Chuck Hedges - Sweet And Lovely

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:14
Size: 123,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:31)  1. Sweet And Lovely
(5:33)  2. Triste
(5:11)  3. Prelude To A Kiss
(4:12)  4. I Got Rhythm
(6:22)  5. The Very Thought Of You
(5:58)  6. Here's That Rainy Day
(5:34)  7. Exactly Like You
(4:53)  8. A Kiss To Build A Dream On
(4:19)  9. Oh, Lady Be Good
(5:38) 10. Mood Indigo

This project began when Chuck Hedges asked me to arrange one or two tunes for his Milwaukee Connection jazz band and string orchestra for the possible inclusion on an upcoming CD. Chuck is a dear friend and one of my favorite musicians of all time! Of course, I was honored to be asked by Chuck to work with him in this capacity. Over the years, Chuck and I have played many gigs together at jazz festivals and jazz clubs all over the world (Chuck on clarinet and me on string bass). We've also recorded several CDs with either Chuck or Tom Saunders as the leader. This would be the first time I would be able to actually write music for Chuck and a larger ensemble. This was an exciting prospect! So, with Chuck's instructions to me regarding his vision for these charts, I jumped right into it and wrote new string arrangements for Triste and Prelude To A Kiss in less than a week. After I completed the first two arrangements, I called Chuck and said, "Give me two more tunes to arrange for your jazz band and strings. I'm on a roll and I want to keep writing while I'm hot!" This process went on for several weeks until, with Chuck's guidance, I had completed ten new original arrangements for Chuck Hedges' Milwaukee Connection and string orchestra. Chuck's original intent was just to have a few string arrangements to record with his sextet. But the project had grown beyond what he had envisioned in the beginning. Now we had enough material for an entire CD! Chuck was thrilled. So was I! The producers of this CD, Denny, Marilyn and Brett Boneck then invited me to come to Milwaukee and participate in the recording sessions for this new CD. My role now shifted from arranger to conductor and musical director. The Bonecks are fantastic people. They are incredibly supportive, gracious and generous. The Bonecks have been close friends with Chuck Hedges for many years and they relished the opportunity to help produce this CD. 

It was my great pleasure to become friends with the Bonecks during the creation of the CD. Along with the invaluable assistance of Executive Producer Harry Abramowitz, Chuck, the Bonecks, The Milwaukee Connection, the string players, the recording engineer Ric Probst and I buckled down for two very intense days of recording at The Exchange Recording Complex studios in Milwaukee, WI. What came out of these sessions was a great masterwork of art spawned from the collective efforts of many. Our team consisted of seventeen talented, dedicated, motivated, focused and cheerful people who worked diligently and beyond Chuck's and my expectations to accomplish this difficult goal in a short amount of time. We are all pleased with the outcome of this CD and hope that you enjoy the final product as much as we enjoyed creating it. I want to express my deepest thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this recording. I am proud to be associated with these great musicians and music lovers: Denny, Marilyn and Brett Boneck, Cheryl Miller, Harry Abramowitz, engineer Ric Probst, violinists Jerry Loughney and Therese Ritchie, violist Katrin Talbot, cellist Scott Cook, pianist Gary Meisner, string bassist George Welland, drummer Andy LoDuca, guitarists Dave Sullivan and John Parrott, and vibraphonist Bob Maynard. Most importantly, I am extremely grateful to Chuck Hedges for this wonderful opportunity which became one of the greatest musical experiences of my life and I've had A LOT of great musical experiences!). Thank you, Chuck, for your faith in me and for the chance to help you create something really special with lasting value! Sincerely, Paul Keller https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/hedges7

Sweet And Lovely

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Marlene VerPlanck - Live! In London

