Lou Rawls, The Les McCann Trio - Stormy Monday

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1962
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:18
Size: 100,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:45)  1. (They Call It) Stormy Monday
(4:30)  2. God Bless the Child
(3:11)  3. See See Rider
(5:57)  4. Willow Weep for Me
(4:00)  5. I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
(3:28)  6. In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)
(2:46)  7. 'Tain't Nobody's Biz-Ness If I Do
(3:12)  8. Lost and Lookin'
(3:55)  9. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water
(3:08) 10. Sweet Lover
(2:58) 11. Blues Is a Woman
(2:23) 12. A Little Les of Lou's Blues

Lou Rawls has had a long and commercially successful career mostly singing soul, R&B, and pop music. Originally a gospel singer, Rawls' first album as a leader features him performing soulful standards backed by the Les McCann Trio. Few of the songs have been under-recorded through the years, but they sound fresh and lively when sung by Rawls; highlights include "Stormy Monday," "In the Evening," and "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water." Pianist McCann gets a generous amount of solo space, and the reissue has three bonus tracks. This is still Rawls' definitive recording in the jazz idiom, cut before he went on to more lucrative areas. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/stormy-monday-mw0000203592

Personnel: Lou Rawls - vocals; Les McCann - piano; Leroy Vinnegar - bass; Ron Jefferson - drums

Stormy Monday

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Kristin Chenoweth - Coming Home

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:25
Size: 180,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:10)  1. I Could Have Danced All Night
(3:16)  2. Maybe This Time
(4:20)  3. My Coloring Book
(4:20)  4. Bring Him Home
(3:41)  5. Fathers And Daughters
(5:06)  6. Hard Times Come Again No More
(5:08)  7. Upon This Rock
(3:18)  8. Over The Rainbow
(3:41)  9. Popular
(5:13) 10. For Good
(6:23) 11. Little Sparrow
(3:16) 12. Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
(2:19) 13. All The Things You Are
(5:23) 14. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)
(5:20) 15. I Was Here
(4:04) 16. I Will Always Love You
(6:31) 17. Heart Of The Matter
(2:47) 18. I’ll Be Home For Christmas

Kristin Chenoweth is recognized across the full spectrum of entertainment as an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress of stage ("You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," "Wicked," & the upcoming "On the Twentieth Century"), television ("Pushing Daisies," "Glee," "West Wing") film (Disney's "Descendants," "The Boy Next Door") in addition to her career as an accomplished singer. With the recording of Coming Home, she returns to her Broken Arrow, OK, home to perform songs in the Performing Arts Center housing the aptly-named Kristin Chenoweth Theater. Kristin performs her most memorable songs of Broadway, television, film & American classics. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Home-Kristin-Chenoweth/dp/B00O50QY24

Personnel:  Lead Vocals- Kristin Chenoweth; Featured Vocals- Tyler Hanes, Chelsea Packard, Axyl Langford, Will Taylor, Mary-Mitchell Campbell; Additional Vocals- Broken Arrow High School Choir; Guitar- Eric Davis; Bass- Brian Hamm; Drums- Damien Bassman; Percussion- Steve Craft; Violin- Justin Smith, Michelle Sherman; Cello- Krassimira Figg; Woodwinds- Reid Bennett, Gary Linde; Trumpets- Dave Johnson, Steven Goforth

Coming Home

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Yves Theiler Trio - Dance in a Triangle

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:14
Size: 138,5 MB
Art: Front

( 8:29)  1. For Bass
( 6:26)  2. Day By Day
(10:25)  3. Book Of Peace
( 8:35)  4. Dance In A Triangle
( 4:03)  5. In A Way It's Nothing
( 9:52)  6. Caravan Change
(12:24)  7. Over There Is Another One

Although a piano trio has a leader, the better ones behave as an equilateral triangle. That is, they "go Dutch." In the case of the Yves Theiler Trio, we could say the music on Dance In A Triangle "goes Swiss." The pianist, Yves Theiler, composed all the music here, but it is improbable that it could be navigated by surrogate performers. At least, ones that were not well rehearsed. Theiler, who studied with Richie Beirach and has recorded with Omri Ziegele, collaborates here with drummer Lukas Mantel and bassist Luca Sisera (Tommy Meier Root Down, Michael Jaeger Kerouac). Theiler's previous trio recording was Out Of The Box (Unit Records, 2012). Their triad approach is evident from track one. "For Bass" opens with some hand drumming, and Theiler's percussive and repetitive metronome plunk of keys that paves Sisera's double bass solo. As the piece develops, it maintains that same repetitive pulse, but effectuates multiple complex changes of direction. Such is the overall modus operandi here. The obvious comparison to be made here is to The Bad Plus. 

Live Ethan Iverson, Theiler has taken the percussive piano approach of Ahmad Jamal and injected it with the repetitive sounds of modern composition, hip-hop, and what only can be described as folk/jazz. Thankfully, modern players feel no need to by labeled or pigeon-holed by tradition, with a capitol "T." They can add funky drumming to a piece like "Book Of Piece," yet sidestep simple pop music by charting a course with multiple changes. Theiler uses his Wurlitzer organ in tandem with piano on the title track, backed by the rhythms of Africa and even a soft ballad like "In A Way It's Nothing" delivers a varied approach, as the players rely on a chest throbbing percussive sound. It will be interesting to see what this trio comes up with next. ~ Mark Corroto https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dance-in-a-triangle-yves-theiler-trio-musiques-suisses-review-by-mark-corroto.php

Personnel: Yves Theiler: piano, Wurlitzer; Luca Sisera: bass; Lukas Mantel: drums.

