Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett - Vocal Encounters

Styles: Vocal, Piano Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:02
Size: 133,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:18)  1. That Old Black Magic
(3:14)  2. Summer Song
(3:58)  3. My Melancholy Baby (with Jimmy Rushing)
(1:56)  4. It's a Raggy Waltz
(3:06)  5. The Real Ambassador
(2:37)  6. My One Bad Habit
(3:17)  7. Because All Men Are Brothers
(2:06)  8. There'll Be Some Changes Made
(2:48)  9. Weep No More
(4:38) 10. Cultural Exchange
(2:54) 11. Travelin' Blues - Live
(3:21) 12. Ain't Misbehavin' (with Jimmy Rushing)
(5:27) 13. They Say I Look Like God
(2:29) 14. In The Lurch
(2:21) 15. Autumn In Our Town
(2:31) 16. Since Love Had Its Way
(4:37) 17. Blues in the Dark (with Jimmy Rushing)
(2:15) 18. Take Five (with The Dave Brubeck Quartet) - Single Version

Dave and Iola Brubeck wrote most of the songs on this vocal compilation, including excerpts from their show The Real Ambassadors. Culled from several early 1960s releases, each selection features a singer or singers. Two previously unreleased tracks are included: a take of “It’s A Raggy Waltz” with Carmen McRae and an arrangement of “Autumn In Our Town” with whispery singer Ranny Sinclair. The refreshing “Raggy Waltz” works well as a vocal number, while “Autumn In Our Town” proves to be much less effective. The combination of Sinclair’s pure, young and innocent voice alongside harsher pickups of guitar and piano creates problems. Precious moments include Paul Desmond’s few appearances, Tony Bennett’s “That Old Black Magic” thrill, the firm confidence of both Rushing and McRae, Louis Armstrong’s storytellin’ and LHR’s dazzling scat display. Brubeck and Desmond both provide examples of their best solo work on “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Rushing. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross work hand in hand with Armstrong on The Real Ambassadors selections to remind the world that jazz is indeed a universal language. Featuring its own cast of expressive singers, the Vocal Encounters compilation offers the reader an interesting program  on CD. ~ Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/vocal-encounters-dave-brubeck-columbia-records-review-by-jim-santella.php

Personnel: Dave Brubeck- piano; Paul Desmond- alto saxophone; Eugene Wright- bass; Joe Morello- drums; Danny Barcelona- drums; Trummy Young- trombone; Joe Darensbourg- clarinet; Louis Armstrong- trumpet, vocal; Tony Bennett, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Jimmy Rushing, Carmen McRae, Peter, Paul & Mary, Ranny Sinclair- vocals; other instrumentalists.

Vocal Encounters

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Jay Azzolina - Past Tense

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 62:12
Size: 58,1 MB
Art: Front

( 8:35) 1. Ben Hur, Ben Him
( 7:42) 2. Inside Pies Eyes
( 8:57) 3. Black Waltz
( 7:31) 4. Lil' Red
(10:24) 5. The Totem
( 5:53) 6. Rhythms Change
( 6:53) 7. Marvelous Marvin
( 6:14) 8. My Ship

Known for his pop-fusion work with Spyro Gyra, Michael Franks, and others, guitarist Jay Azzolina steps into the straight-ahead jazz arena with this record. The lineup is heavy: Chris Potter on sax, Charles Blenzig on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Adam Nussbaum on drums. Fleet-fingered lines and burning swing abound on "Ben Hur, Ben Him" and "Rhythms Change." Darker, more delicate sounds emerge from "The Totem" and "Black Waltz." "Inside Pies Eyes" and "Marvelous Marvin" recall the pared-down trio music of John Scofield’s Shinola and Out Like a Light, while "Lil’ Red" recalls the piano/guitar duels of Scofield’s Rough House. Indeed, Azzolina’s writing and edgy guitar sound owe much perhaps a little too much to Scofield. At times his style is derivative, his tone a bit thin and nasal.

