Bud Shank, Bob Cooper - The Swing's to Tv (Remastered)

Styles: Saxophone, Flute, Oboe Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:52
Size: 87,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:20) 1. When You Wish Upon a Star (From Disneyland)
(3:09) 2. Put Your Dreams Away (From the Frank Sinatra Show)
(4:31) 3. Thanks for the Memory (From the Bob Hope Show)
(2:55) 4. Tenderly (From the Rosemary Clooney Show)
(4:38) 5. Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) [From the Danny Thomas Show]
(3:22) 6. Dinah (From the Dinah Shore Show)
(3:45) 7. As Long As There's Music (From the Eddie Fisher Show)
(3:39) 8. A Romantic Guy (From the Bob Cummings Show)
(4:12) 9. Steve Allen Theme (From the Steve Allen Show)
(3:16) 10. The Love Nest (From the Burns and Allen Show)

Proof positive that any well-executed idea translates to the jazz idiom snobs and purists be damned The Swing's to TV pairs altoist Bud Shank and tenorist Bob Cooper for a moody, nuanced collection of late-'50s television theme songs. Granted, it's not like the duo is interpreting the opening themes to Gilligan's Island or The Brady Bunch at the time in question, many series employed familiar standards as calling cards but the basic concept behind the session is the kind of populist nod one rarely associates with cool-school jazz. Thing is, The Swing's to TV is great stuff, a cerebral and atmospheric set of ballads performed with sincerity and affection Shank and Cooper always make for a compelling tandem, and songs like "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Put Your Dreams Away" are well matched to their respective talents.~ Jason Ankeny https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-swings-to-tv-mw0000900673

Personnel: Bud Shank - alto saxophone, flute; Bob Cooper - tenor saxophone, oboe; Claude Williamson - piano; Don Prell - bass; Chuck Flores - drums; Jack Pepper, Eudice Shapiro, Bob Sushel - violin (tracks 1, 2, 4 & 5); Milt Thomas - viola (tracks 1, 2, 4 & 5); Ray Kramer - cello (tracks 1, 2, 4 & 5)

The Swing's to Tv

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Judy Niemack - Long As You're Living

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:42
Size: 140,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:33) 1. Long As You're Living
(4:20) 2. Waltz For Debby
(6:10) 3. The Maestro
(7:25) 4. Good Bye Pork Pie Hat
(3:13) 5. Caribbean Fire Dance
(7:10) 6. The Island
(3:31) 7. Monk's Dream
(5:01) 8. You've Taken Things Too Far
(3:38) 9. To Welcome The Day
(4:45) 10. Out Of This World
(3:48) 11. I Should Have Told You Goodbye
(6:03) 12. Infant Eyes

The term "jazz singer" has been misused so often so long that one hesitates to employ it. But if it has any meaning at all, the marvelous work of Judy Niemack is a veritable definition. She is a musician in the truest sense, having mastered her instrument (a beautiful one) and her chosen language and crafted her own style (...) There isn't one insincere or tawdry note anywhere in this fine, varied program which displays the full range of Judy Niemack's voice, imagination, and perhaps above all, taste a rare comodity in this or any other age. If you want to know what real jazz singing can be (but rarely is), listen to Judy Niemack, who never takes things too far, just far enough. ~ Dan Morgenstern http://www.judyniemack.com/albuminfo.aspx?ID=905

Personnel: Judy Niemack vocals, Fred Hersch piano, Joe Lovano tenor saxophone (on 1, 4, 8 and 11), Scott Colley bass, Billy Hart drums

Long As You're Living

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Heath Brothers - As We Were Saying

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:18
Size: 136,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:21) 1. The Newest One
(7:15) 2. Bop Again
(4:49) 3. For Seven's Sake
(3:32) 4. South Filthy
(7:41) 5. I'm Glad There Is You
(6:09) 6. Dave's Haze
(6:48) 7. DayDream
(8:23) 8. Nostalgia
(8:19) 9. This Is What It Is

Oh man. Does this swing from the get-go, or what? And such a deal. Not only do you get the three Heath brothers: Jimmy on tenor and alto, Percy on bass and cello, and Al ("Tootie") drums, but they’re joined by the one and only Slide Hampton on ‘bone, Stanley Cowell on piano and kalimba, Sir Roland Hanna on piano, Jon Faddis on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Mark Elf on guitar. Plus James Mtume, Jimmy’s son, on percussion.Need I say more? Just look at the CV’s on these guys. The brothers have played with a hall of fame’s worth of masters: Dizzy, Monk, Miles, Trane, the MJQ, on and on and on. Let’s not slight Herbie Hancock, Yusef Lateef, J. J. Johnson, and even, by way of Mtume, electric-funk Miles. This thing charges out of the gate with the delightful "The Newest One," featuring brief but potent solos from Faddis and Hampton, followed by Sir Roland on piano and Jimmy on tenor sounding like they invented jazz and own all the patents. Next time the kids come by with their Counting Crows and Smashing Pumpkins discs, show them what real music sounds like with "Bop Agin," the second track. Yep, everybody plays excellently. Mark Elf wraps things up with a guitar solo and bar-swap with Jimmy that’s sunny but a trifle pro-forma; Elf isn’t a legend, but at this point, who’s counting?

