Chuck Hedges - Just Jammin'

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:37
Size: 174,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:52)  1. Broadway
(5:38)  2. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
(7:00)  3. Sugar
(9:51)  4. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You
(6:33)  5. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
(7:54)  6. Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me
(6:59)  7. Lullaby In Rhythm
(3:19)  8. In My Solitude
(8:11)  9. The Man I Love
(6:11) 10. Midnight Sun
(5:03) 11. Samba Dese Days

Chuck Hedges would agree that he is a nut who didn’t fall far from the tree. Chicago born and bred, the talented clarinetist settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after touring with Wild Bill Davison, and he still commutes to the Windy City for a regular gig at Andy’s. But he also appreciates jamming with his Wisconsin neighbors, and for some time he has wanted to record with them. (Some of Hedges’ Milwaukee neighbors are commuters, such as Bucky Buchwalter, who returned to music after retiring from 40 years as an executive with Marshall Field in Chicago; and Dave Sullivan, who drives in from Sheboygan.) Arbors Records has provided him that chance. The result is a gentle album of “swinging chamber jazz, possibly what the pioneering Benny Goodman sextet might sound like today, if BG, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, et al., were still alive and playing,” as Mike Drew, jazz critic and writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, opines in the liner notes. Well, I’m not sure I would’ve gone that far, but you’ve got the idea. From their assurance, musicianship, blend, and joie de vivre, these are obviously serious jazzmen who enjoy their music-making enormously and want to share it. To be sure, the music is relaxed and easy to share; as I’m listening in my office, my wife walks past the door, stops, and then comes in just to sit and listen for a spell. This CD provides more than 75 minutes of mellow music on only eleven tunes, so the musicians have plenty of room to stretch out a bit. Ellington’s “Solitude” runs a little more than three minutes, but all the others range between five and ten minutes in length. The longest is also the slowest and moodiest: Victor Young and Ned Washington’s “Ghost of a Chance,” with a delightful guitar quote from “It Might as Well Be Spring,” and tasty solos all around. If you like quotes, listen to Sullivan’s guitar solos: on “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart,” for David Rose’s “Holiday for Strings”; right at the beginning on “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me,” for Stephen Foster’s “I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”; and on “Samba Dese Days,” for Youmans and Caesar’s “Tea for Two.” The two most up-tempo tunes are left for near the end: “The Man I Love” and “Samba Dese Days,” Sophie Tucker’s old theme song, with a lilting Latin arrangement of “Midnight Sun” sandwiched in between. Any lingering doubts I might have harbored about the technical and musical abilities of these six musicians have been neatly dispelled, long before the last echoes die out. ~ J.Robert Bragonier https://www.allaboutjazz.com/just-jammin-chuck-hedges-arbors-records-review-by-j-robert-bragonier.php

Personnel: Chuck Hedges (clarinet), Henry (Bucky) Buckwalter (vibes), Dave Sullivan (guitar), Gary Meisner (piano), Mike Britz (bass), and Andy LoDuca (drums)

Just Jammin'

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Thelma Gracen - Night And Day

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:03
Size: 88,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:54)  1. I'll Remember April
(3:03)  2. Night And Day
(4:20)  3. I'll Never Be The Same
(2:35)  4. Tea For Two
(3:43)  5. I'll Get By
(2:38)  6. Out Of Nowhere
(4:01)  7. Solitude
(1:47)  8. Just You, Just Me
(4:15)  9. I'm Yours
(2:47) 10. People Will Say We're In Love
(3:51) 11. More Than You Know
(2:03) 12. Let There Be Love

Thelma Gracen began singing at the age of 15 and in the following years she appeared on the swing bands of Shep Fields (first recordings)  and Jimmy Dorsey . In 1947 she sang in the Gay Claridge Orchestra  ("Juke Box Serenade");  In 1955, she was in Los Angeles by Maynard Ferguson discovered  and was vocalist for Freddie Slack ( "Cow Cow Boogie" ( EmArcy Records ), u. A. With Shorty Sherock , Herbie Harper , Justin Gordon , Al Hendrickson , Morty Corb , Jack Sparrow). In November 1955, she recorded her only self-titled album for Wing with a studio band of West Coast jazz musicians ( Quen Anderson , Georgie Auld , Lou Levy , Barney Kessel , Joe Comfort, and Sid Bulkin ) (ReAssue on EmArCy).  She then interpreted standards such as " I'll Get By ", " I'll Remember April ", " More Than You Know ", " Out of Nowhere ", " Solitude " and " Tea for Two ". Translate By Google https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_Gracen