Also on the down side, Azzolina closes the album with a hopelessly cheesy version of Kurt Weill’s "My Ship," featuring his wife Jill Azzolina on vocals. It’s the final uneven moment of this somewhat uneven album. However, Azzolina’s prowess as a player is not in doubt, and his alliances with musicians like Potter and Patitucci promise better things to come.~David Adler https://www.allaboutjazz.com/past-tense-jay-azzolina-double-time-jazz-review-by-david-adler

Past Tense

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Franco Ambrosetti - Cycladic Moods

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:11
Size: 146,8 MB
Art: Front

( 8:38)  1. Instant Correlation
( 3:34)  2. Cycladic Suite: Mystic Dawn
( 6:19)  3. Cycladic Suite: Agean Waves
( 3:52)  4. Cycladic Suite: Seven Bofors
( 2:49)  5. Cycladic Suite: Where the Sun Never Sets
( 6:59)  6. In Real Time
(21:31)  7. Mirobop
( 4:56)  8. Blues for My Friends
( 3:28)  9. Peace

If piano is the instrument on which Europeans are most prominent in jazz, trumpet is next: Think Tomasz Stanko, Enrico Rava, Kenny Wheeler and, more recently, Mathias Eick. Franco Ambrosetti is in that mix. He often works in groups led by bassist Miroslav Vitous, where his selective contributions can be striking in their off-center lyricism. But Ambrosetti’s latest album as a leader is more nice than striking. In the current jazz marketplace, flooded with CDs, nice does not get you noticed. In his liner notes, Ambrosetti says that working with Vitous exposed him to “a different, wider and surprising world ... away from the well-known orthodoxy.” Yet Cycladic Moods is often predictable, even generic, within in its category of postmodern modal jazz.

Competency is not an issue. Pianist Geri Allen sounds somewhat under wraps, but her measured forays are poetic. Tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton is conventional yet muscular and fluent. Ambrosetti’s own solos, in his wide range of trumpet colors, are always personal. Drummer Nasheet Waits makes this refined music snap. The only weak link is Ambrosetti’s son Gianluca, with his thin, unattractive soprano saxophone tone. The centerpiece is not the suite that gives the album its name, but “Mirobop,” a 21-minute breakout on a line by Vitous. This is the track intended to embody the ensemble objectives announced by Ambrosetti in his liner notes: “free improvisation” and “unexpected new paths” based on “intense listening to each other.” But because the spontaneous exchanges conform to familiar patterns of the free-jazz genre, they are less exciting than Ambrosetti intends. But then you come to the last song, a lovely, fervent reading of Horace Silver’s “Peace” by Ambrosetti and Allen, and you think, perhaps there is no such thing as too many nice jazz albums.

 ~ Thomas Conrad  

http://jazztimes.com/articles/54359-cycladic-moods-franco-ambrosetti

Cycladic Moods

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Massimo Farao,' Francesca Tandoi - La musica di Franco Califano

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:30
Size: 86,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:40) 1. Un Tempo Piccolo
(4:05) 2. Tutto Il Resto E' Noia
(4:51) 3. Semo Gente Di Borgata
(5:02) 4. La Mia Liberta'
(3:30) 5. Io Me Mbriaco
(4:45) 6. L'Ultimo Amico Va Via
(3:56) 7. Tac
(4:38) 8. La Vacanza Di Fine Settimana

MASSIMO FARAO'"The blackest of Italian pianists" was born May 16th, 1965, in Genoa. He studied piano with Maestro Flavio Crivelli and began his career collaborating with musicians from the Genoa Area, especially with the bassist Piero Leveratto. In 1993 he was invited for the first time in the USA. He plays with Red Holloway and Albert "Tootie" Heath on a tour on the West Coast. In the same year he founded "We love Jazz" Workshop, now become one of the biggest events in Europe for jazz teaching.

In 1994 he was hired by "Monad Records" in New York and back in the United States as pianoplayer and music director of Shawnn Monteiro's band, with Keter Betts and Bobby Durham. He has played in several european tours with the Nat Adderley Quintet, composed by Antonio Hart, Walter Booker and Jimmy Cobb. In 2001 he joined the Archie Shepp's "Just in Time" Quartet with Wayne Dockery and Bobby Durham. Since 2001 he is the artistic director for the jazz division of AZZURRA MUSIC label. In 2003 he played at "Jazz Piano Festival" in Lucerne.

In November 2004 he played in Japan, where his albums have become bestsellers. He played in Italy, France, Germany, Corsica, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Dubai, Luxembourg, Spain, Japan, Yugoslavia,Canada. From 2014 he recorded 12 cd for Venus Records the famous japanese jazz label. He has recorded more than 2 hundred Cds with many Italian and foreign musicians.More.. https://www.massimofarao.com/massimofarao1

Personnel: Massimo Farao - piano; Francesca Tandoi - vocals; Davide Palladin - guitar; Cesare Mecca - trumpet; Nicola Barbon - bass; Bobo Facchinetti - drums

La musica di Franco Califano

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