Johnny Griffin - Johnny Griffin

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 26:05
Size: 60,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:35) 1. I Cried For You
(3:03) 2. Satin Wrap
(2:29) 3. Yesterdays
(3:09) 4. Riff-Raff
(3:51) 5. Bee-
(3:17) 6. The Boy Next Door
(3:33) 7. These Foolish
(3:05) 8. Lollypop

Instead there are more formalist notions that suggest Paul Gonsalves and Coleman Hawkins. In addition, the album-closer, "Lollypop," comes out swinging hard with an R&B hook that digs in. Mance propels Griffin with fat, greasy chords that suggest a Chicago bar-walking honk frenzy, but Griffin's own playing is too sophisticated and glides like Lester Young around the changes. Also notable here is Ware's beautiful bop run "Riff Raff."

The bassist knew not only how to write for but arrange for horns. Mance and Griffin are in it knee-deep, note for note, with Mance adding beefy left-hand clusters to the melody as Ware and Smith play it straight time until the solo, when the middle breaks up and everybody goes in a different direction. It's got the hard bop blues at its root. This recording is brief, as it originally came out on a 10" LP, but is nonetheless a necessary addition to any shelf that pays Johnny Griffin homage.~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/johnny-griffin-mw0000461284

Personnel: Johnny Griffin – tenor saxophone; Junior Mance – piano; Wilbur Ware – bass; Buddy Smith – drums

Johnny Griffin

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Frank Kohl - Invisible Man

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:29
Size: 116,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:07) 1. Invisible Man
(5:13) 2. In Your Arms
(6:15) 3. Born Again
(6:21) 4. Falling Sky
(7:48) 5. My Funny Valentine
(5:29) 6. Round About
(4:44) 7. My One and Only Love
(8:28) 8. Alone Together

Guitarist Kohl's third release as a leader, 2015's Invisible Man, features the New York bassist Steve LaSpina, whom Kohl first heard perform with guitar master Jim Hall. The music is a tight east coast sound, with many originals by Kohl. Elegant in simplicity, eschewing the thicker layers of many jazz presentations, this recording is to the point and floats along nicely. Kohl says "May we all believe in ourselves and not be deterred by the obstacles we face, I dedicate my music to that invisible part in all of us."~ Opiniones editoriales https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Frank-Kohl-Quartet/dp/B00U0FJLO6

Personnel: Frank Kohl-Guitar; Steve LaSpina-Bass; Tom Kohl-Piano; Jon Doty-Drums

Invisible Man

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Melody Gardot - Sunset In The Blue (Deluxe Version)

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:39
Size: 182,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:34) 1. If You Love Me
(4:52) 2. C’est Magnifique
(5:48) 3. There Where He Lives In Me
(3:57) 4. Love Song
(6:04) 5. You Won't Forget Me
(4:33) 6. Sunset In The Blue
(4:05) 7. Um Beijo
(3:37) 8. Ninguém, Ninguém
(4:48) 9. From Paris With Love - Single Version
(4:26) 10. Ave Maria
(3:47) 11. Moon River
(3:04) 12. I Fall In Love Too Easily
(2:42) 13. Little Something
(4:21) 14. From Paris With Love - Acoustic
(5:25) 15. Love Song
(4:06) 16. Trav'lin' Light
(3:27) 17. What Is This Thing Called Love
(4:54) 18. C'est Magnifique - Live In Namouche Studios

Melody Gardot emerged from her own smoky shadows of the mid-2000s as if she were some femme fatale emanating from a film noir movie. The plot twist was that she was the good girl, but it was her body that had been damaged in an auto accident. An extensive recovery followed. Her long, lean cane only reinforced her long, lean looks. The shades added just a touch of mystery. If there was anything positive, it was that she confronted the challenges and drew on them as a source of inspiration for some of her songs. Gardot's debut disc contained ten compact, yet gripping, originals and the sophomore release was a compelling and seamless second chapter. Taking elements of Julie London's sultry purr and Sade's sophisticated snap, Gardot nonetheless charted her own original course. Even more great music followed over the next decade.

On Sunset in the Blue, Gardot is pensive but patient and often soothing. Gliding up to the microphone, she is cautious and intimate as she beckons the lush strings to support the album's opener, "If You Love Me." Her vulnerable voice continues to lightly float on many of the songs including the second selection, "C'est Magnifique" (featuring guest Portuguese Fado singer Antonio Zambujo). Later, the lyrics of "You Won't Forget Me" proclaim that her former beau "won't forget me / on nights like this / The moon will cast / Upon you the shadow of my kiss" but her emotions reveal the truth she will never be able to forget him. Moments later, she delivers "From Paris With Love," a romantic postcard from France. Gardot's cool lyrics reveal "Lovers tucked into a quiet café / Sat beneath a shade of red / They fall in love like fallin' out of bed." Undoubtedly, Bogart and Bergman are sitting just a table or two away.