Night And Day

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Doug Webb - Midnight

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:39
Size: 169,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:24)  1. Try A Little Tenderness
(6:16)  2. I'll Be Around
(6:16)  3. Fly Me To The Moon
(6:25)  4. You Go To My Head
(3:53)  5. The Boy Next Door
(8:56)  6. Crazy She Calls Me
(6:20)  7. Quasimodo
(8:47)  8. Emily
(4:02)  9. You Do Something To Me - bonus track
(8:05) 10. Ask Me Now - bonus track
(3:52) 11. There's A Small Hotel - bonus track
(5:17) 12. Trouble Is A Man - bonus track

Saxophonist Doug Webb leads a superb quartet on Midnight, creating a late-night atmosphere with a hint of nostalgia on a range of classic tunes. Webb's career stretches back for 30 years and includes work with some of the finest jazz musicians, including Bud Shanks, Horace Silver and Freddie Hubbard, as well as leading rock and pop acts including Rod Stewart. Midnight sees Webb joined by an equally talented rhythm section; the result is a true ensemble performance with every musician given the opportunity to stretch out and put their own individual stamp on the recording. Bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Gerry Gibbs hold down the rhythmic center of the music with an inventive enthusiasm. Clarke, in particular, seems to relish his role in the traditional acoustic lineup, playing with verve. Their command of the rhythm is total, providing space and opportunity for the pianists to take on more of a lead role as well as delivering some exceptional solos. The tunes may be familiar, but the quartet makes each one sound fresh, even when playing them in what might be termed the "standard" fashion. Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around" finds Webb playing in a style reminiscent of fellow tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton, the solos by Webb and pianist Larry Goldings are rich and warm. By contrast, "Try a Little Tenderness," usually performed as a ballad by artists such as Otis Redding, is delivered in a swinging, up-tempo, style with a terrific tenor solo from Webb. 

Clarke's solos on "Crazy She Calls Me" and Charlie Parker's "Quasimodo" are positive, precise and affecting album highlights. He also takes the spotlight on Bart Howard's "Fly Me to the Moon." The arrangement is rather bland to that point, but Clarke's performance is an object lesson in how to play a bass solo to complement the mood of a tune. Goldings' bell-like piano chords on the closing bars of the tune are an inspired and delightful ending. "You Go To My Head" is a piano and saxophone duet, with pianist Joe Bagg playing on this tune, in a more angular and percussive contrast to Goldings elsewhere on the disc, and works exceptionally well in underpinning Webb. The third of the album's pianists, the young Sri Lankan Mahesh Balasooriya, joins the band for "The Boy Next Door," and brings yet another distinctive style to the group. Closer to Bagg's technique than Goldings, his chordal playing is economical and unselfish, and gives Gibbs the chance to create some inventive drum patterns. Webb puts his own musical identity on this album with confidence. His tone is welcoming, whether he's playing soprano, alto or tenor, and his solos are wonderfully melodic every note counts, with no need to overpower the music with unnecessary displays of complex runs or techniques. Production is exceptionally good, and the trademark Posi-Tone packaging adds to the rather nostalgic feel of the music. Midnight is a triumph of thoughtful yet romantic late night jazz. ~ Bruce Lindsay https://www.allaboutjazz.com/midnight-doug-webb-posi-tone-records-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php

Personnel: Doug Webb: saxophones; Larry Goldings: piano (2, 3, 6-8); Stanley Clarke: bass; Gerry Gibbs: drums; Joe Bagg: piano (1, 4); Mahesh Balasooriya: piano (5).

Midnight

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Jean-Luc Ponty - King Kong

Styles: Violin Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:00
Size: 101,4 MB
Art: Front

( 4:55)  1. King Kong
( 4:03)  2. Idiot Bastard Son
( 5:36)  3. Twenty Small Cigars
( 7:17)  4. How Would You Like To Have A Head Like That
(19:25)  5. Music For Electric Violin And Low Budget Orchestra
( 2:42)  6. America Drinks And Goes Home

Not just an album of interpretations, King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa was an active collaboration; Frank Zappa arranged all of the selections, played guitar on one, and contributed a new, nearly 20-minute orchestral composition for the occasion. Made in the wake of Ponty's appearance on Zappa's jazz-rock masterpiece Hot Rats, these 1969 recordings were significant developments in both musicians' careers. In terms of jazz-rock fusion, Zappa was one of the few musicians from the rock side of the equation who captured the complexity not just the feel of jazz, and this project was an indicator of his growing credibility as a composer. For Ponty's part, King Kong marked the first time he had recorded as a leader in a fusion-oriented milieu (though Zappa's brand of experimentalism didn't really foreshadow Ponty's own subsequent work). Of the repertoire, three of the six pieces had previously been recorded by the Mothers of Invention, and "Twenty Small Cigars" soon would be. Ponty writes a Zappa-esque theme on his lone original "How Would You Like to Have a Head Like That," where Zappa contributes a nasty guitar solo. The centerpiece, though, is obviously "Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra," a new multi-sectioned composition that draws as much from modern classical music as jazz or rock. It's a showcase for Zappa's love of blurring genres and Ponty's versatility in handling everything from lovely, simple melodies to creepy dissonance, standard jazz improvisation to avant-garde, nearly free group passages. In the end, Zappa's personality comes through a little more clearly (his compositional style pretty much ensures it), but King Kong firmly established Ponty as a risk-taker and a strikingly original new voice for jazz violin. ~ Steve Huey https://www.allmusic.com/album/king-kong-jean-luc-ponty-plays-the-music-of-frank-zappa-mw0000099048

