Angela Davis - The Art of The Melody

Styles: Saxophone Jazz 
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:36
Size: 123,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:35)  1. 41 St Nick
(6:58)  2. We're All Alone
(5:40)  3. Annie Laurie
(6:42)  4. The Road To Montgomery
(8:13)  5. Conscientia
(7:50)  6. Crazy She Calls Me
(4:34)  7. Joana's Waltz
(3:56)  8. Martha
(4:04)  9. Smile

Saxophonist and All About Jazz contributor Angela Davis has made it official, releasing her debut recording, The Art of The Melody. Davis joins a growing legion of female reeds players that includes Sharel Cassity, Alisha Pattillo, Virginia Mayhew, Claire Daly, and Mercedes Figueras, who are flexing their respective chops in the ravenous particles of digital music. Concentrating on alto saxophone for this recording, Davis immediately channels the dry ice-and-gin tone established in the early 1950s by the young Art Pepper and Paul Desmond. Her tone is even and narrow, uniformly dense throughout its spectrum. Think of a Bombay Sapphire martini, straight up, with an olive; expand that metaphor, and you get the idea. But that is just her tone. Davis' choice of repertoire spans some 300 years, between the Scottish folk song "Annie Laurie" and those originals more recently composed. Davis crosses jazz styles effortlessly, transitioning from her bebop-oriented "41. St Nick" into an adult contemporary acoustic treatment of Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone." 

Her band is as style-pliant as she is, featuring noted bassist Linda May Han Oh, whose own Initial Here (Self Produced, 2013) could not be more different than the present recital. All members take Davis' lead, producing an integrated 1950s-style blowing session in the 21st Century. This music is lean and trim, well conceived from beginning to end. The traditional "Annie Laurie" is given a John Coltrane quartet arrangement, transformed into a modern ballad. Tom Waits' "Martha" is organic in presentation, Chris Ziemba's churchy piano sweeping along Davis' dry "wounded bird" alto into its melodic flight on this beautiful and neglected song. Yes, Frank Morgan makes his influential appearance in Davis' pedigree. That tone is continued on Chaplin's "Smile," played as a duet between Davis and Oh, a pairing from whom we might want to hear again in the future. ~ C. Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-art-of-the-melody-angela-davis-self-produced-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Angela Davis: saxophone; Chris Ziemba: piano; Linda Oh: bass; Rajiv Jayaweera: drums. 

The Art of The Melody

---

Abbey Lincoln - Devil's Got Your Tongue

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:00
Size: 162,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:45)  1. Rainbow
(7:08)  2. Evalina Coffey (The Legend Of)
(5:34)  3. Story Of My Father
(6:25)  4. A Child Is Born
(6:18)  5. People In Me
(6:00)  6. A Circle Of Love
(6:16)  7. Jungle Queen
(7:53)  8. The Merry Dancer
(5:54)  9. Devil's Got Your Tongue
(7:53) 10. Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
(5:50) 11. The Music Is The Magic

This 1992 album was Abbey Lincoln's third for Verve and another fine display of her musical vision. The set consists primarily of her own compositions. The arrangements vary throughout, depending on the needs of each song. Lincoln is supported by her core trio, with guest spots by trombonist J.J. Johnson, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, the Staple Singers, and the Noel Singers, a group made up of children. Lincoln revisits a couple numbers from earlier in her career, "Rainbow" and "People in Me." Her interpretive skills and emotional commitment to the material are such that she can even take on a familiar standard like "A Child Is Born" and make it her own. It's gratifying to see a major jazz label allowing Lincoln's musical vision to flourish and grow. https://www.allmusic.com/album/devils-got-your-tongue-mw0000617623

Personnel: Vocals – Abbey Lincoln;  Ashiko [Ashiko Drum] – Kehinde O'Uhuru; Bass – Marcus McLaurine; Djembe [Djembe Drum], Agogô [Agogo Bells] – Sule O'Uhuru; Drums – Grady Tate, Yoron Israel; Drums [Ngoma, Djembe, Ashiko, Sekere] – Babatunde Olatunji; Piano – Rodney Kendrick

Devil's Got Your Tongue

---