Monday, August 26, 2019

Mark Turner - In This World

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:26
Size: 139,7 MB
Art: Front

(7:33)  1. Mesa
(7:18)  2. Lennie Groove
(8:02)  3. You Know I Care
(6:48)  4. The Long Road
(6:45)  5. Barcelona
(7:56)  6. In This World
(5:02)  7. Days of Wine and Roses
(4:45)  8. Bo Brussels
(6:13)  9. She Said, She Said

A horde of promising young sax players has emerged in the 1990s, but only a few players have begun to find their voices. Mark Turner is one young saxman whose Muse has kept pace with his talent. The 33-year-old tenor saxophonist leads a band of clever young musicians on this thoughtful release, his second for Warner Brothers. Turner has developed a unique style inspired by John Coltrane's modal flights and Warne Marsh's unpredictable chordal experiments. This time Turner delivers six originals and three covers, and each track is energized by the incredibly powerful presence of Brad Mehldau on piano. In This World offers complicated music, a point that's reinforced by Mehdlau's pedantic liner notes. Take the pianist's description of the opening track, entitled "Mesa:" "Opting for mediant relationships instead of dominant-tonic, and casting a mixolydian blur on the dominant seventh chord with the added fourth, he (Turner) conjures a world of half-lights and shadows, filled with achy, suffused longing." Translation: "Mesa" is an ethereal piece that evokes a desert. Complex as these songs are, there is also something inherently tranquil about them. Unlike the majority of young reed players, Turner is not so intent on dazzling us with technique. He's smart enough to be subtle, and his vision takes in the total ensemble. Most of his solos sound like conversations rather than monologues, and most are played at the high end of the tenor sax register. Like Coltrane, Turner started out on alto before he switched to tenor. The young saxman has a very warm tone and an almost spiritual feel for his instrument, qualities that have earned him great respect among his peers. It's telling that Joshua Redman played on his debut ( Mark Turner ) released earlier this year, and that the great James Moody teamed with him on the excellent Warner Jams, Volume Two in 1997. 

Now he's landed Mehldau, the hottest young pianist in jazz. Perhaps owing to the time the two spent together in the TanaReid band, the rapport between Mehldau and Turner seems almost telepathic. They snake their way through this Trane-like terrain with inspired synergy. Dexterous support is provided by Larry Grenadier on bass and New Orleans native Brian Blade on drums. The latter is an intense musician who contributes ambience as well as rhythms. Drummer Jorge Rossy also plays on two cuts, while inventive guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel appears on three. Besides "Mesa," highlights among the nine tracks include "You Know I Care," a beautiful ballad written by Duke Pearson; "Days of Wine and Roses," which is given a fast-paced treatment; "The Long Road," a multi-hued piece and one of three cuts that feature Mehldau on electric piano; and "Bo Brussels," a wild free-form improvisation. "Lennie Groove" is derived from Lennie Tristano's "Lennie's Pennies," and it showcases some incredibly complex interplay between Turner and Mehldau and intriguing solos by each. My favorite track is "Barcelona," a Turner original that swings in noble fashion. The title track includes a gorgeous serpentine duet between Turner and Rosenwinkel. A cover of the Beatles' "He Said, She Said" even has a Ringo-like back beat. Mark Turner stands with James Carter, Joshua Redman and Chris Potter as one of the most talented  and focused  post-bop saxophonists to emerge in the 1990s. While casual jazz fans might find In This World a difficult listen, anybody who's into Coltrane, Tristano, or Marsh should really dig it. ~ Ed Kopp https://www.allaboutjazz.com/in-this-world-mark-turner-warner-bros-review-by-ed-kopp.php

Personnel:  Mark Turner – tenor saxophone; Brad Mehldau – piano, electric piano; Kurt Rosenwinkel – guitar; Larry Grenadier – bass; Brian Blade – drums; Jorge Rossy – drums

In This World

Wendy Luck - Stand Up

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:18
Size: 90,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. Stand Up
(3:37)  2. What's Freedom For
(3:24)  3. My God Is Love
(3:39)  4. You Cheer for Me
(3:40)  5. My House
(4:35)  6. Mercy More
(4:26)  7. You'll Be There
(4:44)  8. I Love You
(3:18)  9. Amazing Grace
(4:07) 10. Ave Maria

