Lew Tabackin - Dual Nature

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz 
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:24
Size: 104,6 MB
Art: Front

(7:30)  1. Euterpe
(5:53)  2. Yellow Is Mellow
(9:44)  3. Out Of This World
(9:28)  4. No Dues Blues
(6:56)  5. My Ideal
(5:50)  6. Russian Lullaby

The dual nature of Lew Tabackin as an otherworldly flutist and straight-ahead post-bop tenor saxophonist does merge into a common ground that can be simply spelled out as brilliant. Transcending his influences while also remaining true to them, Tabackin devotes three tracks apiece to his main instruments, alternating originals and standards with an outstanding quartet featuring the equally extraordinary pianist Don Friedman, reliable drummer Shelly Manne, and his favored bassist, Bob Daugherty. Hardly a split personality, it's more two sides of a coin in theory, as any jazz musician as extraordinary as Tabackin must explore his inner and outer soul. The flute side of his persona is more pronounced, exotic, atmospheric, and tinged with vibrato-drenched Asian flourishes. The impressionist Greek-based theme of pianist Bill Mays' "Euterpe" (goddess of music and poetry) sets the tone for this multicultural stance, a statuesque, somewhat busy, Rodin-type mysterious bronzed melody suggesting more than it states. Wife Toshiko Akiyoshi's big-band chart "Yellow Is Mellow" strips away the horns, leaving Tabackin's flute to muse lightheartedly in an easy swinging mood. Then "Out of This World" ramps up into a furious bop with some unusual off-minor vamps from Daugherty, with harmonies quickly sweetened over nearly ten minutes. The tenor side of Tabackin is easily identifiable on his original "No Dues Blues," a showstopping hard bopper with the influence of Sonny Rollins as the focal point, starting with a drum/sax duet, then rambling on. The ballad "My Ideal" offers ultimate tenderness, as Tabackin expresses the lineage between Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and especially Lester Young. Again like Rollins, Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullaby" has that "Airegin" swagger of Rollins down pat fluid, warm, and effusive hard bop at its best. There's no need to overemphasize the impressive qualities Tabackin and his band possess, as it's all here for appreciative listeners to enjoy on this marvelous recording that has been issued on CD by Inner City one of two excellent efforts from this time period. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/dual-nature-mw0000875878

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Alto Flute – Lew Tabackin; Bass – Bob Daugherty; Drums, Bells, Waterphone – Shelly Manne; Piano – Don Friedman

Dual Nature

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Pepper Adams - Walk with Me

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 103:53
Size: 240,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:53)  1. My One and Only Love
(5:55)  2. Muezzin
(6:26)  3. Minor Mishap
(4:58)  4. Blackout Blues
(6:23)  5. Unforgettable
(5:27)  6. Apothegm
(8:12)  7. 5-0-2-1
(6:03)  8. Freddie Froo
(5:50)  9. Alone Together
(8:30) 10. Baubles, Bangles and Beads
(5:21) 11. Your Host
(4:45) 12. You Turned the Table on Me
(8:42) 13. High Step
(5:36) 14. Cottontail
(6:40) 15. Yourna
(5:57) 16. Afternoon in Paris
(5:09) 17. You're My Thrill

Pepper Adams was one of hard bop's most significant baritone saxophonists. His dark, hearty tone on the horn and driving rhythmic sense provided the antithesis to the lighter, floating (and consequently more popular) styles of Gerry Mulligan. His family moved to Rochester, New York when he was young and in that city he began his musical efforts. That said his family's later move to Detroit, Michigan, a suburb of which was his birthplace, would be more important to his career. This occurred when he was sixteen and in Detroit he met several musicians who would later be important to his career, one example being Donald Byrd. He also became interested in Wardell Gray's approach to the baritone saxophone and indicates he and Harry Carney were his baritone influences. 

He also spent time in a United States Army band and briefly had a tour of duty in Korea. He later moved to New York City where he briefly worked in 1958 with Benny Goodman and for a much longer, if sporadic, period with Charles Mingus. He later became a member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band from 1965 to 1978. He also co-led a quintet with trumpeter Donald Byrd with whom he recorded a live date, 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot featuring Elvin Jones. He died of lung cancer in 1986. Adams has influenced many notable jazz baritone sax players, including Scott Robinson and Vanguard Jazz Orchestra bari chair holder Gary Smulyan. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/pepperadams

Walk with Me

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Fapy Lafertin Quintet, Tim Kliphuis - Fleur d'Ennui

Styles: Guitar And Violin Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:06
Size: 122,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:22)  1. Fascinating Rhythm
(3:08)  2. Alemberts
(4:14)  3. Stranger in Paradise
(4:37)  4. The Lady is a Tramp
(2:14)  5. Vou Vivendo
(3:40)  6. Vespers
(5:25)  7. I Never Mention your Name
(3:45)  8. Just One of Those Things
(4:35)  9. Fleur d'Ennui
(3:40) 10. Choro Negro
(3:24) 11. Gostosinho
(3:13) 12. When Day is Done
(3:26) 13. Double Scotch
(3:17) 14. Vendredi 13

