Saturday, May 7, 2022

Erena Terakubo - Absolutely Live!

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:03
Size: 136,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:16) 1. Bird Lives
(4:13) 2. Stompin' At The Savoy
(8:25) 3. Little Girl Power
(8:10) 4. Bud Powell
(6:54) 5. A Crystal Path
(4:24) 6. Shaw 'Nuff
(8:47) 7. Skylark
(9:01) 8. Fiesta Espagnol
(4:47) 9. Be Nice

Erena Terakubo was born in Sapporo, Japan in 1992. She began playing the alto saxophone at the age of nine. Between the ages of 10 and 15, she participated in the Sapporo Junior Jazz Orchestra, where she had the opportunity to have jazz clinics with musicians including Herbie Hancock and Tiger Okoshi. Terakubo later attended the Berklee Five-Week Summer Performance Program, where she was rewarded a full-tuition scholarship and was selected for the Berklee Summer Jazz Workshop with Terri Lyne Carrington.

In 2010, she recorded her first album, "North Bird" with Kenny Barron, Christian McBride, Lee Pearson, and Peter Bernstein. The album was released in Japan by Japanese major record label King, reached no. 1 on the Japanese jazz charts, and was awarded Swing Journal's Gold Disc. Later that year, she performed with Ron Carter, Omar Hakim, and Will Boulware as part of the Tokyo Jazz Festival. In 2011, Terakubo recorded her second album, "New York Attitude" with Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lee Pearson, and Dominick Farinacci, and she was chosen as one of just six Presidential Scholars from across the world to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Her concert appearances have included Tokyo Jazz Festival, Sapporo City Jazz Festival, Jazz Week Osaka 2010 (with Michel Camilo Trio), Nagoya Jazz Festival (with Yosuke Yamashita), Kitara Hall (with Sapporo Symphony Orchestra), and D.C. Jazz Festival 2012. She has been fortunate to work with musicians such as Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino, Eddie Gomez, Jimmy Cobb, and Anthony Jackson.. Terakubo has been selected to perform in summer 2012, at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, as part of Bill Cosby's portion of the program. In 2013, her long-awaited third album “Burkina” with Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Lenny White & Jimmy Cobb set a high valuation on her ability. In 2014, she graduated Berklee College Of Music. In 2015, Moved to New York City. https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/erena-terakubo

Personnel: Erena Terakubo - alto saxophone,soprano saxophone; Mayuko Katakura - piano; Motoi Kanamori - bass; Shinnosuke Takahashi - drums

Absolutely Live!

Dave Brubeck - Young Lions & Old Tigers

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:28
Size: 146,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:29)  1. Roy Hargrove
(2:33)  2. How High the Moon
(4:57)  3. Michael Brecker Waltz
(3:27)  4. Here Comes McBride
(3:51)  5. Joe Lovano Tango
(7:52)  6. In Your Own Sweet Way
(6:22)  7. Joshua Redman
(5:43)  8. Together
(6:59)  9. Moody
(4:46) 10. Gerry-Go-Round
(6:43) 11. Ronnie Buttacavoli
(4:41) 12. Deep in a Dream

To celebrate his 75th birthday, Dave Brubeck recorded one number apiece with quite a variety of top jazz stars, both young and old. Some of the performances (which alternate duets with quartets) work better than others (eight are recent Brubeck compositions) but all of the musicians display mutual respect, and it is obvious that the guests are all fans of the still-masterful pianist. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove plays beautifully on his lyrical feature but Jon Hendricks, who sings "How High the Moon" as a ballad, takes it at such a slow tempo as to be dreary. Tenor-saxophonist Michael Brecker is fine on "Michael Brecker Waltz," although he sounds a bit restrained, the wittily-titled "Here Comes McBride" is a good-humored romp with bassist Christian McBride; Joe Lovano (on tenor) works well with Brubeck, and particularly memorable is the first meeting on record between Brubeck and fellow pianist George Shearing, with a chance-taking interpretation of "In Your Own Sweet Way." 

Joshua Redman performs fine hard bop on one song, "Together," is a well-conceived duet for baritonist Gerry Mulligan and Brubeck, James Moody plays tenor, sings, and yodels on the minor blues "Moody," Mulligan returns for the contrapuntal "Gerry-Go-Round," and, although the obscure flugelhornist Ronnie Buttacavoli sounds very out of place on his boring feature, the set closes with one of the strongest performances, a solo piano showcase for Brubeck on "Deep in a Dream." Overall, this is quite a mixed bag but, even with its occasional misses, the CD is a must for Dave Brubeck fans, because the pianist is consistently inventive throughout the unusual set. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/young-lions-old-tigers-mw0000176313

Personnel: Dave Brubeck (piano); James Moody (vocals, tenor saxophone); Jon Hendricks (vocals); Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone); Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone); Roy Hargrove (trumpet); Ronnie Buttacavoli (flugelhorn); George Shearing (piano); Chris Brubeck (electric bass); Christian McBride, Jack Six (bass); Randy Jones (drums).

Carmen Cuesta & Chuck Loeb - Palabras

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:18
Size: 113,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:43)  1. Palabras
(5:00)  2. Te Vas
(5:06)  3. Vaiven
(4:44)  4. Despues
(4:42)  5. Nubes
(4:29)  6. Nada
(4:33)  7. Canción De Las Palabras
(5:13)  8. Barro
(5:28)  9. Belleza
(5:14) 10. Vive

The wife of smooth jazz synthesizer, flute and guitar player Chuck Loeb, Carmen Cuesta has established her own reputation as a soulful pop and jazz vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. Having served an apprenticeship as a background singer for Grover Washington, Jr., Michael Franks, Gato Barbieri, Peabo Bryson, Earl Klugh and Jim Hall and a chorus dancer in such musicals as Godspell, Cuesta has been steadily attracting acclaim as a soloist. Her debut 1996 solo album, One Kiss, which featured guest appearances by Bill Evans and Toots Thielemans, was followed by the impressive Peace Of Mind three years later. A self-taught guitarist, Cuesta wrote her own songs before her fifteenth birthday. Although she attended college, she balanced her studies with work in commercials and Spanish musical theater. She moved to New York at the age of twenty-four. Cuesta's appearances in the New York area have featured the stellar accompaniment of such top-notch jazz players as Will Lee, Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine, Dave Weckl and Mitchel Forman. ~ Craig Harris https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/palabras/1348595007

Palabras

Sylvia Bennett - Reflections

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 25:46
Size: 59,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:24) 1. Reflections
(3:52) 2. All Through the Years
(3:45) 3. Feel Again
(3:21) 4. I Never Thought
(4:27) 5. Along the Way
(3:31) 6. Witchcraft (World Mix)
(3:23) 7. Feel Again (Acoustic)

Since her recording debut on the Grammy-nominated SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY album with music icon Lionel Hampton, multi-talented jazz vocalist and songwriter Sylvia Bennett has become something of a legend herself, with a dozen solo albums to date, and a successful emergence into Smooth Jazz that includes collaborations with Arturo Sandoval, Paul Brown, Rick Braun and Nathan East.

With production by longtime collaborator and producer Hal S. Batt, the vibrant singer’s latest album REFLECTIONS finds her looking firmly ahead, pairing her lush, lilting and sultry vocals with seductive light grooves and sweet caressing musical atmospheres. Complementing her emotionally impactful originals with a tasty “world mix” of a Songbook standard ("Witchcraft"), she thoughtfully explores the many facets of relationships, from hopeful beginnings and making dreams reality to the fine art of working things through.https://www.smoothjazz.com/jazzblasts/artist/39213/sylvia-bennett

Reflections