Kristin Berardi - Where or When

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:32
Size: 130,0 MB
Art: Front

( 4:34)  1. Where or When
( 4:43)  2. Lucky 13
( 6:09)  3. Suzanne
( 5:06)  4. Born to Be Blue
( 6:12)  5. Brad
( 5:05)  6. Unity Village
( 4:42)  7. Cool Baby
(10:10)  8. Limbo
( 5:04)  9. Is It Ok for Clowns to Cry?
( 4:41) 10. Young at Heart

Kristin Berardi is one of Australia’s ‘first call’ jazz vocalists.Having won a swag of awards including Montreux Jazz Festival’s International Vocal Competition and twice winner of The Australian Jazz Bell Award for Best Vocal Album she is also the recipient of a National Freedman Fellowship as well as the National Jazz Award for Voice at The Wangaratta Jazz Festival. A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium,where she now lectures, she has toured internationally to Japan,Germany,New York and Indonesia and is probably one of the best jazz singers that Australia has produced. Where or When is a collection of songs that showcases Berardi’s astonishing talents delighting the listener with her warm and beautiful tone.Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne from the 1960’s is a brilliant simplistic rendition of that frequently covered song. 

It sits comfortably alongside of Rodgers and Harts’ Where or When superbly complementing Johnny Richards soulful million selling hit from 1953 Young at Heart. Could this be the version to finally rival that of Frank Sinatra’s? One of Berardi’s original compositions on the album Lucky 13 is a tribute to the good fortune behind this album’s creation when she was able to gather all her chosen musicians in one studio in Melbourne on 13th September 2013 and another original composition, Is It OK For Clowns To Cry , shows the jazz ballad at its most touching and poignant. The intimacy of the band is heightened by the decision to record without drums anchoring the album’s sound with the richness of Sam Anning’s faultless bass playing. James Sherlock is as impressive as always on guitar and Steve Newcomb is flawlessly superb on piano.Julien Wilson adds that final magic touch with his tenor saxophone that makes this the perfect jazz vocal album of 2015. ~ Barry O’Sullivan  http://jazz.org.au/where-or-when-kristin-berardi/

Personnel:  Kristin Berardi -vocals and composition;  Steve Newcomb – piano;  James Sherlock – guitar;  Julien Wilson – tenor saxophone; Sam Anning – bass

Where or When

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The Dan Barrett, Enric Peidro Quintet - And the Angels Swing

Styles: Trombone And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:45
Size: 119,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:54) 1. I Can´t Believe That You´re in Love With Me / Kansas City Stride
(5:52) 2. 'Deed I do
(3:45) 3. Limehouse Blues
(5:46) 4. And the Angels Swing
(6:10) 5. Serenade to Sweden
(6:37) 6. If I Didn't Care
(5:17) 7. My Blue Heaven
(5:12) 8. Vic's Spot
(7:07) 9. Sultry Serenade

Swing is hard to define, but it’s the difference between ripe cherries and a cherry candy “with natural flavors” synthesized in a laboratory. I’m happy to report that the CD that pairs tenor saxophonist Enric Peidro and trombone legend Dan Barrett is satisfying swinging jazz throughout. In fact, it reaches new heights in the most refined yet impassioned ways. Let’s start at the back of the bandstand, or the bottom of the band (no offense intended), the fine rhythm section. I didn’t know pianist Richard Busiakewicz, bassist Lluis Llario, or drummer Carlos “Sir Charles” Gonzalez before this recording, but I love them. Their swing is unforced and easy; they know how, what, when, why, and when not to . . .

But before I write more, here’s a sonic sample, celebrating both Vic Dickenson (the composer) and his horticultural endeavors: The question of what is “authentic” is treacherous, because we defend our subjectivities with a lover’s defensive ardor, but that performance feels both expressive and controlled in the best ways. Forget for a moment the warm twenty-first century recording technology. If I heard that track, coming after a 1945 Don Byas-Buck Clayton Jamboree 78 and a Mel Powell Vanguard session, I would not think VIC’S SPOT an impostor. Swing is more than being able to play the notes or wear the hat; it’s a world-view, and this quintet has it completely.