"For Seven’s Sake" is a Coltrane-ish, spiritual number (not to say these guys are derivative. Coltrane probably got the idea from them), more introverted and serious than the first two, with some affecting work by Cowell on kalimba. "South Filthy" is a tribute to the Heath brothers’ lovely home town, featuring the brothers in a jaunty mood joined only by Mtume’s triangle. Jimmy’s horn here is hypnotically assured. It’s really something to hear his complete command of his instrument, a command unmatched by altogether too many younger players. The listener can tell here what it means to perfect a craft over fifty years. Check out his work solo on Jimmy Dorsey’s "I’m Glad There Is You." To borrow a phrase, it’s like watching Michelangelo sculpt.

The other two brothers hold up their end. Percy shines on Fats Navarro’s "Nostalgia" and "Dave’s Haze," another bright number featuring Elf turning in a fine blues line backed up by the solid rock of Percy and Al. The final track is called "This Is What It Is," and no better title could be found for the whole album. Inquirers into jazz should be directly referred to this CD: this is what it is. These three and their sidemen played a large part in making it what it is, and here is a little sampler of what they do with the experience they’ve amassed and the mastery they’ve achieved.

The album is actually called As We Were Saying..., which I take to be a reference to the fact that the brothers haven’t played together since 1983 (They were interrupted by the MJQ and scads of other activity). I’m sorry for the interruptions, but it seems clear that what the brothers have gained in all their years of separate activity is the beautiful ease and control that enriches this disc.~Robert Spencer https://www.allaboutjazz.com/as-we-were-saying-concord-music-group-review-by-robert-spencer.php

Personnel: Acoustic Bass, Cello [Jazz Cello] – Percy Heath; Drums, Percussion – Albert "Tootie" Heath; Guitar – Mark Elf ; Piano – Sir Roland Hanna; Piano, Kalimba – Stanley Cowell; Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Jimmy Heath; Trombone – Slide Hampton; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Jon Faddis

As We Were Saying

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George Wallington Quintet - The Prestidigitator

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:31
Size: 88,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:59) 1. In Salah aka In Shalah
(5:46) 2. Composin' at the Composer
(6:01) 3. Jouons
(4:30) 4. Rural Route
(5:43) 5. Promised Land
(4:54) 6. August Moon
(6:35) 7. The Prestidigitator

Sicilian-born pianist "George Wallington" (his given name was Giacinto Figlia) had more than ethnicity in common with Dodo Marmarosa. Both men were active in the burgeoning bop scene of the early and mid-'40s, both made important contributions to the evolution of modern jazz, and both withdrew from public activity for protracted periods of time. Most importantly, both of these excellent pianists left enough great music in their wake to warrant a reappraisal of their legacies. Wallington named Mel Powell, Al Haig, and Bud Powell as his favorite contemporaries; primary influences were Art Tatum, Count Basie, and especially Earl Hines. He collaborated and consulted with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford, and Max Roach during bop's formative years; later he would befriend young Mose Allison and help him to get established as both recording artist and jazz essayist.

Recorded in early April 1957 and released on the East West label the following year, Wallington's album The Prestidigitator is an excellent example of his creative approach to the art of jazz. His quintet/quartet on this album consisted of bassist Teddy Kotick, drummer Nick Stabulas, Detroit-born tenor saxophonist J.R. Monterose, and bass trumpeter Jerry Lloyd, who sounds for all the world like a valve trombonist. Three of the seven pieces were composed by Mose Allison, two by Monterose, one by Lloyd, and only one the quirkily titled "Composin' at the Composer" by Wallington himself. This was the first time that anyone besides Mose Allison recorded Mose Allison's original compositions.

Even Allison hadn't yet recorded "Rural Route" when Wallington worked it into this pleasantly bop-based album of early modern jazz. Allison's "Promised Land" is particularly soulful and straight-ahead. Stylistically, this stuff lands somewhere amongst Art Blakey's early Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, Johnny Griffin, and some of that mid-'50s Mingus with John LaPorta. That means it's really good and maybe you ought to check it out. For those who are squinting at a digitally condensed thumbnail reproduction of the album cover and trying to decipher what's going on, it depicts a magician (or prestidigitator) as seen from upstage rather than from the audience's point of view. As he prepares to pull a rabbit out of his inverted hat, the animal is clearly visible inside of a wooden box on a collapsible stand, held in readiness by a child or midget concealed within.~ arwulf arwulf https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-prestidigitator-mw0000565954

Personnel: Piano – George Wallington; Bass – Teddy Kotick; Drums – Nick Stabulas; Tenor Saxophone – J. R. Monterose; Trumpet – Jerry Lloyd

The Prestidigitator

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