Roseanna Vitro - Listen Here

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1984
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:01
Size: 114,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:02) 1. No More Blues
(4:12) 2. You Go To My Head
(4:59) 3. Centerpiece
(4:55) 4. Love You Madly
(5:43) 5. A Time For Love
(3:39) 6. This Happy Madness
(3:06) 7. Listen Here
(3:20) 8. It Could Happen To You
(3:48) 9. Easy Street
(3:49) 10. Sometime Ago
(3:13) 11. You Took Advantage Of Me
(5:10) 12. Black Coffee

Vocalist Roseanna Vitro performer, recording artist, educator and journalist reissues Listen Here, the debut album that launched her career. Featuring veteran pianist Kenny Barron, the project ushered into the spotlight a formidable new artist with chops and sensitivity in equal measure a galvanizing spirit who, having already proven she could move live audiences, now certified her power on vinyl. The accompanying musicians on Listen Here are Kenny Barron (piano), Buster Williams (bass) and Ben Riley (drums). Also joining in are Arnett Cobb (saxophone), Duduka Da Fonseca (percussion), Scott Hardy (guitar) and Bliss Rodrigues (piano, on “Centerpiece”). Arrangements were supplied by Fred Hersch, with liner notes by Steve Allen.Though this is a first recording, Vitro shows herself a mature jazz singer. Representative jazz standards bear that out: “I Love You Madly,” “It Could Happen to You,” “No More Blues” and “You Took Advantage of Me.” She swings and emotes and surrenders herself in the service of the music. She is filled with life. Her subsequent efforts underscored the point. Following Listen Here, she waxed a number of albums that re-imagined the works of popular music’s greatest songwriters and stylists – among them, Ray Charles, Bill Evans, Clare Fischer and Randy Newman. It was through the latter’s artful song narratives that Vitro earned a Grammy nomination (The Music Of Randy Newman).

Vitro bravely ventured through the Americana of her blues and jazz roots, through the music of Brazil. Along the way, she distinguished herself in a host of group configurations from duets to big bands. Hailing from Hot Springs, Arkansas, Vitro began singing professionally in Houston. She soon found herself as a protégé of tenor player Arnett Cobb and singer- educator Ray Sullenger. She became a regular on the Houston jazz scene. Ultimately, she landed a steady gig at the Green Room, where she sang with jazz’s greatest practitioners, including Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Bill Evans and countless other notables. Her move to New York City enabled her to jump into the city’s vibrant jazz scene, and helped cement her credentials. Supporters and collaborators soon followed a generational mix of prestigious talents: Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Mark Soskin, Christian McBride, George Coleman, Joe Lovano, Kirk Whalum, David “Fathead" Newman, Elvin Jones and Eddie Gomez, to name a few. Vitro decided to re-release Listen Here because the time was right. She and her husband Paul Wickliffe, an accomplished sound engineer with a storied career, recently became grandparents. Their perspective has changed. “It was time to take stock of my life and look back at my career,” she says. “Some of my earlier records were never transferred to a digital format, so they are no longer available. And many reviewers and DJs who have known me over the years have moved on. I think these early recordings stand the test of time, and I want to introduce them to a new generation.” In the meantime, she continues to imagine projects and opportunities that help fulfill her belief in music’s ability to heal. As ever, she seeks to reach people. Esteemed jazz journalist Neil Tesser said in USA Today, “Roseanna can sing rings around half the vocalists you can name. Her warm, confident clarity of tone is immediately noticeable, but most startling is her boldness of phrasing.” He might have added, “her unerring talent for finding the truth through song,through the communal experience of sharing it.” The evidence can be heard easily. Listen Here. https://news.allaboutjazz.com/grammy-nominated-vocalist-roseanna-vitro-reissues-1984-debut-album-listen-here-feat-kenny-barron-trio

Personel: Roseanna Vitro (Vocal), Kenny Barron (piano), Buster Williams (bass) and Ben Riley (drums), Arnett Cobb (saxophone), Duduka Da Fonseca (percussion), Scott Hardy (guitar)

Listen Here

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Dave Koz - A Romantic Night In (The Love Songs Album)

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:50
Size: 101,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:01) 1. If Not for You
(4:47) 2. Deep Dive
(4:40) 3. Barefoot
(3:11) 4. Summertime in NY
(3:59) 5. It's Always Been You (Live)
(6:04) 6. Love Is on the Way (Live)
(3:23) 7. I'm Waiting for You
(3:21) 8. It’s All Love
(4:40) 9. Paris Nocturne
(4:40) 10. Faces of the Heart (Live)

By virtue of his many achievements, Dave Koz has long been considered the prime contender for contemporary jazz's saxophone throne. Active since 1990 when he arrived on the scene from seemingly nowhere to issue his self-titled leader debut, he climbed onto the Billboard contemporary jazz charts and stayed there for several weeks. The platinum-selling Koz (a rare feat for any jazzman) has been nominated for nine Grammys, hit the top spot on the contemporary jazz charts five times, placed 14 singles in the Top Ten, and earned a total of 20 cuts on the jazz songs charts. Koz is also a seasoned radio and television host, and a best-selling concert and cruise attraction. His sound has more fire and intensity than most of his peers, often recalling that of his musical forebear David Sanborn. Koz's music generally sticks to a production formula he more or less developed that juxtaposes his horn with layers of synthesizers, formatted drums and drum machines, a minimum amount of solo space, and backing vocalists who often make his music cross over to the adult contemporary R&B side of the genre line. Other career highlights for Koz include 1993's Lucky Man, 1999's collaboration-heavy Dance, 2001's holiday treat A Smooth Jazz Christmas (one of four Christmas collections), 2007's At the Movies, and the critically and commercially successful Summer Horns in 2013.