Personnel:  Jean-Luc Ponty – electric violin, baritone violectra; Frank Zappa – guitar; George Duke – piano, electric piano; Ernie Watts – alto and tenor sax;  Ian Underwood – tenor sax;  Buell Neidlinger – bass; Wilton Felder – Fender bass; Gene Estes – vibraphone, percussion;  John Guerin – drums;  Art Tripp – drums; Donald Christlieb – bassoon; Gene Cipriano – oboe, English horn; Vincent DeRosa – French horn, descant; Arthur Maebe – French horn, tuben; Jonathan Meyer – flute; Harold Bemko – cello; Milton Thomas – viola.

King Kong

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Walter Davis Jr - If I Get Lucky

Styles: Piano Jazz

Year: 2000

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 61:15

Size: 142,4 MB

Art: Front

(3:04)  1. Santa Claus

(3:19)  2. Jacksonville, Pt. 1

(3:38)  3. Jacksonville, Pt. 2

(3:13)  4. Big Jack Engine Blues

(3:43)  5. You Don't Know Right From Wrong

(3:26)  6. Smoky Mountain

(2:38)  7. Call Your Name

(2:35)  8. Just Want To Think

(3:09)  9. Cotton Club Blues

(2:52) 10. Good Time Woman

(2:55) 11. If I Get Lucky

(3:15) 12. Death Of Bessie Smith

(2:53) 13. Wrapped Up In Bad Luck

(2:54) 14. Cozy Corner Blues

(2:56) 15. Save It All For Me

(2:47) 16. Can't See Your Face

(2:41) 17. Just Thinking

(3:01) 18. Please Don't Mistreat Me

(2:59) 19. Why Should I Be Blue?

(3:09) 20. Just Want To Talk Awhile

(March 1, 1911 or 1912 – October 22, 1963) was an African-American blues singer, pianist, and songwriter who was one of the most prolific blues recording artists from the early 1930s to the early 1950s. Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists. His best-known recording, a version of the train blues standard "Sunnyland Blues", released in 1931, is more notable for the warmth and poignancy of his singing than for his piano playing. His best-known songs included "Come Back Baby", "Ashes in My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues".[ Davis was sometimes billed as "Hooker Joe". He was unrelated to the jazz pianist Walter Davis, Jr. Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi. He ran away from home at about 13 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. He started singing with pianist Roosevelt Sykes and guitarist Henry Townsend. Davis made his first recordings, including the successful "M&O Blues", in 1930, as a singer accompanied by Sykes on piano.[7] A self-taught pianist, Davis increasingly accompanied himself as he became more proficient. His piano playing was described by blues historian Gérard Herzhaft as "primitive but expressive, with an irregular rhythm." Influenced by Leroy Carr, and with a "mournful vocal tone" and a "reflective style and superior lyrics", Davis recorded prolifically for Victor and Bluebird, making over 150 recordings between 1930 and 1952. Many featured Townsend and/or Big Joe Williams on guitar. Described as "one of the finest and most original of all blues singers and pianists", Davis had a varied repertoire, including melancholy songs (such as "Tears Came Rollin' Down", written by Townsend), humorous songs, and songs laced with double entendres (such as "Think You Need a Shot"). According to Townsend, Davis "played some of the saddest songs that was ever heard about".  Townsend denied claims that Davis played club dates in the South and the lower Midwest with Townsend and Big Joe Williams, saying that Davis "didn't do no entertaining, not to my knowledge, none whatsoever. ... Walter was very, very bashful when it came to public entertainment. ... I've never known him to be booked on no job, not even no house party." Townsend also stated that Davis's name was used falsely on club bookings by other musicians in the 1930s. In 1940, Davis had a hit with his recording of "Come Back Baby", a song later recorded by Lowell Fulson, Ray Charles, and many others.[11] Once he was well established as a popular recording artist, he performed regularly in hotels in St. Louis, sometimes with Townsend. In 1952, Davis had a stroke, which effectively ended his recording career. His style of music was already becoming unfashionable.[8] He worked for the rest of his life as a desk clerk in a hotel and as a part-time preacher. He died in St. Louis in 1963, aged about 52,nd was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Hillsdale, Missouri. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Davis_(blues)

If I Get Lucky

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