Richie Cole - Latin Lover

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:19
Size: 142,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:41) 1. If I Only Had a Brain
(5:35) 2. Cieto Lindo
(3:48) 3. Leclipse Della Luna
(3:33) 4. Lonely Bull
(7:15) 5. Serenata
(4:53) 6. Laughter in the Rain
(6:40) 7. Girl from Carnegie
(4:29) 8. Harlem Nocturne
(5:28) 9. Island Breeze
(4:23) 10. Indicted for Love
(5:33) 11. Malibu Breeze
(4:55) 12. Almost Like Being in Love

Last year alto saxophonist/arranger Richie Cole released an album called the Many Minds of Richie Cole. Latin Lover could easily have carried the same title. There are indeed many minds in Cole's head often seemingly incompatible with each other. Several of them are in this CD. Cole was grabbed out of Berklee School of Music by Buddy Rich, who needed a replacement for Art Pepper in his big band in 1969 and after being featured with Rich and shortly after with Lionel Hampton he set out on his own. He toured frequently with vocalist Eddie Jefferson until the latter's untimely death and has built his reputation on being an unpredictable jokester who plays serious jazz with a smile.
Latin Lover continues Cole's brand of humor, starting off with the unlikely tune, "If I Only Had A Brain from the Wizard of Oz." On top of that, he defies the somewhat melancholy theme, kicking it into up tempo with a Latin rhythm. Oz fans may be offended, but Cole pulls it off well, with a sharp and adventurous solo. Who knew this song could be considered for a jazz album! He keeps the heat up with "Celito Lindo" and then slows it down with a pensive "L'Eclipse."

Cole reverts once again to his sense of humor by digging into "The Lonely Bull," made famous by the Tiajuana Brass and the vocal group and guitar behind him reinforces the corny essence of the tune. "Serenata" begins with a bull fight anthem with all the usual Latin flair only to magically transform into a quiet and slow tango. "Laughter in the Rain" allows Cole to duff his cap to his unaccountable appreciation for 1950's pop music. The song, written by Neil Sedaka, has all the earmarks of the era, but with more of a Latin tinge than the original. "Girl From Carnegie" is essentially "The Girl From Ipanema" with some melodic revisions. It begins with a Jobim like guitar intro and continues with a light Latin tempo.

There are two outliers, and they are the gems on this album. The first is "Harlem Nocturne." Cole shows his most sensitive and emotive side on this. He wraps himself deep within the very poignant sadness of the tune. It is shear beauty. The other is the album's final song, "Amost Like Being In Love." Cole owns this song. He plays it frequently on gigs and while he has probably performed it thousands of times, he just screams this song out. It is the most up-tempo tune of the set. It begins with a subtle Latin background, and then switches to straight ahead jazz, while Cole launches into his best solo of the recording. He plumbs the entire range of the alto, sometimes veering away from the changes before snapping back in. Guitarist Eric Susoeff and pianist Kevin Moore maintain the intensity before Cole bursts back on the scene with a couple bebop quotes and then back to the melody, with a few showy runs thrown in, and finally a very abrupt ending.

Cole has moved from New Jersey to Pittsburgh a few years ago and has become immersed in the jazz scene there, no doubt raising the level a bit. He has surrounded himself with talented locals and those are the people he chooses to record with. Cole's band of Susoeff and Moore, as well as bassist Mark Perna and drummer Vince Taglieri, may not be the big names that were on Cole's early Muse recordings, but it is a very compatible group. Their familiarity allows Cole to spruce up the songs with some simple, but effective arrangements, which raises the level beyond that of a good jam session. You can hear from the interplay that these musicians know the leader and can respond to his every whimsy. Overall, this is a fine jazz album, well written, well recorded and performed with solid soloists, with Cole playing with his usual inspired consistency. My only criticism is that there are too many back to back medium slow tempo songs.~ Rob Rosenblum https://www.allaboutjazz.com/latin-lover-richie-cole-richie-cole-presents-review-by-rob-rosenblum

Personnel: Richie Cole: alto sax; Eric Susoeff: acoustic & electric guitar; Kevin Moore: piano & Fender Rhodes; Mark Perna: bass; Vince Taglieri: drums; Rick Matt: baritone(4); Nancy Kepner: vocal (4).

Latin Lover

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Bebop & Beyond - Plays Thelonious Monk

Styles: Jazz, Hard Bop
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:06
Size: 133,3 MB
Art: Front

( 7:12) 1. San Francisco Holiday
( 7:01) 2. Brilliant Corners
( 7:29) 3. Think of One
( 4:38) 4. Crepescule with Nellie
(10:43) 5. Misterioso
( 5:02) 6. Criss Cross
( 6:35) 7. Gallop's Gallop
( 4:02) 8. Ugly Beauty
( 5:20) 9. Who Knows

This CD contains one of the best Thelonious Monk tributes that have come out since the pianist/composer's death in 1982. Mel Martin (heard here in top form on tenor, soprano and flute) leads Bebop & Beyond through nine of Monk's most difficult originals, and his arrangements (which use the versatile guitarist Randy Vincent in Monk's place) are consistently inventive. Pianist George Cables, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, and Howard Johnson (on baritone and tuba) make important guest appearances, while trumpeter Warren Gale contributes many fine solos.~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/plays-thelonious-monk-mw0000690320

