Phil Woods - Groovin' To Marty Paich

Styles: Clarinet and Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:08
Size: 123,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:16) 1. Groovin' High
(4:07) 2. Walkin' Shoes
(5:57) 3. I've Never Been In Love Before
(3:35) 4. Round Midnight
(4:19) 5. Donna Lee
(6:49) 6. Moanin'
(4:12) 7. Anthropology
(4:06) 8. Violets For Your Furs
(4:04) 9. Bernie's Tune
(3:13) 10. Airegin
(4:03) 11. Too Close For Comfort
(4:21) 12. Shaw' Nuff

At a 2004 West Coast jazz festival presented by producer Ken Poston, altoist Phil Woods was featured performing Marty Paich arrangements with the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra. The re-created charts were originally recorded by Art Pepper in the 1950s, with the majority drawn from the famous Art Pepper + Eleven album. Woods has a different sound and a slightly different style than Pepper, but his playing is certainly complementary and a logical choice for this project. Pianist Christian Jacob directed the 12-piece orchestra and, although his verbal introductions are sometimes a bit awkward, the music works quite well. Woods, who takes a rare clarinet solo on "Anthropology" (which he jokes about), is in top form throughout. Highlights include "Groovin' High," "Walkin' Shoes," "Bernie's Tune," and "Shaw 'Nuff." Fans of West Coast jazz will enjoy this intriguing reinterpretation of Marty Paich's classic charts.~Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/groovin-to-marty-paich-mw0000253029

Personnel: Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Phil Woods; Alto Saxophone – Don Shelton ; Baritone Saxophone – Bob Carr; Bass – Chris Conner; Bass Trombone – Rich Bullock; Drums – Paul Kreibich; Piano – Christian Jacob; Tenor Saxophone – Brian Scanlon; Trombone – Scott Whitfield; Trumpet – Frank Szabo, Steve Huffsteter; Vibraphone – Brad Dutz

Groovin' To Marty Paich

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Champian Fulton & Scott Hamilton - The Things We Did Last Summer

Styles: Vocal, Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:03
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

( 7:04) 1. When Your Lover Has Gone
(10:04) 2. Black Velvet
( 6:32) 3. I Cried For You
( 6:08) 4. The Things We Did Last Summer
( 6:47) 5. Too Marvelous For Words
( 7:35) 6. My Future Just Passed
( 7:15) 7. Runnin' Wild
( 7:35) 8. The Very Thought Of You

Sometimes it's destiny. In the case of pianist/vocalist Champian Fulton: Her father, Stephen Fulton, is a jazz trumpeter who, early on, exposed his daughter to the sounds of classic jazz, to the exclusion of the then current popular sounds. Also, legendary trumpeter Clark Terry, Stephen's friend, hung around the Fulton house from Champian's earliest days, and slipped into a mentoring role for the young woman as she became a professional in her pre-teen years. But most tellingly, upon entering kindergarten Fulton experienced her first exposure to the popular music of the day, including the vapid artistry of Madonna. Champian, the musically precocious five year old, found these sounds lacking, so she brought a Charlie Parker album to class for show and tell.

Destined to be a jazz performer, for sure. Some initial impressions of the Champian Fulton/Scott Hamilton offering, Things We Did last Summer: 1. Swing and 4/4 time, laid down so exquisitely, is a balm for the soul. 2. Veteran sax man Scott Hamilton, with scores of album releases under his own name over a forty year career, sounds like the world champion of the tenor sax soulful and robust, eloquent in his issuance intricate and nuanced solos. 3. Champian Fulton could make a fine career as a pianist, but, like Diana Krall, she also developed a first rate jazz singer's skills.

