Sunday, February 14, 2021

Mariangela Cagnetta - E–Motion

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:43
Size: 110,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:41) 1. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
(4:55) 2. Afro Blue
(7:12) 3. Nature Boy
(3:32) 4. Lawns
(4:24) 5. Caravan
(2:55) 6. Lazy Afternoon Phunk
(5:19) 7. And I Love Him (Medley)
(2:32) 8. Speak Low
(4:33) 9. Blue in Green
(4:19) 10. Giant Steps
(4:15) 11. Moon River

A glance at the track listing on this album might prompt the title of another tune "So What's New?" However, after a thorough listening, a more appropriate musical response could be "I Never Knew." e-motion is an innovative, fascinating and marvelously performed modern perspective on eleven jazz standards delivered by superior musicians. The ensemble is minimal a vocalist, an electric bassist and a drummer. That's it. The musicians' creative output is anything but. Vocalist Mariangela Cagnetta is an incredibly versatile, talented and mature artist. She has terrific vocal chops across the session. It takes a highly competent and involved singer to walk this type of tightrope. Cagnetta is right at home communicating and responding magnificently with ace bassist, Viz Maurogiovanni and master drummer, Pierluigi Villani. She's a gem.

While the program is familiar, each of the arrangements is creatively unique and precisely structured for the trio format. For example, Duke Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" gets a hip, rock re-do, as do "Caravan" and a darker feminine take on The Beatles' pop hit, "And I Love Him." The interplay among and between voice, bass and drums is the the marvel of this album whether it is Cagnetta scatting as a dervish over Maurogiovanni's pulsating bass, Villani's percussive bedrock on "Lazy Afternoon Phunk" or "conversing" in duo with Villani's ace polyrhythmic set and brush work on "Speak Low." Cagnetta's emotional depth and poetic lyric approach is displayed brilliantly on the exotic "Nature Boy," on Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue," and the killer closer, "Moon River." Classics "Blue in Green" and "Giant Steps" are recognizable, but delivered with "Lucy in the Sky" kaleidoscope glasses. Bassist Maurogiovanni, a regular contributor to drummer Villani's sessions, is a Miroslav Vitous / {m: Jaco Pastorius = 10148}} acolyte displaying incredible technical proficiency, deep drive and a bopper's heart. Villani has proven over the years that he's hands-down a world-class musician. They are both creatively outstanding on this session.~ Nicholas F.Mondello https://www.allaboutjazz.com/e-motion-mariangela-cagnetta-caligola-records-review-by-nicholas-f-mondello.php

Personnel: Mariangela Cagnetta: vocals, flute, backing vocals; Viz Maurogiovanni: electric bass; Pierluigi Villani: drums.

E–Motion

Joey Alexander - Warna

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:12
Size: 143,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:43) 1. Warna
(5:11) 2. Mosaic (Of Beauty)
(5:33) 3. Lonely Streets
(4:25) 4. Downtime
(3:44) 5. Affirmation I
(7:16) 6. Inner Urge
(5:22) 7. We Here
(4:08) 8. Tis Our Prayer
(4:35) 9. Fragile
(5:47) 10. Our Story
(5:47) 11. Affirmation III
(3:37) 12. The Light

Hard to believe that after all of Joey Alexander’s accolades at the tender age of 16 Grammy nominations, a Grand Prix at the Master-Jam Fest, and a personal Jazz at Lincoln Center invite from Wynton Marsalis he’s done it all (and more) without a major-label deal. Warna (“color” in Alexander’s native Bahasa Indonesian) finds him, for the first time, in fine historic company on Verve. And the music? It’s proceeding with nary a hiccup. Youth propels the pianist, to be sure, but he’s hardly a slick trickster or a Warp Nine showoff. Writing 10 of 12 tracks here (with Sting’s “Fragile” and Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge” thrown in), he distinguishes himself as before, first through simple, elegantly stated figures, then through lively and deep variation (more harmonic than rhythmic) on each.

With due kudos to the man in charge, this album belongs to all who play on it. Bassist Larry Grenadier never fails to deepen and enrich Alexander’s left hand. Drummer Kendrick Scott treats empty space as a tidepool, stirring his sticks to find a variety of rhythmic life in every go-round. Guest percussionist Luisito Quintero sticks steadfastly to Scott until they sound like one man with four hands. The other guest, flutist Anne Drummond, adds a bracing cold-spring ambience to two tracks. A tad jarring compared to the easy familiarity of the other four, but another intriguing direction of which I would have liked to hear more. This album will get plenty of hype; Alexander’s age and seemingly instant cred guarantee nothing less. I was pleasantly surprised, though, by the richness in restraint and the intuitive mastery of space and silence from everyone. By Andrew Hamlin https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/joey-alexander-warna-verve/

Personnel: Piano – Joey Alexander; Acoustic Bass – Larry Grenadier; Drums – Kendrick Scott; Flute – Anne Drummond

Warna