Geri Allen - Timeless Portrait And Dreams

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:27
Size: 134,3 MB
Art: Front

(1:52)  1. Oh Freedom
(7:07)  2. Melchezedik
(2:27)  3. Portraits And Dreams
(5:22)  4. Well Done
(4:21)  5. La Strada
(2:23)  6. I Have A Dream
(4:27)  7. Nearly
(5:40)  8. In Real Time
(2:48)  9. Embraceable You
(4:51) 10. Al-Leu-Cha
(4:21) 11. Just For A Thrill
(5:59) 12. Our Lady (for Billie Holiday)
(5:05) 13. Timeless Portrait And Dreams
(1:38) 14. Portrait And Dreams, reprise

There's a certain purity, perhaps innocence, about jazz that's played without the bells and whistles of modern technology and untainted by commercial trappings. When that purity is combined with superb songwriting, you have the makings of a recording that will never sound old. So it is with Timeless Portraits and Dreams.  A native of Detroit, Geri Allen began taking piano lessons at age eleven. She graduated from Howard University with a degree in jazz studies, and she later earned a master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh. Her professional career has included professorships in music at Howard and the University of Michigan; she has earned several awards. As a recording artist, she has collaborated with Mino Cinelu, Mary Wilson and the Supremes, Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Betty Carter, among others. On Timeless Portraits and Dreams, Allen delivers nearly an hour's worth of musical elegance. The stage is set on the opening tracks, "Oh Freedom and "Melchezedik, two originals that feature Allen on solo piano and then joined by her rhythm section of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jimmy Cobb. On the latter piece, Carter stretches out. Allen is backed by the Atlanta Jazz Chorus on "Well Done, which features guest vocalist Carmen Lundy. Donald Walden introduces "I Have a Dream with a soft tenor sax solo. George Shirley, the first African-American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, sings lead on this tribute to the famous speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., accompanied by the Atlanta Jazz Chorus. 

Trumpeter Wallace Roney takes the lead on "In Real Time, an upbeat original penned by Allen and Roney. Allen's solo in the middle is one of the finer points of the album, aided by Carter's bass. Though he plays in the background for much of the album, Cobb steps up with a drum solo on the cover of Charlie Parker's "Ah-Leu-Cha. Throughout Timeless Portraits and Dreams, Allen's piano and Carter's bass keep the listener engaged. Cobb's drum work is subtle but effective. Lundy, Walden, Roney, Shirley and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus supplement the trio with great results. The collection includes a bonus CD single, "Lift Every Voice and Sing, which features Shirley and the Atlanta Jazz Chorus. Together, they form a gallery of emotions, thought-provoking messages and good jazz.~ Woodrow Wilkins https://www.allaboutjazz.com/timeless-portraits-and-dreams-geri-allen-telarc-records-review-by-woodrow-wilkins.php

Personnel: Geri Allen, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums; Carmen Lundy, vocals; Wallace Roney, trumpet; George Shirley, vocals; Donald Walden, tenor saxophone; Atlanta Jazz Chorus, directed by Dwight Andrews.

Timeless Portrait And Dreams

---

Donald Brown - Autumn in New York

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:06
Size: 151,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:48) 1. Make Sure You're sure
(7:47) 2. I Can't Give You Anything but Love
(5:14) 3. Strange
(5:41) 4. Miro's Flight
(6:32) 5. I Was Just Thinking About You
(6:20) 6. Dorothy's Love Letter
(8:18) 7. If I Should Loose You
(6:27) 8. Willow Weep for Me
(6:20) 9. Killer Joe
(5:39) 10. Autumn in New York

In spite of a lengthy discography of recordings as a leader, pianist Donald Brown remains a talent deserving of wider recognition. Whether it is due to his soft-spoken nature or the fact that his series of excellent recordings for the French label Space Time is not yet widely enough distributed in the U.S., Brown's abilities as a player, composer, and arranger are never in question. On this trio date with bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Billy Kilson, the veteran catches listeners off guard with a laid-back opener, a dreamy take of Stevie Wonder's ballad "Make Sure You're Sure." His off-kilter approach to the old warhorse "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" and wailing treatment of "If I Should Lose You" add new life to these time-tested standards. Perhaps his most intriguing arrangement is the bluesy saunter through "Willow Weep for Me." The bright and somewhat funky "Dorothy's Love Letter" is among the three superb originals which Brown contributed to this very enjoyable CD.~Ken Dryden https://www.allmusic.com/album/autumn-in-new-york-mw0000235054