Things We Did Last Summer, like the handful-plus of previous Fulton releases, is an exploration of the Great American Songbook, many of them here the lesser-known gems of the genre. On "My Future Just Passed," a vehicle for Chet Baker, Shirley Horn and many more, Champian and Hamilton trade measured, dynamic solos, Fulton's vocal tinged with a possessive longing bordering for all it's loveliness on a certain possessive ruthlessness concerning the "boy I'll now be a fool about." With the set's opener, "When Your Lover Has Gone," swing is king. Fulton sings it with a devilish gleam in her eye she sounds, always, like she's having the time of her life and she lays down a sparkling piano turn that brings Erroll Garner to mind: crisp, a bit flashy, gleamingly elegant, giving way to Hamilton's articulate, coming-right-at-you tenor sax.

Five of the eight tunes feature Champian's assured, sometimes sly, and slightly feline vocal artistry; three are instrumental quartet offerings. "Black Velvet," the instrumental highlight, would fit right into the groove of a Lou Donaldson album. Fulton and Hamilton roll smooth and easy on the bass/drums cushion of, respectively, Ignasi Gonzalez and Esteve Pl. It's an absolutely first rate band, working some superb arrangements. It brings to mind, in this regard, Billie Holiday's Songs For Distingue Lovers (Verve, 1957), with Ben Webster on sax, and Jimmie Rowles on piano. Jazz for the ages classy and marvelously performed.~Dan McClenaghanhttps://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-things-we-did-last-summer-champian-fulton-blau-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan

Personnel: Champian Fulton - piano and vocals; Scott Hamilton - tenor sax; Ignasi Gonzalez - bass; Esteve Pi - drums

The Things We Did Last Summer

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Orrin Evans - The Magic of Now

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:40
Size: 133,6 MB
Art: Front

(13:48) 1. Mynah / The Eleventh Hour
( 5:54) 2. Libra
( 8:21) 3. The Poor Fisherman
( 8:04) 4. MAT-Matt
( 9:05) 5. Levels
( 8:42) 6. Momma Loves
( 3:43) 7. Dave

Timing is everything, the old masters teach. So pianist/composer/bandleader Orrin Evans drops the brazen The Magic of Now just in time. Just in time for the world to open up, renew its commitment, and move forward. Just in time for all to engage in those necessary conversations about civil upkeep. Put plainly, The Magic of Now is the music to lead the charge. A whirlwind of perpetual buoyancy and boundless risk aversion, the eight easeful dances defining The Magic of Now finds Evans reuniting with bassist Vicente Archer, drummer Bill Stewart, and former music camp student, 23-year-old powerhouse alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins for some seriously spirited interaction. Evans (who recently gave notice to The Bad Plus) and company play it full tilt and then some.

Righteous, rowdy, and riotous, joy abounds as the quartet, led by Archer and Stewart, slyly open Stewart's "Mynah" from Telepathy (Blue Note, 1997) and it immediately becomes palpable that these guys are very glad, very effin' glad, to be playing together. To be being together: Wilkins' ascending, Evans comping, and the rhythm, well it's meant to blend with little bother into the ecstatic, blow-the-roof-off, cutting party wit of Mulgrew Miller's "The Eleventh Hour." Anyone not familiar with Wilkins' rapid ride to the top of the young jazz elite need only hear the power and glory of the elders his tone and energy conjure on this track alone. So entranced is Wilkins that Evans, sensing the young'un may blow a gasket, literally wrests the spotlight away by going total Thelonious Monk at about the four-minute mark.

Which brings us to "Libra" and the distinct possibility that Evans just may have penned the anthem for the new world. Sure the tune dates back to 2006 with the trio of Evans, bassist Madison Rast and drummer Byron Landham Live In Jackson, Mississippi (Imani Records), but it doesn't resonate as deeply on that occasion as it does so effortlessly here. An elegiac, light hearted melody that won't let go brings to the fore all of Evans' soulful particulars: Percussive one moment, and poppy the next, riding a tight Stewart groove.

As if to show that he isn't only about the power of his majestic horn, Wilkins delivers "The Poor Fisherman," a knowing, reflective, shimmering ballad that Archer and Stewart whisper around as Evans plays with sentiment and delicacy. Another winner from Wilkins, "Levels" is a relaxed 5/4 that affords Evans and his former student some post bop, one-on-one time. Everyone swings intently on "Momma Loves." As if to remind us that it isn't always party time, the quartet quietly close with Evans' ruminative "Dave," making The Magic of Now a keeper from beginning to end.~MIKE JURKOVIChttps://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-magic-of-now-orrin-evans-smoke-sessions-records

Personnel: Orrin Evans: piano; Vicente Archer: bass; Bill Stewart: drums; Immanuel Wilkins: saxophone, alto.