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:23
Size: 124,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:48)  1. Music Is My Best Friend
(2:13)  2. Get out of Town
(5:46)  3. Body and Soul
(4:00)  4. The Happy Madness
(3:18)  5. Let's Begin
(5:26)  6. Someone to Light up My Life
(3:26)  7. I Wanna Be Around
(3:10)  8. Say It Isn't So
(2:03)  9. Let's Face the Music and Dance
(2:03) 10. Watching You
(4:14) 11. Lover
(2:28) 12. Falling in Love with You
(2:39) 13. It's Bad for Me
(7:27) 14. "Doctor Doolittle" Medley: Something in Your Eyes / I Think I Like You / When I Look in Your Eyes
(2:16) 15. So in Love

Marlene VerPlanck, a wonderful singer whose style falls somewhere between jazz and cabaret, is in fine form on this live CD. VerPlanck, although her improvisations are quite subtle, always swings and manages to find beauty in each song she interprets. This set has a wide variety of material which ranges from such classics as "Body and Soul" and "Let's Face the Music" to the potentially sticky "So in Love" and even a medley from "Doctor Doolittle." Backed by a solid if somewhat anonymous English rhythm section, VerPlanck (who is virtually the whole show) uplifts each song and surprises listeners with her occasional jumps into the stratosphere (her range is remarkable) although she mostly vocalizes in her warm middle register. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/live%21-in-london-mw0000236211

Live! In London

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Rick Fay - Words Among The Reeds

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:04
Size: 134,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:30)  1. Who Am I'
(4:00)  2. Sheepface
(4:23)  3. Singin' The Blues
(3:24)  4. In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening
(5:30)  5. Lazy Mood
(3:53)  6. A String Of Pearls
(4:48)  7. Blue And Sentimental
(5:12)  8. Wild Man Blues
(5:46)  9. Don't Explain
(7:14) 10. Come Sunday
(5:43) 11. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate
(4:37) 12. Spotlite

Rick Fay, on his previous release Poetry And Jazz, had effectively combined his poetry readings with trad jazz. On Words Among The Reeds, Fay verbally pays tribute to some of his favorite musicians, and then plays one of the songs associated with each artist. Included are his homages to Zutty Singleton, Bix Beiderbecke, Johnny Mercer, Eddie Miller, Bobby Hackett, Herschel Evans, Wild Bill Davison, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Muggsy Spanier, and Coleman Hawkins. While the talking is heartfelt, it is the music that makes this a recommended disc. Fay manages to play in a variety of styles on tenor, soprano, and clarinet (emulating Miller, Hawkins and Sidney Bechet in spots) and there are also fine solo spots for flugelhornist Jackie Coon, trombonist Dan Barrett, and pianist Johnny Varro. The music is swinging and joyful, with highlights including "Singin' The Blues," "Lazy Mood," "'Wild Man Blues," and Coleman Hawkins' "Spotlite."~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/words-among-the-reeds-mw0000036603

Words Among The Reeds

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Jan Garbarek - Eventyr

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1980
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:19
Size: 129,5 MB
Art: Front

(11:36)  1. Soria Maria
( 5:01)  2. Lillekort
( 9:19)  3. Eventyr
( 2:21)  4. Weaving A Garland
( 9:05)  5. Once Upon A Time
( 5:51)  6. The Companion
( 4:32)  7. Snipp, Snapp, Snute
( 8:30)  8. East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon

