Yelena Eckemoff, Manu Katché - Colors

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:53
Size: 186,3 MB
Art: Front

(8:15)  1. White
(4:56)  2. Pink
(3:59)  3. Orange
(6:09)  4. Green
(6:20)  5. Violet
(3:04)  6. Indigo
(8:24)  7. Blue
(7:20)  8. Red
(4:01)  9. Brown
(6:37) 10. Bordeaux
(6:07) 11. Yellow
(4:00) 12. Aquamarine
(3:02) 13. Grey
(7:33) 14. Black

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff brings the top drummers into her recording sessions, whether it's Billy Harton Lions (2014), or Peter Erskine on Glass Song (2012) and Desert (2015), or Jon Christensen for Everblue (2014) all of these on her own L & H Production label. The year 2019 finds the prolific Eckemoff presenting her first duo album, Colors, a piano and drums affair with another topline partner sitting at the kit: Manu Katche, a distinctive drumming stylist and a leader in his own right, with eight releases to his name, five of them on ECM Records.  Colors could just as well been called Life, a panoramic set of Eckemoff originals that affixes different colors to life's stages, from "White," an examination of birth's blank slate, to "Orange," a celebration of youthful energy, through "Violet," a nod to the thrill of first love, to "Black," a facing, with equanimity, of death's mysterious void. Eckemoff's music is often complex and cerebral, drawing on her classical studies in her native Russia, and it frequently leans toward the reflective and inward. This is especially true of her early recordings, like Cold Sun (L & H, 2010) and the previously mentioned Glass Song. But with the release of Lions her sound seemed to draw as much from the heart and gut as it did from the head; the energy of life seemed to swim in tandem beside the reveries of the mind. 

Colors presents that mix to perfection. Eckemoff's piano sound is, as always, crisp and clean of touch, intricate and nuanced and complex. It can sound a bit playful, full of wordless wonder ("White"); and it can portray an expanding consciousness with an inward tilt ("Pink"), and it can ROCK OUT, big time, with Eckemoff and Katche digging-deep into a relentless groove on "Orange." Is it Eckemoff prodding and exhorting Katche, or is it Katche elbowing Eckemoff; or is it a balanced pairing, a two way call and response bubbling with the electricity of life? Probably the last choice, given a listen to "Indigo," another animated, jazz-rock, groove-centric sound. Not that moments of reflections aren't present. "Violet," concerning "the thrill of first love" is a reflective interlude of subtle beauty; and "Blue" begins as a lyrical, inward rumination that shifts, two minutes in, into a playful prance that swells to a tempest that then tapers down to tranquility, rolling then to a re-start of the cycle. And "Red" seems to dance with the vibrancy and sassiness and confidence of an attractive woman in her prime (imagery taken from Eckemoff's accompanying poem in the cover booklet). Colors covers a wide range of moods and styles, a mode of operation that can reveal weaknesses in a thematic cohesion. That Eckemoff and Kache avoid this potential hazard over a fourteen song, near-eighty minute set is remarkable.  One of Yelena Eckemoff's finest recordings. ~ Dan MacClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/colors-yelena-eckemoff-l-and-h-production-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Yelena Eckemoff: piano and compositions; Manu Katché, drums.

Colors

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Isabella Lundgren - Out of the Bell Jar

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:21
Size: 104,4 MB


( 5:25)  1. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
( 6:35)  2. The Times Are a Changing
( 8:05)  3. It Ain't Me Babe
( 3:52)  4. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
(10:44)  5. Trouble
( 4:06)  6. Out of the Bell Jar
( 6:31)  7. Forever Young

This release is the newest from Swedish vocalist Isabella Lundgren. It features arrangements of classic Bob Dylan songs, sung with Isabellas exceptional artistry. Isabella Lundgren has a seriousness and a gravity that is unique. It's like she makes time stand still just by being, I guess that's what they call charisma and presence. And then she sings absolutely fantastically, with a natural, flowing time and a low-key but expressive phrasing. The fact the she has something to say with her lyrics, also adds to the magic. She is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to the Swedish Jazz scene. (Swedish Daily News) Lundgrens incisive and agile voice, often reminiscent of Anita ODay and Billie Holiday, came from a formally attired, deceptively slight frame and it thus was less of a surprise than it might have been to discover later that having studied music at New Yorks New School she is now in Stockholm studying to be a priest. She had the congregation in her hand right from the lightly accompanied rubato intro to That Old Black Magic that opened the set. There was also Its Magic and a couple of blues, all delivered with compelling authority and a mischievous sense of swing. (Mark Gilbert, JazzJournal) ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Out-Bell-Jar-Isabella-Lundgren/dp/B07ZLK56KX

Out of the Bell Jar

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Archie Shepp, Jasper Van't Hof - The Fifth of May

Styles: Saxophone And Piano Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:10
Size: 110,4 MB
Art: Front

( 7:50)  1. Down Home New York
( 7:38)  2. The Hunter
( 6:37)  3. Naima
( 5:16)  4. Pulse of the Roots
(15:16)  5. 5th of May
( 5:30)  6. In a Decent Way

This is an unusual CD with Archie Shepp, mostly playing tenor but also contributing a couple of vocals and a bit of soprano, performing duets with the keyboards and synthesizer of Jasper Van't Hof. The music (originals by Shepp or Van't Hof, along with John Coltrane's "Naima") ranges from danceable tracks and mood pieces to explorative works, and generally holds one's interest. A good couple of days for Archie Shepp, who could be quite erratic in the 1980s. ~Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-fifth-of-may-mw0000652903

The Fifth of May

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