It was another very gray, dreary, not yet spring morning as I headed out the door decked with my headset in place. I was headed for the subway, beginning to familiarize myself with the song, Stand Up, in preparation for my upcoming recording session. I got on the C train, and on this day, the “C” stood for crowded. I locked eyes with an old man sitting on the train leaning on his cane. In my earbuds only, I heard the lyrics urging, “Stand up ... Stand up.” Suddenly the man stood up and said, “I am going to stand up. You sit.” I sat down and looked up and into the eyes of a weary pregnant woman in her last weeks. The lyrics again danced in my earbuds ... “Stand up ... Stand up.” This time I stood up and waved her into my seat. She sat, and pretty soon a number of passengers started smiling, laughing, and standing up, offering their seats to others on the subway car. As the train pulled into my stop at Times Square, a few of us got off, smiling like old friends. We had connected by standing up together. On that initially dreary morning, the music, as soundtrack to my life, seemed to magically transform me and somehow those around me, with a sparkling inspiration to stand up for ourselves and for others, and to have some fun in the process. It happened in New York City, so it can happen anywhere. Thank you for the opportunity to share my music with you. This album of songs is about “standing up” while connecting with the joy, passion and love that resides within each of us. The title song, Stand Up, offers a universal message and for me, a unique deeper personal meaning. May the music speak to you, bless you, lift you, and encourage you to stand up to the beautiful truth of who you really are. Peace and blessings, Wendy https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/wendyluck2

Stand Up

John Hicks, Frank Morgan - Twogether

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:22
Size: 132,0 MB
Art: Front

(8:22)  1. Parisian Thoroughfare
(8:23)  2. Night in Tunisia
(8:39)  3. My One and Only Love
(8:04)  4. Is That So?
(8:58)  5. Round Midnight
(8:00)  6. N.Y. Theme
(6:53)  7. Passion Flower

The passing of pianist John Hicks and altoist Frank Morgan within a year of each other was a sad blow to the High Note roster and the jazz community writ large. Both men had enjoyed a late career renaissance via the label and Morgan, in particular, experienced an artistic renewal through a series of critically-acclaimed recordings capped by a three-volume document of a stand at The Jazz Standard. This set is something of a posthumous swan song for each player, coupling pieces from a duo performance at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, November of 2005 with selections from a solo Hicks recital roughly a year later. Pun-saddled titled aside, the program delivers tradition-savvy post-bop plied by experts of the form. The tracks unfold in an ear-pleasing sandwich sequence with solo cuts bracketing a pair of duo pieces on either side of the program. Hicks’ solo investigations, starting with a rollicking rococo investigation of Bud Powell’s “Parisian Thoroughfare”, accord him the freedom to range through themes and variations at an easygoing pace with plenty of space for loquacious elaboration. All of the pieces save the closing solo rendering of “Passion Flower” ring in near the eight-minute mark and that last still clocks generously just shy of seven. Sound on both dates is intimate and faithful in the capture of twosome’s toothsome conversations. Compared with the introspective cast of Hicks’ solo ventures, the numbers with Morgan convey an even greater degree of urgency and complexity. “A Night in Tunisia” gives Hicks’ left hand a strenuous work out in the construction of romping chords, Morgan slipping and sliding through elisions on the familiar theme in aerated tone that approaches Paul Desmond territory. Hicks follows his partner’s extended statement with a delightful stride-inflected foray stamped with staggered switchbacks and a dizzying rhythmic pliability that primes the audience for the altoist’s lissome return and a handful more melodic permutations. The choice of “’Round Midnight” would appear to pull the partnership even further into the realm of jazz orthodoxy, but instead they effectively underscore why it remains a perennial favorite for improvisers the world over through an elegant cerulean deconstruction. By contrast, Kenny Dorham’s bop-structured “N.Y. Theme” trades strictly in fun fisticuffs between the partners, Hicks’ hands building decorous layered chords as Morgan lets fly his inner-Bird with unabashed brio. The music of Hicks and Morgan is now a regrettably finite commodity, but their shared artistic import remains undiminished in this delightful meeting between justly-venerated musical souls. https://news.allaboutjazz.com/john-hicks-and-frank-morgan-twogether-high-note.php?width=1920

Personnel: John Hicks – piano; Frank Morgan – alto sax (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6)

Twogether

Larry Coryell - The Dragon Gate

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:23
Size: 101,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. The Dragon Gate
(3:00)  2. Giant Steps
(3:43)  3. Sunset On Soweto
(4:11)  4. West Coast Blues
(4:38)  5. Molly's Lament
(4:41)  6. Back Bay Blues
(3:45)  7. And She Loved Him
(7:21)  8. Bottleneck Blackout
(3:24)  9. Things Ain't What They Used To Be
(4:52) 10. Snow Prince

This is a strong jazz-oriented date that features Larry Coryell exclusively on acoustic guitar, playing two standard blues unaccompanied, using one or two overdubs on six other tracks and performing a pair of duets with fellow guitarist Stefan Grossman. The music covers a bit of ground from a superior version of "Giant Steps" and tributes to Wes Montgomery and Duke Ellington to some introspective originals, one of which hints at Bob Dylan. The original LP issue also includes a 16-page pamphlet with transcriptions (for guitar) of each of the melodies except "Giant Steps." Recommended, especially to guitarists and those who primarily associate Larry Coryell with fusion. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/dragon-gate-mw0000654926

The Dragon Gate