Ryan Kisor - Conception Cool And Hot

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:10
Size: 124,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:52) 1. Cool And Hot
(6:31) 2. Line For Lyons
(7:24) 3. Conception
(9:03) 4. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
(7:55) 5. Enigma
(8:46) 6. I Remember You
(7:36) 7. All The Things You Are

Ryan Kisor was born April 12th, 1973 in Sioux City, Iowa. He began playing in a local dance band by the age of ten, began classical lessons at 12, met and was inspired by Clark Terry at 15 (while attending the latter's summer jazz camp) and played with various high school all-star bands. In November of 1990 he won the Thelonius Monk Institute's trumpet competition at the age of just 17, beating out the likes of Nicholas Payton and Marcus Printup.After graduating from high school in 1991, he went to the Manhattan School of Music and later studied with Lew Soloff among others.

He has recorded fairly extensively both as a leader and sideman and with small and large groups. Among the highlights; the Mingus Big Band (which still plays every thursday night at “The Fez” under Time Cafe in NYC's east village), the Michel Camilo Big Band (which although only existed for the purpose of recording the album, “One More Once,” was arguably one of the best latin big bands recorded in recent memory), the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Gerry Mulligan, Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Horace Silver, and Walter Blanding. Kisor just celebrated his 30th birthday, so the best is likely yet to come. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/ryan-kisor

Personnel: Ryan Kisor (flugelhorn,trumpet); Sherman Irby (alto sax); Peter Zak (piano); John Webber (bass); Willie Jones III (drums)

Conception Cool And Hot

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Ray Blue - Transvision

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 42:22
Size: 39,3 MB
Art: Front

( 7:52) 1. Attitude
( 8:44) 2. Classic Meeting
(10:36) 3. Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
( 5:31) 4. My Friend and I Took a Walk
( 9:36) 5. Transvision

Bauer Studios released Transvision on the Neu Klang label. I had reviewed other releases that Ray Blue and many of the personnel on Transvision participated on, (please read the Music Scene - Spirit of Life Ensemble - a little oasis), so I knew that Transvision would be tight, creative, and worth listening to; I was not wrong. I know Ray and his co-producer Daoud-David Williams personally, thus when I saw that Ray had listed the release from "Ray Blue and Cross Continental Spirits," I knew that this would be a collaboration with some of the best musicians in the industry. The personnel on Transvision work independently, and many work long international gigs, but it seems that when one of the group has a project ready to be recorded, the individuals make time to contribute; the bond that holds the personnel together is stronger than music, it is respect, admiration, and love for their fellow performer, and the music reflects this philosophy.

Transvision is five tracks that note-for-note pack a powerful sound; as Ray writes, "we recorded in a classic style, not too many tunes, make a statement and move on to the next idea." Ray Blue wrote four tracks and arranged all five tracks. Ray is a musician who knows how to blend his sound with the other musicians, and his arrangements are not about him, but about the total compilation. The lead track Attitude is full of attitude, it features some great individual solos as Ray lets the group spread their wings and loosen up, and the result is a progressive, fused sound, not a series of random solos. When I listened to the track Classic Meeting, I could feel that special feeling that I had when I happened upon my love at first sight, and love of my life, my wife, Debra C. Argen.

Classic Meeting is a beautiful and heart rendering song that shows off the true talents of the ensemble. The third track Softly as in a Morning Sunrise is a jazz standard that swings, it features Ray on saxophone and Michael Cochrane on piano; Ray takes the arrangement's tempo down a bit, but nothing is lost as this standard still pops. My friend and I took a Walk features Joan Minor providing the spoken word to complement Ray's mesmerizing saxophone; in addition, the lyrics embody the friendship between the band members. The last track Transvision takes us home with an up-tempo beat that connects all of the players musically and spiritually. Ray writes, "As our life paths intersect we experience several transformations and find elements of true friendship," this encapsulates the release Transvision. http://luxuryexperience.com/music_scene/music_artists/ray_blue_-_transvision.html

Personnel: Ray Blue: saxophonist, composer, arranger, co-producer; Daoud-David Williams: multi percussionist, co-producer; Michael Cochrane: piano; Calvin Hill: bass; Bruce Cox: drums; Willie Williams: conga-percussionist; Joan Minor: spoken word

Transvision

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Jazzmeia Horn - A Social Call

Size: 131,4 MB
Time: 56:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz/Soul Vocals
Art: Front

01. Tight ( 3:02)
02. East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) ( 6:04)
03. Up Above My Head ( 3:35)
04. Social Call ( 2:23)
05. People Make The World Go Round ( 6:55)
06. Lift Every Voice And Sing - Moanin' ( 6:04)
07. The Peacocks (A Timeless Place) ( 8:04)
08. I Remember You ( 2:10)
09. Afro Blue- Eye See You - Wade In The Water (13:02)
10. I'm Going Down ( 5:15)

New York-based performer Jazzmeia Horn is a gifted jazz vocalist with an inventive, scat-influenced style that helped her win the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition. Born in Dallas, Texas in 1991, Horn grew up in a creative, spiritually minded family and was first introduced to singing by her grandmother, a gospel pianist with an abiding love of jazz. Although she sang from an early age, it wasn't until her teens attending Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts that she developed an interest in jazz. Introduced to Sarah Vaughan by her composition class teacher, Horn fell in love with Vaughan's style and worked to learn her phrasing and inflection. From there, she began listening to other instrumentalists, including John Coltrane and Miles Davis. After high school, she honed her skills studying at Manhattan's The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She already gained recognition as a formidable talent during her time in school, and took home several Down Beat student music awards. Graduating in 2009, Horn quickly immersed herself in the New York scene, performing alongside such luminaries as Billy Harper, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mike LeDonne, Peter Bernstein, Vincent Herring, and many more. Horn's profile was raised significantly when she won Newark's 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition. Two years later, she solidified her place as a bona fide star after taking first place in the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition. In 2017, as part of her Monk Competition prize, she released her debut full-length album, A Social Call, on Concord Records. ~ Matt Collar

A Social Call

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