Personnel: Baritone Saxophone, Tuba – Howard Johnson (3) (tracks: 2 to 5,8); Bass – Jeff Chambers (3); Drums – Donald Bailey (tracks: 1 to 3,7), Eddie Marshall (2) (tracks: 4 to 6,8,9); Guitar – Randy Vincent; Piano – George Cables (tracks: 2,7); Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson (tracks: 2,7); Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Mel Martin; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Warren Gale

Plays Thelonious Monk

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Trio Jazz - Second Song

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:28
Size: 77,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:34) 1. Fly Me to the Moon
(4:06) 2. Once I Loved
(2:27) 3. Second Song
(2:31) 4. Turn Around
(4:41) 5. When I Fall In Love
(3:19) 6. Come Rain Come Shine
(2:09) 7. Going West
(2:59) 8. Skylarc
(3:55) 9. Sometime Ago
(3:41) 10. I've Grown Accustomed
(1:26) 11. Efterårsvise

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Second Song

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Ada Montellanico - WeTuba

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:33
Size: 104,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:24) 1. The Time Will Come
(4:42) 2. Words
(4:04) 3. Heroes
(5:59) 4. A Trace of Grace
(5:17) 5. I'm a Migrant
(5:40) 6. Unsleepers
(7:07) 7. Go Deep
(5:20) 8. Sorriso
(2:57) 9. BallAda

On the various dates of the 2021 autumn season of A Jazz Supreme, the review that the Musicus Concentus has been organizing for years at the Sala Vanni in Florence, there were among others the concerts of WeTuba, the latest formation by Ada Montellanico with which the singer has recently released a record, and of the Monumental Duo, composed by Roberto Ottaviano and Alexander Hawkins.

Montellanico appeared on stage on October 29, at the head of (but, as we will see, it is more correct to say "together with") a quintet of first choice musicians: Simone Graziano on piano, Francesco Ponticelli on double bass, Bernardo Guerra on drums and special guest Michel Godard at tuba and serpentone. Although the singer plays a central role, the formation is in fact fundamentally equal, thanks also to the way in which she worked on the preparation of the repertoire which was then finished on the album of the same name: all unpublished material developed for this ensemble, with written songs. from each of the protagonists, plus a couple of compositions signed by Paolo Fresu, who is also present on the CD to interpret them as a guest. Such a partnership was felt both in the complex variety of the program and in the way in which the musicians moved in its realization.

On the first floor, in fact, the compositions that followed explored a multiplicity of musical universes, ranging from the simple song"Sorriso," by Fresu to the singer's lyrics - to duets between voice and tuba / serpetone with a baroque taste in "A Trace of Grace," by Godard, or more rhythmic in "Ballada," by Ponticelli and to singular moments recalling rock - "Heroes," by Graziano up to surprising moments with a Lacyan flavor - in "The Time Will Come, "by Grazieno and Ponticelli, always based on texts by Montellanico. On the second, however, the space given to the expressiveness of each one proved to be an added value, with Godard free to join the voice of the singer, Graziano who alternated the accompaniment with more abstract and rarefied interventions, Ponticelli ready to enter the plots not only as a rhythmic column and Guerra who intervened with measure, but also with decision where this could mark changes of pace or scenario.

All this, in addition to building a sound stage on which the singer could show all her flexibility, gave the music a considerable breadth and freshness, contributing together with the value of the performers and the social and political contents of most of the lyrics to the excellent success of the evening. The concert held two weeks later, on November 12, by Roberto Ottaviano and Alexander Hawkins, called themselves Monumental Duo in homage to the jazz greats with whom they had the opportunity to play and / or are authors of the compositions that are part of the repertoire, was very different. training. Frequent collaborators since, a few years ago, they released together one of the CDs of the double album that the saxophonist dedicated to Maestro Steve Lacy, Forgotten Matches, the two have in fact presented themselves with a program largely composed of songs from the sixties and seventies, many of them by South African authors like the first, by Harry Miller but also by Ornette Coleman or Mal Waldron among the Hawkins masters and with whom Octavian recorded the splendid duo album Black Spirits Are Here Again many years ago.

The understanding between the two, the common love for the music staged, the beauty of the latter itself, but above all the way - at the same time respectful and personal in which the two artists re-proposed it made the evening one of the best concerts that the writer has attended during the year. Ottaviano alternated soprano, sopranino and alto saxophone, interpreting the lyrical parts with great poetry, producing extremely touching solos; Hawkins, for his part, has expressed himself in an amazing way, putting his well-known technical skills - decidedly extraordinary, but which sometimes runs the risk of using a little too much ends in themselves - at the service of the musical content, enhancing aspects or giving it nuances unprecedented, thanks to a multiple and often unexpected work on the keyboard: counterpoints between the two hands, thunderous accompaniments with the left while the right described the theme or duet with the sax, and much more. Show of the highest level, which deserves a recorded documentation, which the two artists are thinking about and which we take the opportunity to solicit.~ Neri Pollastri https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ada-montellanico-wetuba-e-monumental-duo

Personnel: Ada Montellanico, voce; Michel Godard, tuba, serpentone; Simone Graziano, pianoforte; Francesco Ponticelli, contrabbasso; Bernardo Guerra, batteria

WeTuba

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