Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Charlie Ventura - East Of Suez

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:41
Size: 83,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:51) 1. Synthesis
(3:02) 2. Blue Champagne
(2:43) 3. Stop 'n' Go
(3:03) 4. Soothe Me
(3:13) 5. Pennies From Heaven
(2:47) 6. Eleven-Sixty
(2:50) 7. East Of Suez
(3:12) 8. Baby, Baby All The Time
(2:43) 9. Let's Jump For Rita
(3:01) 10. Out You Go
(3:09) 11. Sweet Georgia Brown
(3:01) 12. C.V. Jam

Tenor man Charlie Ventura was was a prominent fixture on the jazz scene during his era. Born Charles Venturo he was one of thirteen children from a musical family who went on to become a jazz legend, and was named “Number One Tenor Saxophonist” by Down Beat Magazine in 1945. In the summer of 1942, Charlie got a call at his day job at the Philadelphia Navy yard to join Gene Krupa's band. Unwilling to relinquish the security of a paycheck, he turned them down. Then came the second phone call and before long, Charlie was on the road with the band becoming a featured soloist, along with trumpet star, Roy Eldridge and singer Anita O'Day. Throughout the forties, fifties and sixties, Charlie Ventura and Gene Krupa made music history together as America's leading jazz greats.

Ventura was one of the first jazz musicians to make the transition from swing to be-bop. In 1946, he formed his own “Bop for the People” band, playing a commercially-oriented form of be-bop. Continuing to play with The Gene Krupa Trio, he cut “Dark Eyes,” which led to over a dozen released albums, including “Charlie Ventura With Special Guest Charlie Parker”(1949) “Bop For The People”(1949-53) and “Charlie Ventura And His Orchestra.”(1954-55) Many fans will remember the succession of great jazz groups, fronted by Charlie, that appeared at The Open House nightclub he owned in Lindenwold, New Jersey. Playing Las Vegas with Jackie Gleason, and Atlantic City, New York and Philadelphia, Charlie Ventura was the consummate jazzman. “Jazz is maturing and maturity carries responsibilities. I feel that I'm supposed to make people laugh, make them cry, make them day dream and give them some excitement,” Charlie explained. His lifetime of musical achievement ended in January, 1992, but his legacy to the world of jazz lives on. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/charlie-ventura

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Ventura; Bass – Al Hall, Chubby Jackson, Gus Cole; Drums – Dave Tough , Shelly Manne , Specs Powell; Guitar – Bill DeArango , Eddie Yance; Piano – Bill Rowland, Lou Stein, Ralph Burns; Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Ventura; Trombone – Bill Harris, Kai Winding; Trumpet – Buck Clayton, Charlie Shavers ; Vocals – Buddy Stewart

East Of Suez

Mel Tormé And Friends - Mel Torme and Friends: Recorded Live at Marty's, New York City

Styles: Vocal, Piano, Swing
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:59
Size: 181,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:51) 1. Let's Take a Walk Around the Block
(5:06) 2. New York State of Mind
(4:28) 3. When the World Was Young
(4:27) 4. Pick Yourself Up
(4:24) 5. Silly Habits
(3:46) 6. Mountain Greenery
(4:03) 7. Cottage for Sale
(2:29) 8. Take a Letter Miss Jones
(5:53) 9. Real Thing
(3:15) 10. Medley: Watch What Happens / Fly Me to the Moon / You And The Night And The Music / Shaking the Blues Away
(3:25) 11. Isn't It Romantic
(8:15) 12. "Porgy & Bess" Medley
(3:37) 13. The Folks Who Live on the Hill
(4:26) 14. The Best Is yet to Come
(3:54) 15. Isn't It a Pity
(4:36) 16. Wave
(5:02) 17. I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan
(4:54) 18. Love for Sale

Recorded live at the nightclub Marty's in New York City, Mel Tormé and Friends was originally released as a double LP in 1981. It's a welcome reissue, presenting prime later Tormé who was, as usual, performing a nightclub show with a trio backup largely devoted to standards like Rodgers and Hart's "Mountain Greenery," Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields' "Pick Yourself Up," Cole Porter's "Love for Sale" and a medley of songs from the Gershwins and DuBose Heyward's Porgy and Bess. What is unusual is the "and Friends" part, as Tormé is joined by such complementary guests as Cy Coleman (who plays piano on his and Carolyn Leigh's "The Best Is Yet to Come"), Gerry Mulligan (who performs on his and Tormé's composition "Real Thing," but whose solo medley has been cut), Jonathan Schwartz (who sings Lorenz Hart's original lyric for the song that became "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan") and one surprising but appropriate one: Janis Ian (who duets with Tormé on her own "Silly Habits").~ William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-martys-mw0000875927

The Friends Are: Cy Coleman/Janis Ian/Gerry Mulligan/Jonathan Schwartz

Personnel: Bass – Jay Leonhart, Rufus Reid; Drums – Donny Osborn; Piano – Mel Tormé, Mike Renzi

Mel Tormé And Friends

Lady Blackbird - Black Acid Soul

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:57
Size: 96,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:01) 1. Blackbird
(2:58) 2. It's Not That Easy
(4:51) 3. Fix It
(3:42) 4. Ruler of my Heart
(3:38) 5. Nobody's Sweetheart
(3:17) 6. Collage
(3:20) 7. Five Feet Tall
(4:21) 8. Lost and Looking
(3:39) 9. It'll Never Happen Again
(4:13) 10. Beware the Stranger
(3:54) 11. Black Acid Soul

The highly-anticipated and debut album Black Acid Soul, due for its long awaited release on September 3rd via Foundation Music/BMG. With a voice that has stopped critics in their tracks, Lady Blackbird is a revelatory new talent with music that transcends the jazz scene through which the LA-based artist is rooted. Reflecting influences as varied as Billie Holiday, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner and Chaka Khan, with critics drawing comparisons to Adele, Amy and Celeste, Lady Blackbird’s distinct and beguiling talent is not one to be missed. Honouring the great's has come as a musical process to Lady Blackbird, having recorded her highly anticipated debut album Black Acid Soul in legendary Studio B (Prince’s room) in Sunset Sound, produced by Grammy-nominated Chris Seefried. Minimal yet rich, classic yet timely, the album connects backwards to Miles Davis (his pianist, Deron Johnson, plays Steinway Baby Grand, Mellotron and Casio Synth throughout) and forwards to Pete Tong (he made the Bruise mix of ‘Collage’ his Number Two Essential Selection tune of 2020) and, yes, Victoria Beckham Matthew Herbert’s remix of second single ‘Beware The Stranger’ soundtracked the designer’s Spring/Summer 2020 Fashion show. https://iamladyblackbird.bandcamp.com/album/black-acid-soul

Line-up: Lady Blackbird, Vocals | Deron Johnson, Steinway Baby Grand, Mellotron, Casio Synth | Jon Flaugher, Double Bass | Jimmy Paxson, Drums, Percussion | Chris Seefried, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar | Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Trumpet.

Black Acid Soul