Dance in a Triangle

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Harold Mabern - The Iron Man: Live at Smoke

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 103:12
Size: 237,9 MB
Art: Front

( 7:32)  1. A Few Miles From Memphis
( 8:07)  2. I Get a Kick Out of You
( 4:48)  3. I Know That You Know
( 4:44)  4. I Remember Clifford
( 9:28)  5. T-Bone Steak
( 8:48)  6. Almost Like Being In Love
( 5:48)  7. Dear Lord
( 9:44)  8. Nightlife in Tokyo
( 9:00)  9. She's Out of My Life
(10:31) 10. How Insensitive
( 5:06) 11. Mr. P.C.
( 6:34) 12. On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
( 7:14) 13. You Are Too Beautiful
( 5:41) 14. Rakin' and Scrapin'

Hard-bopping pianist Harold Mabern may have made his recording debut in 1959 with drummer Walter Perkins' quintet and led his first session in 1968 for Blue Note on the soulful A Few Miles From Memphis but here he is, at 82, playing with straight-ahead, youthful joie de vivre on the story telling, life affirming, two-disc set The Iron Man: Live at Smoke.  Working as hard as ever with his long standing trio of tenor saxophonist and former student Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth, Mabern, on this last night of an exhilarating three-week residency that saw his rep re-ascend, covers all the bases and revels in his song-filled autobiography. His signature "A Few Miles From Memphis" and "Rakin' and Scrapin,'" two full fledged, hot blooded boogies, bookend The Iron Man: Live at Smoke and the music in between never lets you down. John Coltrane gets a special nod with a sonorous, rolling read of "Dear Lord" and a robust, crowd pleasing "Mr. PC." Add to that Alexander's gifted, often biting Coltrane-inspired runs and Webber's swing-blues bass circa Jimmy Garrison and yes, as he often, if not always, is, Coltrane's in the room taking it all in. "Nightlife in Tokyo," another Mabern claim to fame, effortlessly sways to and fro from a deceptive Oriental tinge to a grand American boogie/swing. Farnsworth keeps a tight rein on things here while Mabern and Webber carry the day. Alexander gets his licks in too and shines on the quieter "You Are Too Beautiful" and "She's Out of My Life." No one goes home disappointed and The Iron Man: Live at Smoke proofs it. ~ Mike Jurkovic https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-iron-man-live-at-smoke-harold-mabern-smoke-sessions-records-review-by-mike-jurkovic.php

Personnel: Harold Mabern: piano; Eric Alexander: tenor saxophone; John Webber: bass; Joe Farnsworth: drums.

R.I.P.
Born: March 20, 1936, Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Died: September 19, 2019

The Iron Man: Live at Smoke

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Johnathan Blake, Chris Potter, Linda Oh - Trion

Styles: Saxophone, Post Bop
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 112:42
Size: 259,1 MB
Art: Front

( 1:59)  1. Calodendrum
(16:42)  2. Synchronicity 1
( 3:22)  3. Trope (Linda Intro)
( 8:03)  4. Trope
(10:57)  5. One for Honor
(10:07)  6. High School Daze
(10:19)  7. No Bebop Daddy
( 2:51)  8. Bedrum
(11:34)  9. Good Hope
(10:16) 10. Eagle
(11:02) 11. Relaxing at the Camarillo
( 7:54) 12. Blue Heart
( 7:31) 13. West Berkley St.

Johnathan Blake, in-demand drummer who has contributed to recordings by trumpeter Tom Harrell and guitarist Russell Malone, presents an ambitious two-CD set, Trion, a chordless trio affair with a pair of fellow first-callers, saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Linda May Han Oh. The ground was broken for this particular format by saxophonist Sonny Rollins' A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1958), a freewheeling exploration of jazz standards and Great American Songbook tunes. Where A Night At The Village Vanguard sounds raw and unrehearsed a seat-of-the-pants recording if ever there was one (in a very good way) Trion is a slightly tighter presentation of music, with Potter displaying as much muscle as Rollins. A level of familiarity pervades as Potter played in the Mingus Big Band with Blake in the 1990s, and also on Blake's 2014 disc, Gone, But Not Forgotten (Criss Cross Records). Linda May Han Oh is newer to Blake's orbit; she has played with him in trios with saxophonists Mark Turner and Jaleel Shaw, and she steps into this situation with powerhouse flexibility and virtuosity. Blake opens both discs with brief drum solos, "Calodendrum" on Disc One the name of the African evergreen tree, a nod to the drum language's roots and "Bedrum," meaning "to drum about in celebration," on Disc Two. Following the drum opening on Disc One, Potter offers an intense-yet-ghostly tenor intro that gels into "Synchronicity 1," from the Police songbook, seventeen minutes of sustained intensity that set the tone for two CD's worth of inspired, no-hold-barred trio music. "Trope," an Oh composition, shifts from a moody bass intro into a melodically Near Eastern-sounding tune, with the heartbeat of the bass creating a disturbing EKG readout. Potter contributes two pieces, and Blake adds several of his own. All are delivered to create a cohesive whole, spanning both discs, featuring a consistently spirited threeway interplay and a crisp clarity of input all around, with Charlie Parker's "Relaxing At the Camarillo" serving as a touchstone to early bop, with the trio tearing it up in grand style. No relaxing at all. Chordless trio outings have become commonplace since Sonny Rollins introduced the idea. Few hit the level of excellence of Trion. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/trion-johnathan-blake-giant-step-arts-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Johnathan Blake: drums; Chris Potter: tenor saxophone; Linda May Han Oh: bass.

Trion

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