Jared Gold - All Wrapped Up

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:03
Size: 115,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:43) 1. My Sentiments Exactly
(5:28) 2. Get Out Of My Sandbox
(5:31) 3. Piece Of Mine
(6:39) 4. Midnight Snack
(7:04) 5. Dark Blue
(7:23) 6. Mama Said
(6:44) 7. Saudade
(5:27) 8. Just A Suggestion

There's a noticeable change in organist Jared Gold's sonic template of choice, before All Wrapped Up even begins. While two out of Gold's three prior releases were quartet outings that used saxophone as the lone horn voice, all three releases were rooted in the traditional organ trio instrumental format. A different guitarist graced each one of those records, with Randy Napoleon, Ed Cherry and Dave Stryker each putting their own unique stamp on Gold's music, but the organist clearly felt it was time to move on, with guitar nowhere to be found on this album. Instead, Gold turns to two stellar horn players (and label mates) to help flesh out his new sound. Saxophonist Ralph Bowen and trumpeter Jim Rotondi add their own singular voices to Gold's music as the organist creates the next chapter in his career as a leader.

Five of the eight compositions on the album come from Gold, and the funkiest fare stands out above the rest. "Mama Said" starts off with both horns working through the hip head, as drummer Quincy Davis lays down an easy funk beat and things get even more soulful as solos are passed around. The album-closing "Just A Suggestion" has a few more rhythmic turns in the mix, but moves in a similar direction. Bowen's solo is the clear highlight on this one and his passion for the music is palpable.

While more than half of the material comes from Gold, each member of the band contributes one piece. Davis delivers a relaxed swinger ("Piece Of Mine"), but Bowen's "Midnight Snack"is a rhythmic rollercoaster ride, where the groove terrain is in a constant state of flux though everyone knows exactly what they're doing as the rhythmic underpinnings continually shift. Rotondi's "Dark Blue" follows, a mellow swinger that's the calm after the storm.

When All Wrapped Up reaches its conclusion, two things are abundantly clear: this newfound quartet format hasn't dampened or diminished the creative enthusiasm shown on Gold's earlier releases; and the album continues the steady evolution of one of jazz's most prominent rising star organists.~ Dan Bilawskyhttps://www.allaboutjazz.com/all-wrapped-up-jared-gold-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky

Personnel: Jared Gold: organ; Ralph Bowen: saxophone; Jim Rotondi: trumpet; Quincy Davis: drums.

All Wrapped Up

---

Eric Reed & Cyrus Chestnut - Plenty Swing, Plenty Soul

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:28
Size: 168,5 MB
Art: Front

(14:39)  1. I'll Remember April
(12:14)  2. All The Things You Are
(14:36)  3. Two Bass Hit
( 6:17)  4. Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing
( 9:40) 5. It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
( 7:49)  6. Prayer
( 8:09)  7. Plenty Swing, Plenty Soul

Piano duo recordings can be a tricky thing: finding a balance that allows each musician to shine while simultaneously keeping in mind that it is a collaborative affair can result either in a seamless piece of cooperative music-making, or a battle of egos that benefits no one. Fortunately, this falls into the former category. With accompaniment by bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Willie Jones III, Reed and Chestnut are sympathetic players who know when to step forward, when to hold back, and when to meet in the middle. Although seven years apart in age (Chestnut being the older), Reed and Chestnut share somewhat similar backgrounds: both are from large East Coast cities, both began their musical instruction at a very young age via their fathers, and both have gospel training in their backgrounds.

That common ground gives them not so much similar styles as an understanding of where the other is rooted, and as they burrow deeper into each of the pieces here drawn from a trio of live gigs at New York's Dizzy's club there are many times when it's near impossible to tell that two pianists are playing, let alone who's doing what although the mix separates Reed and Chestnut by placing one in the left channel and the other in the right, one would have to be extremely fine-tuned to the nuances of each musician's playing to pick them out had the engineer not made it easier. The set consists of standards (a spry "I'll Remember April" opens it), a couple of jazz classics (a rousing version of Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing"), and a couple of gospel-themed tunes played solo the classic "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," featuring only Chestnut, and Reed's "Prayer." That the pianistry is exemplary throughout goes without saying, but these two fine musicians and their accompanists elevate their meeting into something greater. ~ Jeff Tamarkin http://www.allmusic.com/album/plenty-swing-plenty-soul-mw0001962994

Personnel: Cyrus Chestnut (piano); Eric Reed (piano); Willie Jones III (drums).

Plenty Swing, Plenty Soul

---

Catherine Russell - Send For Me

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:18
Size: 108,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:26) 1. Did I Remember
(4:44) 2. Send For Me
(3:04) 3. At The Swing Cats Ball
(4:41) 4. Make It Last
(3:37) 5. Going Back To New Orleans
(3:40) 6. If I Could Be With You
(2:52) 7. You Can Fly High
(3:48) 8. East of The Sun (and West of The Moon)
(4:11) 9. In The Night
(3:24) 10. You Stepped Out of A Dream
(3:07) 11. Blue And Sentimental
(2:59) 12. Sticks and Stones
(3:38) 13. Million Dollar Smile

GRAMMY® nominated vocalist Catherine Russell, when asked to characterize her new album, Send For Me, replied, “I love romance that swings.” Send For Me features a baker’s dozen of newly recorded tunes on her eighth album as a leader, meeting a simple exacting standard. “Songs that inspire or touch me in some way. When I find a song I like, it haunts me until I learn it.” Her mission is finding songs that you might not have heard but deserve attention.

