Sing - Part 2
(3:11)  8. Roll 'Em
(2:43)  9. When It's Sleepy Time Down South - Take 2
(2:25) 10. Changes - Take 3
(2:47) 11. Sugarfoot Stomp - Take 1
(3:35) 12. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
(2:58) 13. Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day (From "Cotton Club Parade")
(2:47) 14. Camel Hop - Take 1
(2:40) 15. Camel Hop - Take 2
(3:05) 16. Life Goes To A Party - Take 1
(3:07) 17. Life Goes To a Party - Take 3
(3:19) 18. Don't Be That Way - Take 1
(3:22) 19. Don't Be That Way - Take 2
(3:14) 20. One O'Clock Jump - Take 1
(3:14) 21. One O'Clock Jump - Take 2

This is a really cool mid-price collection, the first of two assembling all of the Goodman band's work with Harry James. There are 21 tracks, covering a 13-month period that saw the Goodman band at the peak of its personnel and popularity, every day breaking new ground for swing even as that music had already swept the country. And, as Loren Schoenberg points out in his superb notes, with Harry James in the lineup, the band had a trumpet man who could match Goodman himself, plus a drummer in Gene Krupa who kept the rhythm section tight. 

Most of this material ("Sing Sing Sing," etc.) has been out before somewhere, although it's been very carefully remastered here using the CEDAR system, placing it a cut above other reissues for sound quality. Additionally, there are three distinctly different, newly discovered outtakes of "Camel Hop" and "One O'Clock Jump," plus alternate takes on "Life Goes to a Party" and "Don't Be That Way." One couldn't pick better tracks to have become available in variant forms, representing the Goodman band at its most accessible and swinging. ~ Bruce Eder https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-harry-james-years-vol-1-mw0000096367

Personnel:  Clarinet – Benny Goodman; Alto Saxophone – Dick DePew (tracks: 1 to 3), George Koenig (tracks: 4 to 21), Hymie Schertzer; Bass – Harry Goodman; Drums – Gene Krupa; Guitar – Allen Reuss; Piano – Jess Stacy; Tenor Saxophone – Arthur Rollini, Babe Russin (tracks: 18 to 21), Vido Musso (tracks: 1 to17); Trombone – Murray McEachern (tracks: 1 to 17), Red Ballard, Vernon Brown (tracks: 18 to 21); Trumpet – Gordon Griffin, Harry James (2), Ziggy Elman

The Harry James Years Vol. 1

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Chris Barber - Chris Barber & His New Orleans Friends

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:20
Size: 158,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:17)  1. Birth Of The Blues
(5:21)  2. Coquette
(3:13)  3. Ma She's Making Eyes At Me
(3:11)  4. Over In The Gloryland
(5:43)  5. Sentimental Journey
(3:56)  6. Yes Sir, That's My Baby
(5:01)  7. The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You
(3:17)  8. Mood Indigo
(5:15)  9. My Blue Heaven
(5:58) 10. Let Me Call You Sweetheart
(5:20) 11. Nobody's Sweetheart
(5:49) 12. I Ain't Got Nobody
(3:34) 13. Lord Lord Lord
(8:18) 14. Panama

Barber/Ball/Bilk are a British traditional jazz trio comprised of trombonist Chris Barber, trumpeter Kenny Ball, and clarinetist Acker Bilk, whose individual recordings were compiled from time to time on joint best-of collections such as At the Jazz Band Ball (1994) and Boaters Bowlers & Bowties (2009). The recordings of Barber (born on April 17, 1930, in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England), Ball (born on May 22, 1930, in Ilford, Essex, England), and Bilk (born on January 28, 1929, in Pensford, Somerset, England) were first compiled jointly in 1962 on The Best of Ball, Barber & Bilk, which was released in the wake of "Stranger on the Shore." Performed by Mr. Acker Bilk & the Leon Young String Chorale and originally released in October 1961, "Stranger on the Shore" was one of the biggest hits of 1962 in not only the U.K., where it was the best-selling single of the year, but also the U.S., where it topped the Billboard singles chart for a week in May. Even though "Stranger on the Shore" isn't featured on The Best of Ball, Barber & Bilk, which includes songs by Mr. Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band, Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, and Chris Barber & His Jazz Band, the song's popularity, along with that of the British traditional jazz movement, propelled the compilation to the top of the U.K. albums chart in September 1962. From time to time over the years, the recordings of Barber, Ball, and Bilk were likewise compiled jointly. 

At the Jazz Band Ball (1994) is a particularly notable compilation of 1962 recordings drawn from the BBC Archives. In addition, Boaters Bowlers & Bowties (2009) is notable for its double-disc length as well as for its inclusion of "Stranger on the Shore." ~ Jason Birchmeier https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-barber-mn0000105761/biography

Chris Barber & His New Orleans Friends

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Joe Lovano - Trio Tapestry

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:11
Size: 111,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. One Time In
(5:13)  2. Seeds Of Change
(3:40)  3. Razzle Dazzle
(4:07)  4. Sparkle Lights
(8:25)  5. Mystic
(3:40)  6. Piano/Drum Episode
(2:01)  7. Gong Episode
(6:18)  8. Rare Beauty
(3:49)  9. Spirit Lake
(4:16) 10. Tarrassa
(2:55) 11. The Smiling Dog

With all tonalities being created equal, on Trio Tapestries, Joe Lovano's first as a leader for ECM and one of the first releases of the label's fiftieth year, silence abides. Both as concept and as actuality, silence lays at the heart of this eleven song lattice. Even the spacing between the tracks hangs appended, allowing the music to arise and fall, like thoughts and non-thoughts amid meditation.  By way of an invocational duet, "One Time In" with its gongs, airy, ghostly cymbals and Lovano's brooding, deep-tone tenor saxophone, welcomes the listener into the deep space that Trio Tapestries becomes. Drummer and teenaged band mate Carmen Castaldi absolutely absorbs the spirit forces at work. Marilyn Crispell's piano, her touch more rounded and yielding than on her most recent trio outing, the often volcanic Dreamstruck (Not Two, 2018) with Harvey Sorgen and Joe Fonda, enters like a guiding dove on the near reverent "Seeds Of Change." Long connected as Crispell and Lovano are by their ties to the late Paul Motian, it's no small wonder they become two seeking, monk-like voices here. No bassist appears on Trio Tapestries and that suits these the trio just fine. Each instrument supplies its own supple bedrock. The impressionist's dream that is "Sparkle Lights" holds the true essence of the sound: three voices, space, and the will, or more likely the absolute human need to listen. "Mystic" highlights Lovano's beloved tarogato, a Hungarian folk instrument used in the past to rally the troops to battle, soars mournful yet blessed over Castaldi's tempered, sustained percussive-rumble. As they appear on several tracks, Chinese gongs have become central to Lovano's writing and questing nature. "Spirit Lake" looks onto some troubled water, reminding us that peace can fall prey to anxious intensity at any given moment. And even if "The Smiling Dog" closes Trio Tapestries on a most song-like note, it doesn't distract from the affirmative, ruminative arc of Lovano's larger, spiritual intent. ~ Mike Jurkovic https://www.allaboutjazz.com/trio-tapestry-joe-lovano-ecm-records-review-by-mike-jurkovic.php

Personnel: Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, tarogato, gongs; Marilyn Crispell: piano; Carmen Castaldi: drums, percussion.

Trio Tapestry

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