The Magic of Now

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Gaucho - Thinking Of You

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:57
Size: 102.9 MB
Styles: Gypsy jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[4:06] 1. Thinking Of You
[4:03] 2. Save It For The Next Guy
[3:10] 3. Sugarspoon Blues
[3:30] 4. Mariposa Waltz
[3:21] 5. The I'm In Trouble Blues
[4:41] 6. Song For Wong
[3:13] 7. The Sometimes I'm Still Blue Blues
[3:33] 8. I Think I'm In Love
[3:10] 9. The Aaron Lackman Blues
[3:50] 10. The Tricycle Waltz
[3:50] 11. San Francisco Song
[4:24] 12. Little Boo

Gaucho has been together and working 4-7 days a week in their home base of San Francisco for over 10 years and tours regularly. Winner's of the SFweekly's reader's poll in 2009 for "Best Jazz and Blues Band," in the time they have been together they have played tons of gigs, made 6 albums, licensed songs for commercials and films, their 2 biggest being Pixar and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan

While Gaucho is a gypsy jazz band, they also are deeply inspired by the music of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, James P. Johnson and much of the early American Jazz and Blues musics. Due to the fact that all the band members were born in the later part of the 20th century, they are also all influenced by the music they grew up with. Gaucho feels that while they love the music of the 1920's-1940's and that those sounds are their focus, they are also still alive today and strive for a fresh and living take on these older styles!

The band centers around the trio of Dave Ricketts (guitarist, composer and bandleader for Gaucho) Rob Reich, Accordionist extraordinaire and the wonderful bassist, Ari Munkres. Craig Ventresco and Victor Wong do some sweet guitar playing in the band as well as Ralph Carney on Saxophone and Steve Apple on drums! Also, as the band has grown over the years, it has earned the respect of other great musicians and some have graciously recorded with the band. It is a deep honor to list the following names: Leon Oakley, the cornetist of SF's Turk Murphy Band, Clint Baker, Marty Eggers, NYC's Tamar Korn co-wrote songs with Ricketts for the Gaucho CD,"Pearl" and star vocalist of "Part-Time Sweetheart," Georgia English.

Gaucho plays many Bay Area gigs but the band is best known for it's now 12+ year residency at Amnesia on Wednesday nights from 8:00-10:00 PM at 853 Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District.

Thinking Of You

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Beverly Kenney - Sings With Jimmy Jones

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:20
Size: 78.6 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1956/2013
Art: Front

[2:54] 1. A Fine Romance
[2:35] 2. Who Cares What People Say
[3:05] 3. Isn't It A Lovely Day
[2:48] 4. Mairzy Doats
[3:19] 5. Nobody Else But Me
[3:05] 6. The More I See
[2:45] 7. Old Buttermilk Sky
[3:52] 8. I Never Has Seen Snow
[2:04] 9. Makin' Whoopee
[2:32] 10. The Charm Of You
[2:26] 11. My Kind Of Love
[2:47] 12. Can't Get Out Of This Mood

Beverly Kenney, one of the most interesting jazz singers of the mid-'50s, led just three albums in her brief career. This set, reissued by the Spanish Fresh Sound label, teams Kenney with pianist Jimmy Jones, four then-current members of Count Basie's band (trumpeter Joe Newman, Frank Wess on tenor and flute, rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, and bassist Eddie Jones), plus former Basie-ite Jo Jones on drums. The light but swinging backing is perfect for Kenney, who excels on such songs as "Nobody Else But Me," "A Fine Romance," "Isn't This a Lovely Day," and "Can't Get Out of This Mood." She deserves to be remembered. ~Scott Yanow

Sings With Jimmy Jones

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