Russell’s deep connection to her chosen material is part of a calling. As the daughter of pioneering and legendary musicians, pianist/orchestra leader/composer/arranger Luis Russell, and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Carline Ray, Catherine Russell was born into jazz royalty. In culling material for her new album from the likes of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Luis Russell, Betty Carter, Kay Starr, Joe Liggins, Earl King, Jack Teagarden, Helen Humes, Frank Sinatra, Dakota Staton, Henry Red Allen, and Louis Armstrong, the vocalist swims in familiar waters. She sings a language that comes naturally, furthering a profound legacy.

Send For Me is a follow up to Russell’s 2019 release Alone Together, which received a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and landed on the JazzWeek year-end radio chart as the #1 most played album. “I like to invite the people in,” she says of her new album, which is also her philosophy of performing live. The album is an invitation, welcoming the audience to come along on a journey. https://www.dottimerecords.com/product/catherine-russell-send-for-me/

Personnel: Catherine Russell – vocals, percussion (5,7); hand claps (2); Matt Munisteri – guitar, musical director, banjo (5,6); Tal Ronen – bass (except 5); Mark McLean – drums; tambourine (5); Mark Shane – piano (1,3,4,7,12); Sean Mason – piano (2,6,8,9,10,11,13); Jon-Erik Kellso – trumpet (1,3,4,7,9,12); John Allred – trombone (1,3,4,6,7,9,12); Evan Arntzen – reeds (1,3,7,9,12); Paul Nedzela – baritone saxophone (9); Mark Lopeman – tenor saxophone (2); Aaron Heick – tenor saxophone (2); Philip Norris – Tuba (5); Paul Kahn – hand claps (2)

Send For Me

---

Hal Galper Trio - Invitation to Openness: Live at Big Twig

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:40
Size: 165,1 MB
Art: Front

(11:18) 1. Embraceable You
(10:51) 2. Rapunzel's Luncheonette
( 9:45) 3. Winter Heart
( 6:56) 4. Ambleside
( 8:41) 5. Invitation to Openness
( 8:38) 6. Take the Coltrane
( 7:58) 7. Wandering Spirit
( 7:28) 8. Constellation

Pianist Hall Galper turned away from the life of touring in 2000, and eased into "the shed," to work on some innovative ideas that would change the shape of the piano trio. Rubato is where he went a style of playing that stretches time, making it flexible, unpredictable and free. It takes special trio mates to assist in this, and he found them in his East Coast Trio, with bassist Tony Marino and drummer Billy Mintz, eventually, the group responsible for the fittingly-titled 2006 album, Agents Of Change (Fabola Records).

The change in Galper's trio approach blossomed fully on six subsequent Origin Records recordings with his West Coast Trio, featuring drummer Jeff Johnson. Two of those Origin Records recordings Airegin (2012) and O's Time (2014) stand as late-career masterpieces for Galper. Given the decade and half of productivity and consistent excellence of the West Coast Trio, Galper's work with Marino and Mintz might seem a footnote, with only one album in the books. But that footnote becomes bigger and better with 2022's Invitation To Openess, recorded in 2008 with Galper's east coast crew. This offering catches the threesome in fine form, opening with a eleven-plus minute take on Gershwin's "Embraceable You." This tune in these hands demonstrates just how beautiful odd beauty can be. This conventional (though superior; it is Gershwin) Great American Songbook tune goes to unexpected places straight ahead at times, often aggressive, warped away from recognizability at others, surprises around every corner.

Galper's creative foundation comes, in part, from the straight ahead tradition, having served considerable time with trumpeter Chet Baker and alto saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods. But he also did a stint in saxophonist Sam Rivers' band, which must have nudged him further in the free direction than he might otherwise have gone. In his semi-retirement over the course of time spent in the shed he sounds completely free. Those of a religious persuasion might say "Let go and let God." Of Hal Galper we could say he "Let go and let rubato."

As with all of his rubato releases, Galper makes wise choices in jazz standards and Great American Songbook tunes on Invitation To Openness, exploring the permutations of the previously-mentioned Gershwin composition, pianist John Taylor's "Ambleside," Duke Ellington's "Take the Coltrane" and Charlie Parker's "Constellation," with four of his own distinctive tunes mixed in. All of this moves into exhilarating and unexpected territory, no matter how familiar the source material, in this a look back at the beginnings of Hal Galper's move into rubato.~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/invitation-to-openness-hal-galper-trio-origin-records

Personnel: Hal Galper: piano; Tony Marino: bass; Billy Mintz: drums.

Invitation to Openness: Live at Big Twig

---