Koz was born one of three children in Encino, California to a dermatologist father and a pharmacist mother. His brother, Jeff, is also a musician. Although he is Jewish, Koz plays both Christmas and occasional Hanukkah songs at his concerts. Commencing his musical education in elementary school, he attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills (a suburb of Los Angeles) playing saxophone in the school jazz band. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in mass communications in 1986, and only weeks after his graduation, decided to make a go of becoming a professional musician. Within weeks of that decision, he and singer/songwriter and pop jazz pianist Bobby Caldwell went on tour. After returning, he spent the remainder of the decade as a session and touring musician with Jeff Lorber, Richard Marx, and in the house band of CBS' short-lived The Pat Sajak Show (Tom Scott was the bandleader). He also often guested as a saxophonist on The Arsenio Hall Show well into the '90s.

Koz signed a contract with EMI, which released ten of his albums, including 1993's Lucky Man, 1996's Off the Beaten Path, 1999's The Dance, and 2003's Saxophonic which was nominated for a Grammy and an NAACP Image Award and hit number three on the jazz album charts. While working on Lucky Man, Koz was solicited by the producers of ABC's General Hospital to perform the track "Emily" from his debut offering; it was used as part of the show's soundtrack in 1992. After his guest spot on the show, executive producer Wendy Riche commissioned Koz to write a new theme song for the show. He took elements from the show's existing theme, merged it with a new chorus, and transformed it into "Faces of the Heart," which made its debut as a new theme on General Hospital's 30th anniversary show in 1993, and remained unchanged until 2004. In 1994, Koz began hosting the syndicated The Dave Koz Radio Show featuring music and interviews with a who's-who in jazz. He also co-hosted The Dave Koz Morning Show on 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station in Los Angeles, for six years. In 1996, Koz released Off the Beaten Path, his first to display his sung vocals on "That's the Way I Feel About You." While his first holiday-themed set, December Makes Me Feel This Way, appeared in 1997, it didn't chart. The saxophonist scored big with 1999's The Dance; it hit the number two spot on the Top Contemporary Jazz Albums and number three on the Jazz Album charts. His extra media activities only served to raise his profile. He released his second holiday-themed set, A Smooth Jazz Christmas, in September of 2001, and it went all the way to number three on the Jazz Albums chart. His high-charting entries continued through Saxophonic (number two, Jazz Albums). In 2005, Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love didn't chart but the saxophonist didn't fret, he was busy producing the first of his annual Dave Koz & Friends Jazz Cruises. Two years later, his "Just in Time," with the voice of Dean Martin, was a highlight of Forever Cool, an EMI-themed tribute offering. In 2007, he scored with the platinum-selling At the Movies, a collection of cinema themes that peaked at number two on the Jazz Albums list. It was his last outing of new material for EMI.

Koz signed to Concord for 2010's Hello Tomorrow, produced by John Burk and Marcus Miller. It featured his own vocal take on the Herb Alpert/Burt Bacharach tune "This Guy's in Love with You" that landed inside the Top 40 on the Dance Club Songs chart and hit the top spot at Jazz Albums. A pair of live albums, Live at Soho and Live at the Blue Note Tokyo, followed in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Koz emerged in June 2013 with the studio album Summer Horns. Billed to Dave Koz & Friends, it was recorded in collaboration with saxophonists Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, and Richard Elliot, and featured guest appearances by Michael McDonald, Brian Culbertson, Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, and Jeffrey Osborne. The material was steeped in '60s and '70s horn-driven R&B, featuring covers by Sly & the Family Stone, Earth Wind & Fire, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Tower of Power, among others. In 2015, Koz's career-spanning compilation of duets and more, Collaborations: 25th Anniversary Collection, topped Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. In 2017 he teamed up with pianist David Benoit, trumpeter Rick Braun, and acoustic guitarist Peter White for the holiday LP Dave Koz & Friends: 20th Anniversary Christmas. The following year, he issued Summer Horns II: From A to Z with Albright, Elliot, Rick Braun, and Aubrey Logan and guest vocalists Jonathan Butler, Kenny Lattimore, and Sheléa. The material ranged from the horn-driven R&B and jazz to funk and hip-hop with covers of songs by Earth Wind & Fire, the Crusaders, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Jay-Z, and more. 2020 saw Koz release his 20th studio LP, A New Day, his first collection of original material in a decade.~ Ron Wynn https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-koz-mn0000961133/biography

A Romantic Night In (The Love Songs Album)

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