As the album draws to a close, Gardot presents a pair of American Standards, "Moon River" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily," before treating us to a final bonus song featuring guest artist Sting. Gentle, supportive guitars weave in and out of the album while understated trumpets and saxophones appear sparingly. When they do appear, they are welcome additions that make rich contributions.

One of Gardot's strengths on Sunset in the Blue is that more than half of the songs are originals, almost as if she were crafting a modernized set of American Standards. "From Paris With Love" could certainly be added to that prestigious list. If there is a weakness, it is the lack of musical variety as you find yourself hoping for surprise twists. Ironically, she gives us almost too much of a good thing. Regardless, find your own corner table, order a vintage French Bordeaux and listen as Sunset in the Blue gently unfolds.~ Scott Gudell https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sunset-in-the-blue-melody-gardot-verve-records

Personnel: Melody Gardot: voice / vocals; Antonio Zambujo: voice / vocals; Till Bronner: trumpet; Donny McCaslin: saxophone,tenor; Anthony Wilson: guitar; Dadi Carvalho: guitar; Nando Duarte: guitar, acoustic; Larry Klein: guitar, acoustic; Philippe Baden Powell: piano; Sam Minaie: bass; John Leftwich: bass, acoustic; Chuck Berghofer: bass, acoustic; Chuck Staab: drums; Vinnie Colaiuta: drums; Paulinho Da Costa: percussion.

Sunset In The Blue (Deluxe Version)

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David Binney - Aliso

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:21
Size: 168,5 MB
Art: Front

( 7:57)  1. Aliso
( 7:56)  2. A Day In Music
( 8:53)  3. Toy Tune
( 9:16)  4. Strata
( 5:01)  5. Teru
( 6:30)  6. Fuchsia Swing Song
( 5:59)  7. Bar Life
( 7:46)  8. Think Of One
(13:59)  9. Africa

In a career now in its third decade, alto saxophonist David Binney's greatest accomplishment, despite being a player of no small worth, has been as a composer whose often knottily idiosyncratic tunes manage to remain not just accessible, but deeply compelling. From the earliest days of Lost Tribe through to last year's outstanding Third Occasion, Binney's distinctive compositional style has become a touchstone for players on the New York scene and beyond. It's not that he can't play directly in the tradition his own work couldn't come from anyplace but he just generally chooses not to. While past albums, including 2005's Bastion of Sanity (Criss Cross), have occasionally included songs from the standards repertoire, the saxophonist has never before released an album like Aliso, where five of its nine tracks are not Binney originals, taking up well over half of its 73-minute running time.  A function of its participants being unable to convene until the night before the recording, Aliso could be considered a tad schizophrenic. Binney's tunes are not exactly more direct, but they are less complex, encouraging even greater emphasis on blowing; a nice dovetail with music from Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Sam Rivers and John Coltrane. With a largely fixed quintet (only the piano chair is shared, between John Escreet and the more prevalent Jacob Sacks), Binney demonstrates his considerable alto prowess with both dark balladry and elegant swing (Shorter's "Teru" and "Toy Tune," respectively). 

He also shows a lesser-known ability to rip through changes coming fast and furious, on a burning take of Rivers' "Fuchsia Swing Song." The rest of the band also capably handles Binney's modern approach to the mainstream, especially bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer Dan Weiss, who are rarely heard in straight-ahead settings. But for those jonesing for more of the Binney they've come to know and love, the saxophonist's four compositions more than do the trick. Guitarist Wayne Krantz last heard on a Binney album in 2002 (Balance, on ACT) and whose Krantz Carlock Lefebvre (Abstract Logix) was a 2009 fusion milestone sits out on most of the standards, but his contribution to the rest of Aliso is purposeful; uncanny in its ability to push and pull time, harmony and melody, all with a slightly gritty tone and idiosyncratic turn of phrase. Whether it's the more visceral groove of the title track which also features one of Binney's most effervescent solos of the set the more temporally elastic "A Day in Music" or metrically challenged "Bar Life," Krantz's inimitable playing supports Binney's assertion, "Wayne is one of my favorite musicians ever."  Krantz does join on a pedal-to-the-metal version of Coltrane's modal masterpiece, "Africa" the cover tune that aesthetically fits best with Binney's own writing, despite its inherent compositional simplicity. 

There's nothing wrong with being a little schizophrenic; not, at least, when the result is as unmistakably fine as Aliso an anomaly in Binney's discography, perhaps, but one that still remains a significant marker in his overall body of work. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/aliso-david-binney-criss-cross-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: David Binney: alto saxophone; Wayne Krantz: guitar; Jacob Sacks: piano (2-6, 8); John Escreet: piano (1, 7, 9); Eivind Opsvik: bass; Dan Weiss: drums.

Aliso

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