In the early ’50s, near the end of his life, Django Reinhardt had switched to electric guitar and was playing in a more bebop vein. He was evolving. Little did he know that it was his acoustic, swing-based Hot Club work of the ’30s that would give rise to vast numbers of imitators. What would Django have thought? Would he have cared? While those questions will never be answered, he remains the most blatantly imitated jazz guitarist to have worn shoe leather. Today, especially in Europe, where the past takes on dimensions unknown to most Americans, myriad groups model themselves after the Hot Club, and several Django/Gypsy jazz festivals are held each year. While most Django imitators by definition are highly derivative in approach and execution-if the great Gypsy hadn’t lived, they wouldn’t exist-occasionally somebody emerges from the time warp to at least demonstrate that they’re a cut above the pack and maybe even offer a surprise or two. One such player is Fapy Lafertin, whose latest CD, Fleur D’Ennui (Jazz Is Timeless), features the Fapy Lafertin Quintet. Like Django, Lafertin is the real McCoy, having been raised in a Manouche Gypsy family, which, of course, doesn’t make his playing any less derivative but does give him a credential that most six-string pretenders don’t have. Despite his playing’s origins, Lafertin, after one listening, has got to be admired for the way he enthusiastically floats over his group’s bouncy Hot Club-esque tandem guitar rhythm section on tunes like “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Just One of Those Things,” where he tosses off Django licks like he’s been playing them since he’s been in short pants, which he probably has. Throughout, Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis matches him note for note in terms of technique and spirit, skillfully playing the role of Django’s sidekick, Stephane Grappelli. And while the set draws heavily from Reinhardt’s vocabulary and repertoire, a breath of fresh air wafts through the program in the form of four nicely arranged Brazilian choros, which paved the way for the emergence of samba and bossa nova, by the likes of Pixinguinha and Ernesto Nazareth. The choros help this album rise above offerings by the seemingly endless stream of Gypsy knockoffs who are out there. ~  By Jim Ferguson https://jazztimes.com/archives/fapy-lafertin-quintet-and-tim-kliphuis-fleur-dennui/

Personnel: Fapy Lafertin - guitar, Portuguese guitar; Tim Kliphuis - violin, mandolin; Reinier Voet - rhythm guitar; Jan Brouwer - rhythm guitar;  Simon Planting - double bass 

Fleur d'Ennui

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Paul Bley - When Will The Blues Leave

Styles: Piano Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:13
Size: 129,5 MB
Art: Front

(11:35)  1. Mazatlan
( 5:37)  2. Flame
( 9:48)  3. Told You So
( 7:14)  4. Moor
( 5:33)  5. Longer
( 6:01)  6. Dialogue Amour
( 5:26)  7. When Will The Blues Leave
( 4:56)  8. I Loves You Porgy

Had Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian recorded together more consistently, they would have been considered among the best piano trios in modern jazz history. The three first recorded on the ECM collection Paul Bley with Gary Peacock (1970), a compilation from the 1960s where three of the eight tracks had Billy Elgart on drums. It would be decades before the trio reunited in the studio, and again, ECM captured the session, Not Two, Not One (1998). When Will The Blues Leave, from that same period of time, was recorded live in 1999, at Lugano's Aula Magna in 1999 at the Great Hall of University of Lugano, Italy. When Will The Blues Leave is the first posthumous release of new Bley material since his passing in 2016. The Canadian-born pianist/composer is considered by some to be one of the most important innovators in jazz music. His musical associations date to work in the 1950s with Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus. He was a pioneer in the fusion of jazz and electronics, a tireless explorer of new music, technique, and an educator and mentor. There are none of the typical parameters with a rhythm section of Peacock and Motian; they were, by this time, highly regarded composers and leaders whose individual ideas were incorporated into any setting in which they worked. Peacock, most famous for the Keith Jarrett trio, has worked with many legendary pianists including Bill Evans, Mal Waldron, Marilyn Crispell and Marc Copland. Motian had worked in those same circles, at times, with Peacock. The trio reaches back to the 1960s for the opener, "Mazatlan," which first appeared on Bley's Ramblin' (BYG, 1969). 

At more than eleven-minutes, it's a deep dive into Bley's early avant-garde phase. There are slower paced tunes such as "Flame" and "Told You So" from Bley's solo albums Tears (Owl, 1984) and Basics (Justin Time, 2001), and the Peacock/Bley composition "Dialogue Amour" from Not Two, Not One. The sophistication and creative skills of Peacock and Motian are on full display in these pieces as they establish interchanges, break off, and return with new ideas. Ornette Coleman's title track is an astoundingly knotty and energetic lead up to the closing tune, a beautifully quirky "I Loves You, Porgy."  It's difficult for piano trios to distinguish themselves in that most common of jazz formations, but When Will The Blues Leave could have been a defining moment for this unit. Their juxtaposition of lyricism and free improvisation within single pieces, and in real time, is challenging listening, but this elite group of artists have left us with a scrapbook of stunning ideas. ~ Karl Ackermann https://www.allaboutjazz.com/when-will-the-blues-leave-paul-bley-ecm-records-review-by-karl-ackermann.php

Personnel: Paul Bley: piano; Gary Peacock: double bass; Paul Motian: drums.

When Will The Blues Leave

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