Barrett remains a master not only of the horn, but of what I’d call “orchestral thinking,” where he’s always inventing little touches (on the page or on the stand) to make any performance sound fuller, have greater rhythmic emphasis and harmonic depth. I’ve seen him do this on the spot for years, and his gentle urgency makes this quintet even more a convincing working band than it would have been if anyone took his place. And as a trombonist, he really has no peer: others go in different directions and woo us, but he is immediately and happily himself, totally recognizable, with a whole tradition at his fingertips as well as a deep originality.

But Dan would be the first one to say that he is not the whole show: this CD offers us a swinging little band. We’ve all heard recordings, some of them dire, where the visiting “star” is supported by the “locals,” who are not up to the star’s level: many recorded performances by Ben Webster immediately come to mind. And the Angels Swing is the glorious countertruth to such unbalanced affairs, because Enric Peidro, who was new to me before I heard this CD, is a masterful player. He’s no one’s clone I couldn’t predict what his next phrase would be or where his line of thought would go and although he is not cautious, he never puts a foot wrong. You can hear his gliding presence on the track above, and for me he summons up two great and under-praised players, primarily Harold Ashby, but also a cosmopolitan Paul Gonsalves with no rough edges. He is a fine intuitive ensemble player, with an easy sophistication that charms the ear. I think of the way Ruby Braff appeared in the early Fifties: someone not afraid to play the melody, to improvise in heartfelt ways, to eschew the harder aspects of “modernism” without being affected in any reactionary ways. https://jazzlives.wordpress.com/tag/vanguard-records/

Personnel: Dan Barrett Trombone; Enric Peidro Tenor sax; Richard Busiakiewicz piano; Lluis Llario Bass; Carlos Gonzalez Drums

And the Angels Swing

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Sal Nistico - Empty Room

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:15
Size: 96,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:38)  1. Come Rain Or Come Shine
(9:04)  2. Lush Life
(9:10)  3. Inner Urge
(7:02)  4. Empty Room
(6:13)  5. I Should Care
(6:05)  6. The Hymn

Sal Nistico's explosive tenor solos with Woody Herman in the mid-'60s helped make that edition of Herman's Herd into a success. Originally an altoist, Nistico switched to tenor in 1956 and played with R&B bands for three years. He gigged with and made his recording debut in 1959-1960 with the Jazz Brothers, a band also including Chuck and Gap Mangione. But it was while with Herman in 1962-1965 that Nistico made history. In 1965, he spent five months with Count Basie. He returned to Basie in 1967 and to Herman on several occasions (1968-1970, 1971, 1981-1982), although without the impact of the first stint. Otherwise, the tenor freelanced throughout his career, playing with Don Ellis and Buddy Rich but mostly working with pick-up groups. Nistico recorded for several labels as a leader including Riverside, Red, and Beehive. Bio ~ https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sal-nistico/id5056531#fullText
 

Personnel: Sal Nistico (tenor saxophone); Rita Marcotulli (piano); Roberto Gatto (drums).

Empty Room

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Steve Davis - Bluesthetic

Styles: Trombone Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:46
Size: 146,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:39) 1. Encouragement
(6:35) 2. Silver at Sundown
(6:25) 3. Maybe So
(6:47) 4. Bedford Strolle
(5:57) 5. Faraway Dream
(8:20) 6. They Wore 44
(7:30) 7. Off the Cuff
(5:22) 8. Indigo to Azure
(5:57) 9. Bluesthetic
(6:10) 10. A Star for Chick

Trombonist/composer Steve Davis has long been a first-call sideman. Chick Corea, as one example, tapped Davis for his revived Spanish Heart Band a couple of years ago. But, like the members of this esteemed sextet, Davis is a bandleader too, in his case with close to twenty-five albums under his name. On each of his three previous releases for Smoke Sessions Records, Davis assembled a stellar sextet with modern jazz’s most vaunted players. He repeats that here with Bluesthetic, but in an interesting way, shunning additional horn players on the front line, instead, he creates interesting harmonic possibilities with guitarist Peter Bernstein and vibraphonist Steve Nelson, a reunion of sorts as both appeared on his 1998 album Vibe Up! years. Rounding out his elite sextet is the formidable rhythm section of Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Willie Jones III. All of these players had convened in various configurations over the past three decades.