Eventyr means “adventure.” Classical listeners may also recognize it as the name of Frederick Delius’s lovely 1917 tone poem, which is often translated as “Once Upon A Time” to underscore its origins in the folk tale collections of Norwegian scholar Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. Here, the name adorns one of Jan Garbarek’s most recondite efforts to date and, like its own “Once Upon A Time,” houses a world of lessons and signs for those willing enough to interpret them. Joined by John Abercrombie and Nana Vasconcelos, he spins a string of seven improvisations, rounded out by a standard, “East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon” (Brooks Bowman), that doesn’t so much end the album as open us to its nebulous center. In that center we encounter swirls of majesty as only he can draw. With almost liquid fire and ever-insightful phrasing, Garbarek brings his deepest considerations to the nearly 12-minute “Sora Maria” that is its primordial soup. His interplay with Abercrombie resolves into a vague continent, where only the playful refractions of “Lillekort” resolve themselves into separate entities. Vasconcelos’s pliancy is the animating skeleton of the title track, in which his gravelly voice and ritualism exudes from every gamelan hit. In “Weaving A Garland,” tenor sax and guitar paint a rolling horizon of vegetation. Such shorter tracks as this and “The Companion” comprise the more potent incantations amid the long-form spells that otherwise dictate the album’s vocabulary. Transcendence comes in the form of “Snipp, Snapp, Snute,” a sparkling menagerie of triangles and wooden flute that works its light into a crepuscular sky. Through it we see in fine detail the inner life of three musicians whose nets run far into the cosmic ocean, where only transformation awaits in the catch. https://ecmreviews.com/2011/10/22/eventyr/

Personnel: Jan Garbarek Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flutes; Nana Vasconcelos Berimbau, Talking Drum, Percussion, Voice; John Abercrombie   Electric 6 And 12 String Guitars, Mandolin Guitar

Eventyr

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Jimmie Noone, Earl Hines - At The Apex Club

Styles: Clarinet And Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:29
Size: 101,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:01)  1. I Know That You Know
(3:16)  2. Sweet Sue, Just You
(3:19)  3. Four Or Five Times
(3:15)  4. Every Evening I Miss You, Pt. 1
(2:39)  5. Every Evening I Miss You, Pt. 2
(3:10)  6. Ready For The River
(3:03)  7. Forevermore
(3:11)  8. Apex Blues
(3:04)  9. My Monday Date
(3:03) 10. Blues My Naught Sweetie Gives To Me
(2:47) 11. Oh Sister, Ain't That Hot
(3:08) 12. King Joe
(3:13) 13. Sweet Lorraine, Pt. 1
(3:17) 14. Sweet Lorraine, Pt. 2

Jimmie Noone, (born April 23, 1895, near New Orleans, La., U.S.died April 19, 1944, Los Angeles, Calif.), black American jazz clarinetist noted for his lyricism and refinement of technique. He is one of the three principal clarinetists of early jazz, the other two being Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet.Noone studied with Bechet and began his career with New Orleans bands, including important ones led by Freddie Keppard, Kid Ory, and Buddy Petit. In 1918 he settled in Chicago, where he played with Doc Cooke’s band (1920–26, 1927) and studied with classical clarinetist Franz Schoepp. He recorded with King Oliver’s Creole Band in 1923. By the late 1920s he was also leading his own group at the Apex Club (1926–28) and other Chicago venues. Despite some touring, he remained largely in Chicago throughout the 1930s and led a big band in 1939. About 1943 he resettled in California, where he led a band and also played on recordings and radio programs with Ory. A masterly ensemble player in the traditional New Orleans style, Noone also proved an adept partner for the more modern Louis Armstrong, as the two accompanied singer Lillie Delk Christian’s 1928 recordings. Noone’s greatest impact was as a soloist. His full sound, melodic fertility, and graceful command of instrumental technique influenced other early jazz players and also swing-era clarinetists, most significantly Benny Goodman. The 1928 recordings of his Apex Club band, featuring his interplay with alto saxophonist Joe Poston, are a transition between the early jazz ensemble style and the more modern swing style, as represented by the solos of Noone and his pianist, Earl Hines. They include “Apex Blues,” “Four or Five Times,” “Sweet Sue,” and “I Know That You Know” and are considered Noone’s finest works. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jimmie-Noone

Personnel: Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Joe "Doc" Poston; Banjo, Guitar – Bud Scott; Clarinet – Jimmie Noone; Drums – Johnny Wells; Piano – Earl Hines; Tuba, Bass – Lawson Buford

At The Apex Club

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