Personnel: Piano, Liner Notes – Donald Brown; Acoustic Bass – Essiet Essiet; Drums – Billy Kilson

Autumn in New York

---

Gloria Lynne - Encore (Remastered)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 25:16
Size: 57.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[2:23] 1. They Didn't Believe Me
[1:58] 2. It Just Happened To Me
[2:45] 3. Bali Ha'i
[2:27] 4. Indian Love Call
[2:58] 5. Please Be Kind
[2:34] 6. One Step From Heaven
[2:37] 7. My Reverie
[2:41] 8. My Prayer For You
[2:17] 9. Intermezzo
[2:31] 10. Try A Little Tenderness

Truly one of America's greatest jazz vocalists, Gloria Lynne was the first jazz artist to have hits in the jazz, r&b, and pop categories simultaneously. She has influenced countless singers with her unique "Soul Jazz" style and continues to inspire new fans with her classic performances. This collection focuses on some of the best performances from her early years for the audiophile Everest label, from the late 1950's through the early 1960's. Featuring "Try A Little Tenderness," "Indian Love Call," "One Step From Heaven" and more. All selections newly remastered.

Encore (Remastered)

---

John Surman - Proverbs And Songs

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:32
Size: 114,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:11)  1. Prelude
(4:55)  2. The Sons
(6:41)  3. The Kings
(7:39)  4. Wisdom
(4:50)  5. Job
(7:42)  6. No Twilight
(5:00)  7. Pride
(4:06)  8. The Proverbs
(5:24)  9. Abraham Arise!

Multi-reedist John Surman returns to his chorister roots and lays bare his compositional prowess with this oratorio commissioned by the Salisbury Festival and premiered in June of 1996. The Salisbury Festival Chorus, founded in 1987 by Howard Moody (of whose compositions the Hilliard Ensemble and Trio Mediaeval have been strong proponents) approaches its Old Testament sources as the composer sets them: that is, with panache, a flair for syncopation, and raw intensity. Add to this pianist John Taylor in an unexpected turn on cathedral organ, and you’ve got a recipe for one of Surman’s most intriguing catalogue entries to date. Despite the forces assembled, it is he who dominates the palette. The “Prelude” immediately places his cantorial baritone amid a wash of organ in a free-flowing Byzantine mode, thereby establishing a rich narrative quality from the start. Our first foray into choral territory comes in the form of “The Sons,” a robust piece that works men’s and women’s voices in an iron forger’s antiphony toward genealogical harmony. At first, the thicketed singing feels more like a shoreline along which reed and pipes crash in pockets of light and bas-relief. Yet as the “The Kings” soon proves, it is capable of the jaunty togetherness at which Surman excels. “Wisdom” has its finger most firmly on this pulse of greater fellowship, for there is a wisdom of Surman’s own in the brushwork of his soprano, which dances for all the world like the world. This being a live BBC Radio 3 recording that was later mixed down at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio, the quality is rather compressed. 

Then again, so is the music, the message of which is as dense as its King James texts. The album’s space is left to Taylor, its images to the voices, its method to Surman’s winds. There is a rusticity to the album’s sound that matches the unadulterated emotions of the music. We hear this especially in “Job,” which like its scripture upholds divine reason in the face of hardship. The chanting here is a form of punctuation, the snaking baritone lines its restless grammar. “No Twilight” continues to unravel the sopranic weave in what amounts to the heart of the album, both in spirit and in execution, and places the voices at the slightest remove to haunting effect. Surman’s streaks of sunlight here the voices of reason add depth of field to this vision, so that the whimsical shallows of “Pride” emphasize the frivolity and fragility of their eponym. The truth comes out in the ruminative organ solo that epilogues the piece. “The Proverbs,” with its ominous recitation, is the freest and builds eddies of judgment and self-reflection (note Surman’s brilliant evocation of the dissenter) until the rays of sacrifice blind with “Abraham Arise!” In light of the stellar body of choral work that ECM has produced, Surman’s forays into the same are not life-changing, if only because they are about unchanging life. True to the lessons at hand, it is more descriptive than it is aesthetic. Its juxtaposition of distinct sonic color schemes is pure Surman, and represents not a detour from but a dive into the kaleidoscope of his discography…and one well worth taking, at that. https://ecmreviews.com/2013/02/15/proverbs-and-songs/

Personnel: John Surman baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet; John Taylor organ

Proverbs And Songs

---