The ten Davis originals each bear a story of their own. The breezy “Encouragement” hails the emergence of the pandemic with an uplifting melody. “Silver at Sundown” is dedicated as you may guess to Horace Silver and may not guess the Hartford jazz community from which Davis emerged under the mentorship of many, most notably Jackie McLean, whose lines course through the previous tune. In the liners, Davis references Silver’s trio playing in Hartford at The Sundown, a club where Silver led the house band in the early 1950s. It was there that Stan Getz saw Silver play and invited him on tour, a key moment in the pianist’s now-legendary career. Silver later recounted the story to Davis, who lived in Hartford for more than 25 years before moving to his current home in Stamford. “It’s a very cool piece of jazz history connected to a city that I spent a lot of time in,” Davis says.

The tune “Maybe So” comes from two words Davis uttered upon waking up. It glides along briskly with shimmering turns from each front liner as well as a pizzicato statement from the ever articulate McBride, who in turn engages his rhythm mates through a few choruses before Davis returns with the melody, passing the baton to Bernstein and Nelson in the hard-swinging beauty. Just three tracks in, Davis displays a remarkable sense of melody.

Commenting on the free-flowing, relaxed nature of the music McBride compares many of these compositions to those of pianist James Williams and Bobby Watson of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers because the compositions have the feeling of soul and R&B mixed with post-bop blues. Speaking of McBride his waling bass line is perfect for “Bedford Stroll,” named for the bustling street where he and his wife live in Stamford, CT, and where he often develops his melodic ideas on late night walks. Low tones from the trombone usher in “Faraway Dream,” another nocturnal one as if floating on Nelson’s resonant vibes and Bernstein’s ringing guitar, with Keezer sitting out and Jones whispering on brushes.

The aptly muscular “They Wore 44” draws on a passion for sports that Davis shares with McBride. The recent death of legendary right fielder Hank Aaron, who wore the number 44 during his long tenure with the. Davis, a die-hard Red Sox fan, would likely have loved to mention one from his team but none measure up to those listed above. It features featuring lively soloing, especially both Keezer and Nelson.

Bernstein carves out a bluesy solo and Willie Jones III creates a maelstrom on his kit. “Off the Cuff” is a spontaneous free-wheeling tune pulled together near the end of the session, features spirited soloing from each band member. The aching ballad “Indigo to Azure” explores the full spectrum of the blues, with some of the leader’s most sensitive and lyrical playing, matched by his band members led by Keezer’s elegant comping, Nelson’s inspiring notes, and subtle support from the rhythm tandem as Bernstein sits out.

The title track Bluesthetic captures a combination of the appreciation of artful beauty suggested by “aesthetic” combined with the foundational influence of the blues. Interestingly in the liners, he alludes to the first concert he ever saw – electric Muddy Waters at Tanglewood. Finally, and inevitably given the close association between Davis and Chick Corea, “A Star for Chick” bids the icon a warm farewell. Davis was initially tapped for a three-year stint in Corea’s band Origin in late 1997, then later took part in the keyboardist’s orchestral piece “The Continents” and his Grammy-winning, Latin-inspired Spanish Heart Band. He played with Corea for over twenty years and earned the nickname “Davissimo the Melody Man” from Corea. Davis certainly lives up to it in this well-constructed session.~Jim Hayneshttps://glidemagazine.com/275863/master-trombonist-steve-davis-assembles-remarkable-sextet-on-all-original-post-bop-bluesthetic-album-review/

Personnel: Steve Davis – trombone; Peter Bernstein – guitar; Steve Nelson – vibraphone; Geoffrey Keezer – piano; Christian McBride – bass; Willie Jones III – drums

Bluesthetic

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